He began his professional career in 1999 at Derby County, and he also played for Northampton Town (on loan), Chesterfield (in two spells), Queens Park Rangers and Blackpool.
[5][6] In the 2001–02 season he spent two months on loan with Division Two club Northampton Town, from 10 August to 10 October 2001, playing in eleven League games.
[6] On 9 September 2002, Evatt scored The Rams' third goal as they beat Division Two club Mansfield Town 3–1 in the League Cup.
Then, just before George Burley was appointed as manager to replace John Gregory, who had been sacked in March, Evatt had to have a double hernia operation and he did not feature much for Derby afterwards.
QPR terminated Evatt's contract, enabling him to join Blackpool on a permanent basis on 5 January 2007, during the transfer window.
[27] After 2+1⁄2 months out with a medial knee ligament injury[5] Evatt returned to action on 8 December 2007, as a 65th-minute substitute for Michael Jackson in the West Lancashire derby against Preston North End.
[29] Evatt scored his first League goal for Blackpool on 25 October 2008 at Bloomfield Road when he headed their second equaliser in a 2–2 draw with Crystal Palace.
[31] Evatt scored his second League goal for the Seasiders on 15 August 2009 in Blackpool's first home game of the 2009–10 season, a 1–1 draw at Bloomfield Road against Cardiff City.
He was named in The Championship "Team of the Week" following his performance and goal in Blackpool's 4–1 home win over Scunthorpe United on 7 November.
After the departure of Keith Southern to Huddersfield Town in July 2012, Evatt inherited the accolade of being Blackpool's longest-serving current player.
After his release from Blackpool in June 2013, Evatt re-joined Chesterfield on a two-year contract on 30 July 2013, and was made the club's captain.
[34] He scored his first goal in his second spell for the club against Fleetwood Town in the Football League Trophy Northern Area final on 4 February 2014.
[36] On 23 April 2018, following the departure of Jack Lester, Evatt was appointed caretaker manager for the remainder of the season, which ended in Chesterfield's relegation to the National League.
[38] Evatt officially retired from playing after coming on as a forward late in a friendly at home to his former club Blackpool on 20 July 2019.
The appearance was prompted by Barrow's social-media manager, who announced that, should their tweet be retweeted one thousand times, Evatt would come on for the last few minutes.
[44] His first action as Bolton head coach was to give a new contract to recently released Ali Crawford,[45] and his first signing was the leading goalscorer of the 2019–20 EFL League Two season, Eoin Doyle.
[46] His first competitive match as head coach came on 5 September, a 2–1 home defeat against Bradford in the first round of the EFL Cup.
[50] Bolton's form soon turned around and after winning five matches in a row, Evatt was named EFL League Two Manager of the Month for November 2020.
[51] After the departure of director of football Tobias Phoenix on 11 December,[52] Evatt's role was changed from head coach to manager.
[59] On 2 February 2023, it was revealed that Evatt had been given shares in Football Ventures (Whites) Ltd, the company that own Bolton Wanderers, making him one of minority owners of the club itself.