Article in today's Football League Paper

[York Street Pilgrim]

Article on page 22 reads:

Asked to describe Steve Evans in a single word, most football fans would choose one that couldn't be printed, at least without a surfeit of asterisks.

Many would wish him ill, many would wish him worse. Some fans would threaten to burn their season ticket if he came anywhere near their club.

For while some managers split opinion and others inspire contempt, few men in the history of the game have been so universally reviled as the 49-year-old manager of Crawley Town.

Partly it's his manner - outspoken, aggressive, fond of grandiose claims and arrogant boasts. He can be rude too, especially in the emotional aftermath of games.

Earlier this season, Evans angrily told the Football League Show to "go and point your camera at Terry" for no reason.

Crawley had just won 4-1 and the Terry in question was Wimbledon manager Terry Brown, who moments earlier had stuck up for Evans calling him "good as gold."

Another reason why most fans detest Evans is the incessant foul-mouthed outbursts on the touchline. Back in 2009, he was sent to the stands so many times that the FA handed out an unprecedented ten-match ban.

Yet the real reason that people hate Evans is that he cheated and, in some people's eyes, got away with it.

After an average playing career in his native Scotland was cut short by a knee injury at the age of 28, Evans had brief stints at Corby Town and Stamford before he was offered a managerial position at Southern League Boston United in 1998.

Two years later, the Pilgrims were promoted as champions and, after a further two years, beat Dagenham & Redbridge to the Conference title on goal difference.

Trouble

So far, so fairytale - but that was when the trouble started. Within weeks, the FA had found Boston guilty of lodging false contracts for players.

Basically, players were signing contracts worth a fraction of what they were being paid, with the rest coming in tax-free "expenses." Mike Marsh, the former Liverpool midfielder, was contracted to £100 per week when he was actually receiving £1,000. In total, the taxman was done over to the tune of £245,000.

Furthermore, Evans and the club's owner at the time, Pat Malkinson, were both found guilty by the FA of having "facilitated a payment of £8,000 to a witness to attempt to mislead, impede and frustrate" the FA's enquiry.

Malkinson was fined £5,250 and suspended from football for 13 months. Evans was fined £8,000 and suspended from football for 20 months. Yet Boston, to the fury of Dagenham fans and the wider football world, were allowed to stay up.

Though Evans was later convicted of defrauding the public purse and received a one-year suspended sentence in a criminal court (Malkinson was sent down for two years), it was Boston's survival - and the fact that Evans returned as manager after suspension - that ensured he would never be forgiven.

Of course, it didn't help that his next stop was Crawley, a club who last year became the Manchester City of Non-League and stormed into the League under the banner of "Project Promotion."

So, is Evans just an out-and-out baddie? Certainly he has not been humbled by his mistakes. He remains a master of football's darker arts, from manipulating the media to unsettling transfter targets or publicly denigrating rivals (ask Nigel Clough, a constant target). Myriad are the tales of his sharp practive.

Nor is he too bothered by his reputation. "People can say what they want - it makes no difference to me" he has said. "I made a mistake and I was rightly punished for it.

Apologised

"But that was a decade ago. I apologised then. I'm not going to apologise for the rest of my life."

Evans will always be hatwed. But the truth is, there are two Steve Evanses.

When it comes to football, he can be spiteful and obnoxious. But, as Brown alluded to, away from the pitch he can be good company, and generous too.

In 2008, the parents of a little girl with leukaemia asked for tickets to watch Crawley play. Evans - whose own daughter has endured a long battle with the disease - called them back and invited the whole family for a tour of the stadium.

He then spent the day with them, lifting the girl's spirits with tales of his daughter's successful fight. Her family got the best seats in the house.

And however dubious his first triumph, last year's romp to glory with the Red Devils proved that if Evans has the tools, he will bring success.

"Steve's track record deserves a lot of respect in my eyes", says Simon Rusk, a player for Evans at both Boston and Crawley. "He signs good players and he signs winners.

"And as fiery and aggressive as he is, I think it's telling that a lot of players re-sign for him. Me, Jamie Cook, Jon-Paul Pittman, Simon Weatherstone - we've all played for him a couple of times.

"He wants to win, and he wants to win so much that it can be impossible to keep his emotions inside.

"God knows how many rows I've had with him, but no matter what happens, I've never seen him hold a real grudge. He wants players to be as passionate as he is and, if you are, he'll forgive anything.

"Fans will always get on his back, but that's because he's winning. Personally, I think he'd hate to be a manager that nobody talked about."

Reasonable article, but:-

• What format did Evans' apology take? Why don't I remember it? Can anyone provide a link to it?
  
  
• I wouldn't dispute that Evans does sign good players and he does sign winners. But the article fails to mention the fact that he has never achieved success without throwing money around. Nor will he.
  

It's taken ages to type this, so please add some views!

[noughtyforties]

Utter filth and not worth the paper its written on.

And I hope Pat Malkinson and his family sue the journalist.......I don't remember a custodial sentence.

[Gus]

When Ruskie was at York, he came back as a "Legend" and I asked him what he thought of Evans and his reply was totally negative towards the cnut. He said he was pleased to be away from him.

Next thing he signed again for the cheat!!!!

People say the strangest things.

[kingofnaves]

It was the money Gus I guess!