FORMER Liverpool FC midfielder Dietmar Hamann has been named the new manager of non-league Stockport.

The ex-Germany international has left his role as a coach at Leicester to take his first managerial post at the club who were relegated after finishing bottom of the Football League last season.

The appointment of the 37-year-old follows the takeover of the Hatters by a consortium headed by businessman Tony Evans.

Hamann, who won the Champions League with Liverpool in 2005, has agreed a one-year contract to replace Ray Mathias at Edgeley Park.

He told Sky Sports News: “With the situation as it is - only seven or eight players on the books - I’ve got a chance to bring in eight or nine players that I want and I think that’s a big advantage.

“There’s no rights or wrongs and I look forward to the challenge. I’ll go to places I’ve not been before but I’m not afraid of that because that’s what it’s all about in football - taking up new challenges.

“Where there’s a chance there’s a risk, but I’ll try my best to make the club successful again and bring it back to where it belongs.”