Strengthening his playing squad and bringing in experienced coaches will be priorities for the new Boro boss

Players

Not for the first time in recent seasons, Stevenage will be busy this summer recruiting almost half a squad.

Sheringham needs to add up to 10 more bodies before the start of the league campaign in August after the club released 13 at the end of the season including regulars Bira Dembele and Chris Beardsley and a number of academy players.

That leaves 12 confirmed first-team players for 2015/16, while Stevenage remain in talks with several more.

Sheringham has already said that he wants to get his business done early, and he’ll want to have a full pre-season to work with his squad ahead of his first campaign in charge.

Backroom staff

The new boss will look to put together a team of coaches with League Two experience.

There’s no official news yet on whether any of Graham Westley’s team of staff will stay on, but if they do, like John Dreyer did when Westley left Preston North End, that will ease the transition for the new man in charge.

Regardless, he will still want to get his own people in and received the following advice from West Ham boss Sam Allardyce: “When you’re picking your backroom staff, make sure you can depend on them, have a good look at their characters. You’re going to see them on a day-to-day basis and talk to them a lot so make sure they’re good people.”

Arrange friendlies

It sounds straight-forward as all clubs need pre-season friendlies to get players fit and raring to go ahead of a new campaign. But following the arrival of Sheringham, Stevenage will be looking to build on the positive response to his appointment by nailing down some high profile games this summer. The matches will give the fans a chance to see Sheringham in action as he moulds his squad, but more importantly the matches will give the new boss the opportunity to see just what he has at his disposal and to get his team playing the way he wants them to.

Fans should also expect the club to arrange at least one long-distance game – if not a mini-tour – so Sheringham and his players can organise, play and bond on the road ahead of the new campaign.

Find a philosophy

Sheringham says chairman Phil Wallace will let him be ‘his own man’, but the new man in charge will be expected to deliver a certain type of football as the club looks to ‘evolve’.

Graham Westley’s Boro of last season was effective and maybe didn’t quite get the plaudits it deserved for the performances of some players such as Tom Pett and Dean Parrett, but it was not easy on the eye.

Wallace has cited attendances figures as one of the reasons for a change in direction, and he will be hoping that once the initial excitement of Sheringham’s appointment starts to diminish the team’s style of football and results will continue to put bums on seats.