Date of Birth
30 Apr 1949
Birthplace
Kidderminster
Nationality
English
Signed for LFC
1968
LFC Debut
21 Sep 1968
LFC Appearances
111
LFC Goals
33
Bill Shankly had great belief in Evans' ability, so much so that he had no hesitation in making the 19-year-old Britain's most expensive teenager.
Howvever, he never fulfilled his potential at Liverpool but he did score some memorable goals. His shining moment for the Reds came when he scored a spectacular hat-trick againt Bayern Munich in the 1971 Fairs Cup. It came in what was his best season, scoring 15 goals in 34 games.
Evans' start to his Liverpool career could hardly have been more sensational with a goal 10 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 team which still contained many of the men who had won the league, FA Cup and league again in successive seasons earlier in the decade. At the time he seemed the ideal candidate to be groomed as Roger Hunt's successor but he failed to make the same impact the following season, scoring only three 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 seven goals in the first 10 games but after that things started to go wrong. Badly scarred by broken glass in a night-club incident back in Wolverhampton, he was also badly injured during a UEFA cup game in Bucharest and consequently lost his place in the side to the emerging Steve Heighway although he later won it back (at John McLaughlin's expense) and played in eight of the last 10 league fixtures as well as in the 1971 FA Cup Final against Arsenal.
Alun only played another six matches for the club, his last ironically enough against his first club Wolverhampton at Molineux towards the end of January 1972. He was transferred to Wolves' Midlands rivals Aston Villa in the summer.
Other clubs:
Wolves, Aston Villa, Walsall, South Melbourne (AUS)