Mark Sampson takes caretaker charge at Stevenage

| 09 September 2019

Mark Sampson takes caretaker charge at Stevenage

The former England Women boss takes the reins after the sacking of Dino Maamria.

Former England Women coach Mark Sampson has been placed in caretaker charge of League Two side Stevenage.

The Hertfordshire club, without a win so far this season, sacked boss Dino Maamria on Monday morning and have asked Sampson to fill the void.

"Following a strong run of results at the end of the 2018-19 season, where Stevenage finished the season in 10th place with six wins from the final seven games, missing the play-offs by one point, the club have not recorded a win so far this season and currently sit in 23rd place in League Two," a statement read.

#StevenageFC & Dino Maamria have today parted ways.

— Stevenage FC 🔴⚪ (@StevenageFC) September 9, 2019

"Mark Sampson will assume control of the team in a caretaker role, assisted by newly-appointed under-18s manager Alex Revell, until further notice."

Thirty-six-year-old Sampson joined Maamria's coaching staff in the summer, in his first job since leaving the England role.

Sampson was sacked by the Football Association in September 2017 following allegations of "inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour" in his previous role as manager at Bristol Academy.

He had also been the focus of bullying and racism claims, first made by Eni Aluko and then Drew Spence.

Mark Sampson was accused of making racist comments towards Eni Aluko, pictured (Adam Davy/PA)

The FA said the allegations were investigated and Sampson was cleared of any wrongdoing.

But Sampson, who reached a financial settlement with the FA over his dismissal in January of this year, conceded he should have handled the claims differently, saying it would always be a "big regret" and apologised unreservedly to the two players.

Stevenage lost 4-2 at Cheltenham on Saturday and have three points from a possible 21 this season, with only Scunthorpe keeping them off the bottom of the table.