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When Steve Evans got the call from the Bristol Rovers’ hierarchy to be their new head coach, he had one condition – he needed a hotel to stay in with a swimming pool.
Far from demanding the height of luxury because he could, a pool means that Evans can keep up his routine of swimming 70 to 80 lengths every day.
In the eight-and-a-half months since the 63-year-old was last in the dugout at Rotherham United to being appointed at League Two strugglers Bristol Rovers, Evans has lost eight-and-a-half stone in weight.
Working with a “specialist team”, he has transformed his fitness, now swimming and spending time on a bike daily alongside dieting.
“One of my insistences in the short term when I came to Bristol was they had found me a hotel to stay in until I find an apartment, I insisted a hotel with a swimming pool,” Evans told BBC Radio Bristol.
“They thought that was quite posh but it’s not posh, it just allows me to do my work in the morning at six before I come in.”
Having gone from club to club during the four decades of his career in football, after leaving the Millers in March, Evans paused before taking another job to work on his health following a conversation with a doctor.
“[I am] feeling absolutely incredible,” Evans added. “It’s been a big journey.
“A contribution of static biking, walking the dogs at home and swimming so that journey must continue because I want to see my four-and-a-half-year-old grandson when he’s 21.”
When Evans’ daughter told him she was pregnant with the first of his four grandchildren, he can recall a friend who already had grandchildren telling him how much becoming a grandfather would change “everything you think about”.
“It’s taken a little while for it to transform me, medically and weight wise, but it’s certainly worked,” he said.
“Our grandkids stay over one night every week so it’s mayhem in our house – there’ll be nothing more than me being the Poppy going home on the back of Bristol Rovers winning a game and seeing my grandkids.
“They’re already sending me videos of the kids saying, ‘Up the Gas’.”
Although he added “time will tell” if the weight loss has changed his often brash, no-nonsense managerial style and manner as well as his physical appearance.
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‘We have enough time’
Evans’ comes into a Bristol Rovers team spiralling down the football league.
A club record 10th straight league defeat on Saturday by Swindon, with Darrell Clarke sacked hours later, has left them in the bottom two of League Two on goal difference and facing the prospect of successive relegations.
The goal of Evans’ appointment is simple – keep the club up. He even insisted on only signing a deal until the end of the season.
“I don’t want to manage in the National League – I’ve made that quite clear to two or three approaches in the last three, four months,” he said.
“My task is to fix the problem between now and the end of the season and make sure that Bristol Rovers are part of the EFL.
“And if that goes well enough we can have a true sit down chat about the future.”
Evans has been here before, with Rotherham, Leeds and Stevenage – all of whom he kept from relegation and he believes there is plenty of time to put things right.
“We have enough time, we’ve still got five, six months of the season to go,” he said.
“It’s not like I’m in here when I walked in the door at Stevenage, we had 10 league games left.”
ShutterstockWhile the Gas possess the worst goal difference in the division and have scored only four times across their previous 10 league matches, Evans said he has given the players a “clean slate” but also non-negotiables: “Don’t run, don’t play.”
“The squad excited me a little bit because on paper they’re good,” he said.
“In my first proper meeting this morning my comments to the players was reminding them how good they are on paper. But there’s never a football game won on paper, it has to be won with heart, desire and passion.”
Steadying the ship through the Christmas run of games to January is the priority, with a trip to Crewe Alexandra first up before games against Bromley, Barnet and Shrewsbury Town.
He stressed the club will have money to spend in the transfer window to bolster the squad.
“The chairman and the family and Ricky [Martin, director of football] have given me every assurance that I will be able to go into the market,” he said.
“What stops me going into the market for certain positions is players performances, because who didn’t play well under Darrell Clarke may play well under me.”
Listen to the full interview with Steve Evans on BBC Radio Bristol’s Having a Gas on Thursday, 18 December, 18:00-19:00 GMT
