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A month is a long time in sport, long enough for Andy Flower to realise he was not the right man to take England forward.

Straight after the 5-0 Ashes annihilation the England Team Director announced he was still the man for the job, that he had the energy and fight to take the team forwards.

What changed in those four weeks before the ECB announced on Friday that he would be stepping down with immediate effect we can only guess.

Whether he jumped before he was pushed doesn’t really matter to me, but what does matter is that Flower should be remembered for his immense contribution to the overall success of the England cricket team under his stewardship.

He took over from Peter Moores in difficult ­circumstances in 2009 and immediately formed an excellent relationship with captain Andrew Strauss.

Flower’s record speaks for itself, with three Ashes wins, a series win in India, a T20 World Cup among the highlights and for a short time England were ranked the No.1 Test side in the world.

He is an impressive ­individual and his methods certainly worked for the majority of his time in charge.

An approach based around hard work, ­discipline and attention to detail backed up by a ­mountain of statistics meant England left nothing to chance.

These principles helped to achieve success along with some highly-talented players at his disposal, but by the end there were strong rumours coming from the dressing room that the fun and enjoyment had been sucked out of the team and that the players were too scared to question his inflexible ways.

When a side is ­continually losing – as England were this winter – ­individuals will always look for excuses to try and protect their own reputations. At the same time it’s imperative to have an open and honest dressing room where opinions are allowed to be heard and discussed.

I understand this was not the case which resulted in a players’ only meeting before the final Test in Sydney where some strong words were spoken.

The players have to take the majority of the blame for The Ashes whitewash as their performances were woeful, but the management must take responsibility, too.

From beating the Aussies 3-0 to losing 5-0 in the space of a few months something went ­seriously wrong. In my column just a few weeks ago I wrote that a review of the tour had to take place before any major decisions were taken and thankfully this has happened.

Flower met the new ECB managing director Paul Downton last Friday, and stated that the team director should be responsible for all three formats of the game and not split the roles, as is the case now, with Ashley Giles ­overseeing the limited over games.

A change had to happen. Giles will be the favourite to take over the top job, despite the post being advertised.

He needs to be his own man. He must be allowed to hand pick his own ­backroom staff and impart his skill, methods and knowledge onto the team without any outside interference.

Alastair Cook’s position as captain will also be discussed and Giles has to offer his views. The coach/captain working ­relationship is a crucial one and Giles must be 100 per cent sure that Cook is his man to lead the side out.

Flower is still a selector, but I’d remove him immediately so that the slate is wiped completely clean.

With him taking on a new role within the ECB – ­probably overseeing the academy along with the development of the younger players – he will not be lost to English cricket and that’s great news.

Flower has been simply outstanding, but now is the time for a new era.

Read more from Alec Stewart here