Evans set to write a new story
...with fairy-tale end
WHEN you have had a career as illustrious as that of Jonny Evans, the stories come thick and fast — along with three Premier League titles, a World Club Cup and two League Cup final wins, though no FA Cup as yet.
That is something he can take a step towards rectifying when Leicester play Southampton in the semi-final at Wembley today.
Surely nothing tops the tale about how he was given his international debut by Northern Ireland in 2006 thanks to the assistant manager’s teenage son who knew him from the computer game Championship Manager?
Evans takes up the yarn. Northern Ireland had lost 3-0 against Iceland at home so the pressure was on manager Lawrie Sanchez. Evans was a 19-year-old on loan at Antwerp, so certainly not on his national team manager’s radar.
‘Lawrie Sanchez had not seen me play,’ said Evans, now 33. ‘ The team had lost heavily at the weekend and I was back home playing for the Under 21s.
Assistant manager Terry Gibson’s son was saying we have this guy in the U21s and he plays for Antwerp but I know he’s on loan from Manchester United, because I have him on Championship Manager. So they brought me in to have a look.
‘I ended up playing three days later against Spain. He threw me in at left back and I was marking Fernando Torres. Sergio Ramos played right back so I had him bombing on a bit on my side, too.’
The punchline? Northern Ireland won 3-2 against the Spain team that would be both European and world champions within the next four years.
‘We did a good job,’ says Evans. ‘ It was a backs- to- the- wall performance and a famous night.’
Backs to the wall? ‘ Well, we scored three goals but they were all on the counter-attack.’
It has taken the move to Leicester, via West Brom, for Evans to appreciate how well he is regarded in the game. As Manchester United have spent the past few years attempting to solve their centrehalf problems, their former player — effectively forced out by the signings of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones — has been forging a reputation as one of the best in the Premier League.
‘I probably didn’t realise it at the start but in my first couple of months at Leicester, I do feel like, having those trophies and medals behind you, they look up to me a lot, which surprised me a little bit. Players respect what you’ve achieved in the game.’
Evans grew up on the Rathcoole estate in Belfast and was scouted by Manchester United’s Northern Ireland Centre of Excellence, the family moving to Manchester when he was 16.
Loan spells at Antwerp and Sunderland, where he won the Championship under Roy Keane, preceded eight successful years at the club under Sir Alex Ferguson. Therein lies the reason he is reluctant to shout about his medals.
‘There were varying amounts of games I played, whether through injury or having to fight my way in against top players. I was very grateful for that experience and being a part of a team that was winning things. I’m very proud of all those trophies.
‘ But you had players in your team like Ryan Giggs who probably had 12, 13 Premier League titles. So you never felt like you could get carried away by winning a couple. You kind of always felt insignificant.’
His medals are not even on display. ‘I’ve got them in the house but I don’t have them hanging up. Once you st art getting your medals out and looking at them, or maybe looking at the past, that’s the time you know it might be the end.’
This is pure Ferguson, the mark of a serial winner, refusing to rest on laurels. ‘He set that example for us. He had that and we followed and picked upon it. Coming through as a young lad, there was this mentality set from the youth team up.
‘ Sir Alex always talked about concentration. It was probably one of his biggest messages that he gave to us. He wanted everyone so entrenched in t he game. He wanted us to have the ultimate concentration for 90 minutes.’
Nothing compares with Sir Alex but there was a touch of the Glaswegian authority when Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers dropped James Maddison, AyozePerez and Hamza Choudhury for breaching Covid regulations last Sunday.
Given Leicester subsequently lost 3-2 at West Ham, it may cost them a Champions League place, but the broader point of respecting sacrifices by team-mates and the whole country was deemed more important.
Evans said: ‘ The way he dealt with it was fantastic. He’s very decisive and he let all the other players know where he stood, he was very open with his dialogue, his communication. As players, you can only have respect for that.
‘ I’d like to achieve something with Leicester,’ adds Evans. ‘That’s the plan for the club. Always being in there, knocking on the door, getting to finals and putting the club in a position where we can win things. And to leave a legacy.’