Chris Evans was one of York City’s centurion champions. Now he operates in the whirl of the Premier League with several ex-Minstermen team-mates also among the elite as he tells DAVE FLETT.


FORMER York City legend Chris Evans believes it is no coincidence that so many members of the club’s record-breaking 1983/4 side are now plying their trade in the Premier League.

Rhondda-born Evans, who played at right-back in the first team to accumulate 100 points in a season, is now Gary Megson’s right-hand man at Bolton Wanderers.

Malcolm Crosby, meanwhile, is Gareth Southgate’s assistant at Middlesbrough, whose north-east rivals Sunderland employed another former Minsterman Ricky Sbragia as Roy Keane’s managerial successor in December.

All three will be present at tomorrow night’s celebratory York Racecourse dinner to mark the silver anniversary of the club’s achievements under Denis Smith and Viv Busby and Evans is convinced those formative years helped shape his future career.

The former Arsenal trainee arrived with Smith and Busby from Stoke City, as the pair’s first-ever signing in football and Evans said: “They were both terrific role models for us.

“They had great qualities that complemented each other and the principles they instilled in us are still the same that any club needs to be successful. They were very professional and great players themselves, who knew how to deal with players and get the best out of them.

“The key to any winning side is the management’s ability to recruit a team and gel the players together and they managed to do that very quickly because we were a group of players who got on really well.

“We all came to live in the city and did not know anybody else so we helped each other out and stuck together.”

Evans, now 46, went on to make 114 apperances for the Minstermen before moving on to Darlington in 1985 only for his career to end prematurely because of a broken leg.

Team-mates like Keith Houchen and John Byrne went on to bigger and better things on the pitch and, while Evans also enthuses about the ability of Sbragia, Gary Ford, John MacPhail and the late, great Keith Walywn, he believes that season’s 28-goal top scorer was the side’s leading light.

He said: “We had so many great players but the one that stood out was John Byrne. He was a gifted player, who could score goals and get backsides off seats.

“He was the man the crowd came to see. It was no surprise when Terry Venables signed him for QPR because he’s a fair judge of a player.”

Evans, who earned his first coaching badge while attending college with Walwyn while still a City player, was later reminded of Byrne when he unearthed a rare talent as Wolves’ youth-team coach.

In 17 years at Molineux, he oversaw the development of future England international Joleon Lescott, as well as Premier League midfielder Keith Andrews and Celtic star Lee Naylor.

He was also the man who discovered Robbie Keane.

“I’ve always had a very extensive scouting network throughout the UK and Ireland and I signed Robbie as a 14-year-old in Dublin,” Evans explained.

“He had been overlooked by a lot of clubs because he was incredibly small but he was a similar type to John Byrne.

“He wasn’t particularly strong but he was a technically-gifted player with a football brain.

“The strength came with age and we brought him to England at 16. Since then, he’s become the most expensive player in history, having gone for transfer fees totalling more than £100million.

“I’ve enjoyed watching the boy grow into a man, including spending five days with him at his wedding last summer.”

Evans’ coaching education took in 12 different managers at Wolves, including two former England bosses in Graham Taylor and Glenn Hoddle.

He has the greatest respect for both and added: “Graham was very organised and exceptionally interested in developing the youth policy.

“He wanted to get involved in every aspect of the club and was what I would call a multi-skilled generalist.

“Glenn was fantastic. He was all about football – a great tracksuit coach and a terrific tactician.

“He only wanted to work with a ball and his talent in training was still incredible. He was the player of his generation in my opinion and wanted to push players on all the time.”

While at Wolves, the former Wales Under-21 international turned down offers to manage clubs, as well as a opportunity to join Ukraine Champions’ League qualifiers Shakhtar Donetsk.

He found Megson’s inivitation to join him in the Premier League, however, too tantalising to resist in November 2007.

“I studied my pro licence with Gary and I thought he was an outstanding candidate on the course,” Evans recalled.

“When he asked me to be his assistant, I recognised the offer as a chance to build something special.

“We survived last season in difficult circumstances and are now aiming to build a team like Denis and Viv did. It’s my opportunity of a lifetime so I am doing my very best to make it last.

“It’s difficult to compete with Manchester United or Liverpool but we have to chip away and work hard to try and survive in the Premier League and we are always looking at transfer windows for fresh talent.

“I am establishing a European and worldwide scouting network at the club because the market is so competitive and you can’t get left behind.

“Just last week, I went to Belgium, Holland and Madrid in the space of seven days.”

Evans has only been back to Bootham Crescent once to attend Keith Walwyn’s memorial game but, with one son a York University graduate and the another a current student, he remains a regular visitor to the city and still harbours strong feelings towards the Minstermen.

He said: “I want the best for the club and would love to see them rise again. They deserve that with all the work that is going on behind the scenes.

“I don’t tend to keep photographs but I do from that era. I have one of my father, who used to travel from Wales to watch every game, being hoisted on to a fan’s shoulders during our celebrations in the city centre and I cherish that memory.”