Maurice Evans (footballer, born 1936)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Maurice George Evans | ||
| Date of birth | 22 September 1936 | ||
| Place of birth | Didcot, England | ||
| Date of death | 18 August 2000 (aged 63) | ||
| Place of death | Reading, England | ||
| Playing position | Wing-half | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1955–1967 | Reading | 407 | (13) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1972–1974 | Shrewsbury Town | ||
| 1977–1984 | Reading | ||
| 1985–1988 | Oxford United | ||
| 1993 | Oxford United (caretaker) | ||
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
Maurice George Evans (22 September 1936 – 18 August 2000) was a football player with Reading Football Club, and later manager of Shrewsbury, Reading and Oxford United.
Evans was born in Didcot (now in Oxfordshire, but then in Berkshire) in 1936. He signed for Reading in 1952 as a ground staff junior, aged just 16. He soon won his place at left-half in the first team and held it throughout the adversities of working in the National Service's RAF. He went on to make the wing-half position his own for the next ten seasons, and was a skilful, thoughtful player. The wing back also appeared to be without an ounce of malice in him, in him playing 459 first-team games without being booked once. He was selected as reserve for the Third Division South side against the North in April and October of 1957. In compilaction by the Royals' of their best-ever eleven, Evans was voted the best right-winger with 48.4% of the vote.
After leaving the club in 1967, he briefly took over as player-manager at Andover before joining Shrewsbury as player-coach, eventually becoming their manager in 1972. He returned to Elm Park as Charlie Hurley's assistant manager in 1974, and finally took over as manager in 1977. He managed the 1978–79 championship-winning team, securing the Manager Of The Year Award in the process. He remained Reading manager until 1984, making perceptive signings from non-league football such as Kerry Dixon, Trevor Senior and Paul Stanford. Dixon was later capped several times by England and for almost a decade was Chelsea's top goalscorer. Senior was a highly accomplished goalscorer for Reading, particularly when they won promotion to the Second Division as Third Division champions in 1985–86. Evans was also responsible for giving opportunities to the likes of Neil Webb, who went on to play for Nottingham Forest, Manchester United and England.
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