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Gillingham manager Steve Evans has studied Liverpool and former Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp and loves his passion

Manager Steve Evans hopes he’s brought a little bit of Liverpool to the job at Gillingham.

Evans studied Reds boss Jurgen Klopp during the German’s time at former club Borussia Dortmund and loves the passion he shows.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp animated on the touchline at Selhurst Park Picture: Keith Gillard
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp animated on the touchline at Selhurst Park Picture: Keith Gillard

He travelled to Dortmund to watch Klopp at close quarters while studying for his UEFA Pro Licence.

Gills boss Evans is a different man on the touchline to the one away from the pitch but believes that being full-on gets results.

“We are passionate and we care,” he said.

“I watched Jurgen Klopp at Dortmund and studied him on the training ground. There is so much passion and so much commitment, that is why Liverpool do what they do, they (the players) don’t get a minute.

“I know Andy Robertson (the Scottish international at Liverpool) very well and he played for my brother’s team up in Scotland, as a kid. He says the difference is he (Klopp) never gives you a minute, he never comes off you, but you want to play for him, that is what we are trying to do here.

“I think you try and study from the best.

Gillingham boss Steve Evans gets his point across Picture: Ady Kerry
Gillingham boss Steve Evans gets his point across Picture: Ady Kerry

“The best in my lifetime, who has ever lived, will be Sir Alex Ferguson. He was a one-off wasn’t he? I think it has shown at Manchester United since.

“He was just the master of all managers, that is why the Jurgens, the Peps and the like, they still phone Sir Alex. He is the master.

“You try and learn from the best in League 1 when you come up against them, you are always learning in this game and it doesn’t matter if you are 35 and starting out or 70 like Roy Hodgson. I love him, he says he is still learning about the Premier League and what he has done at Crystal Palace has been staggering. It probably goes unnoticed because they aren’t one of the big fashionable boys.”

More on the Gills;

Evans enjoyed his win last weekend, against Southend, but admits the feeling afterwards is relief, more than joy, as football management is such a pressured environment.

“Football management has moved,” he said.

“It has gone on from going home thrilled and buzzing, now you go home relieved. Chris Wilder (the Sheffield United manager) is a good friend of mine, a real good man and I spoke to him a number of times on the phone last season. He said on the Sunday he would just be relieved to have got over the line and got the points.”

Evans added: “There is more pressure these days but as a manager you have to believe in what you are doing, that you are taking it on a journey and that you have to have an end goal.

“My end goal is to take Gillingham to the Championship, I know I will probably not get the seven or eight transfer windows that other managers get in League 1, but you have to believe where you are going to go.”

Read more: The latest sports news from Kent

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