Critchley gone

Whatever reason Critch has left - didn't fancy being a manager, wanted a bigger salary, wanted Prem experience now, Stevie G convinced him, he wasn't up for the challenge this season - there is bugger all we can do about it. And obviously sod all SS could do to get him to stay. I wish Critch success as he did well for us but we'll get over it.

Sadler and team have already shown their long term vision for taking the club forwards. I doubt changing a manager will majorly impact that and they'll cope with it and adapt plans. Yes it will be a disruption and it will make this season harder than it would have been. A challenge but likely not a disaster.

Above all I'll continue to be grateful we aren't a perpetual no-mark club like Nob End or a club on the edge of potential disaster like the Clampets.
 
That’s football I guess and good luck to him - though I am really disappointed. The new management needs to be in place pdq otherwise I really do fear for our survival next season. Sean Dyche would be a good fit for the size of our club - I’m not sure about any past players with the exception perhaps of Mike Jackson - let’s remember that NC was unproven when he came to us. We move on.
 
Coincidence it’s just days after the “can’t afford Charlie Kirk” article? I think not.

I think he’s spoke with Sadler, SS has said we don’t have the money and need to survive with the current squad and he’s jumped ship. Without investment, we’re down I’m afraid.
 
ItsGrimUpNorth said:
Coincidence it’s just days after the “can’t afford Charlie Kirk” article? I think not.

I think he’s spoke with Sadler, SS has said we don’t have the money and need to survive with the current squad and he’s jumped ship. Without investment, we’re down I’m afraid.
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Personally can’t see it being that.

He’s worked on a very small budget for the last few years. The Kirk stuff could have been anything from getting the price down to us actually not wanting him.

Usually the truth is pretty boring I find. We re 2 hours out from being shocked everything’s getting sensationalised.

He probably just got offered triple his wages and a promise from Gerard that he’s aiming for the Liverpool Job in a few years and he’ll take Crotch with him.
 
ItsGrimUpNorth said:
Coincidence it’s just days after the “can’t afford Charlie Kirk” article? I think not.

I think he’s spoke with Sadler, SS has said we don’t have the money and need to survive with the current squad and he’s jumped ship. Without investment, we’re down I’m afraid.
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Reading under Ince, Birmingham are in turmoil and Rotherham are like Peterborough only worse. If we get the right loan players in and use the compensation/Bowler money, we'll be absolutely fine.
 
Thatseasider said:
Personally can’t see it being that.

He’s worked on a very small budget for the last few years. The Kirk stuff could have been anything from getting the price down to us actually not wanting him.

Usually the truth is pretty boring I find. We re 2 hours out from being shocked everything’s getting sensationalised.

He probably just got offered triple his wages and a promise from Gerard that he’s aiming for the Liverpool Job in a few years and he’ll take Crotch with him.
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So if it was us driving the price down on Kirk, but yet we had the money - what’s the reasoning behind, again, not being able to afford Brannagan?

Was that us again trying to drive the price down? Or are we going to take our heads out the sand and realise we don’t have anywhere near the money to compete in this league?
 
20togo said:
Gerrard continues to do a decent job at Villa with Critch as his no 2 and then when Klopp goes Gerrard takes Critch to Liverpool. As a long term plan it makes sense.
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He may as well stayed at Liverpool and waited for Gerrard to arrive! Maybe he just didn't want the pressure associated with the Manager's job and dealing with the shit every day. Also, probably a very nice pay rise to help soothe the conscience.
 
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SirHarryThomson said:
I've watched pool for over 50 years and seen some bizarre management decusions. I never saw this coming and something must have happened behind the scenes. Not happy.
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Something has always happened behind the scenes. Something like 'a club has come in and offered to triple your salary. Oh, and they're managed by your old mucker Gerard. Shall I tell them to fuck off?
 
ItsGrimUpNorth said:
So if it was us driving the price down on Kirk, but yet we had the money - what’s the reasoning behind, again, not being able to afford Brannagan?

