 Ydw i'n gweithio am gwellio gyda siannwch, oherwydd ymddur o'r ddweud. Ac mae'r dweud yn oed o'r aelod a yn nodi. Mae phreig dros ei chlas iawn. A fyddai fan o'r siannwch a'r bobl yn un lle i'r siannwch o'n viadau ei chlas, ..a big evertonian, elefo player, centre-back. Smallish for the centre-back, for brilliant ball player. England were looking, and now you did make your debut for England. Of course, you were going to be a captain. That was like the future, and then all of a sudden... ..this noise gets bigger and bigger. And from a fan perspective... ..and I was working at Everton at the time. You were painted as the back guy, it was like... ..i was one south, he won't shine, doesn't want to stay. I remember you brought... ..was making a ticker off, and your brother used to come down... ..and get sick of it, and he'd be like, what's happening? He's like, he doesn't want to go. Everywhere, everything is telling us he wants to leave. So, what happened? Well, for me, I wasn't frustrated because nothing was happening. But me dad, and my dad's one of nine... ..and they did all the blues, all the seed ticker holders... ..and they used to get full and colds, what's happening. Me dad was frustrated by the press. There was a lot of leaks, a lot of leaks were happening. I still get sick now, so in the park, a few weeks ago... ..I had walked over to me and said something about what? And he went, laughing on the couch. I'm going, what are you on about? So there was a lot of stuff... ..that I know happened on the other side of the park happened... ..and never got leaked out. That's the leak started happening and I don't know where from. And the only thing that happened was from inside our changing room... ..where we were inside our bus. So the laughing on the bus thing, that got blown up like a massive big story... ..that I'm happy that we've... ..I can't remember, I think we got beat up, we got beat up against Bristol City... ..it was a poor result, poor performance. And then, on the way that happened, we got on the couch... ..and Alan Myers was there, he was giving the food out. Archie shouted, no one's allowed food. We go, here we go. And I was normally sitting at the back. Normally play cards with the boys at the back, relax, have a game of cards... ..and have a laugh on a banter, whatever. Obviously the result happened the way it was. Didn't want to sit at the back, sat at the front next to the staff... ..next to Jimmy Comer, and me and Jody were just sitting there... ..just sitting there talking, disappointed with what's gone on. And then Jimmy starts telling a story about X, Y and Z in school... ..and you have a little giggle and then that's it. The Archie Knox comes out and he comes over, rants it raves. You go, that's a bit harsh, but you take it. I think as the journey went on, I think I pulled him and he's like... ..yeah, don't worry about it, like whatever. Cos he knew the back of the bus was still carrying on as normal. So they want to unwind that way, fine. But on that bus, there was only half the squad on the bus. Half the players stayed down there to go to London... ..or whatever they were off the next day. So by the time you get home, and back then it was all... ..it was in the newspaper by the next day... ..that Michael Ball was laughing on the bus after the result. So I'm going, well, who's like that? So it's only going to be people on this bus who've done that. Then we had the famous one of the new year... ..when I apparently never turned up for training. I've had one before then. I had a party, I had a christening... ..and the neighbours knocked Walter Smith to say I had a party. He pulled me in. I said, my son's christening. He said, you're having a party? He had a bit loud, but it wasn't until after clock. So you're getting it, but Walter didn't seem that bothered... ..as long as he was performing. As long as you're training hard, working hard, which still was. But these leagues started happening. I didn't really care... ..because I thought that's what it is. I think Duncan used to say it's like fish and chip people disappear. But it just seemed to stick for some reason. So the famous one was New Year's Eve. I was a chest infection. I was off all that week. I did say, look, I could be in. If I wake up, I'm up, I'll be in. I didn't. Didn't fall in. Didn't feel I had to, didn't know where I was. So that was basically it. So I got a phone call to be in the next morning. Dunni, me, Richie, walked, got in early doors. And there's Franny and Hutcher. I'd be in there like half seven in the morning. You think, what are you doing here? They had a bit of a social in town, they had a bit of an incident. Which Walter wasn't too happy with. The day before, he's only found out. There's basically