The truth about Steve Evans (Crawley)

Xavi6

Following Crawley Town's dream draw against Manchester United in the next round of the FA Cup, most are obviously banging on about romance, magic and all that other cliched stuff.

There's a lot of people wanting Crawley to fail miserably though, and I didn't really understand the reasons why until I read this -

http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=8698

Steve Evans: Football manager, convicted criminal

At Broadfield Stadium last night, Crawley Town beat Bath City in the Blue Square Premier to move up to seventh place in the table after four matches. A crowd of 1,252 people turned out to watch it – hardly, one might think, a ringing endorsement of the “Project Promotion” that the club has put in place since new owners decided that money was no object in buying the club a place in the Football League. Perhaps the people of Crawley aren’t quite as excited at the prospect of “Project Promotion” as those running the “project” might have hoped. Should they continue to win, the likelihood is that crowds will increase, but the wider reputation of Crawley Town remains low. There has been some degree of distaste at the way that the club has been throwing its money about, but even this has palled at the continuing involvement at Crawley Town of one of the biggest bête noires of modern football: Steve Evans.

Why, though, is Steve Evans so despised? It’s easy, from a distance, to assume that the ongoing antipathy towards Evans is an antipathy like any other. An abrasive “larger than life” character will always stir up negative emotions in the supporters of other clubs, but Evans seems to strike something baser – a raw nerve that provokes florid and colourful streams of abuse, something that makes others desperately hopeful to see him fail. There may be an element of truth in this interpretation of the dislike of him, but it seems likely that much of the hatred of Steve Evans is based on something more tangible. Because Steve Evans is a convicted criminal, part of a scam that took a club from the middle ground of the non-league game into the Football League and, moreover, for many non-league supporters, he is also the man that, in spite of his criminal record, for many people, got away with it.

After an average playing career in his native Scotland that was cut short by a knee ligament injury at the age of twenty-eight, Evans briefly pitched up at Corby Town as chairman in 1994 before moving on to Stamford FC. After four years at Stamford, he was given a managerial leg-up when he accepted the managerial job at Boston United – a club frequently described at the time as “sleeping giants”, in non-league terms at least – in 1998. Two years later, they were promoted into the Football Conference as the champions of the Southern League, and after a further two years, following a neck and neck race against Dagenham & Redbridge, he took his club into the Football League on as slim a margin as goal difference. Both of these title wins, however, would come to be regarded as fundamentally tainted by the revelations that followed them.

Within weeks, the FA’s then-compliance officer, Graham Bean, had launched an investigation into the financial irregularites at Boston United, and, July of that year, the club was found guilty by an FA disciplinary committee of systematically lodging false contracts for players. The ploy was a simple one. Players signed contracts that were worth a fraction of the value of what they were being paid. In one case, Ken Charlery was recorded as being paid £120 per week when he was actually being paid £620 per week and had received a £16,000 signing on fee for the club, against which no tax had been paid. In another, the former Liverpool defender Mike Marsh was contracted as being paid £100 per week when he was actually earning £1,000 per week. The difference was paid through “expenses”, against which no tax was payable.

The club was fined £100,000 and docked four points for the following season, a decision that enraged Dagenham & Redbridge, who had missed out so narrowly on promotion to Evans’ club. More notable than this, though (at least from the point of view of this particular story), was the fact that Evans and the club’s owner at the time, Pat Malkinson, were both found guilty by the FA of having, “”facilitated a payment of £8,000 to a witness to attempt to mislead, impede and frustrate” the FA’s enquiry into the scam. Malkinson was fined £5,250 and suspended from football for thirteen months. Evans was fined £8,000 and suspended from football for twenty months.

Evans may have been banned from football, but he wasn’t out of work for long, taking a job working for a recruitment company owned by a Staffordshire businessman called Jon Sotnick. Sotnick (who went on to act as Chief Executive at Darlington and was linked with a take-over of Sheffield Wednesday in 2008) was persuaded to put money into Boston United and Evans returned as the Boston manager in February 2004. By this time, though, the mere bans of the FA were the least of Evans’ concerns. A criminal investigation had been launched into the goings-on at Boston, and in September 2005 he and four other people connected with Boston United (including former Boston chairman Pat Malkinson) were charged with – and denied – committing fraud at the club between 1998 and 2002.

