I am a bit late to this thread but...
It's ridiculous how opposed people are against Evans signing when you compare it to McCormick who killed two children as a result of drink driving. Whilst Evans actions were in no way acceptable, in comparison to killing two children (whether due to carelessness or not), ending someone's life is worse.
As for his apology, I think it's too late - he can't win in this situation. Before the apology, he took flak from the media for not showing remorse and therefore he cannot sign for someone. I actually think not apologising is fair enough, as he believes he innocent and is currently going through an appeal. But now that he has 'finally' apologised, it will be used against him because he's now only just saying sorry, which in the eye of the media, should have happened upon release.
On a side note, I have no idea why sponsors need to get involved. Signing a convicted rapist (who has now served his punishment) might be controversial, however this won't have any impact on the sponsors. It's not going to tarnish their image. In fact, by coming out publicly saying they will stop sponsorship/not build a new stand etc, it's just blatantly them trying to get some good publicity out there for taking the moral standpoint.
As a Sheffield United fan, I think it's too much trouble to bother signing him, plus he's been out of football for 2.5 years. However I'm not going to pretend that if we had signed him and he did become a success, that I wouldn't be happy that we went and gave him a contract.
Patrons also left the club, people you've never heard of piping up to get some media attention in my opinion, a PR stunt for them. In the case of Charlie Webster she tweeted about how she was too nervous to say hello to Mike Tyson - a convicted rapist - and yet a month or two later she is saying we can't have (so-called) role models who are rapists play at her football club. Yet there she is getting all flustered about seeing Mike Tyson..? Hypocrite.
If Ched Evans were a top end Premier League level player, there'd be no deliberation here. He'd be signed and that would be that. Sad really.