- Birthdate: 30 September 1949
- Birthplace: Kidderminster, England
- Other clubs: Wolverhampton Wanderers (1965-68), Los Angeles Wolves (loan 1967), Aston Villa (1972-75), Walsall (1975-78), South Melbourne Hellas (1978-82), Morwell Falcons (1983)
- Signed from: Wolverhampton Wanderers
- Signed for LFC: £100,000, 16.09.1968
- Liverpool debut: 21.09.1968
- Last appearance: 22.01.1972
- Debut goal: 21.09.1968
- Last goal: 03.11.1971
- Contract expiry: 09.06.1972
- Win ratio: 48.65% W:54 D:30 L:27
- Games/goals ratio: 3.36
- Games/assists ratio: 8.54
- Total games/goals opposite LFC: 2 / 1
- League games / goals / assists: 79 / 21 / 9
- Total games / goals / assists: 111 / 33 / 13
Player Profile
Evans had so much potential as a teenager but his career didn't reach the heights it was expected to. Ron Yeats had struggled to keep up with him when Liverpool met Wolves at Anfield on 25 November 1967. Evans scored Wolves' only goal in Liverpool's 2-1 victory. Liverpool had been linked to him on several occasions in the newspapers and Shankly and his scouts were quite visible at Wolves' reserve games but the Scot dismissed the rumours: 'They're very careless people who talk about these things.' A few months later Liverpool paid no less than £100,000 for the 19-year-old, making Evans Britain's most expensive teenager after he had only played one full season for Wolves in the First Division, scoring four goals in 20 games. Shankly had great belief in Evans' ability and compared him to Manchester United and Scotland star Denis Law.
Evans' start to his Liverpool career could hardly have been more sensational with a goal ten minutes into his debut at home to Leicester and then two more the following week as he returned to Molineux and helped destroy his former club 6-0. He played in every League game from his debut in September until the end of the season, contributing seven goals to a very successful team that was going through a transition. At the time he seemed the ideal candidate to be groomed as Roger Hunt's successor but he made a modest return again the following season, scoring nine times in 25 games. Most of those appearances came after Hunt had departed for Bolton and the expectation and responsibility seemed to weigh heavily on his young shoulders. Evans did make a bright start to the 1970/71 season with five goals in his first six games but after that things started to go wrong for the golden-haired handsome young boy who had the world at his feet. He was attacked in a nightclub in Wolverhampton that left him badly scarred in the face. To make matters worse he was also badly injured during a UEFA Cup game in Bucharest on 4 November 1970 and was out for four months. After such a lengthy lay-off many expected he would need a few games to regain his fitness. He came on as a substitute against Tottenham and then four days later on 10 March 1971 came his brightest moment in a Liverpool shirt when he scored a spectacular hat-trick against Bayern Munich at Anfield in the fourth round of the Fairs Cup. He scored three goals in 14 games to the end of the season including Liverpool's first in a 2-1 win over Everton in the FA Cup semi-final. He featured for 68 minutes in the 2-1 defeat to Arsenal in the final.
By the start of the 1971/72 season Evans was in his twenty-third year and the best he could achieve was to play in eight consecutive games from middle of October to the middle of November scoring two goals in the process. A new rising star by the name of Kevin Keegan was now on the scene. Evans' last appearance was ironically against his first club Wolverhampton at Molineux on 22 January 1972. In the summer Evans was transferred to Wolves' Midlands rivals Aston Villa who had just conquered Third Division. After 17 goals in 71 games for Villa, he left in the middle of the 1974/75 season for third division Walsall while Villa won promotion to First Division. He played 87 League games and scored seven goals for Walsall before transferring to South Melbourne in Australia in 1978 where he stayed for four years before moving to Morwell Falcons in the same league. After his career finished Evans moved back to Melbourne and settled there.
