Would Sheffield Wednesday have reinstated rapist Ched Evans?

[Dagmeister]

Most United fans that I know are pretty much the same as the rest of us Sheffielders. The notion that there is a propensity for morally degraded people to gravitate towards them rather than us is nonsense. Still the question posed will no doubt acquire the number of hits that the owners of this site seek.

[whyte_owl]

What sort of moron compares a punch up in a pub to a woman being raped?

[oh_weds_we_love_you]

I would hope Sheffield Wednesday would never reinstate (or even sign full stop) a convicted rapist. Same goes for a murderer.

 

That applies if the player was Chris Waddle/David Hirst standard or Chris Carr/Guy Branston standard.

[Guest Gazzaswfc]

We would not have signed him in first place he is crap

[Dagmeister]

Sheffield United fans must make up most of Dapper Laughs fanbase.

Madine and Evans crimes are nowhere similar, both are somewhat moronic built on arrogance but smashing a tail in the face in a night club and looking for the drunkest woman on the kebab shop floor to take advantage of is totally different, that woman didn't even go back with Evans he just orchestrated it.

He needed to be set an example of, loads of young lads have gone many years not knowing what constitutes as rape or harassment.

The severity of their crimes was reflected in the different levels of punishment. You are however understating the severity of Madine's thuggery. He has assaulted three people on seperate occasions. The courts deemed them to unprovoked attacks. Edited November 11, 2014 by Dagmeister

[Handball_!!]

Took Madine back didn't we? 

 

So yes we don't seem to think being a convicted criminal is a deal breaker to playing for SWFC.

[SallyCinnamon]

I remember when we were interested in signing lee hughes & a lot of people on ere were split.

our main rivals re-sign a rapist, 95% of us will thrive off slagging pigs off

I would not have wanted Hughes here, but I think Hughes has shown remorse for what he had done although that means nothing to the victims. Whereas Ched continues to protest his innocence, shows no remorse to the victim whose life has been ruined and the idiot still doesn't understand what rape means.

[steelcityowlsfan]

I don't think we would have under the current regime (Not sure about the previous one) and as mentioned before, look at the stance on Wonga rejected on morals.

 

Madine situation is different and can't be compared.

[oh_weds_we_love_you]

I remember when we were interested in signing lee hughes & a lot of people on ere were split.

 

our main rivals re-sign a rapist, 95% of us will thrive off slagging pigs off

 

I don't recall a big split. Pretty sure the overwhelming majority were furious that we could have been signing him, with a handful saying we need a striker and would welcome him.

 

Didn't the manager at the time - Laws or Irvine perhaps? - say that we opted against pursuing Hughes because of the damage it would do to the club's reputation and fans backlash?

[matthefish2002]

Thankfully we will never know what we would have done in Sheffield United position.

I would like to think we would hade made a short statement when convicted that his contract was being terminated and left it at that.

[steelcityowlsfan]

No player is bigger than the club except if you're Sheffield Uniturd

[@owlstalk]

I think the thing is with these situations like the Lee Hughes one is that the idea is touted, but then never happens, and that leaves all those who were voting FOR it looking really silly

[smhouston]

I would not have wanted Hughes here, but I think Hughes has shown remorse for what he had done although that means nothing to the victims. Whereas Ched continues to protest his innocence, shows no remorse to the victim whose life has been ruined and the idiot still doesn't understand what rape means.

He has. He's apologised and apparently does a fair bit of charity work to try give something back

[Bobbob]

We took Madine back. In fact we took Madine on with a criminal record.

Ched was a very unlucky young man in my opinion. He has served his time that the judicial system gave him.

He deserves to be able to get on with his life.

 

 

Upon his release, convicted criminal Gary Madine said , 'I would like to apologise unreservedly to everyone who has suffered through my actions. I realise I let myself, my family and friends, and Sheffield Wednesday Football Club down.  I can only promise never to let the club or anyone else down in this manner again.'

Upon his release, convicted criminal Ched Evans said, 'I really thought it would have been thrown out of court and I was stunned when I was convicted.  I had done nothing wrong.'

 

Therein lies the difference, Madine has expressed remorse and therefore is deemed to be 'rehabilitated'. Until Evans either has his conviction quashed or accepts responsibility for his actions, he should not be allowed anywhere near a football club.

[0114]

How these two crimes between Madine and Evans are compatible is beyond me.

Firstly contractually the situation differs, Madine had 2 years left to run on his contract. Evans contract expired at Sheffield United and they have gone out their way to re sign him.

Madine has said he regretted what he did unlike Evans, who maintains his innocence.

Evans has committed a serious crime in my eyes, but he has taken advantage of an intoxicated woman who never agreed to go back with him. Reading into I don't understand why people think he is innocent in any way and young adults need to be educated on the matter as things like this do happen but this is an act of rape.

Evans shouldn't be allowed to play due his obnoxious attitude to what he has done and Sheffield United are a disgrace for signing him as they're basically saying they're happy with what's happened and they're happy he has shown no remorse.

I don't think the football league can legally say he can't play again but you'd hope every club would have enough self respect to not sign him while he believes he is innocent.

[southportdc]

I think it's pretty likely our fanbase would be split just as United's is. Some people who will forgive anything for goals, some people who think that it's entirely legitimate to sign a guy who's 'served his time', some who think he can have a shot, just not with us, and some who want him out of football forever. I also don't think our opinion would mean much to Milan; I think he'd decide whether the player is worth the hassle himself. So it's very hard to say what the club would do in that situation.

[@owlstalk]

Another point I'd raise is this..

Can a club now sack any player for misdemeanours ? Or will this Ched thing mean that disciplinary action or termination of contract is no longer applicable

If you think about it if Madine wallops a kid down West Street, or Semedo got done for burglary or Stevie May got done for breaking Stuart Gray's leg after an argument are any of those worse than actually getting sent to prison for rape ?

[Handball_!!]

As shown with the Sid affair, "walloping a kid down West Street" can be and often is a life changing experience for the victim.

 

I'm astounded that some people still think it's acceptable and trivialise it.

 

The pair of 'em should be out of football for good.

[Handball_!!]

Oh and you tend not to go to prison for lumping someone in a pub.

 

You generally have to work at it and build up several similar offences over a number of years.

[OasisOwl72]

I would hate it if we signed a convicted rapist and seeing kids with his name on the back of our shirts would be truly sickening.

 

To answer the OP, I would sincerely hope not and I genuinely believe we wouldn't  re-sign a rapist.

 

It would "appear" the Pigs are split 50/50 on this which actually means (if true) that half their fan base are happy to have a rapist playing for them. Makes a mockery of the "family club" stance they take. Whilst I believe some of our fans would take him back the vast majority wouldn't. I also believe that the vile chanting and the scenes on SSN at Bradford and flags with the rapists name on would not occur here. I am also convinced the putrid abuse the poor victim has suffered from elements of their fan base would not happen at all with us. Not taking a moral high ground it's just my view especially as we don't have this "victim" mentality they seem to have largely down to their sue happy Chairman.

 

The fact that the Pigs have never once condemned a rapist is as odious as it as an insult to our intelligence that they have a " duty of care" to ex-employees (unless you are young lad posting on Twitter!) and that the rapist training with them doesn't  mean he will sign. So, why is he there then??

 

So no I don’t think we would sign a convicted rapist. The Pigs have acted appalling throughout this and the fact a remorseless, convicted rapist is now training with them shows them up for exactly what they are.