Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor has apologised for comments he made which appeared to compare the Ched Evans case with the Hillsborough disaster.
The 70-year-old, who has been in his position at the top of English football's trade union body since 1981, risked causing anger by suggesting that convicted rapist Evans should be allowed to return to the sport having maintained his innocence.
Taylor likened the Welshman's guilty plea to the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, when supporters were originally blamed for events.
In the comments made last night, he said: "He wouldn't have been the first person to be found guilty, maintained their innocence and been proved right. We know what happened with Hillsborough.
"It's now unravelling and very different to how it was portrayed at the time - indeed by the police at the time."
However, Taylor has now backtracked on these suggestions, telling BBC Sport: "The last thing I intended to do was to upset anybody connected to the Hillsborough case."
In an interview with talkSPORT, he added: "If any of the Hillsborough support group families are offended I'm extremely sorry and I apologise for that. But I hope they understand the point I was trying to make."
Evans was released from prison in October last year having served half of his five-year sentence for raping a woman in a North Wales hotel in 2011.
