‘I took it to heart’ – Leeds star slams ex-Elland Rd boss who broke promises
Leeds United star Kalvin Phillips has done something that most top players would not do and that is revealing something negative about a former manager.
Leeds have had their fair share of shocking managers over the last couple of decades and there are only a few who are held in higher disregard than Steve Evans.
Evans, 57, managed the Whites in the 2015/16 season, winning just 14 of his 38 matches in charge.
He is far from popular among Leeds fans and it seems that is also the case for midfielder Phillips, who has named Evans as the worst manager he’s ever had at Elland Road.
“I’d probably say Steve Evans,” Phillips told Forza Football Academy, as quoted by LeedsLive, when asked to name the worst manager he’s played for. “At the time I was in and out of the team. It wasn’t a nice time for me.
“Just to be in and out it wasn’t a nice place to be at because we weren’t really challenging for anything, we weren’t really doing much and there was all this saga going on with Massimo Cellino.
“We liked each other as people, but he was promising me stuff he couldn’t really guarantee and I took it to heart.
“He would say I was starting a game and then we’d walk into the changing room before a game and I wouldn’t even be on the bench.
“It was just little things like that.”
It cannot have been nice for Phillips to have been lied to about playing in the first-team, especially as a promising young player who is from the city and supports the club.
Phillips was not much of a key player before Marcelo Bielsa’s arrival and it could be that Evans’ management held the midfielder back before he blossomed into the future England international we see today.
Evans was – and still is – an awful manager.
There is a reason he’s had three jobs in lower leagues since leaving West Yorkshire and he now manages League One side Gillingham.
In other Leeds United news, this young striker heading for Elland Road is a perfect project for Bielsa to sink his teeth into.