What we learned from Evans's podcast

The Manchester United defender is joined at his house by wife and co-host Helen, in addition to Sam Homewood and David May.

This first section was filmed before the centre-back rejoined the club and focuses on his career up to that point.

In it, he tells some fabulous stories and below is a selection of some of the bits we most enjoyed...

ROONEY IN THE KNOW

Jonny explains how he found out he would be making his Premier League debut for the Reds, in the away game at Chelsea in 2008.

"Wazza said to me a couple of days before, you're playing at the weekend, so be ready. I think it was just him knowing the team probably and he was always asking questions. I kind of ignored it, thinking he may be talking rubbish, but we had a few injuries at the time and I ended up starting at Stamford Bridge."

A FIRST PREMIER LEAGUE SUCCESS

When it came to getting his hands on the Premier League trophy in 2008/09, his emotions were probably not as you would expect.

"Winning the first Premier League title, you talk about the feeling and it is probably relief. Going into that season, Giggsy [Ryan Giggs] had probably won 10, so just to be a wee bit accepted, they respect me and I'm part of something that they won. That's how I'd describe that first one [title]."

Manchester City's dramatic comeback against QPR in 2011/12 denied United another title at the death. Jonny relived that day, as United won 1-0 at his former club Sunderland, but it proved to be insufficient due to the Blues' injury-time turnaround.

"Psychologically, I'd prepared myself that we hadn't won the league. Howard Webb, the ref, said it's 2-1 to QPR literally as the whistle went [at the Stadium of Light] and, within a second, he said they've equalised. Literally, within another split second. It seemed another second later, he's gone it's 3-2 and the Sunderland fans were celebrating in the stadium. At that stage, I think any fan would have done the same thing."

Sir Alex Ferguson was never going to take it lying down and vowed we would reclaim the crown in what turned out to be his final season. That was the case as things worked out exactly as the Scot planned.

"I remember the boss mentally setting it all out in pre-season. I forget where we were but he kind of went into this [speech] where he spoke about every player in detail, and said we're going to win the league. And that I believe in this squad. He went through every player individually and spoke about our backgrounds, our family backgrounds, I'll never forget it. It was almost like he said to us, just go and win it, and this was in August. And we went on to win it that year."

LEAVING UNITED

Manager Louis van Gaal practically signalled the end of Jonny's United career, or at least that is how it seemed at the time.

"Him coming in was a big culture shock for everyone. I had a year left on my contract and he called me in quite early on and said I could leave if the right offer came up and I got the right club. I had a year left on my deal but once a manager says that...

"I could have stayed until the end of that season but I think, by that point, the way the two seasons before had gone, I wouldn't say I wanted to leave but I wasn't afraid of leaving. At that point, I had no fear of leaving."

SAYING FAREWELL

"I went to say goodbye and shook Giggsy's hand. I remember getting a bit emotional at that point. He was assistant manager then but I wasn't crying over it. I always had a good relationship with Giggsy. On the team bus, even though I was a younger player, I often ended up sitting with him for quite a few years together. My locker was quite close to his. I had a good relationship with Giggsy that way and he was Manchester United too for me as he'd been there so long."

WHO BROKE JIM RYAN'S WINDOW?

Evans goes into great depth about how a snowball ended up being thrown through his neighbour's house, belonging to Jim Ryan, the former United coach. The question was asked by John O'Shea, and it was another Republic of Ireland international in Robbie Brady whom Jonny says was the culprit.

"We had really heavy snow and I must have been about 20 and playing in the first team. My house was in Hale Village and Jim and I lived facing each other. I get a knock on the door and my brother [Corry], Robbie Brady, Conor Devlin and Luke McCullough start pelting me with snowballs! I thought great idea so, whenever Jim comes out to check who is there, we will all pelt him with snowballs! I haven't even turned the engine in the car off when Robbie's first snowball goes straight through the window above Jim's door and there's a blizzard blowing into his hallway!"

REPRESENTING UNITED

The defender admitted he will always have a connection with the club and, little did he know, a couple of months later, he'd end up re-signing for his boyhood team.

"I want to play on. I still want to play football. I still feel like there's always a connection with the club that I'll always have, no matter what. To be part of such a great club and a great place, it's been an honour and it really will continue to be."

Listen to the Jonny Evans podcast in full on all the usual platforms from Tuesday evening.