Was that us again trying to drive the price down? Or are we going to take our heads out the sand and realise we don’t have anywhere near the money to compete in this league?
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Neither you or I know the real reasons behind Kirk or Brannigan. I just don’t think came here thinking he was going to spend millions.

If bowler goes we no doubt have a few million to spend. If not we have a great player.

We’re going to be up against it at this level no doubt.

I just think the real reason is far more mundane than people are sensationalising, if someone offered you triple the wages for less stress most would take it.

I think it won’t do him many favours in the long run but it’s his sliding doors moment.
 
Thatseasider said:
Neither you or I know the real reasons behind Kirk or Brannigan. I just don’t think came here thinking he was going to spend millions.

If bowler goes we no doubt have a few million to spend. If not we have a great player.

We’re going to be up against it at this level no doubt.

I just think the real reason is far more mundane than people are sensationalising, if someone offered you triple the wages for less stress most would take it.

I think it won’t do him many favours in the long run but it’s his sliding doors moment.
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The reason is - We don’t have the money we’re led to believe we have. Fact.
 
ItsGrimUpNorth said:
The reason is - We don’t have the money we’re led to believe we have. Fact.
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“Let’s get the fans on side with a training ground announcement and then as soon as another clubs come sniffing around NC and offers us a million or 2 for his contract, we will take it.”
 
Pissed off tbh - suspect the reason is quite simple i.e. triple your wage ,OK thanks see ya Blackpool

Believe his celebrations at end of games was genuine at the time

As for replacements -Charlie and even Evatt seem to be driven by sentimentality- they were great players but thats it .


Dyce would be great but he will go to bigger club and would demand top dollar


As for me would consider, Duncan Ferguson - missed out to Lampard on Everton job and seems to want to step up - hard as fkn nails but not in Roy Keane pantomime way and would command respect in the dressing room - lives in North West
 
Wonder which way we'll turn ?

(i) "Known Name" Rooney, Ferguson etc
(ii) Experienced L1/L2/champ. manager
(iii) Foreign
(iv) Young up & coming coach AKA Critchley
(v) Ex player
 

ItsGrimUpNorth said:
Coincidence it’s just days after the “can’t afford Charlie Kirk” article? I think not.

I think he’s spoke with Sadler, SS has said we don’t have the money and need to survive with the current squad and he’s jumped ship. Without investment, we’re down I’m afraid.
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I just think Kirk was over valued. Maybe Sadler knew about Villa's approach and is waiting for a new manager before he funds any transfers.
 
BruceBFC said:
I just think Kirk was over valued. Maybe Sadler knew about Villa's approach and is waiting for a new manager before he funds any transfers.
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And what about Brannagan? Was he over valued? Or are you going to keep papering over the fact we haven’t got any money…
 
This could be a blessing in disguise. It felt like Critley had taken us as far as he could. He seemed to have lost the dressing room towards the end of the season, the players had no confidence. It like he ran out of ideas and didn't know his best team. We wasn't improving and the football was getting worse. Hopefully we bring in an exciting, attack minded manager to replace him.
 
Thatseasider said:
Personally can’t see it being that.

He’s worked on a very small budget for the last few years. The Kirk stuff could have been anything from getting the price down to us actually not wanting him.

Usually the truth is pretty boring I find. We re 2 hours out from being shocked everything’s getting sensationalised.

He probably just got offered triple his wages and a promise from Gerard that he’s aiming for the Liverpool Job in a few years and he’ll take Crotch with him.
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He didn't have a small budget for league 1.

I agree on the fact this is positioning them to succeed Herr Perfect Teeth at Liverpool.
 
ItsGrimUpNorth said:
And what about Brannagan? Was he over valued? Or are you going to keep papering over the fact we haven’t got any money…
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I'm not sure about him. Never seem him play in the championship but looks decent for Oxford and would definitely boost our midfield. We still offered a fair bit for him i think but lost out. I just know Kirk wasn't worth the asking price. I think we'll bring in better before the season starts.
 
