Archived News from November 2016
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EVANS: PLAYERS EMBRACING PHILOSOPHY/BLACKPOOL PREV
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Players embracing new manager's philosophy
mansfieldtown.net, 21st November 2016 Newly-installed Stags' boss Steve Evans says his new group of players are embracing his football principles but insists there is much work to be done on the training ground. The manager kick-started his reign with a 3-1 victory over Crawley Town at the weekend thanks to a brace from midfielder Chris Clements and an acrobatic finish from striker Pat Hoban. And after seeing his charges play with a high-tempo against the Reds on Saturday, Evans says it is important that they continue to implement the changes he makes on the training ground. “When you come in to a football club and you’ve got such a big job to do, the one thing that I was very clear [with] on Saturday is the players have got lots and lots to learn here,” Evans said at this morning's news conference. “We’ve got some talented boys. I don’t think there’s any doubt as we go forward we’ll be adding to it (the squad). What we add will be dependent on them. I would love nothing more than saying to the chairman and the chief exec, ‘we’re good to go as we are’. Read more at http://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/article/2016-17/manager-asks-players-to-buy-in-to-philosophy-3428285.aspx#iIqZf40wsmL7IIDc.99 “We’ve got a lot of raw ingredients that we need to harness and we just need to get a little bit more in to them. Can I call it streetwise? That’s one of the characteristics and two, [they need to be] a little bit tactically more aware of what they’re going to play against. We’re going to furnish them with information but not overload it, so it’s a fine balance. “We may change one or two little things. It’ll be nothing major of course, we don’t have time to do that. This will be a lot different when we go to January and that doesn’t mean players, that means just how we do things. “We’re almost trying to bring a structure in to the football club around the team. We’re trying to bring a structure in that takes this club to having standards that can operate in League One and the Championship.” The Stags’ chief expects Blackpool to pose a different challenge when they visit One Call Stadium tomorrow evening (7.45pm kick-off) but says all of his focus will be on his own squad. “It won’t be what Blackpool do tomorrow night that determines whether they win the game or not, it will be about what Mansfield Town do. Do we get our game-plan right, do we get our tactics right on the training ground? “I heard a wonderful interview with Jurgen Klopp and I just wonder whether he’s stolen it from me! Last year when I said 95 percent on a Saturday at three o’clock is (about) the players. The head coach and the manager can affect very little other than at half-time when you become 95 percent important." The former Leeds United manager revealed that defender Lee Collins is 'doubtful' for tomorrow's clash with the Tangerines, whilst fellow defender Kyle Howkins will also be missing with a knee injury which he picked up in training last week. Midfielder Kevan Hurst and long-term absentee George Taft (both hamstring) will also sit out tomorrow evening's match. Meanwhile, defender Alex Iacovitti will serve the second of his three-match suspension. Supporters can view Steve Evans’ news conference later today, in full, on Stags PlayerHD. ------------------ Stags look to the skies as rain threatens Blackpool clash BY JOHN LOMAS, CHAD.CO.UK, Monday 21 November 2016 Mansfield Town will be hoping the wet weather does not put pay to their hopes of building on Saturday’s sparkling victory when Blackpool are due in town tomorrow night (Tuesday, 7.45pm). Blackpool are due in town tomorrow night (Tuesday, 7.45pm). New boss Steve Evans made the perfect start to his tenure on Saturday with a 3-1 home win over Crawley Town on Saturday with Blackpool, in the final play-off place in seventh, expected to provide a much tougher test tomorrow. However, with rain already falling as the covers went on and more expected overnight, the Stags already have a pitch inspection planned for 9.15am. Read more at: http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/mansfield-town/stags-look-to-the-skies-as-rain-threatens-blackpool-clash-1-8250287? The grey scene outside the window in the Quarry Lane Stand this morning was very familiar to a man born in Glasgow who has spent many seasons working in Yorkshire and Evans smiled: “It’s very Glasgow/Yorkshire weather and now now it’s Nottinghamshire weather. I think we are on the wrong end of it today, but we won’t be alone. “There