New Leeds boss Evans will make the team fight, says owner

The former Crawley Town boss has agreed a deal to the end of the season at Elland Road and will take charge of Leeds for the first time away at Fulham on Wednesday after Uwe Rosler was sacked by club owner Massimo Cellino last night.

The German, who signed a two-year contract in May, survived for just 12 games and lost his job in the wake of a 2-1 defeat to Brighton on Saturday.

Cellino moved immediately to name Evans as Rosler’s successor and the 52-year-old Scot has agreed a contract which gives him the option of remaining in charge for the 2015-16 term.

Cellino told our sister paper The Yorkshire Evening Post: “Uwe was a gentleman. Maybe he was the right coach with the wrong team or something like that. I don’t know. But I was going to games with fear and worry because I didn’t like what I saw in the future.

“You have to trust what you’re doing and with Uwe I didn’t anymore. I wasn’t going to look to the sky for miracles. I had to help myself and help the club.

“Steve Evans, he has aggression and he will make this team fight. If you don’t fight you don’t expect to win anything. In too many games and in too many draws we didn’t try to win. We didn’t try enough. I’m not blaming only Uwe. I’m not saying he’s a bad coach. This is my mistake too.”

Evans handled his first training session at Thorp Arch this morning and will take United’s players to London tomorrow ahead of Wednesday’s clash with Fulham.

Paul Raynor, his long-time assistant at Rotherham and Crawley Town, is joining United as Evans’ number two and was also at Thorp Arch today.

Cellino added: “When we played Rotherham (while Evans was manager), they would fight us for everything. He doesn’t care about contracts or anything. He just wanted the opportunity to coach this club.”

For the full story from The Yorkshire Evening Post, click here.

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