Roy Evans
Roy Evans (born Bootle, England, 4th October 1948) was a Liverpool player who eventually rose through the coaching ranks to become team manager.
An England international at schoolboy level, Evans was a defender who was a long way down the pecking order at Liverpool in the 1960s and 1970s but manager Bill Shankly saw something different in him, suggesting that he tried a career as a coach. Evans duly quit playing at the age of 26 after just 11 first team games and took over the running of Liverpool's reserve team.
So began a long run through the rankings at Liverpool, as Evans worked for Shankly (briefly), then Bob Paisley and then Joe Fagan, both of whom had risen to the top job from the rank of assistant manager. With long-time first-team coach Ronnie Moran also on board, this internal coaching system at Liverpool became known as The Boot Room. Evans was the last graduate from it.
He continued to serve as a coach under fast-tracked managers Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness, before finally taking the top job himself in 1994 when Souness quit.
Under Evans, Liverpool won the 1995 League Cup with Evans' prized star, Steve McManaman, scoring both goals in a 2-1 win over Bolton Wanderers, but four years of underachievement in the League (by the top British club's high standards) compounded with rumoured flamboyant off the field indiscipline of the team at the time eventually forced the club's hand, and they invited French coach Gerard Houllier to share management duties with Evans. This appointment was viewed with scepticism by fans and media alike and indeed, it did not work out. A few months into the arrangement, Evans resigned, emotionally severing links with the club after more than 30 years.
Evans did not work much within football for several years thereafter, save for a brief spell as a caretaker coach at Fulham and a disappointing four-month spell in charge of Swindon Town.
In 2004, when former Liverpool striker John Toshack was appointed as the new manager of Wales, Evans accepted an offer to be his assistant. Evans also co-operated on an authorised biography, called Ghost On The Wall, which was released at the end of 2004.