will be a lot of football clubs and managers and coaches looking across the pitches now and towards the ground staff. “I’ve already had my meeting with Mike (groundsman Merriman) this morning who said, listen gaffer, there’s X-amount of rain and he was depressing me with the amount of rain that was going to fall. “But if this game has a chance then that young man and his team will get it on.” With Stags a tantalising two points off the play-offs, Stags know a win could see them leapfrog the Seasiders into that seventh and final play-off spot. But, despite the stand-off between chairman and supporters at crisis-torn Blackpool, who since 2011 have tumbled from the Premier League into League Two, results have been good under Lee Bowyer, the club’s eighth manager in three-and-a-half years. They have lost only one of their last six League games, winning the last two and Evans admitted: “They have done a good job up there. “It was another football club that had a lot of issues with supporters and different things over the summer and I really feel for them. “But my focus is not them, my focus is what we do. It won’t be about what Blackpool do tomorrow night that determines whether they win the game or not. It’s about what Mansfield Town do. “Do we get our game plan right? Do we get the tactics right on the training ground? “I heard a wonderful interview with Jurgen Klopp and I just wonder whether he stole it from me when I said last year that 95 per cent on a Saturday at 3pm is the players. “The head coach or the manager can affect very little then, other than at half-time. “But when it comes to being on the training ground, the coaching, the strategy and the tactics, then the manager, led by his lieutenants if you like, who are coaching the players, are 95 per cent important. “What we put across to the players, they have to take on board. “The players who went out there on Saturday produced more than the 95 per cent to get us the win.” Evans continued: “They have to be really assured against Blackpool. “This is a good side. When you look back to the summer to look who they assembled everyone knew why as Gary Bowyer, an experienced Championship boss, went in there and used his contacts to put that squad in place.” After last weekend’s defensive crisis, when Evans had only one centre half available to him, he does have Kyle Howins available again after suspension with Lee Collins still not 100 per cent fit. “We may change one or two little things but nothing major of course,” he said. “We don’t have the time to do that.” ------------------ New Stags boss Evans convinced Stags can ‘do a Rotherham’ and reach Championship BY JOHN LOMAS, CHAD.CO.UK, Monday 21 November 2016 New Mansfield Town manager Steve Evans is convinced he can ‘do a Rotherham’ and take the Stags into the promised land of the Championship. The 54-year-old Glaswegian replaced Adam Murray last week and said it had so far been almost deja vu from his decision to join Rotherham, where he took the Millers from League Two into the Championship with back-to-back promotions in 2012-214. Few Stags fans believed the club could lure the former Leeds United boss to the One Call Stadium, but he has agreed a two and a half year deal with assistant Paul Raynor. A veteran of an impressive nine promotions, Evans said, with chairman John Radford’s backing, he believes he can take Stags into the Championship. “I one hundred per cent believe that or I wouldn’t have come,” he said. “You have to have a plan and a strategy to get there and people are going to knock you along the way. Read more at: http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/mansfield-town/new-stags-boss-evans-convinced-stags-can-do-a-rotherham-and-reach-championship-1-8252489 “It is very unusual to do what we did at Rotherham, to go on and say we are going to be a Championship club very quickly and we managed to achieve that. “But, in respect of the chairman here, I am going to get the same support here in the transfer market and the dealings when the window opens that I got from Tony Stewart. “So this can be a Championship club - make no mistake about that. “I’ll just get us a promotion, let the chairman put another stand over there and then we’ll be ready.” Evans added: “From the first time I met the Radford family, the chairman and the CEO, it struck me as I drove away from that meeting that it was almost deja vu with the chairman at Rotherham. “I didn’t drive to meet John Radford with any real thoughts that, yes I am going to take this job. But I didn’t drive to meet Tony Stewart (Rotherham chairman) and the other board thinking I am going to take this job. “But, if I am being honest, Tony Stewart blew me away. And John Radford did too. So there