Steve Evans and Stevenage | Vital Football

Steve Evans and Stevenage

daveycrocket

daveycrocket

Vital Squad Member
Is he a brilliant manager or just lucky? Stevenage are second in the league having won 5 drawn 1 and lost just once.
They were tipped to struggle, even the bookies had them as one of the favourites to go down in the pre season betting.
TBF he got us two top 10 finishes in league one before the dreaded Covid and massive injury crisis struck.
I can't work it out, thoughts anyone?
 
daveycrocket said:
Is he a brilliant manager or just lucky? Stevenage are second in the league having won 5 drawn 1 and lost just once.
They were tipped to struggle, even the bookies had them as one of the favourites to go down in the pre season betting.
TBF he got us two top 10 finishes in league one before the dreaded Covid and massive injury crisis struck.
I can't work it out, thoughts anyone?
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bollockings.

Being shouted at/ threatened with cleaning the bogs with your toothbrush/ never playing again/ training with the local Sunday league side/ getting grassed up to your mum/ broken down like that Ant does in celebrity SAS (some of these may be made up) works for a period.

Short, sharp, shock treatment.

The effect wears off after a while though
 
His track record is decent. As you said his first two years with us was decent. It all blows up in the end as it did with us.
 
He’s had a good budget at Stevenage. On deadline day he made lots of comments about thanking their Chairman for being so supportive, they have kept their better players despite good offers from clubs for them, and signed the majority of targets he had.
It was a real marked contrast to the way he used to talk about Scally.
https://twitter.com/x/status/1565445924750594048

https://twitter.com/x/status/1565445930400235523

https://twitter.com/x/status/1565445933487235073

https://twitter.com/x/status/1565445940110041089
 
I think SE was similarly very complimentary about PS in his first year or so. So much that some fans said he was speaking b/s just to please him and was a puppet.

Love that he’s said “a brilliant summer with 13 new signings ”.

He’d have had more new signings at ours 😁

As for the op question. No doubt with a budget he is a good manager and has done very well at multiple teams, us included.

But for whatever reason, he seems to lose interest and can’t help but leave a mountain of angst and destruction in his wake. Agree with Trashy that had his contract run out at the end of season 2, we’d have parted ways and remembered him very fondly.
 
Before he came to us I thought he's a fat Scottish git,
When he was our manager I thought he's still a fat Scottish git,
And now he's gone he's still a fat Scottish git.
 
I believe that when Stevenage first expressed an interest in him and we turned them down, it was because they had been taken over by new money. Hence his budget would have been much better than ours.

Although he managed two 10th places with us, that did include at least one spell of 6 or 7 consecutive defeats, so things can turn pretty quickly with him in charge.

It does seem that Luke Norris still gets a regular game, though, so maybe Evans has got his lazy ass moving. Maybe the fear factor was what was needed with him.
 
nibbles said:
I warmed to him. Despite it always being obvious he was a gunt, it was also clear he put a lot of time and effort into the role.

However, after literally giving up last season I now dislike him more than before he joined.
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Worth remembering that he wanted to leave earlier to join stevenage but was blocked by scally.

Who knows why but at that stage their relationship was probably damaged beyond repair. Had he gone then who knows how the season would have ended.

Might be a while before another gillingham manager takes us to top ten in league one. Hes a far more successful manager than people give him credit for - this season proving that.

It suits peoples arguments to paint him as the bad guy but he wasn't the root cause of the issues at Gillingham. His connection with the fan base during lockdown was far better than anything the broader club did.
 
markinkent said:
Worth remembering that he wanted to leave earlier to join stevenage but was blocked by scally.
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He clearly wanted out long before the Stevenage enquiry. The official one, anyway.

Why did they fall out? Evans couldn’t have the funds to buy the players he wanted. Perhaps he would have got them were it not for Covid. Unlikely probably.

My reports from inside the club *taps nose* paint a very poor picture of what was going on and correlate with comments since from Lovell and Scally (which of course are biased)

No doubting Evans’ abilities and I’ve no argument for him being of dubious character to support.

Evans’ connection with the fanbase was based on his ability to say what he thought would go down well. He’d make a great politician.
 
