Broken promises and a Leeds United team challenging for little on the pitch made Steve Evans’s tenure the most difficult for Kalvin Phillips.
Phillips answered questions during a live Instagram broadcast on Monday evening with Forza Football Academy, which works with four to 16-year-olds across West Yorkshire.
One of those was who he thought was the worst manager he had worked with at Elland Road since his debut in April 2015.
Seven bosses have picked Phillips in the first team since that debut and it was Evans who came out with the worst review from the midfielder.
After three starts under Uwe Rosler in the August of 2015/16, Evans came in and never once started the Wortley man during the 38 matches he managed.
Phillips admits that stung after promises had been made by the former Rotherham United chief.
“I’d probably say Steve Evans. At the time I was in and out of the team. It wasn’t a nice time for me,” he said.
“Just to be in and out it wasn’t a nice place to be at because we weren’t really challenging for anything, we weren’t really doing much and there was all this saga going on with Massimo Cellino.
“We liked each other as people, but he was promising me stuff he couldn’t really guarantee and I took it to heart.
“He would say I was starting a game and then we’d walk into the changing room before a game and I wouldn’t even be on the bench.
“It was just little things like that.”
Phillips’s current trajectory, from mid-table Championship squad player to a young talent on the fringes of the England squad, has been widely discussed.
Gareth Southgate has watched him at Elland Road and the 24-year-old admits it’s a clear ambition of his to make that step up.
Asked about his personal ambitions, Phillips said: “Get Leeds promoted, hopefully this season.
“Get Leeds back to being a big club in the Premier League and hopefully make an England appearance.”
