Raith Rovers’ newest employee has resigned from her “dream job” over the signing of David Goodwillie.
Marie Penman was less than a month into her tenure as the Kirkcaldy club’s first ever Employability Project Delivery Officer.
A lifelong Rovers supporter and women’s rights campaigner, her job was to teach employability skills to 18 to 24-year-olds using funding from the Department for Work and Pensions.
But she said her position had been made untenable when Rovers announced they were signing the former Clyde striker.
And she quit in disgust, saying: “What a message to send out.”
Marie said she had been left devastated by Rovers’ decision.
“I’m gutted,” she said. “I can’t believe they’ve done this.
“And I can’t believe I’ve been forced to resign from my dream job.”
Marie is a women’s rights campaigner
Marie, a former journalism lecturer at Fife College, is well known in Kirkcaldy.
She is a former SNP councillor and has been outspoken on women’s rights in the past.
She helped form women’s group Women Together in Fife.
And in 2018, she said men who wolf whistle at females in the street should be fined.
Marie also led an unsuccessful protest against a bid to open a strip club in Kirkcaldy town centre in 2018.
She said there was no way she could continue in her job once she heard the news about Goodwillie.
“I just felt sick,” she said.
“My position was untenable, especially given the subjects I’ve spoken out about in the past.
“How did the club think this was a good thing to do?”
List of resignations from Raith Rovers
Marie is the latest in a line of people to cut ties with Raith Rovers in the wake of their controversial signing.
Crime writer Val McDermid ended her lifelong support of the club but revealed the former north stand would continue to bear her name.
Former Raith chairman Bill Clark has stepped down from the board, along with fellow director Andrew Mill.
And women’s captain Tyler Rattray has also quit.
A full list of resignations can be found here.
