Mansfield Town boss Steve Evans on how he deals with the doubts

Carlisle United v Mansfield Town - Mansfield Town manager Steve Evans - Pic By James WilliamsonCarlisle United v Mansfield Town - Mansfield Town manager Steve Evans - Pic By James Williamson
Carlisle United v Mansfield Town - Mansfield Town manager Steve Evans - Pic By James Williamson
Steve Evans said he always looked at himself very closely before blaming anyone else when things went wrong.

The Mansfield Town manager is seen as hugely successful, with nine promotions under his belt, but admitted you always have doubts in your head over decisions you make.

“The temptation is always to make rash decisions in football,” he said.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“If you are not very emotional about football what are you? You’re laid back - and football is not a sport in which you can be laid back. You have to be passionate.

“Every day you doubt a decision you’ve made - every time you don’t win a game as a manager.

“You have to look in before you look out. Supporters don’t see that side of Steve Evans and I don’t expect them to.

“Just go and speak to the Carter family at Crawley, go and speak to Tony Stewart at Rotherham, go and speak to Mr Cellino at Leeds, go and speak to John and Carolyn Radford now – I look in before I look out.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He continued: “Did you get the team selection right? Did you get the formation right? Were the substitutes right? Did you get the tactics right? There is a whole raft of things as a manager.

“You look in before you look out, then when I do look out the first person I look at is Paul Raynor.

“We live as one, we think as one. We should do. Then we look to our staff and the squad.

“There are expectations on all of us from the chairman down. I have expectations on them to deliver me the players. There’s expectations from them on me to deliver for my staff and players, and there’s expectations on the players.

“We are Team Mansfield. We make it a part of our DNA.

“We are quite happy to point the finger at people making individual errors. And if we get it tactically wrong, we’ll say we got it wrong. We are all in this together.”

News you can trust since 1952
Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice