Alun William Evans (born 30 April 1949) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who made his name as a centre forward in the

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

side rebuilt by

Bill Shankly William Shankly (2 September 1913 – 29 September 1981) was a Scottish football player and manager, who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool. Shankly brought success to Liverpool, gaining promotion to the First Division and winnin ...

at the start of the 1970s. He was born in

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it had ...

, Worcestershire.

Career

Evans began his professional career with

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

, breaking into the first team in the 1967/68 season. He had already appeared for the club on their summer success in winning the

United Soccer Association The United Soccer Association was a professional soccer league featuring teams based in the United States and Canada. The league survived only one season before merging with the National Professional Soccer League to form the North American S ...

under the guise of the Los Angeles Wolves in Summer 1967. He only had one full season in Wolves' first team as he swiftly joined

in September 1968 for £100,000, making him Britain's most expensive teenager. He had caught the eye of manager

after he outran and out-thought Liverpool captain

Ron Yeats Ronald Yeats (born 15 November 1937) is a Scottish former association footballer. He was a key defender in the rejuvenation of Dundee United in the early 1960s. He then spent a decade at Liverpool captaining them to six trophies in the mid-1960 ...

in a match in 1968. Although only 19, and despite Shankly's known desire to introduce new players gradually to the team, Evans was put straight into the side and stayed there until the end of the season. He made his debut on 21 September 1968 in a league match against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

, scoring in a 4–0 win. Evans went on to feature in 33 league games, scoring seven goals as Liverpool finished runners-up to

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

. After an unimpressive 1969–70 campaign, he fared better the next season, scoring frequently in the opening games but suffered from injury and ill-luck which forced him out of the team, including facial

scar A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other organs, and tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a na ...

ring after being attacked with broken glass in a nightclub. He returned to the fray near the end, and bagged a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

during this season in a European Fairs Cup fourth round 1st leg tie at home to German giants

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

in a 3–0 win that ultimately saw them through 4–1 on aggregate. He also scored a magnificent equaliser against

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

rivals Everton as Liverpool came from behind to win their

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

semi-final at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

. However, Evans played disappointingly in

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

and was substituted midway through the second half. Liverpool eventually lost 2–1 to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

after extra time. His

career did not last much longer, as the signing of

Kevin Keegan Joseph Kevin Keegan (born 14 February 1951) is an English former footballer and manager. A forward, he played for several professional clubs from 1968 to 1984. Having begun his career at Scunthorpe United, he moved to Liverpool in 1971 and ...

pushed him aside, and he managed only a handful of appearances in 1971–72. After 111 first team appearances, he departed for

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, newly promoted,

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

for £72,000 on 20 June 1972; Evans could have joined the

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...

club straight from school as he impressed during a trial in 1964, however, he had decided to sign for Midland rivals Wolves. He remained at

for just two-and-a-half seasons, before being allowed to leave for fellow Midlanders

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

for £30,000 on 14 December 1975, after 71 games and 17 goals. Ironically, 5 months after Evans departed, Villa gained the promotion back to the big time they yearned for, finishing runner-up to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

by 3 points. Following two full seasons at Walsall, which included scoring a goal that knocked Leicester out of the F.A. Cup and won 'Goal Of The Month' on Match Of The Day, the striker ended his career abroad playing in both the US and Australia (with

South Melbourne FC South Melbourne Football Club is an Australian semi-professional Association football, soccer club based in suburb of Albert Park, Victoria, Albert Park, in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The club currently competes in the National P ...

Morwell Falcons Morwell is a town in the Latrobe Valley area of Gippsland, in South-Eastern Victoria, Australia approximately 152 km (94 mi) east of Melbourne. Morwell has a population of 14,389 people at the . It is both the seat of local governme ...

and Sandringham City SC).

Honours

Aston Villa *

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

: 1974–75

References

External links

Thisisanfield.com Forgotten HeroesPlayer profile at LFChistory.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Alun 1949 births Living people English men's footballers England men's under-23 international footballers English people of Welsh descent Men's association football forwards English Football League players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Walsall F.C. players South Melbourne FC players Los Angeles Wolves players United Soccer Association players Sportspeople from Kidderminster Falcons 2000 SC players English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English expatriate men's footballers Footballers from Worcestershire