Gillingham boss Steve Evans says he hopes he and Blues manager Paul Lambert will shake hands before tonight’s Leasing.com Trophy game and Portman Road and will share a glass of wine afterwards, in stark contrast to Lambert’s plans for the evening.

As reported yesterday, Lambert says he has no intention of having anything to do with Evans and won’t shake his hand either before or after tonight’s match following Evans’s comments after the Blues’ 1-0 win at the Priestfield Stadium last month, which he labelled "complete rubbish and lies.

“Me and Paul normally have a good relationship,” Evans told the Kent Messenger. “We both wanted to win the game so badly. Both of us went home that night and were probably disappointed.

“We will have a handshake before the game and probably have a glass of wine afterwards. We have done that before as managers.

“He is passionate. He is a brilliant manager and he will take Ipswich back into the Championship, in one hit. He did it at Norwich and he will do it again. They will be a much better club in the Championship with what he inherited.”

Reflecting on their backgrounds, he added: “I don’t know who is from the toughest area of Glasgow. In terms of hard upbringings, I say it is me, he says it is him!

“He said he is from Parkhead, which is two or three miles from Cambuslang, where I come from.

“I had my brothers’ trousers and shoes and they did have holes in them. I am not sure he was at that level.”

Like Lambert, Evans, who fell out with another Town boss, Mick McCarthy, for comments he made after the Blues beat his Leeds side in 2016, will field a much-changed team in tonight’s game with a League One fixture at Portsmouth following on Saturday.

“One or two of the kids will play,” he said. “The focus will be Fratton Park. The majority of the boys that played Saturday will not be involved, they won’t travel, they will train Tuesday morning.

“We are not as fortunate as Ipswich, they will be able to make 10-11 changes and probably still be strong. We have a first team squad of 20.”

Photo: Action Images

wkj added 09:56 - Oct 8 Silly tit
3

martin587 added 09:58 - Oct 8 Don't back down Paul.The man deserves nothing from you.
4

BaddowBlue1 added 10:25 - Oct 8 I think that PL needs a public apology from Steve Evans over those remarks not just playing it down as heat of the moment stuff. One thing for certain he wont be on PL's Christmas card list.
2

Barty added 10:34 - Oct 8 Pour the wine [ just a cheap bottle ] over his head
2

wkj added 10:38 - Oct 8 @Barty I doubt even the Blue Nun would want to be in Steve Evans' mouth.
0

hampstead_blue added 10:45 - Oct 8 I'll have the 1995 Chateaux Margaux please. Make him pay with a Premier Cru wine.
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ihatecanaries added 10:52 - Oct 8 After our kids win tonight lambert should shake evans neck and drop the nut on him
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oldbri added 10:55 - Oct 8 The best reply to fatboy Evans is a 4-0 drubbing.
1

WhoisJimmyJuan added 11:01 - Oct 8 Shake his hand if he offers is it, so as not to give him the moral high ground. Just make sure you have some anti-bacterial wipes with you.
3

LuciBlue added 11:11 - Oct 8 My life has been harder than yours..... It's not a playground fight.
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pimballwizard added 11:32 - Oct 8 Handshake ? No Farage style milkshake ? YES
-1

Len_Brennan added 11:41 - Oct 8 Shake his hand if offered; politely decline the offer of a post-game chitchat & glass of wine, citing some surmountable logistical reason. Move on with zero fuss, there's nothing in it for either Lambert or the club; ultimately Evans is an irrelevance to both.
5

BlueArrow added 11:52 - Oct 8 I had to wear my brother's school trousers with holes in too didn't make me a fat obnoxious that.
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BlueArrow added 11:54 - Oct 8 Typo error work it out for yourself
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Fatboy added 12:11 - Oct 8 "We both wanted to win the game so badly. Both of us went home that night and were probably disappointed." Why would Lambert have been disappointed? We did win!
4

Pilgrimblue added 12:48 - Oct 8 Traditionally yes but if I was PL I'd watch from the stands and let Gill front up our bench. Evans is an idiot wherever he's been, always letting his mouth get in the way and making more enemies than friends. You'd thought he'd have got the message by now but guess he just can't help it!!
1

JewellintheTown added 13:29 - Oct 8 Personally I think Lambert should shake hands & have the wine, and continue to be the decent bloke he is and not petty and immature like Evans. Lambert has the right to be angry and snub him but he's bigger than that. Might rub off on Evans too.
2

warwickblue added 13:30 - Oct 8 I grew up in a house with no running water, an outside toilet, an earth floor in the kitchen and damp everywhere. It didn't make me a hard-man, just poor. This ridiculous dialogue around who was from the hardest part of Glasgow is pathetic. There are tens of thousands of children living below the poverty line in the UK today. Both Lambert and Evans have extremely well paid jobs and, if they'd really like to show what big-men they are, they should shake hands and drop £10,000 each into an NSPCC bucket.

3

pegasus added 14:05 - Oct 8 Ah! THAT Evans!
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cornishblu added 14:48 - Oct 8 Share a glass !!....hope they use recyclable straws #lgeonefinances ....all we need is a sorry.....why do peiple find ghat so hard these days COYB
0

Northstandveteran added 16:44 - Oct 8 Perhaps he just want to do what men do when they fall out. Shake hands, have a pint and leave it there.
1

Northstandveteran added 16:56 - Oct 8 Wants
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NthQldITFC added 17:26 - Oct 8 My mum's fatter than your mum, my mum's fatter than yours, my mum's fatter than your mum, she wears bigger drawers.
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Kentish_Tractor added 17:58 - Oct 8 Jesus - all this commotion just because Steve Evans said some mean things? Obviously i'm not defending Evans for being a p***k, but Christ what is the world coming to? Be the bigger man Paul and shake hands before and after the game out of sheer professionalism (politely decline the wine - you're not his mate). Let your team do the talking, and hopefully you'll never have to speak to this twit aver again.

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Kentish_Tractor added 18:05 - Oct 8 (apart from Boxing day...but hopefully Evans will have eaten himself into a coma by that point and not be able to make it to the game)
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