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Mansfield Town chairman refuses to grant Swindon Town permission to speak to Steve Evans

Mansfield Town chairman John Radford has refused to grant Swindon Town permission to speak to manager Steve Evans regarding the vacant managerial position at the County Ground.

Swindon are without a manager after Luke Williams left the club by mutual consent earlier this month and Evans has been touted for the role ever since, with other names such as Alan Archibald and Adi Viveash also apparently in the frame.

The Robins have approached Mansfield for boss Evans, but chairman Radford has now denied Swindon the opportunity to speak to the 54-year-old Scot.

Evans has been a manager since 1994 and has had spells in charge of Stamford, Boston United, Crawley Town, Rotherham United and Leeds United during that time.

He won the Conference with Boston in the 01-02 season, and again with Crawley in 2010-11 before taking Rotherham up to the Championship from League Two with back-to-back promotions.

In a statement, Radford said: “Steve is fully committed to Mansfield Town Football Club and we will allow for no distractions as we set about our work to mount a serious promotion challenge in 2017-18.

“I have refused Swindon Town permission to talk to our manager, who is under contract at One Call Stadium, and work continues behind the scenes at our club as we put together a squad which we believe will be highly competitive in Sky Bet League Two next season.

"Steve has my full backing ahead of next season as we aim to fulfil the dreams of a town and its people.

“There is a tremendous buzz around One Call Stadium right now as we build for next season. I encourage the people of the county to back Steve and his soon-to-be new look squad by purchasing a season ticket for 2017-18, which have already been very well received by our supporters."

Swindon Town are expected to appoint their manager by this Friday.