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Mansfield manager Steve Evans has branded fellow Scotsman Derek Adams ‘big-headed’ and claims his Plymouth counterpart said he was ‘the best manager outside the Premier League’.
The pair were involved in an angry war words after Plymouth boosted their automatic promotion hopes in League Two with a 2-0 victory at Field Mill on Saturday.
But Evans did not miss the target after the game with a string of fierce comments.
The Glaswegian also said that Adams ‘failed’ last season when the Pilgrims were beaten in the play-off final by AFA Wimbledon at Wembley.
Adams responded by insisting that Evans tells ‘fibs’.
Evans said: “That’s the lowest I’ve been since I became the gaffer here because we didn’t deserve that, but then again we’ve come up against the best manager in British football.
“Their manager will say something different about character, but he talks nonsense.
When somebody tells you in the tunnel they’re the best manager outside the Premier League it’s hard to palate that.
“He failed last year, he’s got a huge budget this year and that was a big result for them today, so we’ll give him the credit.
“He gets back on his bus, he’s got terrific players, he’s got an excellent assistant in Craig (Brewster), who worked for me, a good man, but you can’t be telling people you’re the best in the business.
“I wonder why he’s not working in Scotland.
“In the second half they make one from a set-play, they score, and the other’s a set-play so we’ve been done by two set-plays.
“I suppose some big-headed person will be taking credit for that, won’t they?”
Plymouth boss Adams, whose team took Liverpool to a FA Cup replay in January, has denied saying he was the best manager outside the Premier League.
He said: “I don’t think that’s quite right. Steve is one of these guys that talks a lot and tells a few fibs along the way.
“Listen, we are not best pals after the game. It is 90 minutes of football and we each want to win.
“We are both Scottish. We have had words and that’s the way it is, but what he said is untrue.”
One-time Hibs assistant manager Adams was also in the headlines last week after changing his side’s green strip because it clashed with the pitch – leaving the players struggling to see each other.
Speaking at the time, he said: “We have changed the kit about a bit – had white shorts and white socks because of the reason that the kit is too dark.
“It blends in with the seating and it blends in with the grass, and that’s the reason we have changed it for a number of home games this season.”
