“Second-best manager on Merseyside”: Some Liverpool fans react to surprise exit of staff member

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.

Neil Critchley did a good job for the Under-23s

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.