OTD: JONNY EVANS BORN

On this day in 1988, former Sunderland centre-back Jonny Evans was born in Belfast. He played for the club 35 times across two different loan spells from Manchester United, scoring once and helping us to the Championship title in 2007.

Evans began his career at Man United, featuring for them in pre-season of the 2006/07 campaign before being loaned out to Royal Antwerp in Belgium. He played 14 times for his temporary club, making his senior debut in a 2-0 home win over KAS Eupen in the Belgian Second Division in August 2006 and then netting his first senior goal in a 2-1 defeat to KV Oostende the following month. In total, he scored three times for Antwerp - not bad for a defender. In the same month as his first senior goal, he earned his first cap for Northern Ireland in a notable 3-2 win on home soil against eventual European champions Spain in a qualifier for the European Championship.

In the January transfer window, he made the switch to Sunderland on a loan deal until the end of the season. His first game for the Lads was in a 1-0 loss to Preston North End in the FA Cup. Evans’ first league game however was more successful, as he helped us to a clean sheet at home to Ipswich Town, with us winning 1-0. He contributed to eight clean sheets in 19 games in his first spell with the club, helping us push up from mid-table to champions of the second tier. His only goal for Sunderland came via a header in a 2-0 win against Hull City, with Evans scoring the opening goal just three minutes after kick-off.

Our manager, Roy Keane, wanted to re-sign him in the summer 2007 transfer window but Alex Ferguson elected to keep him at United to let him fight for a place. He made just three appearances in the next half-season, although two of those did come in the Champions League. His debut for his parent club came in a defeat to Coventry City in the League Cup in September.

So, he was back to the North East with SAFC on loan to get himself more game time. Unfortunately, his second debut for the club was one to forget, as his mistake caused Wigan Athletic's second goal in their 3-0 triumph over us in the FA Cup. Mirroring his first period at the club though, he was back stronger in the league, helping us to a clean sheet against Portsmouth as we won 2-0 on his Premier League debut. This time around, he was involved in five clean sheets out of 16 matches. We were in the relegation zone when he rejoined but we mustered up a 15th-placed finish to keep us up.

The Northern Ireland international would go on to play 198 games and score seven goals for Man U before he left in 2015, winning three Premier League titles, two League Cups, four Community Shields, one Champions League and one Club World Cup along the way. After this multitude of trophies he continued his career in the English top flight with West Bromwich Albion, making just under 100 appearances in three seasons. Evans wasn’t able to keep them in the top flight though, as they were relegated in last place in 2018.

Leicester City rescued him from playing outside of the top league however and he’d feature in over 150 games for them, most notably helping them to an FA Cup in 2021. He was back playing in Europe too, in the form of the Europa League and Europa Conference League. It ended on a sour note again though, as City were relegated to the Championship in 2023.

He concluded his career where it all began on the red side of Manchester, donning their shirt another 43 times in two seasons and getting himself an FA Cup winners’ medal too in 2024. By winning that trophy, he got his hands on the only major domestic trophy in England that he hadn’t won with Manchester United yet but he also prevented Newcastle United getting Europe by winning it. Nice one, Jonny. He probably didn’t expect to feature so heavily at that stage of his career, but a United injury crisis meant he was actually one of their most crucial and competent defenders.

Internationally, he earned 107 caps for Northern Ireland, scoring six goals from the heart of defence. He represented Norn Iron at Euro 2016, playing in all four of their matches. His brother, Corry, also played for Sunderland, captaining the Lads to promotion via the play-offs out of League One in 2022. The Northern Irishman was also awarded an MBE in 2023.