Meanwhile, on the pitch, he was earning himself a reputation for the levels of abuse that he threw around when decisions didn’t go his way. In February 2006, for example, he was escorted from Grimsby Town’s Blundell Park by the police after verbally abusing the fourth official. After the match, Sotnick (by then the Boston chairman) claimed, with regard to the police’s involvement during the match, that, “There seems to be a conspiracy at work. At every game Steve seems to be singled out for extra attention from the police – and I’m determined to get the bottom of this”. Perhaps the choicest quote of all from Sotnick on the matter, however, was this, which needs no further comment:

Steve was thrown out of the ground with no money, no mobile phone and was left to fend for himself.

Sotnick resigned in June of 2006 to take over as the Chief Executive of Darlington, and sold his shares to director Jim Rodwell for a nominal sum. The trial of Steve Evans, Pat Malkinson, et al, meanwhile, reached trial at Southwark Court in September 2006. The court heard evidence regarding the contracts from Ken Charlery, and the total amount that had been creamed off by the club through fraudulently failing to pay tax and national insurance contributions on the wages of Boston’s players was confirmed at £245,188. While two of the other defendants were acquitted by the judge and one more had his case thrown out, though, Malkinson and Evans changed their pleas to guilty at the last minute. Malkinson was given a two year prison sentence, suspended for two years and ordered to pay back the money that the club owed in tax plus just over £100,000 in interest. Evans received a one year suspended sentence.

The one common thread of the summing up of Evans’ trial is how much sympathy many concerned seemed to have for him. His defence counsel, Jim Sturman QC, for example, stated that, “If your honour sends Steve Evans to prison today he will lose his job again. It has already cost him £140,000 in legal fees, fines from the FA and loss of income. I ask for tempering justice with mercy. Is it worth sending Steve Evans to overcrowded prisons? He is terrified of spending one day in prison… There has been the stress and anxiety over four years. He has not slept. His family have not slept. He is terrified”. Diddums. To the fury of Boston supporters, who had seen the name of their club dragged through the mud by the whole affair, Jim Rodwell announced that, “I think Steven has been working under incredibly difficult circumstances and it’s been a struggle for him”, and kept him in his job.

Evans resigned his position as Boston’s manager in May 2007, shortly after a by then financially-crippled Boston United were relegated from the Football League after a last day of the season defeat at Wrexham. Boston were demoted straight into the Blue Square North in June 2007 and then demoted again into the Premier Division of the Northern Premier League a year later, but Evans landed on his feet. Two days after his resignation, he took up the managerial position at Blue Square Premier club Crawley Town. Crawley’s financial problems since then have been well documented. Crawley’s financial difficulties over the last three years have been well documented (they were fighting off a winding up order from HMRC earlier this year), but they ended up under new ownership and the club paid off all of its debts at the start of this summer.

Since then, the club has been on a spending spree that is unprecedented in recent years. They have, to date, spent £330,000 on new players (without taking into consideration the burden on their wage budget) and have been looking at plenty of others as well. Their attempt to sign Wimbledon’s captain, Danny Kedwell, on the eve of the new season, however, was less successful, with Kedwell himself saying:

“Crawley are trying to buy everyone and I’m flattered but I’m captain of this club and hopefully next season we’ll be in the Football League instead of them.”

Boston United beat Bradford Park Avenue in the play-offs in May to secure promotion back into the Blue Square North. The legacy of Evans’ time as their manager is that they had fallen so far in the first place. Crawley Town supporters have had three years of Evans and do not need to be told about his past and they may well not give a damn about the moral aspect of Evans’ past if their team does manage to get promoted into the Football League at the end of this season, but the story of Steve Evans is a story that stands being told again as a reminder of chronic mismanagement and one of the most clear-cut examples of what has come to be known as “financial doping” imaginable. Ultimately, whatever else Evans achieves in his career will be tarnished by his past and whichever club employs him will be tainted by his involvement with them. Promotion is one thing, but respect can’t neccessarily be bought.

flahavaj

Xavi6 wrote: »

Following Crawley Town's dream draw against Manchester United in the next round of the FA Cup, most are obviously banging on about romance, magic and all that other cliched stuff.

There's a lot of people wanting Crawley to fail miserably though, and I didn't really understand the reasons why until I read this -

http://www.twohundredpercent.net/?p=8698

I would say that the amount of people wanting them to fail is as much to do with their buyin their way to success as much as anything tbh. Not too sure how many were even aware of this other stuff, I certainly wasn't.