four of us aren't in training. And I think they turned up late to training. In a situation. So we were like, what's going on here? So I think all that blew up. I think Richard Dum was on the front page of an Irish newspaper. We was hanging off each limb with the bad boys of the group. And Walter, he had to do something. He said, we've got a game tomorrow. So you can't play, you're not playing. So the papers sort of blew that up again. But again, it was sort of put towards differently than what was leaked in the media. Because then my dad's phoned me then asking me what's going on. So he explained and he goes, why is it all? Why is it in the echo? It's all being blown up out of proportion. It looked bad on that. But the truth inside, the manager wasn't really that bothered. He just said, right, you can go home. And then when you come back in again, he said, well, it's the upstairs one of suspenders. I was like, what? Spend me for what? So the club wanted to suspend us and find us. And then what made it probably worse was our legal firm or our agents at the time probably thought they should step in, protect us. But it was a little bit too late maybe. And maybe Dancer was being young. He trusted his opinion. Back then, you can't be suspended and find. It's illegal to do so. So he wanted to tell the club where to go. But then that found its way into the paper. So then it was only when I come down and said, look, just let's leave it. We're going to get out of this, let it go. And that was all the nastiness. But when the football kicked in back in again, you're back in a team, you're playing and everything's fine. I was playing my best football. I think there was 12 or 13 supporters clubs. I got a player of the season, young and senior for everyone but one. Blue Kipper at the time, remember that? They wanted to give me the award and said, look, every time you give someone this award, you leave. You know, the past two, it hasn't been good. And I was like, don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. You know, we're talking contracts. But there was no rush, I had two, he's left. There was nothing really to be talking about it. It's only because of paper talk, the Man United thing. There was obviously Liverpool thing. There was a lot of talk, but nothing spoke to me about it. Walter Smith never pulled me in about X, Y or Z. It was just the only time he's put his arm around me. It was about a lot of noise about Alex Ferguson. And he goes, look, me and Alex are very close. There's nothing in that. He said, well, I'm staying here anyway. You know, that's it. Summer, the season finished, went on holiday with all my mates. Got a phone call, Trevor Steven was my agent at the time. And then Trevor phoned me and said, look, the club what you're in on Wednesday. Talked contracts. Had a good celebration with the lads. I was just going to sign a new contract with the boys. Flew O'Mandy. Got to Goddison at the parking reception. And I was sitting there. There was no one there. And then a girl come out and said, we've had a message off the board. They've changed their mind. So that left me a little bit puzzled. Didn't really understand why because no one's told me. Trevor couldn't get an answer. And it was basically down to the board of change the situation. Which again, I wasn't really obviously disappointed. But thinking, I've got an 18 months, two years left. So I don't really get it. Soon as I get back playing, I'll be fine. But then pre-season starts. And then that's when you know you're not wanted. That's when you know I was again doing a little bit of rehab with my knee. Walter pulled me out of England under 21s, too, on tournaments. Said, look, you need the rest. Probably had to speak to the FA a lot because they weren't happy with that situation. And that's something you want to be a part on. But I get it. I'm thinking, well, Evan, the most important thing to me is if I get these three weeks rest, which was massive at the time, it's only going to benefit me. Come back, not involving the first team. You're training individually. Then you think after three days I should be involved. But then I wasn't involved. And that's when you just knew. There was no meetings with Walter stopped. Normally it was always once or twice a week when he'd come to my office, boy. And there was nothing. And that was it. That was all it was. He was speaking to the players. They didn't understand it. We brought a lot of Scottish lads down as well. They didn't really get what was going on. I don't know whether it was Walter's opinion. I've heard different stories since. All I got told, if you stay here, lad, you're going to rot in the reserves. I set on the World Cup in 2002. That's what everyone was all going on. He