Scottish football club Raith Rovers said Thursday that a player found by a civil court to have raped a woman will not play for the team after an outcry over his controversial signing.

The recruitment of forward Goodwillie, 32, who has played for Former Blackburn and Aberdeen, by the second-tier Championship side on Monday, sparked a fierce backlash.

Former British prime minister Gordon Brown, a Raith fan, weighed in, said he "cannot support this signing" and the captain of the club's women's team quit in protest.

Bestselling author Val McDermid, whose name is on the club's shirts and one of their stands, withdrew her support and sponsorship.

At a civil case in Edinburgh in 2017, Goodwillie and his former Dundee United team-mate, David Robertson, were judged to have raped a woman and were ordered to pay her damages of £100,000 ($136,000).

No criminal charges were brought against either of them.

Raith had initially defended the decision to sign Goodwillie by saying it was a "football-related decision" in their push for promotion to the Scottish Premiership.

But in a statement on Thursday, the club's chairman, John Sim, admitted: "We got it wrong."

"Over the past couple of days we listened carefully to the fans who have got in touch and I'm very grateful for their honesty," he said.

"As chairman, as a board and as a management team, we have all learned a hard but valuable lesson.

"This very unfortunate episode is something that we all bitterly regret and we are now wholly committed to making things right."

Sim confirmed Goodwillie would not be selected and talks would be held over his contractual position.

McDermid tweeted: "It's a victory of sorts for the hundreds of people who make the club, who were appalled at the board's original decision and who were not afraid to speak out.

"But it's just the first step on a long road back."