Albert Evans
Personal information
Full name Albert James Evans[1]
Date of birth 18 March 1874
Place of birth Barnard Castle, England
Date of death 24 March 1966(1966-03-24) (aged 92)[2]
Place of death Warwick, England
Position(s) Left back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1890–???? Barnard Castle
1896–1907 Aston Villa 178 (0)
1907–1909 West Bromwich Albion 37 (0)
International career
1900 Football League XI 1 (0)
Managerial career
1920–1924 Coventry City
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Albert James Evans (18 March 1874 – 24 March 1966) was an English professional football left back who made over 170 appearances in the Football League for Aston Villa.[1][3][4][5] After his retirement as a player he managed Coventry City and coached Aston Villa and Sarpsborg FK.[2][6]

Career

Player

Following a spell at his hometown team, non-league Barnard Castle, Evans was signed for Aston Villa by secretary George Ramsay on the advice of player Bob Chatt (also from Barnard Castle) in August 1896.[2] He soon took the place of James Welford – coincidentally another Barnard Castle man –and played a total of 206 games for Villa,[3] achieving major success as the club won three Football League championships in his time, including a 'double' with the FA Cup in 1896–97.[6]

In 1907 Evans signed for West Bromwich Albion, but remained there only until December 1908 when a broken leg – one of many that he had suffered in his career – forced him to retire from the professional game.[2]

Manager

When Harry Pollitt departed as manager of Coventry City in the summer of 1920, the club appointed Evans as his replacement.[7] Evans signed some exciting new players such as Jerry Best and Jimmy Dougall but the 1920–21 season, City's second in the Football League, was largely unsuccessful. They spent most of it in last place and were saved only through a run of six wins and two draws in their final nine games.[7] They remained poor on the field in 1921–22, escaping relegation by one point.[8] Eighteenth- and nineteenth-place finishes followed in the subsequent two seasons and in 1924–25 and, facing their sixth relegation battle in a row, Coventry finally succumbed and were relegated to the Third Division North. It looked for a while as if they would stage another dramatic escape, climbing out of the relegation zone in March,[7] but the form was not sustained and they slipped back to last place.[8] Evans left the club in November 1924 and at the end of the season James Kerr was named as his replacement.[7]

Evans briefly returned to football after his return to England from international travel, working as a coach for Aston Villa between 1950 and 1956.[2]

Personal life

Evans served as a corporal in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment during the First World War.[9] Evans travelled overseas between 1924 and 1950, finding employment as he travelled, including sheep farming and gold prospecting in Canada.[2] He returned to England in 1950.[2]

Evans died on 24 March 1966 in Warwick, at the age of 92.[2]

Honours

Aston Villa

Career statistics

Club Season League FA Cup Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Aston Villa 1896–97[10] First Division 15 0 7 0 22 0
1897–98[10] 30 0 1 0 31 0
1898–99[10] 28 0 1 0 29 0
1899–1900[10] 26 0 6 0 32 0
1900–01[10] 25 0 6 0 31 0
1901–02[10] 4 0 0 0 4 0
1902–03[10] 18 0 0 0 18 0
1903–04[10] 14 0 1 0 15 0
1904–05[10] 4 0 1 0 5 0
1905–06[10] 14 0 1 0 15 0
Total 178 0 24 0 202 0
West Bromwich Albion 1907–08[11] Second Division 19 0 3 0 22 0
1908–09[12] 18 0 0 0 18 0
Total 37 0 3 0 40 0
Career total 215 0 27 0 242 0

References

  1. 1 2 Joyce, Michael (2012). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: Tony Brown. p. 93. ISBN 978-1905891610.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Albert Evans". Spartacus Educational. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  3. 1 2 "Name: Evans, Albert James". Aston Villa Player Database. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  4. ↑ "Evans Albert Image 1 Aston Villa 1896 – Vintage Footballers". vintagefootballers.com. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  5. ↑ "Albert James Evans". 11v11.com. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  6. 1 2 Gibbons, Brett (16 February 2012). "Aston Villa legend Albert Evans's medals set to net £6,000 in Jewellery Quarter auction". Birmingham Mail. Archived from the original on 8 December 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Brassington, David (1989). Singers to Sky Blues: The story of Coventry City Football Club (2 ed.). Buckingham: Sporting and Leisure Press Limited. pp. 33–36. ISBN 9780860234524.
  8. 1 2 Dean, Rod (1991). Coventry City: a complete record, 1883-1991. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 19. ISBN 9780907969884.
  9. ↑ "Albert James Evans | Service Record | Football and the First World War". Football and the First World War. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Albert Evans". 11v11.com. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  11. ↑ "Season Archive : Player Stats - 1907/08". Albion Till We Die – An Independent West Bromwich Albion Website. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
  12. ↑ "Season Archive : Player Stats - 1908/09". Albion Till We Die – An Independent West Bromwich Albion Website. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
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