I'm not looking for justification but Critch's connections to the "youth" market were diminishing season by season and we/BFC/he has not used his Liverpool connection to any great affect.
We are not actually giving our own youth a chance. I understand (but don't fully agree) with @Philbfctrois point that we are only a Cat 3 Academy so they might not actually be good enough but there doesn't seem to be a great desire to give them a go.
So still annoyed at Critch, still disappointed, still worried but tangerine tinted glasses firmly on hope our next Manager will be even better than the last one.
 
Insider said:
I'm not looking for justification but Critch's connections to the "youth" market were diminishing season by season and we/BFC/he has not used his Liverpool connection to any great affect.
We are not actually giving our own youth a chance. I understand (but don't fully agree) with @Philbfctrois point that we are only a Cat 3 Academy so they might not actually be good enough but there doesn't seem to be a great desire to give them a go.
So still annoyed at Critch, still disappointed, still worried but tangerine tinted glasses firmly on hope our next Manager will be even better than the last one.
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Case in point Antwi. Has a couple of decent first showings then not seen again for yonks, brought back for a very short spell from being totally out in the cold and then shipped out on loan to the back of beyond. I still think he was someone we could have had on the bench getting 10t mins here and there in a strong team to develop. Instead…released in a free.
 
I go for an afternoon nap, we still have a manager and England have just gone into tea with the Kiwi's all out for nothing and I wake up to "Critch has gone" and the inevitable batting collapse!!

Anyway, I think there are a lot of people on here shocked, obviously, but in their shock are coming up with all sorts of conspiracy theories.

This is football, it often surprises, but at the end of the day Critch has been offered a top coaching role at a famous Premier League club, working with a manager who he will know so well and to be honest I can see why he's gone. I don't think it's anything to do with something's wrong in the background, he had no money for players, he was under too much pressure, etc., etc., He's just gone on to further his career and good luck to him.

Now, my own feelings are that I have to say I never thought we were that exciting to watch under Critchley. We never had any creativity, everything went down the wings to inverted wingers and we had absolutely no flair going forward from the midfield. It was pretty dull, and if you compare it to our play under Ollie, which was amazingly exciting to watch, Critch was almost over thinking it and we never seemed to have a balanced side. So am I gutted he has gone? Surprised, yes, gutted certainly not.

SS has just announced the new training facility, the new East Stand and the new development behind the East stand, that is such a huge amount of progress from where we were and what we wanted and some are questioning SS's commitment. It's not a bottomless pit and we need to get these things in place and it's a lot of money. Equally we need to be able to compete in the Championship and so there has to be investment in the team otherwise we'll be back in league 1 quicker than can say "How did that happen!" We need to be able to stay in the Championship until the infrastructure is in place. It's no good having all this investment and improvement if we are in Legue 1 or, heaven forbid, League 2.

So, for me, it should be seen as a step forward in our march to the EPL and it will be interesting who we get in. We will have plenty of managers interested and we may well go and poach someone from another club or even abroad.

I wouldn't be too happy about Dyche, far too dour in style for me and probably out of our price range. Same as for Tony Mowbray. Managers I would like to see considered are Ian Evatt alongside Thommo, Wayne Rooney (why not?), Ollie (just joking.... or am I!!) Certainly not a newbie. Someone who wants us to play the way SS keeps going on about and if he is honest, something we haven't actually had yet. My knowledge of progressive young managers is limited so I look forward to reading the musings of those that do.

Let's take this as a positive and look forward to another exciting chapter in the BFC story.
 
hertfordseasider said:
I go for an afternoon nap, we still have a manager and England have just gone into tea with the Kiwi's all out for nothing and I wake up to "Critch has gone" and the inevitable batting collapse!!

