Stevenage chairman Phil Wallace says all avenues and candidates were considered to be the new manager but ultimately Alex Revell was the "natural successor" to Steve Evans.

The departure of Evans and his assistant Paul Raynor to Rotherham on April 17 left then first-team coach Alex Revell as caretaker manager for Boro's final two League games of the season.

And it was no secret that Revell, who was manager for 18 months between 2020 and 2021, wanted a second crack at the job.

Plenty of other people were also interested but Boro's chairman said ultimately it came down to the harmony among the squad, almost all of whom are contracted for next season.

Mr Wallace said: "We’ve taken our time to consider various candidates but we believe the dynamics of our squad dictated that Alex was the natural successor to Steve.

"Alex knows the players, he’s been part of the original recruitment metric and, importantly, he’s held in high esteem by the dressing room.

"We had options of managers with more experience, but there’s never a guarantee the dressing room will buy into someone new and our dressing room this year is special.

"We have a group of hard working, great characters and we wanted to retain the identity we’ve created."

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Revell's backroom staff has also been announced, with experience and a former Boro favourite brought in.

Neil Banfield was at Arsenal for 21 years, progressing through the Academy coaching positions before being appointed to the first team under Arsene Wegner in 2012, a position he held for six years.

He was then at QPR before moving to Glasgow Rangers with manager Michael Beale, leaving in December 2023.

Former skipper Scott Cuthbert is also back at the Lamex, having made 139 appearances for Stevenage.

Mr Wallace said: "We wanted to improve our chances of success on the pitch by providing an experienced coach and assistant manager with in-game expertise and years of experience winning games.

“In this regard, we’ve also appointed the management team that Alex has chosen with Neil Banfield joining as assistant manager/first-team coach and Scott Cuthbert taking over Alex’s former number three role."

The chairman added: "These players have a respect and trust in Alex that we have built upon by adding proven coaching ability and experience in Neil.

“There are never any guarantees in football, but we believe this is the right management team to establish us as a League One club that can push the big boys all the way."