INTERVIEW with former Boro striker Chris Beardsley

Chris Beardsley says new Stevenage boss Teddy Sheringham will inherit a club on the up following the former Spurs striker’s appointment last week.

Sheringham will replace Graham Westley in the Boro hot seat once the former manager’s contract runs out on May 31 – but he won’t have Beardsley to call upon next season after the forward was one of 13 players released by Stevenage last week.

Beardsley, who says he was only told that he would not be staying at the club following Boro’s League Two play-off defeat against Southend United, told the Comet: “He inherits a very good training ground and a stable club behind the scenes.

“In terms of the playing squad he inherits good, young talent. The club is based on being together and the fans and the staff as one.

“Now he’s got to try to put his stamp on it and bring in players that buy into it. I’m sure he’ll have his own ideas, he’ll be his own man and it’ll be interesting watching it from the outside.”

Asked about Boro’s decision to change manager, and the decision by the club to let himself and 12 other players go, Beardsley added: “I don’t know Graham’s thoughts. Maybe he would have liked to have seen the job through.

“He’s had a team fail in the play-offs before and then has led them to the championship. He knows what to do to evolve a squad. In football you don’t always get what you deserve, but I’m sure he’ll bounce back.

“You spoke to a few people in and out of football [last season] and people were saying ‘watching you, looking and hearing about it from the outside, it felt as though the old Stevenage was back’ and that was the feeling about the place.

“In the dressing room I could feel that. Results and performances from January onwards really did look like a team that was improving. But obviously the club has gone in a different direction. That’s down to the people at the top, the money men to decide.

“After the second leg there were conversations behind the scenes and we got a feeling for what might be happening. Nothing surprises me in football.

“Certain players had contracts already, others activated extensions.Us 13 were out of contract and there were decisions to be made. I thought the manager would make those decisions but the manager left the club.”