The Man City of non-League football so to speak.;)

d22ontour

There has been some degree of distaste at the way that the club has been throwing its money about.

Looks @ OPs club.

Lol. :pac:

Xavi6

flahavaj wrote: »

I would say that the amount of people wanting them to fail is as much to do with their buyin their way to success as much as anything tbh. Not too sure how many were even aware of this other stuff, I certainly wasn't.

The Man City of non-League football so to speak.;)

All of the non-league would be well aware and it would take a 'mainstream' tie like this for the higher ups to take note or even care a little (the article was written back in August). Usually the support would be huge from peers given the tie but that couldn't be further from the truth with this one.

As for the money thing, you're spot on.

Xavi6

d22ontour wrote: »

There has been some degree of distaste at the way that the club has been throwing its money about.

Looks @ OPs club.

Lol. :pac:

*sigh*

Your jibe at City means you've completely missed the point. The hate isn't so much about the money, it's the fact that the manager is a convicted criminal for cheating his way to promotion, yet is still backed by a football club.

Unless you're lumping City in with tax evading, underhanded gangsters. That would be some accusation.

flahavaj

I spotted him last night on the touchline alright. Didn't like the look of him then tbh either. Look at the head on him.:pac:

d22ontour

Xavi6 wrote: »

*sigh*

Your jibe at City means you've completely missed the point. The hate isn't so much about the money, it's the fact that the manager is a convicted criminal for cheating his way to promotion, yet is still backed by a football club.

Unless you're lumping City in with tax evading, underhanded gangsters. That would be some accusation.

Sigh

Your attempt @ thinking i am lumping Citys owners in with him means you've completely missed the point.

I quoted one line which mirrors Citys owners, nothing more, nothing less unless you know something about Citys owners ?
That paragraph is about tax evasion which has been sensationalized somewhat.

Xavi6

d22ontour wrote: »

Sigh

Your attempt @ thinking i am lumping Citys owners in with him means you've completely missed the point.

I quoted one line which mirrors Citys owners, nothing more, nothing less unless you know something about Citys owners ?
That paragraph is about tax evasion which has been sensationalized somewhat.

You didn't use quotations so I presumed it was your sentence. Easily done

Still not sure of City's relevance to the Evans situation though in terms of what he was convicted for (which is the whole point). Is it just any excuse to have a pop?

d22ontour

Xavi6 wrote: »

Is it just any excuse to have a pop?

You started the thread and i responded to some of it, nothing to do with having a pop as you call it..

200% wrote:

a ringing endorsement of the “Project Promotion” that the club has put in place since new owners decided that money was no object in buying the club a place in the Football League. Perhaps the people of Crawley aren’t quite as excited at the prospect of “Project Promotion” as those running the “project” might have hoped. Should they continue to win, the likelihood is that crowds will increase, but the wider reputation of Crawley Town remains low. There has been some degree of distaste at the way that the club has been throwing its money about,


financial difficulties over the last three years have been well documented (they were fighting off a winding up order from HMRC earlier this year), but they ended up under new ownership and the club paid off all of its debts at the start of this summer.

Since then, the club has been on a spending spree that is unprecedented in recent years. They have, to date, spent £ on new players (without taking into consideration the burden on their wage budget) and have been looking at plenty of others as well. Their attempt to sign Wimbledon’s captain, Danny Kedwell, on the eve of the new season, however, was less successful, with Kedwell himself saying:

“ are trying to buy everyone and I’m flattered but I’m captain of this club and hopefully next season we’ll be in the League instead of them.”

a story that stands being told again as a reminder of chronic mismanagement and one of the most clear-cut examples of what has come to be known as “financial doping” imaginable. Ultimately, whatever else achieves in his career will be tarnished

Promotion is one thing, but respect can’t neccessarily be bought.

The last line promotion could be replaced with silverware i suppose it would be fitting in time.I deleted a few words here and there but
the comparisons are there though, no ?
I mean they both start with c and end with y for a start...

He was convicted for tax evasion, yes ? Hardly a gangster if that is what his conviction was for.

Why a city fan would post something which on just the above seems nothing more than tax evasion but from a footballing perspective mirrors their own clubs 'project' is quite amusing.Or maybe Tax evasion is something you have a huge dislike for ?

Xavi6

Why wouldn't a City fan post it? I take interest in a lot more than one football club and it's an interesting alternative look at a club that is, by the higher echelons of football, currently being lauded for securing their glamour tie.

