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The best expose of what was going on at Boston United was published in the Sunday
Telegraph shortly before the end of 2002 and detailed the deliberate
falsification of contracts by Evans.
 The
Telegraph article states that Steve Evans (left) would routinely write out a
contract for a footballer, which the player signed, and he would then ask the
player to sign two other blank contracts, saying he would fill them out later to
save time.... the two blank contracts were then filled out with lower figures
without the players' knowledge. These were then passed to (Club Secretary)
Blackwell, an innocent party in the deception, who retained one of them and
lodged the other with the FA.
The FA's compliance officer, Graham Bean, investigating the situation at
Boston United found that "Far from the occasional irregular payment, it was
apparent there was a systematic deception involving large amounts of cash being
ferried around town to various banks and being paid over the counter into
players' accounts."
When cornered by Bean and his team Evans reaction was very revealing. When
Bean flew to Glasgow to interview one of the players involved in the scandal,
Jim Dick he was contacted at the Airport on arrival. He was really
panicking," Bean recalls. "He was whispering and it sounded if he was
calling from some sort of toilet area. He said to me: 'Look, there's someone
going to be coming with me to our meeting. Whatever you do, don't let him into
the meeting. I don't care what explanation you give him, but just don't let him
in'. I asked him who the person was and he replied: 'I don't know, but he's a
big lad. I'll explain everything later'."
Having arranged that he would meet Dick in private, Mr Bean learned that
Evans had offered an £8,000 bribe to Dick to keep his mouth shut. Dick
revealed he had had telephone conversations with Evans and Malkinson the
previous day and that he had been offered £8,000. A contact of Evans had later
turned up at his home with an envelope stuffed full of cash. Dick told Bean how
the Boston manager had arranged for the "cash transfer" personally,
driving north before handing the money over to the contact in a pub car park
halfway between Lincolnshire and Scotland.
As suspected by many who took an interest in the affairs of Bostongate, it
seems that the club was running a cash economy, thus avoiding taxes, and
effectively making its income go much further in building its squad to win the
Conference, a goal it achieved by just 19 goals at the end of the season,
denying the Daggers a place in the Football League as a result.
The FA investigation lead to a total of 16 charges against the club itself,
Evans and then ex-chairman Pat Malkinson. After a period of denial, the club
then suspended Evans shortly before the hearing and pleaded guilty to the
charges against it while Evans and Malkinson denied some of the charges against
them.
On the 19th
July 2002 the FA announced that Boston United would face a footballing
penalty of four points deducted and a fine of £100,000, but that the points
deduction would take effect in the 2002/03 season thereby allowing the club to
keep its ill-gotten gains of promotion.
After much wriggling on the hook, Evans was punished with a fine of £8,000
and banned from football for 20 months in January
2003. He appealed the ban, and unbelievably although it stood, the start
date was backdated from March 2003 to the date of his suspension in July 2002.
That ban runs out today, and as of tomorrow Evans takes up his old post at
Boston United, a Third Division club.
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Tomorrow
Steve Evans will take charge of Boston United for a match against Southend
United officially as manager for the first time since the day they
"won" the Conference in April 2002. Having served his time for his
part in Bostongate he is free to return to football and goes immediately back
into his old job after his business associate, Jon Sotnick, bought the club last
month.
Meanwhile, Jim Rodwell (right, courtesy 