Jason McAteer claims Roy Evans was in tears before his Liverpool departure.
While at a training camp in Spain, the Ireland international was about to leave for the coach before heading to play a game when he was interrupted by the phone ringing.
Reserve goalkeeper and roommate, Tony Warner, picked up the phone and to his surprise was greeted by Liverpool’s joint manager, Roy Evans.
“The phone goes and you think ‘I’m dropped.’ So Tony Warner picks the phone up and goes ‘It’s the gaffer.’
“Knocked on his door, he opened the door. I could see he was stressed. He said to me ‘I can’t fight anymore – I’m done. I’m apologising now, I can’t fight your corner. That’s his decision (Gérard Houllier).’
“So I’d gone from gutted I’m not playing, fuming I’m not playing to like ‘Evo (Roy Evans) are you okay?’. Then he was like ‘I’m not doing it anymore, I’m going to pack it in.’ I’m now counselling the gaffer.” He told Undr the Cosh.
“We had a day off the next day, then we go into training and Evo is not there. We are sitting around, then Evo comes in. It still upsets me now when I talk about it. It breaks my heart. He just starts crying, looks at the lads, bursts out crying and he’s like ‘I’m really sorry but I’ve decided to pack it in. Gerard’s going to take over now, he’s the gaffer, do your best for him.’
“Everyone’s just heads down, tears, players are devastated. It just broke my heart. You just see a fella who’s given his whole life to Liverpool Football Club. Who just thanks and then gone. The club had gone in a completely different direction.”
Evans left the Reds in 1998 paving the way for Houllier to take the reigns at Anfield winning the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup in 2001. However, McAteer left for Blackburn in January 1999 after falling out of favour with the Frenchman.
“He was a school teacher, he was a bit of a bully, to be honest. And, he could manipulate the kids a lot better.
“He came to me and said ‘Are you an international?’ I’d played in the World Cup in ‘94. I just thought ‘How does he not know that?’
