Steve Evans was never known for his tact at any club that he’s managed at, it was this that allowed him to take over the reins at former club Leeds United. It also served him well in his first presser for new club Peterborough as reported by the Peterborough Telegraph.
Steve Evans arrived at Elland Road with his wearing of beach gear and an oversize sombrero after keeping Rotherham in the Championship fresh in the minds of Leeds United fans. Not the most forgiving of fans, a segment of the Whites’ support met Evans head on – the type of challenge that he relishes.
Evans stabilised what had been a chaotic switching of management at Elland Road under former owner Massimo Cellino, with him (Evans) lasting the longest of any head coach under sole Cellino ownership of the club. This came to an end after Evans was left dangling by the madcap Italian before the appointment of Garry Monk was made.
Evans then moved on to League Two side Mansfield Town, guiding them to 5th in the table before announcing his resignation on Tuesday of this week. A surprising move seen by some transpired to be due to the fact that he was to accept the position of manager/head coach at Peterborough – something that was confirmed yesterday.
His ebullience and belligerent nature was clear for all to see during his first Peterborough presser, with Evans in fine fettle for the gathered press. Evans is a six-time promotion winner with Boston United, Crawley Town and Rotherham United, and he carried this ethos over to his presser. Speaking of chairman Darragh McAnthony’s agenda for going up Evans said, “The chairman wants promotion this season and I want to deliver it for him. And I tell you this much, if we make the play-offs we will win them.”
Evans also mentioned that he’d been offered what he calls his ‘dream job’ on other occasions but the timing wasn’t right. He also touched on the possibility of not going up, saying of this possibility, “If we don’t get up then some ‘Steve Evans-type’ players will be coming here in the summer.”
However, Evans takes over a side with some standout players in it, players that will be the spearheads for a serious tilt at promotion to the Championship. These include leading goalscorer Jack Marriott (21 goals/three assists) and prolific midfielder Marcus Maddison (five goals/12 assists).
The genial Evans also spoke about just how he came to be at Peterborough on such a quick turnaround from tendering his resignation at Mansfield on Tuesday, to his appointment at London Road on Wednesday. On this he simply stated, “My arrival at Posh happened quickly. I decided to leave Mansfield to pursue an opportunity outside of the UK. It’s something that’s been available to me for a few years.“I rang Barry Fry (Posh director of football) for tickets to watch the game against Walsall and he asked me if I’d be interested in working here. Five minutes later the chairman was on the phone.”
Evans’ first game in charge of Posh will be an away trip to Shrewsbury on Saturday should the tie beat the weather conditions of this cold snap brought by the so-called ‘Beast from the East’.
