Blackpool's League One rivals appoint former Brighton, Cardiff City and Rotherham United star

Blackpool's League One rivals Stevenage have appointed Alex Revell as their first-team manager on a permanent basis.

The 40-year-old enters his second stint with the club after managing them from February 2020 to November 2021. He re-joined them as a coach for the youth academy and was promoted to first-team coach when Steve Evans was in charge, and then managed the club for an interim period when Evans departed for Rotherham United.

Evans wanted Revell to join him at his new job at the New York Stadium, but instead the two will meet as rivals next season when the 2024/25 League One season begins. Revell had a 20-year playing career and featured for the likes of Cardiff City, Brighton & Hove Albion, MK Dons and also the Millers.

Explaining the decision, chairman Phil Wallace said to the official club website: “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.

"However, we wanted to improve our chances of success on the pitch by providing an experienced coach/assistant manager with in-game expertise and years of experience winning games."

Revell will get support from Neil Banfield, who was once first-team coach to Arsene Wenger at Arsenal. He worked closely with Michael Beale at both QPR and at Rangers. Scott Cuthbert is returning to the club after a playing stint with Woking, and will work as an assistant coach to Revell.

In his two games in charge after Evans left for Rotherham, Revell got a 1-1 draw with play-off finalists Oxford United and also beat Cheltenham Town 2-1 to consign them to a season in the fourth tier. Boro finished ninth this season, two points behind Blackpool.