Steve Evans

Steve Evans (born 30 October 1962) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Stevenage.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Evans played professional football for Bolton Wanderers, Clyde, Albion Rovers, Ayr United, Hamilton Academical and St Johnstone until a knee ligament injury ended his playing career at 24.

After his retirement he became a manager.

Prior to taking charge at Crawley Town, he managed Stamford and Boston United, the latter on two occasions.

A controversial figure, whilst manager of Boston United he was successfully prosecuted for tax evasion.

However, in charge of Rotherham United, he led the club to two successive promotions.

Evans failed to break into the first team at Bolton and was released in 1979.

He then returned to his native Scotland and joined Clyde, where he played in 36 league matches, scoring four goals, before joining Albion Rovers in 1981, where he scored 28 goals in 76 league matches during three years at Cliftonhill.

He subsequently moved to Ayr United in 1984, scoring four goals in 30 matches, and to Hamilton Academical in 1985, where he only played in two league matches.

He joined St Johnstone in 1985 and scored six goals in 24 matches before a knee ligament injury ended his playing career in 1986, aged 24.

Evans fell out of football following his retirement, and was working in sales for Budweiser, when he became manager at Peterborough League side Gedney Hill.

He soon moved to Holbeach United for eighteen months, before briefly becoming chairman at Corby Town.

His managerial career got going in earnest with Stamford in 1994, who he led to the United Counties Football League Premier Division title and to promotion to the Southern Football League.

After resigning as Stamford manager he was appointed manager of Boston United in October 1998.

He managed Boston to promotion from the Southern Football League to the Football Conference in 2000 and subsequently to the Football League in 2002.

Both promotions have since been overshadowed by revelations of off-the-field cheating.

Evans was suspended by Boston as manager on 4 July 2002 after a much-publicised Football Association (The FA) investigation into "contract irregularities".

He later resigned as manager of the club in September 2002, after still being suspended by the club.

He was found guilty by The FA in December 2002 of impeding an FA inquiry into contract irregularities.

Evans was also suspended from the game for 20 months in January 2003 for involvement of the affairs of Boston, in which players' contracts lodged with the FA contained false salary details.

Evans was further accused of impeding the inquiry and fined £8,000.

Evans lodged an appeal against charges in May 2003, but The FA rejected his appeal later that month and the punishment stood.

Evans later pleaded guilty in court to conspiring to cheat the public revenue, and was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

An announcement was made on 20 February 2004 that Evans would return as Boston's manager on 2 March.

In September 2005, Evans and four other people connected with Boston appeared in court, denying fraud charges.

In November 2005, Evans was given a £1,000 fine, suspended for a year, after admitting to using insulting or abusive words to the match official in a match against Peterborough United in October 2005.

On 11 February 2006, he was escorted from Grimsby Town's stadium Blundell Park by Humberside Police at half-time, after he berated the fourth official after being incensed when Grimsby goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall appeared to handle the ball outside his area and was immediately spoken to by a police officer after a complaint of alleged foul and abusive language.

After the match Boston chairman Jon Sotnick accused the football authorities of waging a "conspiracy" against his manager.

In October 2006, Evans was linked with the vacant Darlington managerial vacancy, but Boston chairman James Rodwell and Evans both denied the link.

Also in October, Evans was sent from the dugout after an altercation with Wycombe Wanderers player Tommy Doherty for which he later received a £1,000 suspended fine from the FA.

Despite this, which came on top of his conviction for tax evasion, Evans kept his manager's position at Boston, a decision that angered the Boston United Supporters' Trust.

In March 2007, Evans was left with only 11 professional footballers for the relegation clash with Bury.

Although players were back from suspension, Evans was left frustrated after players such as Barnsley's on-loan striker Nathan Joynes quit the club, which left him with just 12 fit senior players and he was forced to put 16- and 17-year-olds on an incomplete substitute's bench.

After drawing 1–1 in their penultimate match of the season against relegated Torquay United, Boston needed a win against relegation rivals Wrexham on 5 May 2007 to avoid the drop out of league football.

Francis Green gave Boston a 1–0 half-time lead, but in the second half United conceded a penalty kick, which Wrexham defender Ryan Valentine converted.

Two late goals from Chris Llewellyn and Michael Proctor gave Wrexham a 3–1 victory to ensure their survival.

On 8 May 2007, Evans pledged his commitment to the club despite their relegation and return to non-League football.

He left the club in late September 2015.

On 19 October 2015, Evans replaced Uwe Rösler as head coach of Leeds United, before being sacked in May 2016.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Evans was spotted by scouts from English team Bolton Wanderers when playing for his local youth football club in Glasgow, and he joined Bolton after leaving school.