Roy Evans - Career

Career

An England schoolboy international, Evans was a defender who was a long way down the pecking order at Liverpool in the 1960s and 1970s—he also spent the summer of the 1973 in the North American Soccer League with the Philadelphia Atoms. Liverpool manager Bill Shankly saw something different in Evans, suggesting that he tried a career as a coach.

So began a long run through the rankings at Liverpool, starting as a coach under Bill Shankly, who retired in 1974 to be succeeded by assistant Bob Paisley. When Paisley retired in 1983, his own assistant Joe Fagan was promoted to the manager's seat. Fagan retired after two seasons to be succeeded by striker Kenny Dalglish (who was appointed player-manager), and Evans was now coaching under his fourth manager. When Dalglish quit in 1991, Evans found himself on the coaching staff of his fifth Liverpool manager in 18 years—Graeme Souness, a former Liverpool player who had previously been manager of Rangers.

With long-time first-team coach Ronnie Moran was also on board at the same time, this internal coaching system at Liverpool became known as The Boot Room. Evans is the most recent Liverpool manager to graduate from it, while Moran retired in 1999 without ever taking over as manager (although he was caretaker for a few weeks in 1991 between Dalglish's resignation and Souness's appointment).