Crime fiction author Val McDermid has voiced her displeasure at reports linking Scottish Championship side Raith Rovers with a striker who was branded a rapist in a civil court.
McDermid, who is a lifelong supporter of the Kirkcaldy club and used to have a seat on the board, posted a series of tweets about Raith’s potential move to sign David Goodwillie.
The former Scotland international was ordered to pay £100,000 in damages by a judge in a civil court case in 2017 after it was ruled that Goodwillie raped a woman at a flat in Armadale, West Lothian.
The Crown had previously decided not to prosecute Goodwillie and his then-Dundee United colleague David Robertson due to insufficient evidence.
Responding to speculation linking Raith with signing Goodwillie from Clyde, McDermid posted on Twitter: “Really? Is this the message @RaithRovers want to send?
In another tweet she wrote: “I argued strenuously against this when I was a board member.”
She added: “We call ourselves a community club. He’s not a role model in any sense. I don’t want him running around with my name on his chest.
“Two criminal convictions and a civil finding of rape. That’s pretty guilty in my book.”
In 2008, Goodwillie was fined £250 for punching a man in a Stirling nightclub. Four years later he pled guilty to assaulting a man in Glasgow city centre.
Raith Rovers declined to comment.
