Evans returns to Crawley Town with a tinge of sadness

Steve Evans returns to his former club Crawley Town on Saturday with a tinge of sadness a week after the death of Dermot Drummy.
Steve Evans is a familiar face at Crawley TownSteve Evans is a familiar face at Crawley Town
Steve Evans is a familiar face at Crawley Town

There will be a minute's silence before the game for the former Crawley boss and Stags manager Evans said: “I knew Dermot very well when he was at Chelsea. He was one of the first people to call me when I got the job here.

“He was manager of Crawley in my first game at Mansfield and we had a few little Scotches after the game.

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“He is someone I'd speak to once or twice every two weeks all the way through and to get that news was a real shock.

“I shed a tear with my daughters when I got the news on a text message. God only takes the good young.”

Unpredictable Crawley have won one, lost one and drawn four of their last six League Two games.

“They have picked up in the last few weeks,” said Evans. “They have been inconsistent but they do have good players.

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“They have a good guy for me in the manager's seat in Harry Kewell who had an impeccable CV as a footballer.

“Then he was at Watford as U23s coach, he knows what he's doing.”

Evans retains his affection for the club he took out of Non-League.

“I still look for their results as I do for Rotherham and Leeds,” he said.

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“They are on different divisions so I want them all to win every week. But the most important result is ours and we want to add to out points tally at Crawley.

“If we get one it will be a decent result on the road. If we can get three I think that will put us in the top five on Saturday night.

“The people behind the scenes there and the supporters were wonderful to me. I had four years there with some outstanding success – records in non-League that will never be broken.”