Not everyone is wishing them well at Old Trafford, least of all those screwed over by the indiscretions of Evans and co. This piece is absolute nothing to do with my allegiances or the running of the club I support.

Do me a favour and pretend a Blackpool or a Stoke fan posted the article and then maybe the topic can be discussed without going off on irrelevant tangeants.

eagle eye

So he made mistakes, was convicted for them and life goes on.

As far as I'm concerned if he makes his team successful then he will get my respect for his achievements as a football manager.

eagle eye

Xavi6 wrote: »

Why wouldn't a City fan post it? I take interest in a lot more than one football club and it's an interesting alternative look at a club that is, by the higher echelons of football, currently being lauded for securing their glamour tie.

Its a look at Evans, not the club. This club was not involved at all in what happened at Boston.

dreamers75

We have a whole league over here dedicated to this guys Charter.

monkey9

flahavaj wrote: »

I spotted him last night on the touchline alright. Didn't like the look of him then tbh either. Look at the head on him.:pac:

He looks like a chubby Wayne Rooney with more hair.

monkey9

dreamers75 wrote: »

We have a whole league over here dedicated to this guys Charter.

Yeah, the wages thing does sound a bit like Derry City's double contracts and Bohs players working as 'bar staff'.

Eire-Dearg

Why many neutrals won’t be cheering on Crawley in the FA Cup

http://twofootedtackle.com/fa-cup/why-many-neutrals-wont-be-cheering-on-crawley-in-the-fa-cup/

Normally a non-league team being drawn away to Manchester United in the FA Cup, let alone at such a stage as the fifth round, will attract an enormous amount of goodwill from all across the game. But Crawley Town aren’t a typical non-league club and the level of support the Sussex club will receive from neutrals will probably be considerably less than, say, Burton Albion achieved when they took United to a replay in 2006.

To many outsiders not familiar with non-league, Crawley’s unpopularity may seem odd. Yes, the team may be sitting at the top of the Blue Square Bet Premier, but this isn’t about jealousy from rival fans or a desire to see the leaders get their comeuppance. The dislike of Crawley goes way beyond this. Certainly, other big clubs and promotion contenders in the division wouldn’t attract the same level of opprobrium.

The phrase “the magic of the cup” will no doubt be lazily banded around by some journalists with regard to Crawley’s trip to Manchester United, but their cup run so far has been anything but magical.

In the last round, the Red Devils beat Torquay United 1-0 at Plainmoor, but this wasn’t a giant killing. Torquay currently sit 13th in League Two, half a division above Crawley.

While the Gulls have scraped together a squad through the usual means of free transfers and picking up the odd released trainee, Crawley have spent close to £500,000 on assembling a team for “project promotion”. In contrast, Torquay’s record signing was £75,000 on Leon Constantine in 2004. As Barney Ronay notes, Crawley spent more than that on striker Richard Brodie alone. Their budget is likely to be higher than the majority of League Two teams and some in League One.

Crawley, up until this season, have never been flushed with cash. Indeed, much of their time since winning promotion to the Conference in 2004 has been spent battling assorted financial difficulties, while for a time, it was a rare season that didn’t see the Sussex club deducted points for some form of financial problems.

In 2009 Crawley supporters Bruce Winfield and Susan Carter took control of the club, paid off their debts and with it came a level of stability not previously seen around the Broadfield Stadium. This summer, however, Crawley suddenly became the division’s big spenders after Winfield brought in outside investors (although the club has regularly declined to name who these are).

Suddenly, Crawley were like a kid in the proverbial sweet shop. The aforementioned Brodie arrived from York City, along with other high-profile signings Matt Tubbs from Salisbury and Sergio Torres from Peterborough. Crawley had the cash to buy anybody they wanted and were rebuffed in a move for AFC Wimbledon’s captain Danny Kedwell, a bid that has kicked off numerous spats and ill-feeling between the two clubs.

So far, so “Manchester City of the Conference” you might think. After all, City haven’t exactly won many neutrals’ hearts with their big spending. But there are several reasons why the blue half of Manchester remains relatively likeable while few non-league fans wish Crawley well, and chief amongst these is manager Steve Evans.

You could go as far as to say that had Crawley been aiming for “project promotion” with any other manager than Evans, the level of feelings towards the club might be a lot less than with the Scot in charge.

