Steve Evans has been waiting for the right opportunity to return to football and is excited to get going at Bristol Rovers.
The Pirates' new Head Coach brings extensive experience to The Memorial Stadium, with the 63-year-old taking charge of over 1000 games in the dugout, including over 700 matches in the EFL.
Evans has had great success in his managerial career, achieving back-to-back promotions with Rotherham United as well as promotions with Stevenage, Crawley Town and Boston United. The Scotsman is now at Rovers and will be in action almost immediately, with the Pirates facing Crewe Alexandra in Sky Bet League Two on Friday night before a hectic Christmas period.
Speaking with BRTV for the first time, Evans opened up on why Rovers was the right choice for him, what the next few days will look like and the importance of the Gasheads.
So, Steve, welcome to Bristol Rovers. How does it feel to be here?
“It’s fantastic. I have had a seven or eight-month break, and I got myself in super shape in terms of physically. Mentally, I will be fresh after the time away from it, and I was delighted to receive the call from Ricky to come and meet him and the owners and during those chats, it became very clear and very obvious that I wanted to take the job.”
From the outside looking in with your experience, what have you made of Bristol Rovers as a Club and a team over the years?
“It’s a Club that is very traditional. My assistant, Paul, played here on loan as a kid, but every time we have brought teams here, and we’ve brought many teams here over the years, we have always said it’s a really difficult place to come. I think the fans make it a really difficult place to come; sometimes the team hasn’t that we are playing against, but the fans have made it intimidating and a difficult place to win.
"So, we’re looking forward to it. It’s a huge Football Club, but we’re very mindful of the immediate challenge, and the immediate challenge is self-evident."
You mentioned that you have just had a bit of a career break, and you have had over 1,000 games in your career as a manager. What makes this role right now the right one for you?
“I think the challenge. I don’t think it’s a secret anymore that I had three or four opportunities to go into the EFL and the SPL in the last couple of months. When I have met the chairman, the board or the chief executive, they are good people, and its good football clubs, but the challenge wasn’t there for me.
“I am really good friends with the director of football at Newcastle United and I spoke to him about one particular role and he said, ‘well, when you wake up in the morning, if you wake up excited, you want to jump in the car and go and take the challenge, you know it’s the right move’, and I didn’t feel that at any other club. I woke up this morning, and I was excited to get in the car.
“I think that tells you that the size of the challenge is huge and the opportunity moving forward is huge, but we don’t kid ourselves, we have said that the challenge is immediate, so let's concentrate on that, and then we’ll worry about what happens in the summer.”
What can the squad and what can our supporters expect from you as Head Coach of Bristol Rovers?
“We’ll work incredibly hard; we’ll be incredibly disciplined on the training ground. Of course, it’s very easy for me to say that it’s a fresh piece of paper for everyone and everyone gets a new opportunity, that’s partly true, but we also have opinions on players and systems. I have seen Rovers three or four times since the start of the season. I’ve seen them be very good, I’ve seen them be not so good, but they can expect a whole-hearted team performance from start to finish and some fight, some effort and some spirit.
“That largely takes you a long way. We’ve got some gifted players here when you look at the squad, but football is never won on paper. Therefore, we need to get the basics right. Don’t run, don’t play, don’t work hard, don’t play. Many ownership models that we have worked for over the years, and many fanbases will know that’s how we operate.”
Coming into a new job during the season always brings different challenges. What does the first day or two look like for you as Head Coach?
“First and foremost, it’s understanding the facilities and the infrastructure because we’ve not been here until today. Sometimes you use training grounds when you travel to different venues, but we have not used Rovers before. So, understanding the infrastructure and understanding the people and the playing squad is self-evident.
“I’ll get a real opportunity on the training ground tomorrow and Thursday until we travel to Crewe on Friday. As I said, we have opinions, but we’ll put our stamp on it, and then we will go from there. The first few days are just about knowledge and taking things on board. We’ll forget names, and we’ll forget people, but over the piece we will quickly bring it all together.”
You mentioned the Crewe game there, and fixture-wise, what a time to come into a new Club. You’ve got the game against Crewe on Friday, and then we’re into the Christmas schedule with four games in ten days. That’s an intense but exciting challenge...
“My Christmas schedule has gone out of the window. I went to see Paddington on Saturday with my wife and that’s given me a few ideas for the team for Friday. In all seriousness, Christmas has changed for us because it was going to be total family, family, family, which I have never had the chance of in 20 odd years.
“So, that’s back out the window. It’s going to be busy. I’m going to be spending a lot of time here sitting in the training ground and a lot of time on the pitches. This is a really important time, Christmas, the fixtures and the points that can be accumulated quickly or not awarded properly and quickly can be a problem.
“We’re looking forward to just breaking it all down, meeting the boys, I met a few of them this morning walking around and getting on the grass and working with because that gives you a true feeling of what they are about.”
Finally, you mentioned the fans earlier on. How important are those Gasheads going to be in terms of the journey you want to take the team on, not just in the coming games but the rest of the season?
“They are massive, aren’t they? Not many people will be aware that I was at the Barnet game, not to see Bristol Rovers get beat, I was actually there in a supporter fashion of Darrell but sat away. I think there were about 500 supporters from Bristol Rovers that travelled up and they were brilliant, they were loud, but they came away really disappointed.
“I need to get them really behind the team, the team is what is important. It’s not myself or Paul or anyone else, it’s about us giving them a team that they have been very proud of over the years, and we have to make sure that they become very proud again.
“There are some good players here, we just need to get them playing at the top of their game and if we get them playing at the top of their game, the rest will take care of itself. But the immediate aim is to make sure we get enough points, and we have an identity in our play, and we make sure that we’re part of the EFL, which is a magical league to be involved in.”
