If Massimo Cellino gets his way, which he undoubtedly usually does, Steve Evans’ tenure at Elland Road is likely at an end, something that former Leeds United striker and BBC Radio Leeds ‘colour’ commentator alluded to in his pre-match commentary before the disappointing 2-1 loss to Rotherham on Saturday.
Evans hasn’t done a bad job, then again he hasn’t done an exceptionally great job in charge of Leeds United – fair to middling would be a good way of summing up his efforts. However, despite Cellino likely to be getting rid of him, it appears that his services might be in demand elsewhere in the Championship according to a report in the Yorkshire Evening Post.
A run of three successive wins, sandwiched by two four goal losses at the hands of Brighton (4-0) and Huddersfield (4-1) had already weakened his claims for an extended contract to his current short-term deal that runs out at the tail end of June. This was further compounded by a 2-1 loss at former side Rotherham at the weekend.
After the Brighton loss, where Leeds’ defence crumbled to catastrophe in 20 first half minutes, Evans’ position at Elland Road came under more intense scrutiny, but the run of three successive wins – the first time Leeds had put a run like that together in over a year – seemingly led opinion in another direction. This was swiftly reversed with the 4-1 loss at home to Huddersfield Town when Leeds were undone in the space of eight second-half minutes.
However, with eight games left in Leeds United’s season, the YEP report that, “it emerged over the weekend that an unnamed team in the Championship had already floated the idea of taking him on next term.” When pressed on the issue, Evans sidestepped initial questioning, pointing out the manne rof the loss that he had just suffered at the hands of former club Rotherham.
However, when pressed on the issue of whether another Championship club had made an approach, Evans did say that: “I’ve not had any phone calls. The people who look after me, what they’ve had is not for me to be talking about because I want to be the Leeds United head coach.”
There are currently two Championship sides without a manager in 17th-placed Nottingham Forest and basement side Bolton. If the approach is from either of these two sides, it’s unlikely that Evans would want to take on a Bolton job with a team the bookmakers have as 1/1000 favourites to make the drop into League One.
