Roy Keane did not hold back on his assessment of Jonny Evans following the news that he had been added to Manchester United's coaching staff
Rio Ferdinand
Rio Ferdinand does not agree with Roy Keane's comments on Jonny Evans(Image: PA)
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Rio Ferdinand has come out in defence of Jonny Evans following Roy Keane's criticism of Manchester United for appointing the former defender as a first‑team coach. This week, Keane questioned Evans' arrival on Michael Carrick's coaching staff, claiming he isn't qualified enough in a brutal rant.
"Fletch goes and Carrick gives him the job. Great, isn't it?," Keane said on the Stick to Football podcast. "We should all go to Barbados for a week… If you're on about getting coaching staff in, we're praising one of them and we just let the other two go - Jonathan Woodgate and Jonny Evans. What has Jonny Evans done to be a coach at Man Utd's first team? He left a job four weeks ago as a loans manager and ironically comes back working with the first team. That's a big step up, isn't it?”
Keane launched his rant after Gary Neville expressed his satisfaction with Steve Holland's appointment as Carrick's assistant coach. "I wish we were sitting here and you said he brought three staff in and you reeled them off and said they’re all brilliant," Keane added. "You said you don’t know anything about Jonny Evans coaching because he's never coached! That's my point! But he's gone into Man Utd and you're going, 'oh that’s okay because we’ve got Stevie Holland,' A new guru!"
Keane also doubled down on his scepticism around Carrick and his new coaching set-up ahead of the Manchester City clash in a passionate rant on Sky Sports. He singled out Evans again, insisting: "My issue with Jonny, he's got no coaching, it's not as if he's worked in the academy for a few years."
Since Keane's comments, Ferdinand has argued that Evans deserved his opportunity, insisting the former defender knows the squad well, having played alongside nearly every player - and could help Carrick get the best out of the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo.
"The stuff with the coaches and stuff like that, and calling out the coaches, like, Jonny Evans is a young coach. Why shouldn't he get a chance?," Ferdinand said on BBC 5 Live.
"Why shouldn't he get a chance to come into the club? He knows every single player in that club better than any coach on the planet right now, other than the ones that have been there recently, because he's played there. He knows them all. Why wouldn't you bring him on your staff? I don't understand. If you want to get to know what Kobbie Mainoo is like, because you want to reboot him and put him in a team, I wouldn't mind having somebody that knows him, who's been in the changing room, who knows how he works, closer to me.
"How do we get a bit more out of Bruno? Because you know him. That's the kind of conversation I'm sure that Michael Carrick's gonna want to be having.
"Sit down and tell me about every single one of these players, because you, Jonny, have lived with them and breathed with them for a couple of years now.
Jonny Evans
Jonny Evans during a first team training session at Carrington this week(Image: Manchester United via Getty Imag)
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"I actually understand why someone like Steve Holland's there. He's experienced. Michael Carrick wants an experienced coach alongside him. He's gone for someone like him. Like, what, should he have gone for what?
"Who else has got experience that he should have gone for? I just, I don't know. It was a... I didn't agree with it, with that, and that's where it starts, and that's fine.
"You can have that conversation and have that opinion, but I don't know, I just thought it was probably a bit... The gun was pointing at the wrong people."
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