Raith Rovers manager John McGlynn faced the media on Thursday ahead of Sunday’s Scottish Cup clash with Celtic.
The interview, though, was dominated by the fall-out from Raith’s decision to sign striker David Goodwillie, who was declared a rapist after being found guilty in a civil court and ordered, with former team-mate David Robertson, to pay £100,000 in compensation to the victim of the 2011 attack.
These are his words:
Q: IS DAVID GOODWILLIE STILL EMPLOYED BY RAITH ROVERS?
J.McG: At the moment the board is speaking about that. He’s signed a contract with the club so that’s getting dealt with at board level. He’s obviously not training with the team, he won’t participate in playing for the team. That’s where it is right now.
Q: WHAT HAVE THE LAST 10 DAYS BEEN LIKE?
J.McG: It’s been really difficult for everyone involved and we apologise enormously for the distress that we’ve brought to our fans, our sponsors – anyone hurt in any way at all. It was never our intention to do that.
I’ve been at the football club for the best part of nine years in two separate occasions and there is no way that I would have wanted to have brought the last 10 days on the football club.
We’ve been on the front page for the wrong reasons rather than the back page. We apologise for bringing our football club and our supporters into the situation that we find ourselves in.
From a football point of view, I’m tasked with trying to get us to the league above if that’s at all possible.
We’ve had a situation where we didn’t have anyone in the striking department scoring many goals. So from a football point of view, to be able to get the top goal scorer in Scotland – we felt that was something we should pursue.
There is no doubt that David scores goals.
We just completely underestimated the feeling and the depth of the feeling that has come from that signing.
If we could turn the clock back, we’d do it in a minute. Everyone has lost here, there are no winners in this.
But from a football point of view, our aim maybe took over from the other side, which is the non-footballing side.
There’s nothing wrong with ambition but we’ve obviously hurt a lot of people and we apologise to each and every one of them. We hope in time we can rectify the situation, build some bridges and get people back here.
Q: HOW MUCH CONSIDERATION WAS GIVEN TO GOODWILLIE’S PAST?
J.McG: David has played for the last five years at Clyde. We’ve played against David, he’s played on the park against us and never come across any negativity towards him. It’s taken us by not complete surprise obviously, but to the extent that we weren’t ready for it.
Q: BUT VAL McDERMID AND FANS WARNED YOU ABOUT THIS SIGNING AND SHE WAS TOLD IT WOULDN’T HAPPEN. WERE PEOPLE LIED TO?
J.McG: I can’t answer for other people. Some of the things you’re saying, I can’t answer. I’m here trying to be honest with you guys and give you my feelings.
Q: WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO SIGN HIM?
J.McG: It was collective. As a manager, I’ve got a responsibility to try and recruit players that can do a job for us, bring them to the table and then we have to discuss whether that’s a good situation or not.
Q: IN ANY PART OF YOUR DISCUSSIONS WITH GOODWILLIE WAS HIS HISTORY SPOKEN ABOUT?
J.MCG: He played for five years for Clyde. He was playing every week, scoring goals, he was club captain. He was taking coaching sessions with disabled people, he was taking coaching sessions with youth teams. I did not expect this.
Q: HAS THE BOARD LET YOU DOWN BY NOT SAVING YOU FROM YOURSELF (they could have refused to sign Goodwillie?)
J.McG: I’m not here to hang anyone out to dry, I’ve already said there are no winners here.
I’m the manager of the football club. I’m doing my best to give time to show regret, to show remorse about the situation, to try to make the best of the situation that we find ourselves in.
Q: A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE QUIT. DID YOU THINK ABOUT IT?
J.McG: I have been here for the best part of nine years over two periods. I love the football club, I love working here, I’ve had to consider an awful lot over the last ten days.
But at the same time I think there is an awful lot of good work being done here at Raith Rovers.
And I would like the opportunity to right the wrongs.
If I have made one mistake I don’t think I should be the one who is hung out to dry or be the fall guy.
I want the opportunity to build bridges, to get people back, to get the team winning again, and I still believe I put a good squad of players together, one that can still get better.
And one I want the fans to be proud of.
Q: HOW LONG WILL THAT TAKE?
J.McG: Well, we’ve got just over 100 season ticket holders, a hardcore of 1600 fans, maybe 1200 at our last game.
We were maybe 300/400 fans down which wasn’t great, but it could have been worse.
But there is still a support there, there has been an outcry at a big level, but we still have a lot of support within Kirkcaldy who recognise the work that has been done and the work that hopefully we can continue to do, otherwise there would be a lot less people at the games.
Q: DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE OUTCRY?
J.McG: Look, as a husband and a father I understand, I get it, I understand we’re all going through it right now.
All we can do is say we made a mistake.
Personally I would like the opportunity to write the wrongs and produce a good football team here.
This is a great club, and I have had loads of emails from fans who have followed the club for many, many years.
They were not nasty, just laying out how disappointed they were and I can understand that.
All I can say is with the length of time I have been here I think I am due a chance, I think I have been a good employee and I think I have done very well on the football side of things.
And I think I can still help the football club go forward.
Q: DID YOU PERSONALLY TELL GOODWILLIE HE’D NEVER PLAY FOR RAITH?
J.McG: I spoke to him, yes. I did. He accepted that, with a sense of disappointment. He wanted to play for Raith Rovers. He played here, on loan from Dundee United, when he was a younger boy. He enjoyed his time here and, if things had been different, I’m sure he would have enjoyed it again.
Q: SHOULD DAVID GOODWILLIE STILL HAVE A FUTURE IN FOOTBALL?
J.McG: That’s one for the authorities. David was playing football up to the end of January there, there was nothing said.
Why should he not be able to play football two weeks later?
THE DIFFICULTY PEOPLE HAVE IS HE HAS STILL NEVER ADMITTED HE DID ANYTHING WRONG...
J.McG: I’ve tried to do my best with you and I’ve tried to be honest with you and I’d like to leave the David Goodwillie (questions) and move on now.
Q: HOW ARE YOU GOING TO BUILD BRIDGES?
J.McG: By gaining the trust back of the people. The whole of the town is down enormously. We would hope that they see the regret we have shown. We have made an error. Some errors are bigger than others and it was an enormous error. We will try and get the trust back from our fans and sponsors. We are not bad people. I am not a bad person. I just want the chance to make it right.
Q: DO YOU HOPE VAL McDERMID AND OTHERS WHO HAVE LEFT CAN BE PERSUADED TO COME BACK?
J.McG: Yeah, we all want that. A lot of that is going to come down to the individuals themselves and whether they want to do that. I’m sure there is no one at Raith Rovers going to stop that happening if there is a will. It has been a lose-lose situation and we want to rectify and build bridges with anyone and everyone.
Q: HAVE YOU SPOKEN TO VAL?
J.McG: No I haven’t. But then with the greatest respect it would probably have been a couple of years since I spoke to Val.
