The woman did not want to be named, but she wanted her voice heard. Sixty-eight years old, a devoted Latics fan, she’d driven 90 miles to Boundary Park to let her club know that she did not want Ched Evans to be given a contract.
“In this country you are innocent until proven guilty and he has been found guilty,” she said, wearing a hand-knitted scarf in the club’s colours. “We’re a family club, a united club, but this is dividing us.” She was clutching a homemade banner bearing the club’s mascot, an owl, and the motto: “Keep the faith”.
In her pocket was her season ticket. She was ready to hand it back if Oldham Athletic went ahead and signed the disgraced striker.
Every other woman approached by the Guardian outside the ground was opposed to Evans joining the club but wary of going on the record to say so.
“Everybody deserves a second chance in life, but it’s different in the public eye when children are looking up to him,” said a 64-year-old.
Many men saw things differently. “I think they’ve crucified him,” said William Taylor, 79. “Look at what’s going on elsewhere, and Evans is being crucified for this. They’re saying the board members have had death threats but they’re not really at risk. You don’t give in to that stuff.”
Eric Wood, 86, a retired kitchen fitter, agreed. “The guy’s been pilloried. He’s served his time. Other rapists go back to work. Why not him? Is it just because he’s a footballer?”
As news filtered through that the deal was off, a few young fans started to gather outside the ground. Two young men, their tracksuit bottoms tucked into their socks, and with hoods up, chanted “Ched! Ched!” as they passed.James Buckley, a 17-year-old trainee barber, said he was disappointed. “We should have signed him. The other week the fans in the stands were chanting ‘sign him up, sign him up.’ The club should listen to the fans. There’s all this about 60,000 people signing a petition against him, but how many of them are actual fans? Even with the new stand you can’t fit more than 10,000 inside. We’re not a rich club. We’d never normally have been able to afford a player as good as him.”
His friend said that he didn’t think Evans was guilty anyway. “I don’t think he did it,” he mused, before reciting some of the more lurid online rumours about the past of Evans’ victim. “How do I know if he did it?” Reminded that the footballer had admitted having sex with the woman and a jury had decided she was too drunk to consent and therefore Evans was guilty of raping her, he was nonplussed: “I think he’s innocent.”
James Bangura, a 47-year-old delivery driver, said Evans deserved a second chance. And anyway, he said, “no one complained when they signed Lee Hughes” after a death by dangerous driving conviction. In 2007, Hughes, previously a striker with West Bromwich Albion, joined Oldham after serving half of a six-year sentence. There were objections at the time, notably from the victims’ family http://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/jan/03/newsstory.oldham. Douglas Graham died in the crash and his wife, Maureen, suffered terrible injuries. She died 13 months later.
“I’m a Blackpool fan myself but I think they should have signed him,” said Jimmy Robinson, 36, a plumber working on a house opposite the ground. “He needs a job. He deserves a job.” But he conceded it wasn’t a simple matter. “If I lived around here and my little ’un wanted a shirt with Evans on the back because he had been the star striker, would I want that? I don’t think I would.”