knew that. That was disappointing. But he never said that to me. It was more to maybe Travis Steven. Other people in and about this. He wanted to move players on. I felt I was the one getting picked on for this. We've seen Walter in the past getting rid of a lot of youth back then. The youth team basically got dismantled. Everyone got moved on for quite a bit of money. That should have been a good youth team that had given an opportunity. Unfortunately, that never happened. So that was probably the last one still hanging around. Obviously, for one reason or another, it didn't want me to be there. But again, I was just there for the fight. I've been in a situation a little bit. It was not as much as Walter. If I get back playing, I'll be back in. I'll prove them wrong. In a way, I'll last them. I'll be here longer than you. My attitudes. The phone calls start happening. The media is out there. Come and speak to me. Steve McClaren at Middlesbray. Trevor was living in Scotland. He said, come up here for the weekend. You're off for the weekend. Go up and say. Come up, get away from it all. The press was getting really... It wasn't so difficult, but it was just about a lot of nothing. Because no one spoke to me, so I'm going, well, there's nothing there. So it's all untrue. The rumours of me signing for X, Y, Z, but all untrue. So there's nothing. All it is is I haven't signed a new contract, and that was down to them pulling it away from me. That was it. So again, my attitude is just go up there, be fine. And then on the way up to Scotland, Trevor said, don't tell anyone. But the rangers want to speak to you. I was like, right, okay. I said, why are you up here? Be nice, respectful, go up and let's speak to them. And then we met at a service station and Trevor turned up like someone from men in black or black suit, black leather. Trying to be hiding out the way here. Got the opportunity to meet the rangers. Not signing. I'm just being respectful. David Murray learned a lot about him. He didn't know. He lost his legs at a young age. He owned my United and rangers at the time. He was telling me basically just doing the sales. Doing the sales bitch. And where rangers want to be. And basically you start thinking, oh dear, this is, is this happening? What's happened with the clubs? And he went over, David agreed. I said he'd agreed three. He was the three. And it was Middlesbury, Liverpool and rangers. And that was sort of, a massive shock. I walked out of the boardroom then. It was a bit, like the first time I've heard that. Where everyone else has. When everyone else has been in the press and I've been denying it all. It's the first time it's come across it. So rangers said because of our connection with Walter. We're going to push this through the manager, won't you? Arthur Newman is the left back. He's not going to see the future. Blah, blah, blah. Champions League. Steve McClaren, I knew of them from England. They were spending a lot of money. They were bringing good plays into Middlesbury at the time. But there was no way I was playing against Evan. I just could not get my head round playing with Evan at that age. I didn't consider it a Liverpool. That was never going to happen. There was never going to happen. And I think they knew that. I think Evan knew that. That was never going to be, because I think they offered more money than the rest. But I think Evan was trying to up the price from rangers. I think we'll probably find out why. Two balloons in a golf. I think it ended up going forward in the end. So that was leaving rangers. It was sort of, wow. He had to verbally agree to sign. He had to come back to Belfield. It was sort of... I was in probably a bit of a daze. For a long time. Droped back to Belfield. Had to get me stuff. Had to pick up my boots, say goodbyes, tearful. But then spoke to Alec Llyrnd, David Weir, Goffi, Gaza. Bellies even. Just about before the sign on that dotted line. What's it all about? John Collins. They had all great things to say. Howard Wilkinson was the England manager at the time, under 21s. He said it's going to develop me. You're being brilliant defensively. But you've lost. You're defensive side of your game. You said being at a club like range. We'll bring that on within. Week in, week out, playing champions league. We'll bring it on to it. It's sort of taking the boxers a little bit. But you're just thinking. Will he change the mind now? Will he offer me that contract again? Because it's definitely what has assigned it. It just never happened. And sign of the Rangers on both sides. The medical went on for over two and a half weeks. So what's the rest of this inside the game podcast? Head over to the modern game channel or click the video on the screen now.