Michael Appleton v Steve Evans
Aah, Steve. I would have loved to go on about him and Danny, but Michael Appleton rarely clashed with other managers. All that changed when he came up against Evans, as it should.
During a pretty hectic pre-Covid encounter, City and Gillingham shared a 0-0 draw, with Tayo Edun sent off. Evans was his usual self, remonstrating with the referee and seeing everything through his team’s eyes. At the end of the game, Evans strode onto the pitch to have his say, but he quickly retracted his bullish demeanour when Appleton, looking hench, followed him.
“I just wanted to put him back in his box,” said Appleton. “Obviously Steve’s got a lot to say on the side of the pitch. I’ve kept my council a little bit, even before the game. When he knew I was serious, he certainly backed down. He knew I wasn’t messing about. You can push me to a certain point, but then there’ll only be one winner.”
Evans kept pushing the button a year later. We’d beaten them 3-0 at their place, but before a 3-0 defeat at ours, Evans was on about budgets. “They have a big budget, they won’t be in the realms of a Sunderland or Ipswich, but it’s three or four times what we’ve got. Credit to Michael Appleton, huge credit, they have a super team,” he said. Appleton wasn’t having any of that, either.
“I’d be more than happy putting budgets on tables for everyone to see what they are,” he said. “It [Evans’ claim] was a comical.”
The next meeting between the two dampened things a little – instead of the two managers clashing, a racism storm brewed which overshadowed events.