Anyway, I think there are a lot of people on here shocked, obviously, but in their shock are coming up with all sorts of conspiracy theories.

This is football, it often surprises, but at the end of the day Critch has been offered a top coaching role at a famous Premier League club, working with a manager who he will know so well and to be honest I can see why he's gone. I don't think it's anything to do with something's wrong in the background, he had no money for players, he was under too much pressure, etc., etc., He's just gone on to further his career and good luck to him.

Now, my own feelings are that I have to say I never thought we were that exciting to watch under Critchley. We never had any creativity, everything went down the wings to inverted wingers and we had absolutely no flair going forward from the midfield. It was pretty dull, and if you compare it to our play under Ollie, which was amazingly exciting to watch, Critch was almost over thinking it and we never seemed to have a balanced side. So am I gutted he has gone? Surprised, yes, gutted certainly not.

SS has just announced the new training facility, the new East Stand and the new development behind the East stand, that is such a huge amount of progress from where we were and what we wanted and some are questioning SS's commitment. It's not a bottomless pit and we need to get these things in place and it's a lot of money. Equally we need to be able to compete in the Championship and so there has to be investment in the team otherwise we'll be back in league 1 quicker than can say "How did that happen!" We need to be able to stay in the Championship until the infrastructure is in place. It's no good having all this investment and improvement if we are in Legue 1 or, heaven forbid, League 2.

So, for me, it should be seen as a step forward in our march to the EPL and it will be interesting who we get in. We will have plenty of managers interested and we may well go and poach someone from another club or even abroad.

I wouldn't be too happy about Dyche, far too dour in style for me and probably out of our price range. Same as for Tony Mowbray. Managers I would like to see considered are Ian Evatt alongside Thommo, Wayne Rooney (why not?), Ollie (just joking.... or am I!!) Certainly not a newbie. Someone who wants us to play the way SS keeps going on about and if he is honest, something we haven't actually had yet. My knowledge of progressive young managers is limited so I look forward to reading the musings of those that do.

Let's take this as a positive and look forward to another exciting chapter in the BFC story.
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I think I agree with most of that 👍
 
td53 said:
He didn't have a small budget for league 1.

I agree on the fact this is positioning them to succeed Herr Perfect Teeth at Liverpool.
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Yeh not the smallest but we didn’t spend our way out of it.

Jerry cost a bit I think that was about it, we’d already spunked aload away on Nuttall and Hardie who were supposed to be the investments.
 
ItsGrimUpNorth said:
The reason is - We don’t have the money we’re led to believe we have. Fact.
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How much are we led to believe we have? And by whom?

We’re constantly told by the owner we can’t spend our way out of the league.

Who the hell has told us we’re going to be competing with Fulham and Watford?
 
As I’ve posted previously, the love in with Critch was wrong. Others have said the same, and that he’d show no loyalty. I’m afraid too many Pool fans have been sucked into the love in.

He’s shallow, the chest pumping when we won and disappearance when we lost said much about him. He’s an average manager that was fortunate to find himself with a very good L1 squad. He’s a typical FA coach, great on a clipboard but limited on grass. He’s knows that himself, it’s why he’s dropping back into a coaching role.

I’m happy, he annoyed me with his favourites and team selections. I said to @Insider that he’d be gone by October, so it’s a bit earlier than I envisaged.

We move on, our club is bigger than him.
 
I don’t think I could cope listening to Dychebabble every week. And it doesn’t scan with the tangerine army chant either. I want another developer type coach as opposed to a mature manager type to continue the approach .
 
Insider said:
Villa is also just a job but it will be paying substantially more so why wouldn't you take it???
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Because in 12 or 18 months time when the boards expectation of maintaining PL status or European qualification is imminent / not on then he'll be out on his ear.
I'm truly shocked by this
 
td53 said:
He didn't have a small budget for league 1.

