Raymond Leslie "Ray" Evans (born 20 September 1949) is an English former professional

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 lea ...

who played as a full-back. He played for

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

. He also played for a number of clubs in the United States.

Career

Evans was born in

Edmonton, London Edmonton is a town in north London, England within the London Borough of Enfield, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London. The northern part of the town is known as Lower Edmonton or Edmonton Green, and the southern ...

and joined Tottenham Hotspur as an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in ...

in May 1965, and signed as a full professional in 1967, making his league debut in March 1969 at

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 ...

. He made 181 appearances, including four as substitute, in all competitions for the club from 1969 to 1974 and scored two goals.Hugman, B. J. (Ed) ''The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946–2005'' (2005) p198 Retrieved 17 August 2008 Evans featured in both legs of the 1974 UEFA Cup final against

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

with Spurs losing 4–2 on aggregate. He joined

for a fee of £35,000 in January 1975. He helped the ''Lions'' win promotion to the Second Division in the 1975–76 season and made 91 appearances for the club in three seasons. During the summer of 1977, Evans played for the St. Louis Stars of the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

. He transferred to

in March 1977, where he played 91 for the West London side as they posted three seasons of mid-table form in the Second Division. In 1978, he returned to the United States, where he played for the

California Surf The California Surf was an American soccer team that competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1978 to 1981. The team was based in Anaheim, California and played their home games at Anaheim Convention Center and the Long Beach ...

. He was selected for the First Team All-Star team in 1978. In August 1979, he returned to England and signed for

. He played 44 times for Stoke in the 1979–80 season, scoring a penalty against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

. He played in 36 matches in the 1980–81 season and 26 times in the 1981–82 season. He returned to the United States again, after making 106 appearances for the ''Potters''. In 1982, he moved permanently to the United States, when he signed with the Seattle Sounders for two seasons. In the autumn of 1983, he moved to the newly established

Tacoma Stars The Tacoma Stars are an American professional indoor soccer team based in Tacoma, Washington, that competes in the Major Arena Soccer League (MASL). The franchise also operates in USL League Two, a minor outdoor league. Founded in 2003, the indo ...

of the Major Indoor Soccer League. He would play three seasons for Tacoma, before announcing his retirement in May 1986. In 1989, he came out of retirement to play one season in the

Western Soccer Alliance The Western Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer ...

with the

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team was founded by Gi ...

Coaching career

While with the

, Evans also served as an assistant coach. He spent two seasons coaching the soccer team of

Columbia Basin College Columbia Basin College (CBC) is a public community college in Pasco, Washington. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. The college offers English as a second language and General Educational Development (GED) ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. He has also been a coach of the Three Rivers Soccer Club.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

; Tottenham Hotspur *

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

: winner: 1971–72 1973–74; runner-up ; Millwall *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 Football League, 1920–21 and again from 1958–59 Football League, 1958 until 1991–92 Football League, 1992. When the FA Premier League ...

third-place promotion: 1975–76

References

External links

*
NASL/MISL stats

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Ray 1949 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Enfield People from Edmonton, London California Surf players English men's footballers English expatriate men's footballers Seattle Storm (soccer) players Fulham F.C. players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Millwall F.C. players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players St. Louis Stars (soccer) players Seattle Sounders (1974–1983) players Stoke City F.C. players English Football League players Tacoma Stars players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Western Soccer Alliance players UEFA Europa League–winning players Men's association football defenders English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States