Stevenage chairman Phil Wallace says Teddy Sheringham’s appointment as manager was down to the club needing a change and to be refreshed.

Wallace and the club board decided a new direction for the Lamex Stadium side was needed following Graham Westley’s eighth year at the club in 12 years.

When asked if he would have changed the manager regardless of the outcome of the Sky Bet League Two play-offs, he said: “I think I would have done yes, because it wasn’t about results at all, the results last season were very good to get into the play-offs, bearing in mind we were relegated the year before, so it wasn’t about results it’s just about us.

“Sometimes you have to refresh a business, you have to change things, sometimes that’s a manager, sometimes that’s a chairman, sometimes it’s both but you need change for the company to be vibrant, to keep people’s interest.

“Graham had been here eight of the last 12 years and that’s a lot at any level of football, it’s all about change, refreshing and doing something different.”

Wallace was also full of praise for his new man, who played for England more than 50 times and won the Champions League with Manchester United.

“When you meet people that have achieved the very highest in their chosen career there’s something in their DNA that’s obvious,” he said.

“You don’t get to that height by fluke or by luck or even just by hard work there’s something in there that’s different.

“And you can see that as determination or whatever you want to call it and I see that in Ted and also see it in a lot of players that have reached the heights that he has reached.

“I think he’s passionate, he’s very grounded as well, for a person that’s done so well in the game, and I think that he’ll be very good for this football club.

“Whenever you make change it’s a gamble, it’s an even bigger gamble when you’ve just been in the play-offs, so it’s always going to be a gamble isn’t it.

“I and the board felt a change in direction was needed and we are committed to that.”