Interview with Roy Evans

By Brian Reece

twitter @oldfattoad

 Roy thank you for agreeing to the interview and welcome.

Brian Reece- The first question Roy is this, when you first stated out at Liverpool did you ever think you would end up coaching?.

Roy Evans- No I don’t think you ever do, I was 15 when I joined Liverpool and all you want to do is play football.

BR- Was it injury that stopped you playing?.

RE- No I had played about 13 or 14 frist team games, and then they offered me a job on the coaching side, It took me a while to say yes, it was just that I couldn’t get into the first team so in the end I said yes.

BR- What did you learn from Bill Shankly in terms of coaching?.

RE- I did my coaching under Bob Paisley but I played under Shankly, But Bill was such a one-off others have tried to emulated but can’t, he was a very positive man, a professional man.

BR- So during your time at Liverpool as a player, coach and manager what is your favourite highlight?.

RE- It’s all about playing really, making the first team and playing against George Best which was fantastic, and at the other end when you become a manager winning a trophy, we won the Coca Cola Cup, but lots of different things really such as winning European cups as a coach, but playing for the first team for the first time is the most memorable.

BR- Would you ever go back into coaching?, maybe back to the current set up at Liverpool?.

RE- Well you can never say never in football, we can’t all go back, Kenny’s gone back he’s got good people around him, but you can never say never in this game.

BR- So in you opinion Roy where do you see Liverpool going say within the next two seasons?.

RE- Well hopefully upwards and onwards, since Kenny’s gone back in we have looked more positive, the owners have played a big part in it, they seem to back Kenny financially, they want to put us back in a Champions League place, as long as things keep improving am sure we will get back into the Champions League.

BR- It’s important Roy to make the Champions League to keep players like Luis Suarez you agree?.

RE- It is, Suarez loves playing football for Liverpool Football Club he has that way about him, the best players always want Champions League football and we need to attract them, but we need to get back into that top four.

BR- What do you make of all the new signings from January when Torres left to all the new summer signings?, Andy Carroll is getting a bit of a hard time and in my opinion its a little unjust, is it fair to judge Carroll at the moment, what’s your take?.

RE- Andy Carroll and Suarez came in on the January Transfer window, Suarez has been fantastic and Andy’s had a bit of a lean time, Andy has come in for criticism but sometimes as fans we have to be patient and wait for development, I feel Andy has better in him, the lads that have come in over the summer I have been reasonably pleased with, the likes of Downing, Henderson and Adam all have scope to improve, I think they all have another 10% in there.

BR- Lots have been said also about Henderson, I think he looks bright, a good young kid?.

RE- He’s a lad still learning the game, just needs a bit of confidence, a bit like Downing if he scores a goal or makes some good assists am sure he will go from strength to strength.

BR- I always said that Carroll’s form is linked to service, therefore will Downing’s form affect Carroll’s?.

RE – Fair point, Downing’s there to give service and Andy needs a goal, Carroll gets into great positions and once he scores am sure 3 or 4 will follow.

BR- So what do you make of Lucas?, a couple of season ago fans were screaming from the streets for him to go, now if they don’t see him on the team sheet fans worry?.

RE- He’s another lad who is young, a Brazilian player who came here to a different style of play, he has made that position he own now, he’s comfortable there, he’s performances where never dire its just that Liverpool supporters want their midfield players to be scoring goals, but he sits there he absorbs the play and breaks it down, its only now he is getting the credit he deserves.

BR- Got a question Roy from Ben Granville who asks, during your time as Liverpool manager was there a missing ingredient that stopped us winning the title?.

RE- Yes there obviously was somewhere, we got so close but couldn’t just get over the line, one year we should have won it but then games against so-called lesser teams let us down, there are lots of reasons we could say why, but we gave it our best shot, but only one team can win it and Man Utd where the dominate force at that time.

BR- It had a lot to do with financial aspects as well?.

RE- Yeah, but I spend money on the likes of Collymore, but we had to make the best of what we had.

BR- Roy got a message from the Legends fund-raiser you managed in Daventry they are saying that they raised £2k for the HJC.

RE- Good, always pleased to hear that.

BR- Roy this week with the sad death of Garry Speed I found it touching to see Liverpool fans singing his name at Chelsea.

RE- Its an awful tragedy, never expect things like that to happen, I know him though football not socially but it’s very sad and a loss to football.

BR- Roy Evans thank you for the interview its been an honour.

RE- Thank you and good luck.

A very special thanks to Stacey Evans for arranging this interview