McGlynn is urging fans to help mend the rift and back Raith at Parkhead

AREPENTANT John McGlynn has urged the Raith Rovers fans to join the healing process and travel in numbers for this afternoon’s Scottish Cup tie at Celtic. Shaken by the furious reaction to his decision to sign striker David Goodwillie on transfer deadline day, the Stark’s Park boss broke his silence to apologise on Thursday.

McGlynn’s insists his decision had been motivated by the player’s proven goalscoring ability — and bolstered by the fact Goodwillie had been allowed to play for Clyde without fuss in the four years following the civil-court verdict that saw him ordered to pay damages to rape victim Denise Clair.

The backlash saw sponsor Val McDermid publicly cancel future investment and then put her name to the club’s women’s team after it disowned the Rovers badge, all of which clearly shook McGlynn.

Negotiations are ongoing to terminate Goodwillie’s contract and he will not play for the club again. With no scope to bring in a new striker of even a fraction of the former Scotland player’s quality, McGlynn (below) has a goalscoring problem to address but admits the priority is building bridges.

Raith have already visited Celtic once this season in the League Cup on a night when no away fans were permitted due to Covid regulations.

The attendance for the club’s Championship fixture against Hamilton last weekend was down by about 500 but McGlynn hopes as many supporters as possible decide to make the journey to Glasgow.

‘That would be an enormous help,’ he said. ‘I still believe there is a lot of support out there in Kirkcaldy and it would help the guys who have done nothing wrong and have to play their football at Celtic Park.

‘To have our small section full would be massive for them. The players definitely need that support and we would encourage all our fans to recognise that we’ve held our hands up and now we get back to what we are supposed to be doing — playing football.

‘Although it’s a big task, Parkhead is a great place to go and play. We have done very well to get to the stage in the Scottish Cup where we have drawn Celtic.

‘There were 20,000 there the last time and I would probably expect about 50,000 this time because Celtic are absolutely flying and I’m sure their fans will want to come out.

‘We want our fans to be a big part of that. Unfortunately, they didn’t get the chance to be there in the Premier Sports

Cup but they are getting the opportunity now and it would be great to see a big Raith Rovers following.’

McGlynn’s team lost 3-0 on their previous visit in September but admits the Premiership leaders are much stronger five months down the line.

The January acquisitions of Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate, Yosuke Ideguchi and Matt O’Riley have added depth and variety to Ange Postecoglou’s squad and McGlynn has been impressed by what he has seen when viewing footage of the recent victories over Rangers, Motherwell and Aberdeen.

And he would encourage the Celtic support to enjoy their new heroes while they can as interest in their performances is inevitable.

He continued: ‘They have made some tremendous signings. Ange knows that Japanese market and he’s used it incredibly well to get these kind of players in for not a lot of money.

‘Celtic fans won’t enjoy me saying this but these guys are going to go for big money very shortly because they are so good.

‘They have opened up a number of people’s eyes who will probably try to do the same thing because they are top-class players.

‘The are doing the exact same things as they did earlier in the season but they are doing it even better. They do the same things everywhere they go. They don’t change.

‘At Celtic Park, there’s a perfect surface and a big pitch. It’s a little bit more difficult when playing at Motherwell.

‘Pittodrie in the wind should be a leveller to some extent but they were well ahead there until Aberdeen changed their formation, got close to Celtic and made it 2-2. But Celtic still found a way to win.

‘And I’m sure Giovanni van Bronckhorst had a plan to stop them when Rangers went to Parkhead. As we saw, it’s all very well having a plan — but it’s still a big task to stop them.’

Even if things don’t go well today, McGlynn can console himself with the reaction his players showed in the wake of that Parkhead defeat, embarking on a 15-game unbeaten run that has them challenging for a play-off spot. ‘We took an awful lot of positives from that night,’ he continued. ‘We could certainly do with going on another 15-game unbeaten run, if there are that many games to go. We are sitting in fourth position and the bottom five teams are going to take points off the top five.

‘There’s nothing between the teams in any games in the Championship. We have to hang in there and hope to get a run of games at the end of the season that can get us up.

‘Dundee weren’t sitting any higher than us at this time last year. They got a good run at the end of the season, got through the play-offs and are now plying their trade in the Premiership.

‘So, as far as I’m concerned, there is a lot to play for.’