Latics in the firing line

FOOTBALLING LIFELINE . . . Ched Evans’ route back into the game has been sanctioned by Athletic chairman Simon Corney.

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Barry Owen slipped quietly out of the main reception doors at around 4.30pm on Tuesday afternoon and walked past the entire waiting media corps to his car.

Not one question was fired his way. Nobody seemed to recognise him. Given that Owen is the Trust

chairman, the fans’ representative on the board and someone instrumental in the move for Ched Evans, it was an extraordinary moment, given the massive glare of publicity for the club this week.

Evans won’t get off so lightly when he makes his debut. Opposition fans will be merciless and a few Athletic supporters will be tempted to jeer too.

The player’s expected signing has proven to be every bit as divisive as that of Lee Hughes eight years ago. Some fans have said they will never attend Athletic matches again. Others support the move for a player once considered worth £3million.

Here, we outline some of the main points Athletic will have had to consider in arguably the most controversial week in the club’s history.

Ched Evans has served his time in the justice system. Technically he hasn’t quite: he is on license halfway through a five-year jail sentence, which essentially means reintegration into the outside world — one in which a football club is his natural place of work.

Should he be punished twice to satisfy some vague notion of moral values being impinged?

Evans failed society with his crime. Society has already taken its rightful revenge. A line now has to be drawn and a new start forged, Athletic feel.


SPONSORSHIP


For a club that attracts paltry crowds, commercial money from any source is invaluable. To lose sponsors is potentially catastrophic.

The lengthy talks that have taken place behind the Evans saga have been partly designed to assuage

concerns that the player is commercial poison. Verlin, Mecca Bingo, Nando’s and insurance company NMU are pulling out, but the main sponsorship with Sports Direct remains intact. Athletic clearly believe they can cope.


FOOTBALLING NECESSITY


Though the victim of Evans’ crime has reportedly had to move home several times and continues to suffer Evans gets back to relative normality.

It could be considered crass to merely examine the striker’s potential impact on the field, but it is a factor. If he had no pedigree, this situation wouldn’t have arisen.

Athletic needs goals and Evans provides them - or at least he used to when as a free man three years ago he scored 35 times in 42 games for Sheffield United.

Lee Johnson’s side has hit only one goal in the last four outings. So Evans could be a valuable asset to the side - even if many fans will be watching with gritted teeth.


THE CLUB’S IMAGE


First Lee Hughes and now Ched Evans: Athletic seems to be the natural home of the out-of-jail striker.

For a club with a homely image, that is arguably a major blow. It offers outsiders the chance to fling mud at a proud club — and how it has stuck this week.

It would be natural for supporters to feel hurt at their club’s reputation being so savaged by outsiders.

But with Owen keen to provide a home for rehabilitation, he and chairman Simon Corney view the opportunity they provide — in the unconnected words of Lee Johnson earlier this season, the club is a “home for the unloved” — as an influence for good.


THE STORM


This is big; epic even, and the scale of the outrage and debate have taken the club by surprise.

Signatures on an online petition urging Athletic not to sign Evans reached a number that yesterday outstripped the number of people - 63,719 - who have seen Athletic’s home games this season.

Loose Women, David Cameron, Katie Hopkins: they have all had their say.

When the news crews look elsewhere for a tale, the vitriol directed at Evans and the club as a whole will no doubt continue. Athletic have taken the calculation that they can ride it out.

Time will tell if that is wise.