Aston Villa assistant Neil Critchley earns ‘top person’ praise from Michael Beale
Aston Villa announced the arrival of Neil Critchley to the club on Thursday (2 June) to replace Michael Beale as Steven Gerrard’s assistant manager.
Critchley, who began his coaching career at Crewe Alexandra, has worked with Gerrard before at Liverpool but has most recently managed Blackpool to promotion from League One and a solid mid-table finish in the Championship.
He was all set to remain at Bloomfield Road for a while before Gerrard and Villa came calling for him to replace Beale in the role after he left Villa Park to manage Queens Park Rangers, also in the second division.
When the news was broken, Beale was quick to react as he hailed Critchley as a person and a coach as he took his former position.
“Top person, Top coach,” Beale said via his personal Twitter account as he prepares for his first foray into management at a senior level.
Strange swap
You can completely see why Beale wanted to leave the club with a very good management position opening up after Mark Warburton left the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.
Villa would have been foolish to deny him the move that he has been waiting for and it’s good to see they didn’t stand in his way of a dream move.
The strange move was that of Critchley who already had a very secure job in the same division Beale has just left to join and was lauded by supporters of the Seasiders.
Gerrard must be a master of seduction to have prized him away from a place where he was doing a grand job to be the right-hand man in the Premier League unless a big pot of money was enough to entice him.
Regardless of that, though, it is a fantastic appointment for the football club who have done wonders to find a replacement in such a short space of time and to the level of Critchley too.
In other Aston Villa news, Diego Carlos has one very effective attribute that will win the Villans no end of points now he has agreed to join the club for the 2022-23 season and beyond.