Sheffield United has this evening revoked its offer to allow convicted rapist Ched Evans to use the club's training facilities.
Campaigners against sexual violence had criticised the club for allowing the 25-year-old to regain his fitness following his release from prison where he served half of a five-year term.
The move prompted a patron of the club to resign and Olympian Jessica Ennis-Hill announced that she wanted her name removed from a stand at the Bramall Lane staduim if the club re-signed the former player.
Evans was jailed in April 2012 for raping a woman in a hotel room in Rhyl, North Wales.
The Welsh striker denied rape, saying the sex was consensual, but he was found guilty by a jury at Caernarfon Crown Court.
In a statement on its website tonight, Sheffield United said that "after ongoing and extensive deliberation", it had decided to "retract the opportunity for its former player, Ched Evans, to use the Club’s facilities for training purposes, as was previous intended".
The club said it recognised that a number of its supports will be disappointed with the decision.
The statement added that the club initially accepted a request from the PFA for Evans to be able to train, but "the reaction to this has been at an intensity that could not have been anticipated".
It said: "Sheffield United will not be used to promote the view that professional footballers should be treated differently, as has been the want of certain sections of the media and various commentators".
The statement said the club condemns rape and violence of any kind against women.
It said Evans is pursuing "legal recourse via the Criminal Cases Review Commission in the determination he has to clear his name. We trust that he will be afforded a fair hearing".