Appearances per season
A more detailed look at the player's appearances
Apps |
Minutes |
Opponent |
6 |
540 |
Newcastle United |
6 |
518 |
Arsenal |
6 |
489 |
Leicester City |
6 |
469 |
Tottenham |
5 |
450 |
Chelsea |
5 |
450 |
Wolves |
5 |
419 |
Coventry City |
5 |
380 |
WBA |
4 |
360 |
Burnley |
4 |
360 |
Bayern Munich |
4 |
360 |
West Ham United |
4 |
360 |
Nottingham Forest |
4 |
289 |
Everton |
3 |
270 |
Stoke City |
3 |
270 |
Ipswich Town |
3 |
270 |
Manchester United |
3 |
270 |
Sheffield Wednesday |
3 |
250 |
Leeds United |
3 |
209 |
Southampton |
3 |
185 |
Manchester City |
2 |
210 |
Mansfield Town |
2 |
180 |
Dundalk |
2 |
180 |
Ferencvaros |
2 |
180 |
Derby |
2 |
180 |
Sunderland |
2 |
180 |
Huddersfield Town |
2 |
180 |
Crystal Palace |
1 |
90 |
Hull City |
1 |
90 |
Sheffield United |
1 |
90 |
Blackpool |
1 |
90 |
QPR |
1 |
90 |
Athletic Bilbao |
1 |
90 |
Doncaster Rovers |
1 |
90 |
Watford |
1 |
90 |
Oxford United |
1 |
90 |
Swindon Town |
1 |
44 |
Vitoria Setubal |
1 |
15 |
Din. Bucharest |
1 |
3 |
Servette |
Total |
Started/substitutions |
105 |
Started |
6 |
On the bench |
6 |
Substitute |
7 |
Substituted |
Total |
Venue |
56 |
Away |
53 |
Home |
2 |
Neutral |
Goals per season
A more detailed look at the player's goalscoring
Assists per season
A more detailed look at the player's assists
Milestone Appearances
# |
Date |
Against |
Stadium |
Competition |
1 |
21.09.1968 |
Leicester City |
Anfield |
League |
50 |
16.02.1970 |
Newcastle United |
Anfield |
League |
100 |
07.09.1971 |
Hull City |
Anfield |
League Cup |
Milestone Goals
# |
Minute |
Date |
Against |
Stadium |
Competition |
1 |
10 |
21.09.1968 |
Leicester City |
Anfield |
League |
Related Articles
Signed by Bill Shankly’s Liverpool as the most expensive teenager in British football history for £100,000 two weeks before his nineteenth birthday. At 26 he was at Walsall in the third division.
An interview from www.wolvesheroes.com with Alun Evans in May 2009.
Written by Steve Horton on 20th September 2003. On Liverpool 4 - 0 Leicester City on 21 September 1968.
Related Quotes
"I would have done exactly the same thing again. He was very cute for his age, he was quick and he was also very courageous. Everything was going well for him until he went home to Wolverhampton one weekend. He was sitting in a nightclub when there was an accident. He was hit in the face with a glass and very badly cut. That incident probably changed Alun's whole life. He had a great spirit but what happened retarded his career. We eventually transferred him to Aston Villa, which effectively meant he was going back home. Sometimes when a player leaves a club there are are sour grapes, but soon after I received a letter from Alun. It began: 'Dear Boss...' I was very pleased and proud that Alun had come to me for advice. That letter meant so much to me."
Bill Shankly didn't regret signing Alun Evans one second even though his Liverpool career didn't work out.
Scrapbook
11 February 1970 - Evans returns to side in glorious fashion!
15 May 1976
1971
A poster of the new boy - September 1968
Alun Evans cracks Liverpool into the lead! - 29 August 1970
Alun Evans on the cover of Football Monthly in November 1970
Alun Evans signs for Liverpool
Alun puts bite into attack - 16 October 1971
Anfield feast
Color images of Liverpool's key men in the 1971 FA Cup final
Evans back with a hat-trick! - 10 March 1971
Evans cashes in as Walters oversteps - 15 August 1970
Evans for the 1971 FA Cup final as Thompson is axed
Evans nets in 12 minute blitz
Evans signs for the best club in the land
Evans tackled - action image - 12 April 1971
Evans the destroyer - 23 October 1971
Evans wants to forget the 1969/70 season
Evans welcomes Lindsay as the 1969/70 season begins
Football top team sets
Football Weekly cover - November 1969
Good Evans - 22 August 1970
Great Kop welcome awaits Evans
I would have paid 200,000 pounds, says Shankly - 1968
No luck for Alun against his old side - 22 January 1972
Old heads on young shoulders! - 29 August 1970
Poster from the 1969/70 season
Poster of Evans in an Aston Villa shirt 1973
Record teenager
Shoot!
The goals that booked Wembley - 27 March 1971
Wunderbar - 3 November 1971
Other Clubs
Club |
Season |
Club rank |
League apps |
League goals |
Total apps |
Total goals |
Los Angeles Wolves |
1967 |
NASL |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
Wolves |
1967-1968 |
England First Division |
20 |
4 |
20 |
4 |
Wolves |
1968-1969 |
England First Division |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
Aston Villa |
1972-1973 |
England Second Division |
35 |
8 |
41 |
11 |
Aston Villa |
1973-1974 |
England Second Division |
27 |
3 |
31 |
4 |
Walsall |
1975-1976 |
England Third Division |
24 |
2 |
24 |
2 |
Walsall |
1976-1977 |
England Third Division |
24 |
1 |
28 |
1 |
Walsall |
1977-1978 |
England Third Division |
39 |
4 |
49 |
6 |
South Melbourne Hellas |
1978-1982 |
Australia |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
Morwell Falcons |
1983 |
Australia |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
Total |
171 |
22 |
195 |
28 |