The ever-reliable Daily Mail have sent the rumour mill into overdrive with a report that Evans is going to be sacked at the end of the season, but do they know what they are on about?
The paper is claiming that some players (un-named) have gone behind Evans back to tell Cellino they have lost confidence in the head coach, and that Cellino has already sounded out a foreign coach to replace him next season (again un-named). They also say that Cellino doesn’t trust Evans, despite the head coach’s refusal to rock the boat by commenting on any of the wider controversies surrounding the Italian’s regime.
But the article doesn’t include any quotes to back up the apparent scoop, and although two other national newspapers have picked up on the story, they are just quoting the Mail article, rather than independently verifying the claim from their own sources. The Mail are also claiming that Cellino won’t act till the end of the season because "he does not want to draw undue attention to his ownership while an appeal over a Football League ban has still not been resolved.”
This last bit sounds particularly daft, as I’m sure the League won’t forget that Il Presidente is still our majority shareholder even if he doesn’t sack Evans. And Cellino hasn’t been shy about making other high-profile decisions in recent weeks, such as imposing the infamous pie tax and trying to ban Sky from Elland Road.
This story comes only four days after somebody leaked the news to the Yorkshire Post reported that Cellino had approached Dutch coach Rene Meulensteen to ask if he would consider replacing Evans. But it seems unlikely that Meulensteen is the mystery foreign coach mentioned by the Mail, as he seems to have wisely decided to give Massimo a wide berth.
"I have also spoken with Leeds United, but there is a lot of unrest. If I went there, it can be finished within a few months. Then my reputation breaks even further.” If you’ve forgotten who Meulensteen is, he was one of three Fulham managers during their 2013/14 relegation season, lasting only 17 games. Another great choice by Cellino, and we can be thankful the former Man United coach turned us down.
As to whether Evans actually deserves to be removed from his position, the jury is still out. He seemed to be on the verge of the sack when Cellino left the Brighton debacle at half time and then banned the scot from talking to the media after the game. It’s possible that Cellino actually was going to sack him, but changed his mind in the morning and made an excuse about why he’d gagged Evans the night before.
Evans then seemed to have saved himself with three consecutive wins, but it’s probably so coincidence that the Mail came out with this story just after the 4-1 surrender to Huddersfield on Saturday. If Evans is to survive in the long term he will have to overcome this chronic inconsistency that has plagued our season.
With Cellino’s ever-changing mood swings it’s impossible to tell if Evans has got much of a future at Elland Road, or whether the Mail have got it right, but for now I’m prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.