Twitter reacts to Neil Critchley’s unexpected Liverpool departure
Liverpool Under-23 boss Neil Critchley has resigned from his position to take up the role of manager at Blackpool, according to Liverpoolfc.com.
The 41-year-old takes over from Simon Grayson with the club comfortable in mid-table. This will be his first senior role having already managed the Liverpool youth teams at the Under-18 and Under-23 levels before. He worked as a youth coordinator at Crew Alexandria prior to joining Liverpool in 2013.
He famously stepped in for Jurgen Klopp for the Carabao Cup clash against Aston Villa and the FA Cup fourth-round replay against Shrewsbury Town. Hew broke the record for managing the youngest Liverpool team on both the occasions winning the latter at Anfield.
Academy director Alex Inglethorpe admits mixed emotions at the news. He states this to be an example of the Academy providing a pathway to first-team football to not only the players but also coaches.
Steven Gerrard, Michael Beale and Mike Marsh, all progressed to senior roles at other clubs having initially worked with Liverpool’s youth structure.
A new journey
Critchley expressed his joy at joining Blackpool and is looking ahead to working with the players and staff at Bloomfield Road. He also reminisced of his time at Liverpool and described it a truly special experience.
“It’s a truly special football club and it’s the people that make the football club the place that it is”
He thanked Inglethorpe and the other staff for their assistance and admitted that the decision to leave the club was not an easy decision. Critchley has a good feeling about the setup at Blackpool and is eager to help the club achieve success.
Blackpool are also thrilled to sign a manager of Critchley’s caliber and asserted their belief that the team will play organized, exciting football under his tutelage. The Englishman’s contract at Bloomfield Road runs until the end of the 2022-23 season.
Liverpool fans reacted with surprise at the news and a number of them took to Twitter to voice their opinion and congratulate Critchley. We look at a few of them below.
Twitter reacts to Neil Critchley’s departure
https://twitter.com/BigDickDivock2/status/1234421916808732673?s=20
Nooooo. Didn't see this coming at all. Good luck Neil.
— – (@chielinilookout) March 2, 2020
When I saw that LFC Manager Neil Critchley left LFC I thought it was Jurgen for a second.
— sebastian 🇺🇸🇨🇴 (@NotSebasVettel) March 2, 2020
Neil Critchley will be sorely missed at #LFC. Has done a brilliant job as under-23s boss. Being offered the head coach’s role at Blackpool just too good an opportunity to turn down. No doubt he’ll be a success there.
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) March 2, 2020
Congrats Neil Critchley. We @LFC wish you the best👍
Have a wonderful spell at @BlackpoolFC .#YNWA— Ajia Rabiu Oladipupo (@Lhardee01) March 2, 2020
Paul Ince’s qualification for the job was that he was Tom’s dad and came to games anyway. That’s junior football.
Neil Critchley’s qualification is the highest in the game. That’s elite level football.— LM (@LM6tweets) March 2, 2020
Good luck to Neil Critchley at Blackpool.
A great guy, who's done a fantastic job at the academy.— LiverpoolFF (@LiverpoolFF) March 2, 2020
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Sad to hear Neil Critchley has left his post as @LFC under 23 coach a fantastic youth coach and will be difficult to replace.
Personally I feel he is making a mistake but understand he wants to try to become a successful manager in league football. Good luck— David Thompson (@77thomo) March 2, 2020
https://twitter.com/FalseFMatt/status/1234418812105052160?s=20
