Allan Evans (footballer)

Alan Evans ( 1983)

James Allan Evans ( born October 12, 1956 in Polbeth ) is a former Scottish footballer. The four-time national player of the World Cup and the 1982 was employed as a central defender twelve years for Aston Villa. He won on the side of Ken McNaught 1981, the English championship and a year later the European Champions Cup and the Super Cup.

Sports career

Club career

First stop for those born not far from Edinburgh Evans was in professional football Dunfermline Athletic, just a few kilometers north of the Firth of Forth. The debut was very bad and ended against the Rangers with a broken leg. The sporting successes remained henceforth largely from and after the first missions in the highest Scottish league he had to play in the second division after the introduction of the new Scottish Premier Division in 1975 and the associated league reduction from 18 to 10 participating clubs. According to a further decline in the 1975/76 season continued the sporting leadership the learned defender as a striker in the third division, and with 13 goals this experiment also designed successfully, although the direct resurgence failed with the third place final table. After a total of 98 league games and 15 factors, he then felt in May 1977 to the English first division club Aston Villa.

In Birmingham, you could see the new data from the third Scottish League first attack as reinforcement for the reserve team. As of March 1978, he came sporadically in three league matches of the A- team in offensive roles used and against Newcastle United (1:1), he scored his first competitive goal here. Immediately after the Newcastle game coach Ron Saunders tried it then on the center-back position in place of the Welshman Leighton Phillips and held him not only in the remaining games of the season firmly, but found in him also a new starting players for the following season 1978 / 79th Especially his head and ball-winning ability and leadership qualities made ​​him a key player in the defense against Aston Villa attack. Inland the next two years, the team has grown from a mid-table to a championship contender, and as the "Villans " 1981 the English league title won, Evans made ​​with Ken McNaught a defense headquarters, which allowed only 40 goals in 42 league games. Unlike McNaught he showed up with seven hits in addition above average score goals and in the subsequent 1981/82 season Evans was with Aston Villa in the European Champions Cup form strong. In the end, the team won after a final win against Bayern Munich competition and the axis Evans McNaught had again held harmless in the 1-0. Then there was a few months later, the success of the Super Cup after beating FC Barcelona.

In the further course of the 1980s, the trophies for Evans and Aston Villa failed to materialize and the steady downward trend found in relegation to the second division in 1987 its lowest point. Here Evans, who was eventually promoted to captain and was long one of the few constants, and after the departure of McNaught were Brendan Ormsby, Paul Elliott and Steve Sims his next partner in central defense. After he had in the meantime lost in the second round of the 1986/87 season the regular place, he then returned to the decisive phase of the second division season 1987/88 in the team back and was substantially responsible for direct return to the Elite League. After another year, 27 league operations, on a tight relegation and a total of 475 official matches, he left the club in August 1989 free transfer in the direction of the second division Leicester City. There he began to run out and his career as contractually loose player, he played on 27 April 1991, the Darlington FC by Substitutes against Northampton Town ( 3-0) his last professional league players as Active.

It took him later to Australia and first coach experience he gained at Leicester City and Aston Villa respectively under his former teammate Brian Little.

Scottish national

On the sporting highlight arrived, Evans played from March to June 1982, his only four caps for the Scottish national team. He made his debut there on 23 March 1982 friendly against the Netherlands ( 2-1) and a short time later coach Jock Stein called him in the squad for the upcoming World Cup finals in Spain. His only use he graduated from there in the first group match against New Zealand ( 5-2 ), but then came into the remaining games against Brazil (1:4) and Soviet Union (2-2 ) in the middle of the " set " Alan Hansen and Willie Miller not over.

Title / Awards

• European Champions Cup (1): 1982
• European Supercup ( 1): 1982
• English Championship ( 1): 1981
• Charity Shield ( 1): 1981