He played in the 2002 World Cup final, claimed 59 caps for Germany, helped inspire Liverpool’s famous Champions League fightback against AC Milan in 2005 and won a pair of FA Cups in England and Bundesliga titles in his homeland.

But arguably the biggest challenge of Dietmar Hamann’s football career began just two months ago – July 5 to be precise – when he became manager of Stockport County, tomorrow’s visitors to AFC Telford United.

“We started with six signed players and 35 trialists,” pointed out Willie McStay, former Celtic coach and Ross County manager.

“We had to assess what we had and put together a squad, and our first aim is to stabalise the football club,” said Willie McStay, former Celtic coach and Ross County boss who is Hamann’s No 2.

“There has been a lot of negativity on and off the pitch over the last few years so to first step is to stablise and then when we get to the middle of the season, we can re-assess.”

McStay’s sentiments are understable when you consider Stockport were Carling Cup semi-finalists back in 1997 and were plying their trade in what is now the Championship as recently as 2002.

Hard times have followed, both on and off the pitch, and Stockport eventually dropped out of the Football League after 106 years continuous membership in May.

But the rebuilding process has begun with a summer takeover and a steady if unspectacular start which has featured five draws from their first seven Blue Square Bet Premier games. And McStay has been impressed with the early days of the managerial career of Hamann, who left his coaching role at Leicester in the summer.

“Didi has won most things in the game but what has impressed me most is his willingness to learn the level,” said McStay.

“He is very calm in what he does, very intelligent, and when he makes a decision he sticks to it and never looks back.

“He is very good with the players and talks to them individually. He has certainly got something about him and he can go a long way.”

By JAMES GARRISON