Former Liverpool Academy coach Neil Critchley has been relieved of his duties at Queens Park Rangers, just two months after being appointed by the Championship club.
Identified in December as a replacement for fellow ex-Liverpool employee Michael Beale, who left the second tier side for Rangers, Critchley won his first game in charge against Preston but has failed to secure a second victory in the 11 matches that have since followed.
QPR sat in the play-off places after Critchley's one and only win as head coach but are now closer to the relegation zone than the top six, highlighting the drastic drop-off in performance levels. Such is the severity of this decline, the 44-year-old has now been sacked. His assistants Iain Brunskill and Mike Garrity, who have also previously served in roles at Liverpool, have also departed.
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Critchley's previous role within football came at Aston Villa, leaving his post as Blackpool boss last June to form part of Steven Gerrard's backroom staff. His stay at the West Midlands club was short-lived, however, lasting only until October when Villa parted company with Gerrard.
Prior to this, he gained seven years of managerial experience within the Reds' Academy system and was handed the chance to oversee the first-team on two occasions in 2019/20 as Jurgen Klopp's side competed at the FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar. Ending his association with the club in 2020, he took the reins at Blackpool and guided the Seasiders to promotion in his first campaign at the helm. Among the players who helped the team seal a return to the second tier was ex-Red Matty Virtue, who reunited with Critchley at Bloomfield Road.
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