JOHN McGLYNN admits that Raith Rovers vastly underestimated the response that would accompany the signing of David Goodwillie as the Championship club weighed up the move.

The striker, branded a rapist by a judge in a civil trial in 2017, had spent the previous five years playing for Clyde before moving to Stark’s Park on deadline day.

Key sponsors withdrew their support, fans ripped up their season tickets, club volunteers stepped down from their roles and the entire woman’s team split from Raith in response to the controversial signing.

Public pressure eventually forced Raith into a U-turn where the club have insisted that Goodwillie will never represent the team, and McGlynn - who 'apologised enormously' to anyone hurt by the decision - looks upon the whole sorry saga with deep regret.

With a Scottish Cup tie at Celtic Park to look forward to on Sunday, this week should have been an exciting one as the Rovers geared up for one of the biggest games of their season. Instead, it has been one of the most challenging weeks of McGlynn’s career.

“It’s been extremely difficult,” he said. “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.

“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 from that point of view.

“Now, we just completely underestimated the feeling and the depth of the feeling that has come from that signing. We did not anticipate that at all and it is with much regret for everyone involved that we find ourselves in this situation.

“If we could turn the clock back, from everyone’s point of view, we’d do it in a minute because it’s not been great. 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.

“David has played for the last five years at Clyde. We’ve been in the same league as 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.

“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.”

The scale of the reaction caught McGlynn off-guard but the Rovers manager adds that he understands the criticism aimed at the club as he outlined his hope that betrayed supporters would be able to give him a second chance, despite his lapse in judgement.

“Look, as a husband and a father I understand, I get it, I understand we’re all going through it right now,” he explained. “So yes, I understand it. All we can do is say we made a mistake.

“Personally I would like the opportunity to right 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 employer 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.

“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.”