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Sheffield United boss Nigel Clough has said that the League One club are not close to giving convicted rapist Ched Evans a contract. BBC Sport revealed on Tuesday that Evans would be training with his former club after being freed last month after serving two-and- a-half years for rape.

Three patrons of the club have since resigned in protest. “It’s nowhere near been decided that we’ll sign him,” Clough said.

“How you can sign a player that hasn’t played football for two years and seven months; I don’t think anyone’s in a position to do that.

He added: “Believe it or not it isn’t the top of our priorities. We’ve four games in 10 days. Those games will determine if we stay in two cup competitions and whether we get back in the top six in the league. Those are our priorities.”

Campaign groups have criticised the decision to allow Evans to train with the club, while TV presenter Charlie Webster announced on Tuesday evening she was standing down as a patron, saying the club had failed to acknowledge the “extremity” of Evans’s crime.

Her announcement was followed by the resignations of two more patrons – 1960s pop star Dave Berry and school food and health adviser Lindsay Graham. Graham said she was standing down for “personal” reasons.

And Sheffield Central MP Paul Blomfield has written an open letter to Sheffield United’s co-chairmen Kevin McCabe and Jim Phipps urging the club to reconsider the decision to allow Evans to train with the squad. He said the club’s move sent “a disturbing message to young people and victims of sexual violence”.

Evans, who maintains his innocence, has scored 59 goals in 167 appearances during spells with Manchester City, Norwich City and Sheffield United. He was sentenced to five years in April 2012 for raping a 19-year-old woman in a hotel room in May 2011, having been found guilty by a jury at Caernarfon Crown Court. At his trial he admitted having sex with the woman but denied rape.

The Wales international was released from prison in October after serving half of his sentence. He has not offered any apology to his victim.

An inquiry into his conviction is to be fast-tracked by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the body which examines potential miscarriages of justice. — BBC Sport