Blackpool CEO Ben Mansford looks back at Neil Critchley's first two years in charge

So much has happened during the last 24 months, ranging from the outbreak of a global pandemic, going into lockdown, a promotion during a season with no fans to where we are now, going toe-to-toe with the best the Championship has to offer.

The 43-year-old’s time at Bloomfield Road has been a huge success to date and there’s no sign of that stopping any time soon.

To mark Critchley’s anniversary, The Gazette sat down with the club’s chief executive Ben Mansford to reflect back on Critchley’s two years in charge - starting with the unprecedented reasons behind his delayed start.

Having just taken the reins from Simon Grayson, Critchley only took charge of two games before English football was suspended.

Mansford reflected: “Can you just imagine what Mrs Critchley, his family and friends were saying after he left seven years of security at Liverpool and within two games, a draw away at Fleetwood and a home defeat to Tranmere, we were sat at home and all of a sudden football had stopped?

“But what we’ve achieved over the last two years given the challenges we’ve faced, from legacy issues to Covid to acclimatising to life in the Championship, it’s just quite remarkable.

“Everyone, from the supporters to the owner, should be immensely proud of what we’ve achieved.

“But as we all know, that’s the past now and we’ve got to kick on again. I’m just delighted that Critch sees himself as part of that future.”

Once football did get back up and running, the games - other than a couple of exceptions - had to be played behind closed doors.

Despite that, there was plenty of pre-season optimism ahead of the 2020/21 campaign following sizeable investment from owner Simon Sadler followed by impressive friendly showings against Liverpool and Everton.

But that optimism soon turned to concern as the Seasiders lost six of their opening nine league games, leaving them hovering just above the relegation zone in League One.

At the time, The Gazette was told there was absolutely no chance of the club dispensing of Critchley’s services, despite some of the grumblings among the fanbase.

He was there for the long-term, I was told, and besides, Blackpool’s performances were largely very good despite the worrying results.

“Critch is such a quietly confident, insightful, organised and calm character,” Mansford said, reflecting on the poor start to last season.

“When we think about the slow start, the data, the performances and the fact we were taking a group of players that hadn’t played at the level before, Critch was quietly confident in the work we’d done that we wouldn’t be far away.

“Obviously it’s great now you can reflect back and go ‘he was right’, but he was and he had a real calmness and confidence in the ability of himself, his staff and his players to ultimately achieve the aim which was to push for promotion.

“Massive credit to everyone at the club for coming together and what a brilliant day it was at Wembley back in front of sadly only 4,000 supporters when we got the job done.

“It was a slow start, but Critch was always quietly confident we would finish roughly where we did.

“We maybe didn’t expect it (to work out as well as it did) because that might be arrogant and wrong, but did we feel confident? We definitely felt we had given ourselves the best chance of achieving our aim.”

Critchley was considered a surprise appointment at the time back in March 2020, given he had been working in Liverpool’s academy and had never held a senior role within men’s football before.

But the 43-year-old ticked all the right boxes for Simon Sadler, Mansford and co, who wanted someone who would create a philosophy that permeates all the way through the club.

“We instantly took a liking to Critch,” Mansford added.

“We felt if the club was going to succeed, we would need good quality coaching, good quality recruitment and an academy.

“Critch just seemed a good fit to push all three of those, so we thought we had done well by the club and had made the right choice.

“But you’re dealing with human beings, you’re dealing with emotion, you’re dealing with flesh and blood so I’m just so happy it went the way it did, because professional sport isn’t an exact science.

“Critch just gave you a confidence and it just felt like he was ready to come and have a go. It just felt like a good fit and it’s so good to be able to look back and confirm that.”

One of Critchley’s main attributes is his modesty, humility and willingness to engage with supporters and the wider community.

That, for Sadler, was absolutely integral given the challenges the club faced under the previous ownership.

“When Critch signed his new deal Simon spoke about his humility and his appreciation,” Mansford said.

“I don’t know if you noticed on Saturday after the fourth goal went in, but as the players were meandering back to their half Critch just seemed to soak up the moment and take it all in. You get a glimpse of him doing that every so often.

“I hope for how hard he works he gets to enjoy those moments, because there are such a fleeting number of moments in hours and hours of work.

“You think about the recent defeats to QPR and Bournemouth and the nature of the goals coming so late on.

“But Critch and his team just get back in, get back on with the work and come back out for the next game ready to embrace the next challenge.

“That shows you a great mentality, a great spirit and great leadership from Critch and his staff.

“He’s just a credit. On Saturday again he was signing footballs and meeting young fans, he’s just great.”

Much like last season, the Seasiders initially got off to a slow start on their return to the Championship this term as they adjusted to life back in the second tier.

But after the first few games, Blackpool have since looked well at home and are virtually assured of safety with 12 games still to go.

“The work and the preparation Critch puts in with his staff, the work ethic transcends to the players and everyone else in the club, from the grounds staff, to the staff in the kitchen, the media team, the sponsorship team, everyone has pulled together,” Mansford said.

“But we had a period of acclimatisation. But as Critch always does, he organises, he prepares well and he thinks about opposition, he thinks about the team, he thinks about games in advance sometimes. He’s brilliant.

“He’s given us two wonderful seasons in terms of a promotion and hopefully a season in which we achieve our aim, which is to stay in the division.

“Now the next challenge is how to build on what we’ve done over the last two years and to become the best Blackpool we can be.

“Some of those challenges get bigger and bigger but I’ve got every confidence in the togetherness and atmosphere around Bloomfield Road that if we keep moving in the right direction we can continue to build on that.”