NEW BORO BOSS ALEX REVELL ON HIS MASSIVE CHALLENGE: ‘THIS IS A PERFECT CHANCE TO SHOW WHAT I CAN DO'

STRANDED at the foot of the EFL, staring relegation to the National League in the face and with games running out – the Stevenage manager’s job doesn’t look an enticing prospect.

- John Lyons

But rookie Alex Revell reckons it’s a ‘perfect opportunity’ to showcase his managerial credentials, and wants his players to believe they can conjure up a great escape.

After calling time on a two-decade long playing career last summer, Revell was keen to begin learning the coaching ropes at Stevenage, his final club, this term. Yet he couldn’t have expected a season as turbulent as how it’s turned out to be at the Lamex Stadium.

Originally U18s coach, he stepped up to the assistant manager’s job under former England Women’s boss Mark Sampson when Dino Maamria, now in charge at Oldham, was sacked early in the season.

A few months later, he was a first team coach when former Stevenage boss Graham Westley replaced Sampson in the hotseat. But even Boro legend Westley couldn’t turn their fortunes around and he resigned last weekend after a sixth straight league defeat left the Hertfordshire club seven points adrift at the bottom of the table.

Now the 36-year-old former Rotherham striker has been given the top job, tasked with hauling Stevenage out of the brown stuff – and he clearly doesn’t reckon it’s mission impossible for a team who, pre-weekend, had won a meagre three out of 34 league games.

“It was a difficult time when Graham came in and he tried to steady the ship,” he said, “but unfortunately results haven’t gone as well as he would have liked.

“You don’t want people to lose their jobs and he worked very hard, but, having done all my badges, you want that day to come when you have a chance. You have to start somewhere and this is a perfect opportunity for me to come in and show people what I’m about as a person.