Allan Evans - Best and Worst

[Chico Hamilton III]

Evans was the subject of the Sunday Times' "Best and Worst" column yesterday. Can't post the link because you have to subscribe.

Some interesting stuff though - He slated McNeill, rated Taylor for reviving his career, raved over Saunders, disliked Ellis.

Nice photo of him holding the European Cup with Mortimer.

European Cup winner, championship winner, now a driving instructor in Cornwall. Imagine John Terry doing that? no chance - he's never going to win the European Cup.....

[Villan For Life]

Allan Evans is one of my all time favourite Villa players. He was like a rock at times and during the relegation season of 86/87 he was a shining light in a sea of crap.

His partnership with Ken McNaught was the cornerstone of our championship and euro cup successes. Always gave all he had and always seemed to be a nice bloke.

[London Villan]

Used to take a great penalty too. Centre-halves taking penalties... you don't see that any more.

[Mister E]

Chico - I read this and pointed out to my incredulous nephew that "back in the day" European Cup winners did not earn megabucks, and how down to earth it was that someone who had reached the pinnacle of his profession is now a driving instructor.
Great bloke anda  fantastic striker-turned-centreback.

[Whiney MacWhineface]

In the days when you could just wander around Bodymoor more or less at will, me, the wife and mother-in-law (!) went up there one day, taking pics and getting autographs.

When we compared signatures, mother-in-law presented one scrawl I didn't recognise. When I asked her who it was, she said she'd wandered up to this bloke who said to her "You don't want my autograph love - I'm no-one". It was Allan Evans and we'd just signed him from Dunfirmline - I'm pretty sure he was both centre-half and centre-forward for them.

[lennythekad]

You're right mate. He was mainly a striker for Dunfermline. Came on as sub against Barca in one of his first games for us and played up front.
Although he wore the number four shirt in virtually all his games for us, the records show he did play the occasional game up front, presumably to cover for injuries to our strikers. His no. 4 slot was filled by John Gregory on several occasions when this happened.
I've got to say, he's probably my number one Villa player in my lifetime.

[Pat McMahon]

You're right mate. He was mainly a striker for Dunfermline. Came on as sub against Barca in one of his first games for us and played up front.
Although he wore the number four shirt in virtually all his games for us, the records show he did play the occasional game up front, presumably to cover for injuries to our strikers. His no. 4 slot was filled by John Gregory on several occasions when this happened.
I've got to say, he's probably my number one Villa player in my lifetime.

Lenny,

I agree completely with you, a really cracking player. And if my memory serves me right he helped cause chaos when he came on up front against Barcelona and allowed us to claw back a 2 goal deficit in the last few minutes of the first leg. Does anybody remember him headbutting Tommy Hutchison at Coventry in the late 70s and just walking off, not even bothering to wait for the ref to come over and produce the card / notebook? And what about that blistering winner at the Blues in October 1980 to win the game with 5 minutes to go?

I remember that horrible season when we went down in 1986-7 and seeing us play like tripe at QPR. I was in that congested little standing away end, with a few young Villa fans singing "Allan Evans, Allan Evans, we don't want you any more" and feeling truly embarrassed.

[Whiney MacWhineface]

Quite apart from the going down business, it was very sad to see Evans and Gary Williams reduced to such terrible form (though converting to right back didn't do the latter any favours).

[Chico Hamilton III]

And what about that blistering winner at the Blues in October 1980 to win the game with 5 minutes to go?

Evans mentioned that in the article yesterday - said it was his finest goal.

You're up late, Pat. Shit the bed again?

[Chris Smith]

I loved Allan Evans, great player and hard as nails.

[Astral Weeks]

I had the pleasure of meeting Allan once at a reception, then sitting opposite him at dinner afterwards. A really first class, genuinely nice bloke, with no "I'm a footballer, me" attitude. He didn't drink alcohol at all, said he just didn't like the taste.

I met Des Bremner at the same occasion, and formed the same opinion of him.

[Pat McMahon]

And what about that blistering winner at the Blues in October 1980 to win the game with 5 minutes to go?

Evans mentioned that in the article yesterday - said it was his finest goal.

You're up late, Pat. Shit the bed again?

It's 7.30pm. Ling Ling let's me stay up till 8 on a weekday.

[Chico Hamilton III]

hard as nails.

still looks like he's maintained his fighting weight -looked lean in the photo.

