English club sorry for making a signing that caused backlash

Wed, Feb 8, 2023
Soccer News (AP)

MANCHESTER, England (AP) - A team from the seventh tier of English soccer apologized Wednesday for signing a player who was ruled in 2017 to have raped a woman, saying it had made a "significant misstep."

Manchester-based Radcliffe made no announcement of the signing of former Scotland striker David Goodwillie and selected him a game in the Northern Premier League on Tuesday without listing his name in the starting lineup on Twitter.

There was an angry response on social media once it was discovered that the 33-year-old Goodwillie was on the official team sheet and the player, who scored a hat trick in the game, has since left the club, Radcliffe said.

Goodwillie and an ex-teammate at Dundee United, David Robertson, were ordered to pay damages of 100,000 pounds (then $135,000) to a woman they raped, a judge ruled in a civil case in an Edinburgh court in 2017. No criminal charges were brought against either Goodwillie or Robertson.

"As a club, we have always been about second chances and have been a part of many players' and staff members' rehabilitation along that journey," Radcliffe said in a statement. "We've always given people a chance to improve their life and found support in this endeavor.

"When the club were presented with David Goodwillie that same logic was applied, but in this case it's clear that was a significant misstep and our due diligence should have been of a much higher standard."

The club said Goodwillie was signed "out of the desire to do a good thing for an individual with an admittedly tainted past as we have done so successfully before."

"But this was a bridge too far," Radcliffe said.

Scottish club Raith Rovers sparked an outcry among its fans and lost sponsors after signing Goodwillie last year.

Within three days, Raith apologized for its decision and said Goodwillie would no longer be playing for the club.

Amid Radcliffe's apology, the club said "this is a mistake that will never happen again."

___

More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports