[Devongone]

I wasn't expecting that.

Apparently we are in for Jeffrey Dahmer.

IMO that whether or not Ched was guilty I don't want to be part of the same club.

[bluepooch]

Tbh Dev I prefer Pete Sutcliffe in that postion

[Dancingwilldoit]

Club offering free tin hats and earplugs for anybody going to away games?

[Devongone]

What he did may or may not have technically constituted rape, but it was vile and it has ruined his victim's life. He made her a victim in an act in which she should have been a partner. Now in October he will force her to re-live the most frightening experience of her life again and in public.

I am all for giving people a second chance, but are we going to provide his victim with a chance to build a new life? Is he going to help her? Will his rich father-in-law step in? Is anyone at the club concerned with what is going on inside her head, or how she is going to live with this?

Matt I don't think you should stop going to games ......... I think as decent honourable (mostly) men we should stand up and campaign. First the club should offer free very prominent advertising for RAPE CRISIS around the ground. Their literature should be permanently available within the ground. The club should ensure that Ched Evans undertakes a programme of talks aimed at young men and boys about his own behaviour and the shame he hopefully now feels. The club has tersely said it will not enter into discussion on this matter. That is an admission that it cannot justify its own behaviour. We should, with the help of other clubs perhaps, create enough of a storm to force the club to justify itself.

Somewhere, at some time, Ched Evans (especially if found not to have raped the girl at his re-trial) should go back to living his life. Unfortunately he was a pretty good footballer, so that life will be in the public eye and if he scores 40 goals this season some people will see him as a hero ....... but that does not necessarily make him a danger to women in the same way that it would if he were a doctor or dentist. Semi-conscious victims don't just come along for normal people.

The reaction to this decision will be huge even though we've DISGRACEFULLY tried to bury it in The Euros on a day when England is playing. We are going to be the least popular club in England. This will be far worse than being Cheaterfield. BUT unless we ALL walk away the club won't turn a hair and ALL walking away isn't going to happen. BUT an internet and social media campaign would grow quickly. A Facebook page for instance .............

[St Charles Owl]

I suppose with all the ex-United connections from the time when Ched was sent down we should really have seen this as being a possibility but this has come out of the blue!!! I suppose technically he is free to take up his career but with a new trial being scheduled for October I cannot fathom why any club would take him on until the conclusion of the legal process. Surely he will be gone for the few weeks the trial takes, why not simply wait until after that?? Instead Chesterfield are leaving themselves wide open for some serious abuse from women's groups and bad publicity that surrounds the circus that is Ched Evans!!

[Lord Snooty]

I was feeling nice, listening to all the Jo Cox tributes on the radio as I drove home, David Cameron in particular.
Then I switch the telly on and see this.
The man is a piece of shit. I really hope you don't go through with it.

[St Charles Owl]

From what I can see it's a done deal, even seen a picture of him holding up the home shirt!! I wonder what Tomlinson think of their shirt sponsorship now?? I would imagine that DA has spoken to all the major sponsors and must have received their approval to go ahead with the signing.

[SaltergateBorn]

In the full realisation that I `m almost certainly going to be subjected to a tirade of abuse for my pains, can I put forward a point of view that differs from those already stated.

Firstly, let`s give the club a bit of credit for taking a very brave decision here. It may also be a very foolish decision; time will tell whether either or both of those descriptions apply. I may be naive, but I really don`t see any connection between the timing of the announcement and the England game; if the club really did want to 'bury' it, as Dev suggests, then surely they would have waited for a few days until the day of the referendum. That would have been the perfect day to do that.

I wasn`t on the jury at his trial, nor was I in the Court to hear the evidence - were and did any of you, by the way? - but I do know that there has been a lot of unease about the conviction which seems to be confirmed by today`s announcement that it has been quashed following the introduction of new evidence. We all know that if there is anything that our judicial system hates above all things, it is having to admit even the remote possibility that it has made a mistake. In the days of capital punishment it happily sent several people to the gallows rather than admit that possibility. That being the case, I can only think that the new evidence must be pretty powerful.

Whatever, the fact is that following today`s legal decision and in accordance with the principle of an accused being 'innocent until proven guilty', which is a basic tenet of British law, as things stand Ched Evans is innocent. That may change after the retrial, but I really can`t imagine that there wouldn`t be a clause in his contract to the effect that it is null and void if he is found guilty then. Time will tell on that one, of course.

I don`t agree with the way that he behaved and it certainly doesn`t constitute behaviour that is any way a good role model; as the father of 2 sons, I say that with some depth of feeling. BUT we don`t yet know the full facts - presumably we will after the retrial - and at the end of the day who makes heroes and role models of professional footballers? WE DO!! I can`t remember the last time I heard any footballer make himself out to be a paragon of virtue and let`s remember that they are just that - professional footballers. They`re not running for Pope or Archbishop of Canterbury.

I also take issue with assertion that he `ruined the victim`s life`; I `m struggling to get my head round that. She has had, and continues to have, the benefit of complete anonymity, which Ched Evans certainly hasn`t, and even the prosecution didn`t suggest that there was any violence used at any point, as I understand it. Let`s hear the full facts, including the new evidence, before we jump to any conclusions on that.

I`m not saying that I agree with club`s decision and certainly it makes me very uneasy, but I`m not prepared to join in with any campaigns until the thing has run its course. Undoubtedly we`ll get a load of abuse from all and sundry - all of whom know as little of the facts as any of us at this stage - but the baying of the mob is not an adequate basis for a rational discussion or decision.

[Amelia Chaffinch]

I think it's a big mistake morally. Despite that, he hasn't played a professional game since 2012. There must be much better options for you even if he was as clean as the driven snow.

[Lord Snooty]

I don't think the victim has had anonymity has she. She's had dogs abuse from Evans' friends and family and threats on social media. Just because I and you don't know her name doesn't mean she's not suffered public humiliation.
As for new evidence. I'm intrigued as to what it is. I heard enough in the original trial to know that I wouldn't want scum like that pulling on my team's shirt.