[Devongone]

Yes Snoots the quashed verdict puts the girl through it all again. Were he a defendant saying he wasn't even there and no it wasn't him I could understand that ......... but his contention is apparently going to be that it somehow slips within the definition of consensual (at least in his mind) seems to teeter along a dividing line between the criminal and the merely extraordinarily vile. I know I don't have to like our centre forward, but this is a hard one to take. I must say though that the conclusion of the original trial that Evans was a rapist, whereas his Port Vale friend had engaged in consensual sex, despite his having commissioned Evans' act knowing the girl's ability to say yes or no was minimal, didn't seem much like justice either.

I don't know what the new evidence that prompted the re-trial will be, but I hope our Chief Executive and Chairman will have the guts to attend court throughout, because he is now our player. He did something vile, but he doesn't have to be friendless all his life. If we want him on the pitch we should be with him in the courtroom.

It might seem an empty gesture but we have a posh new stadium - we could offer free meeting and conference space to any women's group campaigning on behalf of victims of rape, sexual or any other form of violence. Why? To show we haven't only tried to grab the bargain of the century but we are part of the human race.

We also have to take into account he might not even have made the team by October .......

Thanks for the Happy Birthday wishes. Nobody expects to be a Beatles song.