are a lot of similarities. “The fan base was similar. What grew the fan base at Rotherham was obviously a new stadium, number one, but more importantly without the back-to-back promotions I would suggest the crowds would not have been very far from what they were before. “But they are magnificent supporters, and I think Mansfield Town supporters demonstrated how good and how vociferous they can be on Saturday. They were our 12th man, especially in that second half.” Evans will spend the next few weeks assessing his squad ahead of the January window. Although the Radfords have promised him money to spend, he has challenged the current players to prove their worth and save the chairman’s money. “First and foremost, as we all get to know each other, the players and the staff, we have to make sure that we are right in the mix of it come January, and whatever we decide to do in January can be done, whether that’s go forward with what we’ve got,” he said. “I keep saying nothing would give me more pleasure than looking at everyone in the dressing room and thinking I don’t need to change this because it’s working. If something is working why stop and fix it?” ------------------ Bowyer: Stags will enjoy honeymoon period under Evans blackpoolgazette.co.uk, by MATT SCRAFTON, Tuesday 22 November 2016 Gary Bowyer says Blackpool will face a tough task against Mansfield Town and has predicted the Stags will enjoy a honeymoon period under new boss Steve Evans. Evans, who was appointed Mansfield boss last Wednesday, began his reign with a 3-1 home win against Crawley on Saturday - the Stags’ first league win since their home win against neighbours Notts County at the start of October. And Bowyer, whose side come into the game on a six-match unbeaten run, said Pool will have to be at their best if they are to extend that good run of form. “It’s the same when any new manager goes in,” he said. “There’s a reflection time and the impact of a new boss going in. “We’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves and that’s what we’ll do.” Evans, who has won promotion nine times in his career, came in after the departure of Stags’ stalwart Adam Murray, who had left Mansfield 18th in League Two. Before Saturday’s win, they had only won one of their last 11 matches, but a second half goal rush against Crawley was enough to see them climb up to 11th, just two points off Pool in seventh. Evans was sacked by Championship club Leeds United in May and was also in contention for the vacant managerial role at Charlton Athletic. The Seasiders now have two games in the space of five days as Blackpool look to cement their play in the league’s top seven. Read more at: http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/sport/football/blackpool-fc/bowyer-stags-will-enjoy-honeymoon-period-under-evans-1-8251684? The 2-1 win against Leyton Orient was only Pool’s second win on the road this season and the first time Bowyer’s men have won back-to-back league fixtures. “It’s another tough challenge on Tuesday but we’ll get ready to go again,” Bowyer added. “The games come thick and fast so we’ve got to recover as quick as we can and go again, buoyed by the confidence we’ve gone back to back and won away on the road. That should give us a massive boost. “We’ve got two big games coming up now so we can go only go game by game. That’s 29 games left and 87 points to play for.” A key component of Blackpool’s win at Leyton Orient on Saturday was the performance of striker Jamille Matt, who grabbed his third goal in as many games. The 27-year-old had a tough start to life at Bloomfield Road after suffering an early injury, but Bowyer has been full of praise for his recent performances. He said: “Things take time. People are very quick in this country to jump on people if they’re not immediately at their best, but we knew what we were bringing into the club. “He had a few injury problems at the start but he’s a real handful, and that’s an outstanding goal he scored. It’s great strength and composure and a wonderful finish. “There’s certainly more to come from him.” Another player to draw praise from Bowyer was his side’s other goalscorer, Tom Aldred, who nodded home a Jack Payne cross to net his first goal of the season. Payne himself impressed as he came up against the side with whom he spent last season on loan. Bowyer said: “We’ve got a variety of players who can deliver a good ball in and I’m delighted for Jack Payne, who was coming back to Leyton Orient where he was on loan last year. “It was a great ball and I’m delighted for Tom. It’s about time he got a goal because we’ve been needing more goals from our defenders from set plays.” ------- |
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