Honesty is best policy for Rhys

From the Swindon Advertiser, first published Tuesday 10th Jan 2006.

IF honesty is indeed the best policy then Rhys Evans believes the County Ground dressing room is a very healthy state, writes JON RITSON.

The Town goalkeeper reckons the team's turnaround is in no small measure due a willingness to speak out and the fact that the team is free of so called superstars'.

Never afraid himself to voice an opinion, Evans feels Iffy Onuora has moulded a climate where players are allowed their input and that healthy debate among colleagues is encouraged.

The manager and his staff have the final say but this is no dictatorship.

He said: "I think the spirit has never been better during my time at the club. We have a very honest bunch of lads in the dressing room and people aren't afraid to talk, make observations and so on. We have people who will speak their mind. I think that's got to be a healthy situation.

"The gaffer has clear ideas of what he wants to do but he isn't against people having their say. It isn't a dictatorship.

"Maybe there's also the fact that you've a lot of young lads who are really just starting out in football and want to do as well as they can for themselves and their team.

"There aren't too many players who've been there, done it and got the t-shirt' if you see what I mean.

"The spirit's good and there's nobody with the old big time charlie attitude."

Evans also feels that familiarity is another factor in a run of games which shows just one defeat in 13 matches.

Some fans complained during the dark days of September that the team were playing like strangers'. In fairness, that's pretty much what they were.

The Swindonian keeper said: "There was an awful lot of change in the summer with a lot of players going out and new ones coming in, some of them permanent, some of them loans. It does take time to gain an understanding and maybe now we're seeing that understanding beginning to develop."

Preparations for the trip to Gillingham began in earnest yesterday and Evans says it is vital for everyone in the squad to remain clear about the current situation.

Town are going well but the cold facts show a team still some way off the safety zone.

He said: "We musn't see the Hartlepool game as the end' of something. It was the end of the Christmas fixtures but we shouldn't see it as a case of now having to start again. We need to keep this run going.

"We as a team and hopefully the run of results as well is a work in progress, not the finished article."

The only issue which could put a spanner in the works is if players depart during the transfer window. Evans is philosophical about that though.

He said: "It's part of football I guess. When a team is on a decent run then it's going to attract interest.

"If people move on then you just hope the situation allows you to bring in others with the quality to match those who've left. I think the transfer window has made a difference though, to both clubs and players themselves."

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