QUEENS PARK RANGERS have confirmed Neil Critchley as their new manager.
The Championship club have been on the hunt for a new boss after Michael Beale quit for Rangers.
That was just a month after he claimed “integrity and loyalty” meant he could not leave Loftus Road for Wolves.
Now QPR they have turned to 44-year-old Critchley to continue their charge for promotion.
After penning a three-and-a-half year deal, the new manager said: “I am very excited and can’t wait to get started.
“It is a huge honour for me and I would like to thank the owners, Les Ferdinand and Lee Hoos for entrusting me to lead the club.
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“I would also like to thank Paul Hall and his staff for the hard work they have put in during the interim period.
“Now I am looking forward to getting to work with the players and staff. I already know some of the players from working with them previously and I am aware of a number of them, having followed their careers from afar.
“There have been some good foundations laid here and now it is my job to work as hard as I can to build on that.
“We want to move the club forward and ensure we are competing at the top end of the Championship table.”
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QPR chairman Amit Bhatia added: “We are absolutely delighted to bring Neil to the club.
“Following the abrupt departure of Mick Beale it was important that we made a swift appointment, but also that we took the necessary steps to ensure it was the correct appointment. In announcing Neil today, we have achieved that.
“We have made a good start to the season and, in the same way Mick built on the strong work of his predecessor Mark Warburton, we wanted somebody who we felt certain could continue that progress for the club.
“We also wanted to ensure we appointed someone who shares the footballing philosophy of our club, and in Neil and his team we also feel confident we have achieved that.
“I’m excited for Neil to get started immediately and wish him the best of luck.”
Critchley is joined by Mike Garrity, who has left his role as assistant head coach at Lincoln City, and Ian Brunskill, who was previously Critchley’s assistant head coach at Blackpool.
Having started his coaching career in Liverpool’s youth set-up, he took charge of Blackpool for his first senior job in 2020.
He led the Tangerines to promotion via the League Two play-offs in his debut campaign.
Critchley was rewarded with a new long-term deal and continued his success by guiding the Bloomfield Road outfit to a midtable finish upon their return to the Championship.
However, he departed Blackpool in June to become Steven Gerrard’s assistant at Aston Villa.
But that move did not last long as he was axed along with Gerrard in October after a miserable start to the Premier League campaign.
Meanwhile, Beale left QPR after just six months in charge but had led the Rs to sixth-place in the second tier.
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But their promotion hopes suffered a blow earlier as they were thrashed 3-0 at home to Burnley.
Now Critchley will be hoping to get off to a winning start when his new team head to Preston next Saturday.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