He Still plays 5-aside as well.

Imagine running into Allan Evans in a 5-aside game? a concrete wall would be softer

[Duncan Shaw]

I too thoroughly enjoyed reading this yesterday and am another to say how much I liked him as a player.
That goal at the Sty was wonderful, didn't he get one in the 3-0 vs Boro too, when we all thought we'd won the league?
Funny that he said he best moment was getting to the Big Cup final (winning the semi) and not acutally winning it!

[Chico Hamilton III]

Here's the full interview:

What is the best moment of your career?

Winning the semi-final of the 1982 European Cup with Aston Villa against Anderlecht. I got more thrills from that than winning the final against Bayern Munich. The achievement of getting to the final was fantastic for the club. We won 1-0 at home and drew 0-0 away and, when we qualified, I had goose-bumps down my arms and the hair on my neck was standing up. We were not regarded as one of the major sides. Even when we won the league the previous season, the general public wanted Ipswich to win the title rather than us. So everything was against us. When we won our attitude was, ‘There you are; we showed you’. There were no superstars and we were a group of professionals who worked well together and got the best out of each other. We were also lucky not to have many injuries. We won the league with only 14 players. I am not going to say we thoroughly deserved to win the final because in the second half we were under the cosh. History will show we won it and you take that.

What was the worst moment?

After we won the European Cup things started to go wrong at the club when the team was split up. Doug Ellis came back in as chairman and our achievement was quickly forgotten. There was no promoting what we had done. He started to sell players and we were relegated in 1987.

Who was the best player you played against?

Kenny Dalglish had everything. He could head a ball, control it, had two good feet and a fantastic football brain. I was lucky to play with him for Scotland in the World Cup.

Which was your best goal?

A left-foot volley into the top corner with five minutes to go against Birmingham City at St Andrew’s in 1980-81. It was the winner in a 2-1 victory in the season we won the league. I have scored the most penalties for Villa and was quite glad when Gareth Barry moved from Villa to Manchester City because he was getting close to my record.

Who was the best manager you played under?

Ron Saunders brought me down from Scotland and you always have good things to say about the manager who buys you. He was great; a tough guy who put out a team he knew could play together. He knew their strengths and didn’t ask any player to do what they weren’t capable of doing. The other one was Graham Taylor, who gave me the kick up the backside I needed and I got a whole new lease of life.

Who was the worst manager you played under?

Billy McNeill had been manager at Manchester City and they were bottom of the league when he joined Villa. I thought here was a fellow Scotsman so I should be able to get on with him. He had won the European Cup with Celtic as a player. The club went downhill. I had more bust-ups with him than with all the other managers together. I was delighted when he left. He took us and Manchester City down in the same season.

Which was your best ground?

I liked playing at Anfield and would love getting booed by the Liverpool fans. That inspired me because you knew you were doing your job.

Which was the worst ground you played at?

When I was with Dunfermline we played at Albion Rovers. You went into the dressing room and could not stand up because the ceiling was so low. You had to keep your neck bent all the time.

What was the best advice you were given?

My form dipped dramatically when the Villa team started to split up. Frank Upton, who had been youth team coach, told me I had forgotten what made me a good player. I was trying to do too much extra as a captain; trying to be a nice footballer as opposed to an aggressive destroyer who stopped others playing.

Where are you now?

I am 54 years old and live in Saltash, Cornwall, with my wife, Gillian. We have four grown-up children. Our daughter is a lawyer, our eldest son a policeman, our second son is studying to be a lawyer and our youngest son is studying to be a teacher. I am a driving instructor and also work with Plymouth Argyle as the centre of excellence manager. It is nice to have both jobs. I enjoy teaching people to drive and then it is great to get on the training ground, get some fresh air and run around a little. I managed Greenock Morton, who went into administration. It was a nightmare and I had to leave and that was a real kick in the teeth. We came down to Cornwall in 2002 and I didn’t know what to do. I had taught two of my kids to drive so I took the course, got my licence and really enjoy it. The company is called the Allan Evans Driving School. I have my own car and didn’t join one of the big schools because I needed to be flexible with football. I do about 20 hours each week plus 20 hours of football. Gillian runs a women’s refuge. I am still fairly fit and play five-a-side football with my lads. Villa are always inviting me up to games but we have matches at weekends so I don’t go up there enough. I live somewhat out of the way.