I think he had the fans on side initially but when he actually downed tools, he lost us completely.
Some of the choices he made were ludicrous.
As soon as he started playing players out of position to make a point, I knew he was off.
He basically threw in the towel.
Scally should have allowed him to go to Stevenage when they inquired.
That would have given his replacement a fighting chance.
Scally hung out for compo.
It’s Steve Evans ffs, not Pep.
Big mistake by Scally.
 
Very good a splashing the cash and instilling a culture of fear in the players. As others have said it invariably starts of well but pretty well always ends in tears. I think he would find it very hard without his sidekick Raynor to hold the aggressive line.
Glad he's gone. Had to enjoy the mid table finishes through gritted teeth.
 
daveycrocket said:
Is he a brilliant manager or just lucky? Stevenage are second in the league having won 5 drawn 1 and lost just once.
They were tipped to struggle, even the bookies had them as one of the favourites to go down in the pre season betting.
TBF he got us two top 10 finishes in league one before the dreaded Covid and massive injury crisis struck.
I can't work it out, thoughts anyone?
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If he was an excellent manager, I think he'd stay longer at clubs, do better longer term at clubs and leave a legacy. Pretty much everywhere he's been, he's left after a couple of seasons - often under a cloud - and often leaving the team in a mess. As pointed out, he's a man to come in and kick people up the arse and get an instant reaction, but his effect seems to wain after a season or two - very similar to Mad Dog did for us too.
 
You might not like his methods but I maintain he is effective at what he does, especially at the 4th tier, he has the promotions to back it up. His 2 10th places with us can also be considered as a success, especially if the budget restrictions are to be believed.

I would also suggest he has the ability to improve players, Big V, Connor O and Jack Tucker all improved under him
 
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Lozzy-Hove_Gill said:
I would also suggest he has the ability to improve players, Big V, Connor ) and Jack Tucker all improved under him
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It's all about opinions but extensive coaching IMO is what he does NOT do.

He has a certain eye for a player but that is more 50/50. For every Big V (who had just got Northampton promoted) there is a Maghoma (who conceivably earned more). For every Jordan Graham there is a Tyreke Johnson. On loan, for every Robbie Cundy there is a Declan Drysdale.

I always thought Ogilvie was a good player and he was loaned to us first time before SE arrived so the club would have recommended him to SE.

As for Jack Tucker, I suspect he does not hoof the ball as much with MK and who knows whether his football intelligence would have made him naturally progress, with or without SE. No other youth products kicked on under SE so I suspect he had little interest, knowing how short his effect always is.
 
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GillsBluenose said:
It's all about opinions but extensive coaching IMO is what he does NOT do.

He has a certain eye for a player but that is more 50/50. For every Big V (who had just got Northampton promoted) there is a Maghoma (who conceivably earned more). For every Jordan Graham there is a Tyreke Johnson. On loan, for every Robbie Cundy there is a Declan Drysdale.

I always thought Ogilvie was a good player and he was loaned to us first time before SE arrived so the club would have recommended him to SE.

As for Jack Tucker, I suspect he does not hoof the ball as much with MK and who knows whether his football intelligence would have made him naturally progress, with or without SE. No other youth products kicked on under SE so I suspect he had little interest, knowing how short his effect always is.
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It could be argued that Harvey Lintott has kick on, albeit with another club and it could be argued that Sithole kicked by signing for a club higher up the football pyramid
 
Im not his agent so not defending him but if he is such a bad manager of players why do so many sign for him again and again ?

Aaron Chapman a prime example. Wouldn't be surprised if danny lloyd ends up there if he gets fit.

Strange one that.
 
markinkent said:
Im not his agent so not defending him but if he is such a bad manager of players why do so many sign for him again and again ?
Aaron Chapman a prime example. Wouldn't be surprised if danny lloyd ends up there if he gets fit.
Strange one that.
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Yes, it is, particularly as when I last checked Chapman was getting spinters in his arse on the bench again whereas he might have been first choice with us. I am more than happy with Morris, though.

I can see how players might think Evans' team talks could be inspiring but maybe they also know that he can be persuasive enough with chairmen to get them better, or 2 year, deals and agents fees paid (Ehmer and Lee) and a lucrative contract to do nothing (Maghoma)
 
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