I agree on the fact this is positioning them to succeed Herr Perfect Teeth at Liverpool.
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I'd have to question this view. IMO old Kloppy's choppers are just that bit too big for his mouth.
PS if he spat his dummy over Charlie Kirk it doesn't say too much about his judgement. Charlie was ok but a pretty safety first player if you ask me. We want a manager that picks and plays the gung ho players.
 
Well that's a real bolt out of the blue! I certainly didn't see this coming at all. Massively disappointed that he's left us but we all need new challenges in life so good luck to him and thanks for helping get us into the Championship and giving us some exciting football to watch again. Good luck Critch. ;) The King is dead.......
 
Thatseasider said:
Yeh not the smallest but we didn’t spend our way out of it.

Jerry cost a bit I think that was about it, we’d already spunked aload away on Nuttall and Hardie who were supposed to be the investments.
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Stewart doesn't come on shite wages, neither does Dougall. Madine was on high wages as well. Ballard was a decent loan as was Woodburn (though that failed) and so on.

I'm not saying he didn't do a good job, he did, however have fairly favourable circumstances to do it in and off field investment in coaching/recruitment, the like of which we never really had before.
 
On the Villa site he is quoted as saying Stevie G went round to his house to persuade him to work with him. From Villa's point of view, they have a very good coach working for a young high profile manager, it works. Pity he hasn't got the balls to talk to us. If I hear any more from my mate's contact in Villa, will pass on.

I admit to being totally shocked when another poster on here messaged me as I got home from work ( Thanks J). For us, I know there is no loyalty in football, but I hoped we are Blackpool and things are different with SS at the helm, new stand and TG coming along, community involvement, council at last on board.

Moving on, can we please have a young up and coming manger, not one on the tired roundabout, even a risk is better than an expensive bore. Personally, forget emotion, look at results, Evo.
 
TimperleyTangerine said:
As I’ve posted previously, the love in with Critch was wrong. Others have said the same, and that he’d show no loyalty. I’m afraid too many Pool fans have been sucked into the love in.

He’s shallow, the chest pumping when we won and disappearance when we lost said much about him. He’s an average manager that was fortunate to find himself with a very good L1 squad. He’s a typical FA coach, great on a clipboard but limited on grass. He’s knows that himself, it’s why he’s dropping back into a coaching role.

I’m happy, he annoyed me with his favourites and team selections. I said to @Insider that he’d be gone by October, so it’s a bit earlier than I envisaged.

We move on, our club is bigger than him.
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I feel the same. He took over a great squad. And definitely had his favourites.
 
td53 said:
Stewart doesn't come on shite wages, neither does Dougall. Madine was on high wages as well. Ballard was a decent loan as was Woodburn (though that failed) and so on.

I'm not saying he didn't do a good job, he did, however have fairly favourable circumstances to do it in and off field investment in coaching/recruitment, the like of which we never really had before.
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I agree but my point was he was never in the top 2 or 3 in the league for budget. I wouldn’t have thought so. If I could be arsed I’d look at all the other ins and outs in League One that year and I suspect they’d be some more expensive ones.

We were definitely in the top end of budgets that year but it’s never been our MO to spend frivolously. Even when we’ve spent it’s generally speculatively, waiting for the gains 2-3 years down the road. Not something that gets you out of the league at the first go.

He did well with what he had. I don’t think a sudden shock of budget for next year forced this move, which is what I was responding to.
 
It was nice of him to let the players know, which obviously is sarcasm, as they only found out when we did.

He couldn’t get out the door quick enough.
 
20togo said:
Dyche would have been on big big money at Burnley and if Burnley are still paying up hs contract then that could preclude him from the job. Also didn't he have a massive backroom team. For me, so soon after his sacking he's still way out of our league.
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Boring football,annoying person, helped massively by a big back room team & if you believe what you read on around 70k a week for keeping Burnley in the rich division, so personally I can’t see any positive reason
for even considering him
 
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