If you wanna get ahead, get a hat

STEVE EVANS still has the sombrero he wore at Elland Road – and he gets another tip of the hat for Stevenage’s 100 percent start to the season.

- MIKE WALTERS

Full to the brim after keeping Rotherham in the Championship eight years ago, Evans was so chuffed to secure the Millers’ safety that he promised to turn up for their final League game, at Leeds United, in a Mexican bonnet and beach shorts.

Leeds were evidently impressed by his Acapulco outfit because they appointed him as manager five months later. Evans, now 60 and approaching 1,000 games as a League manager, turned his stunt into a charitable fundraiser.

“That was a tongue-in-cheek moment which raised well over £25,000 for charity in South Yorkshire,” he said. “It started as a bit of banter, but we saw it through and it happened to be at a future employer of mine.

“The support for it made you humble. It was a great moment.”

Turning a throwaway remark into a crowdfunder fitted in with Evans’ image makeover from a volcanic temper on the touchline to the more mellow boss who led Stevenage out of League Two in May. And his team have banked maximum points so far this season.