Evans does not come across as a man who cares much for what other people think of him, and nor does he make any effort to win friends in the game. It is a regular site to see the Glaswegian unleash a torrent of abuse at officials or those he simply seeks to wind up, only to deny it ever happened later.

A case in point was Crawley’s trip to Kingsmeadow to play AFC Wimbledon this season. Several Wimbledon fans reported Evans refusing to shake opposite number Terry Brown’s hand after the game and exploding with rage at assorted members of the team and staff. Evans’ recollection was somewhat different, and claimed he’d shaken hands before expressing, politely, his unhappiness at the way towels were being used on the sidelines.

This is one of many incidents that seem to litter Evans’ career. Again, some may point to Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho as coaches who revel in winding up opposition managers, but there’s something about Evans that feels a lot less pleasant than these two managers. What’s more, neither Ferguson nor Mourinho has ever been convicted of fraud.

There’s a genuine feeling within the lower levels of the game that Evans’ criminal record should have resulted in a lifetime ban. At Boston United, Evans led the Pilgrims to promotion to the football league in 2002 off the back of some very creative accounting. Several players were on contracts that said they were on a fraction of what was actually being paid.

For example, as far as the FA were aware, Ken Charley’s contract said the player was on £120 per week. Charley was actually on £620 a week and received a £16,000 signing on fee. No tax was paid on this, and the total level of tax avoided was £245,188, a significant sum at that level.

Evans and then-Boston owner Pat Malkinson were also found guilty by the FA of paying £8,000 to a witness in an attempt to mislead the enquiry. The FA fined Evans £8,000 and banned him from football for 20 months. Amazingly, Boston’s promotion still stood, although the club was fined £100,000 and docked four points the following season. Many feel that Dagenham & Redbridge, the club that were pipped to the title by Boston, should have found their way into the football league many years earlier than they eventually did.

In the criminal case that arose as the result of Boston’s deception, Evans received a one year suspended sentence. Incredibly, he had already returned to work as manager of Boston before this case and despite being convicted of fraud, kept his job at the club. He eventually resigned in 2007, just before the Pilgrims – then in the midst of a financial meltdown – were relegated from the football league.

Boston suffered two enforced demotions in successive seasons and currently ply their trade at Northern League level. Evans, meanwhile, pitched up at Crawley where he’s been ever since.

The Boston story is designed to give context to why many believe Evans should not be in the game in the first place, but since becoming Crawley manager he has done little to endear himself to the wider public. Controversial statements, touchline bans and regular rants have been a feature of his time at the club. They were already difficult to love with Evans in charge before Winfield and Chapman took control in the boardroom.

To many as well, “project promotion” and the manner in which it’s been assembled also have the distinct feel of a lack of class and an attitude, especially from a club with recently documented spells in administration and other woes, that is at odds with the spirit and ethos of the non-league game. In terms of budget and players, Crawley are a Conference club in name only.

And, although there’s nothing to suggest anything improper on the part of Crawley’s mystery investors, the eye-watering (for non-league level) sums of money involved mean a lot of people in the game would be more comfortable knowing just who is funding the Red Devil’s spending spree.

Evans for his part has said on the BBC Non-League show that he is unconcerned with knowing exactly who these backers are. It’s worth noting as well that the Conference, who have been getting tougher with the financial state of clubs, appear to be happy with Crawley’s current financial situation.

This isn’t to say clubs shouldn’t be ambitious or spend large sums at non-league level – Luton, for example, have a large budget in comparison to the rest of the division – but there’s something of the mixture of the large sums of money, the expensive squad, and Evans himself that makes for a club that attracts a lot of detractors.

Usually, no matter how big or unpopular the team, non-league will get behind one of their own in the FA Cup. That many non-league fans would rather the corporate might of Manchester United crushed Crawley in the competition speaks volumes about their standing within the game

.

monkey9

Crawley Town could be funding Al Qaeda and keeping Maddie McCann locked in the cellar of their football ground and i'd still be cheering them on against Utd.

Gillington

flahavaj wrote: »

I spotted him last night on the touchline alright. Didn't like the look of him then tbh either. Look at the head on him.:pac:

Fran!

JerryHandbag

Thats interesting to read, cheers guys. Saw the highlights of their game last night & I thought what a great story, no non league team has ever gone beyond round 5 and I was willing them to get a good draw where they might actually progress.

Then the after match analysis on ITV last night brought up the fact that they're not very liked and I was like but this thread has pretty much explained why!