Crawley boss Steve Evans is being lined up for a dramatic return to Football League management with troubled Notts County.

I understand County’s new owners are keen for Evans to take over in the summer once they have stabilised the club’s future and have put him at the top of their short list.

County’s new chief executive Jim Rodwell played for Boston United when Evans took the club into the Football League in 2002.

He subsequently became the club’s director of football and chairman and stood by Evans when he was convicted of tax fraud and given a 12-month suspended jail sentence in 2006.

The pair are still in regular contact and Rodwell and County’s new chairman Ray Trew have been impressed with how Evans has kept Reds competitive in the Conference this season and his ability to sell players on for profit.

Despite a 40% cut in his playing budget compared to last season, Reds are on course to at least match last season’s ninth-place finish.

In the last 13 months Evans has sold five players for combined fees of £350,000 and Crawley will bank another £100,000 if striker Charlie Ademeno, whom Evans signed on a free transfer in the summer, is sold.

Those qualities will appeal to Trew and Rodwell, who are only just uncovering the extent of the financial mess left by previous owners the Munto Group.

The Munto Group arrived in the summer and installed former England manager Sven Goran Eriksson as director of football but failed to attract sufficient financial backing and sponsorship to finance some extravagant spending by League Two standards including players like Sol Campbell, Kasper Schmeichel and Lee Hughes.

The club was sold to chairman Peter Trembling in December and Trew, a former director of Lincoln City with extensive business interests, bought it for £1 last week and immediately installed Rodwell.

County have debts of £4m and Rodwell admitted last week they would need £2.5m to survive until the end of the season without making a dent into their debts. They are considering going into administration to secure their long-term future, although the ten-point deduction which would follow would almost certainly end their promotion hopes.

From a personal point of view a move north would suit Evans whose family home is still in Cambridgeshire. His assistant Paul Raynor, who played for County’s rivals Nottingham Forest, would almost certainly move with him.

County’s current boss Dave Kevan has been put in charge until the end of the season but admits he is doing the job reluctantly.

He said: “I don’t want to be manager but it’s a case of carrying on as we are.”

Evans refused to comment about the County link but admitted he was still keen to manage at a higher level.

He said: “I am ambitious like every manager. As soon as you lose that you might as well put the kettle on, put on your slippers and start drawing your pension.

“People can speculate about this and that but my sole focus is tomorrow’s very important game against Wrexham.”