Aston Villa appointment of Neil Critchley ‘very disappointing’ for Blackpool CEO
Aston Villa appointed former Blackpool manager Neil Critchley as their new assistant head coach on Thursday (2 June) after the previous assistant left.
Michael Beale had held the position ever since Steven Gerrard took over at Villa Park in November but he has now left the club to become the manager of Queens Park Rangers in the Championship.
The Villans looked back towards the second tier for their new man and went ahead to poach Critchley, who Gerrard worked with at Liverpool, from the Tangerines after a stellar first season back in the Championship.
“It’s been a very disappointing situation, everyone knows how well Neil has done since he has joined the club,” Blackpool CEO Ben Mansford said, as quoted by Lancs Live. “It all happened very quickly.
“I got a call from Neil on Wednesday evening who said he had received a call from Steven Gerrard.
“Michael Beale has joined QPR and Steven wanted Neil to join him as his assistant and Neil was reasonable clear that he wanted to take that opportunity and it was right for him. He said Aston Villa would be in touch to finalise the formalities of the approach and Neil’s exit.
“I spoke to the board, John Stephenson and Aston Villa were in touch on Wednesday night. They conducted themselves properly and went through the right process.
“Things snowballed on Thursday morning, Simon and Neil spoke and it became clear that was what Neil wanted to do. We got the details formalised, the press statement, staff and players, it caught us all by surprise.”
Swift
Once again, we’ve proved that there is no need for massively dragged out deals whether that be for players or staff members.
Gerrard clearly knew that he wanted Critchley back alongside him again after having some success in the Liverpool youth ranks and he showed no hesitation to go and ring him up and convince him to the Midlands.
It might have taken a fair bit of persuasion too because he was doing a tremendous job at Bloomfield Road having not only got the Seasiders promoted from League One but kept them well away from any kind of relegation trouble.
He now brings all kinds of connections and knowledge to the club that could hugely benefit Aston Villa in the future.
His transfer dealings at Blackpool included signing players from all over the place and his enormous list of contacts will eventually come in handy for Gerrard when that next big star emerges in the Football League.
In other Aston Villa news, the board are more than happy to listen to offers for four of Gerrard’s senior squad as he looks to cut back on the deadwood to make room for more new additions.