Former Crawley midfielder Ben Smith has lifted the lid on some of the extraordinary behaviour of manager Steve Evans.

Smith says Evans went “ballistic” and describes some of his training methods as “prehistoric”.

The revelations come in Smith’s autobiography Journeyman, which tracks his career from his early days at Arsenal to playing in an FA Cup fifth round tie for Crawley at a packed Old Trafford.

Smith played for 12 different clubs – hence the title – before dropping out of professional football two years ago when he was released by Crawley.

But it is the three years he played under the notoriously fiery Evans that remain most vivid in the 36-year-old’s memory.

Having signed from Hereford United in 2009 it did not take long for Smith to feel the full effect of Evans’ wrath at half-time in the opening day defeat at Mansfield.

Smith said: “He came striding straight over to me in the dressing room at the break, his sweaty face bright red and contorted with rage.

“He got within two inches of me and went ballistic. I was trying to work out, in between the shower of saliva and gesturing, what he was saying in his broad Glaswegian accent.

“I sat there saying nothing and trying to ignore as much of it as possible. I have no problem with criticism but it has to be constructive.

“In hindsight, I think it was the gaffer’s way of laying a marker down for new players. It was a tactic I subsequently saw him do many times – he’d wait for a small mistake by a new recruit and then jump on it to show them they wouldn’t be treated differently to anyone else.”

Smith recovered from that inauspicious start to make 75 appearances for Reds and was a key member of the side which won the Conference title and reached the fifth round of the FA Cup.

His time in Sussex could have been cut short after only a couple of months, however, following another typically explosive confrontation with Evans.

Smith recalled: “We lost 4-1 at Gateshead and Steve marched into the dressing room and started going mental at anyone and everyone who caught his eye.

“He then went straight for me: ‘What are you smirking at? Come into my office and sign your release forms. You will never play in my team again’.

“As I entered the room, Evo was still fuming and re-iterated what he had been screaming in the dressing room, telling me I would definitely never play for him again and had to sign my release forms.

“I asked what pay-off I would be getting and he replied I wouldn’t get one. ‘In that case,’ I said, ‘I will not be signing anything.’”

Smith was regarded as a creative midfielder and admits his philosophy on the way football should be played was wildly different to that of Evans.

And for a player brought up at Arsenal he found the some aspects of the training regime under Evans and assistant Paul Raynor – a duo he likens to Laurel and Hardy in the book – hard to accept.

“Football is a simple game but theirs was an overly simplistic approach that absolved the coaching staff of any blame,” added Smith.

“The answer to defeats was usually to bring us in on a Sunday. I wouldn’t have minded if we’d used the time to address the issues in the game but, more often than not, it was just a punishment.

“After one defeat we went to the training ground, which was closed, and eventually ended up at an adjacent park, where we were made to just run and run.”

In his book Smith says he viewed it as “the sort of prehistoric punishment I’d been expecting.

“But once I got used to his unique and very aggressive style of management, I didn’t find it too much of a problem. I didn’t always like it, but I could handle it.

“Like anyone who was successful working under the gaffer, I learnt to take on board all the constructive stuff – which, contrary to popular belief, was there – and I let all the insults go straight over my head.

“Yes, training was often boring and monotonous – and, for me, it didn’t have enough relation to what we did on a Saturday – but I did play regularly when fit and that was all I really wanted.”

Journeyman – One Man’s Odyssey Through The Lower Leagues of English Football is published by Biteback Publishing and is available for £12.99 from April 28