Former Premier League boss Glenn Roeder has joined Stevenage to help Darren Sarll’s fledgling league management career and not to take his job, according to the man himself.

Roeder, who had spells in charge of Gillingham, Newcastle United, West Ham United, Norwich City and Watford, today (Thursday) linked up with Stevenage in a managerial advisor role on a short-term basis.

Speaking after Sarll at today’s press conference ahead of the trip to Oxford United tomorrow, Roeder said: “Monday afternoon I got the call from somebody who put the suggestion of coming to work at Stevenage to help out a young manager that the club have got a lot of faith in.

“They thought if I gave my experience to him during this six-week period I could help him long-term become a better manager and make sure we, in the nine games I’m here, get enough points to see how high up the table we can finish.

“I’m here for six weeks and that’s it, that has been said clearly by everybody, it’s a short-term deal.

“I’m happy with that situation and Darren’s got no worries about me secretly, or openly, trying to be the manager as that’s his job.

“I hope looking back in a few years’ time he might say ‘that short period of time I worked with Glenn Roeder helped me become the manager I am today’.”

Sarll has welcomed the ‘massive help’ Roeder will offer in his new role with the club.

“Glenn has come in as a bit of a mentor to me, as an advisor to me and the staff, but also in the capacity of helping with the players, working with the players with his experience and the levels he’s worked at the top level as a manager and as a coach and he’ll be a massive help for advice and support from now until the end of the season.

“I’m a young manager, I’m an inexperienced manager, to then work with someone with experience and with someone who has been through the same sorts of things that I’m going through at the moment; sleepless night, lots of thinking around the team, lots of work away from the training pitch and on the training pitch, to be able to look to someone who has been there and seen that and had to go through that is of great support to me.”