Democracy as Stags fans help manager pick the side

Ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Accrington Stanley, Evans said he likes to garner a collective opinion of everyone he speaks to before making his decisions.

“We’ll have a staff meeting tomorrow afternoon, but I ask anyone I see in the town of Mansfield what their team would be. I love to get opinions,” he said.

“Sometimes you get opinions that are not the norm and you have to balance that out.

“If you asked eight or nine people about a team, perhaps five, six or seven of them who are unconnected, say they’d like a change for player A to be replaced by player B.

“You actually go away as a manager and have a look at that. And you should do.”

He explained: “I learnt that trait from Sir Alex Ferguson on a visit to Old Trafford.

“He said to me he asks the tunnel stewards on arrival, he asks the press guys, he asks the people who serve them so well up there cooking their dinners and the like. He said quite often from those opinions comes one opinion of many people.

“It is better to have many people’s opinions than just being a dictator and picking it yourself. I’ve never managed like that and maybe that’s why we’ve had success over the years.”

The only opinions he has to take with a pinch of salt at times are his own players.

“The players will tell you they are the Maradona of Mansfield, and so they should,” he smiled. “We want players to be confident. We want players to be bright.”