Chris Evans talks about his fears for Gazza

Oct 4 2009 by Gordon Barr, Sunday Sun

Evans, for his part, tells me he believes a few wrong decisions in his footballing career were to blame for Gazza’s downfall.

“Venables was good to him, Bobby Robson obviously was very good to him, but I often wonder if he had gone to Man Utd, under Alex Ferguson, would he have been a different person, and a different player? I think he probably would have been.

“Venables was a nice dad, he was a great dad, Robbo was a great dad, but he needed a bit more of a disciplinarian I think.

“They got the best out of him in football, but I’m not sure they got the best out of him as a person.

“They were nice to him and they looked after him and they loved him, there’s no doubt about that. But I think if Ferguson could have had a crack at maybe doing something, helping him to achieve a bit more longevity and more stability, that would have been important.

“There has been nobody at Man Utd since Ferguson’s been there who has really strayed in any way whatsoever.”

Gazza is not the only Geordie who has made an impression on Evans’ at times equally turbulent life.

The now late TV executive Andrea Wonfor and the former Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas played pivotal roles in the radio star’s life.

Wonfor, who grew up in Kent, but whose dad was from South Shields, was based on Tyneside and was instrumental in Evans’ early career, giving him his first big break on the Big Breakfast in 1992, when she was head of arts and entertainment at Channel Four.

“One of the great things about doing something like this for anyone is you start to see who helped you big-time,” Evans tells me, reflecting on writing his book.

“For me there are between five and 15 people on any given day who made a difference.

“Andrea (who died from breast cancer in 2004) was definitely in that group.

“All the research came back from the pilots for the Big Breakfast - I haven’t put any of this in the book and I should have put it in - and the focus groups loved the programme.

“The one thing they didn’t like was the kid with the ginger hair and the glasses who was hosting it.

“Andrea said ‘That’s the reason it is going to be a hit, he’s staying’. She went completely against all that research. Without those balls I wouldn’t have been on the show. I’ve got her to thank for everything. She was brilliant at talent management.

“The thing that Lesley Douglas (from Longbenton) and Andrea Wonfor had in common is they are fantastic with talent.

“I’ve worked with talent. When I came back from America, I owned a production company and became an executive producer and owned several companies, and I had to deal with talent. It was a total and utter nightmare.

“I thought: ‘Geez - was I like this?’. I probably was. I’ll never be like that again, and I made a vow. I’ve never been like that since.

“Andrea and Lesley, in a nutshell, were both very similar. Lesley giving me the Radio 2 show was a huge call, a massive call. Who else would have done that? Who else would have brought me back on to radio? I don’t know. Would anyone else have done it? Lesley did it.

“There must just be something in the water up there.”

Evans is now gearing up to take over from Wogan in January.

“This is it. This is the real deal. This is the coronation. You can’t mess this one up, you’re not allowed to and I promise you I will not mess it up,” he says.

* Chris Evans will be signing copies of his autobiography It’s Not What You Think at WH Smith in Northumberland Street, Newcastle, on Tuesday from 5.30pm.