Glasgow MSP and Clyde fan condemns club for re-signing David Goodwillie

Goodwillie, who spent a successful spell at the Cumbernauld club between 2017 and January 2022, was ruled to be a rapist in a civil case in 2017.

He has now rejoined his former side on loan from Raith Rovers, after less than two months away from the Bully Wee.

The striker only joined Raith in January, but the Fife club announced he would not play for them following a huge backlash from fans, club officials, politicians - including First Minister Nicola Sturgeon - and the public.

Clyde backlash

After it was announced on Tuesday that Goodwillie had re-signed with Clyde, the club came under fire, including from a Glasgow MSP.

As a lifelong Clyde supporter, Glasgow Shettleston MSP John Mason was vocal about his initial signing in 2017 and, in protest, refused to attend for the remainder of the season.

Mr Mason commented: “I was incredibly disappointed when I heard that David Goodwillie was to sign for Clyde for a second time.

“In 2017 I stated publicly that I was against the signing. A number of other long-standing fans have never returned to the Club. At that time I stopped going to games for the rest of that season and in a similar way I will not attend any more Clyde games this season.

“However, in many ways I think it is actually worse to sign him for a second time. We all make mistakes and the Clyde board made a mistake in 2017. However, to make the same mistake a second time is worse than disappointing. After all the furore when he signed for Raith and the anger from many women and others who felt that violence against women was being downplayed, for Clyde to so openly and quickly re-sign him is really inexcusable.

“I know that the majority of Clyde fans (and probably Raith fans) would happily have him as a player. But the boards of both clubs needed to take the wider issues into account and not just whether he might score a few goals for their teams.

“Anyway, I am really angry and disappointed right now and will reflect on what other steps I might take over the next few days.”