Hearts close in on Neil Critchley: Likely assistant, formation, win ratios, past career

More than three weeks have passed since the Hearts hierarchy dispensed with Naismith’s services after a wretched, winless start to the 2024/25 campaign. The Jambos are currently bottom of the Premiership and resume their league campaign on Saturday at home to St Mirren.

With the assistance of Brighton owner Tony Bloom’s Jamestown Analytics, the Hearts board - led by chief executive Andrew McKinlay - have pored over numerous candidates. They entered intense negotiations with Norwegian Hogmo last week, only for discussions to falter when the salary was negotiated. After reconvening on Saturday, the club turned to Critchley, who has always featured high up on the Tynecastle shortlist.

Critchley is available right away after being sacked by Blackpool on August 21. It is expected that he will bring his own backroom team north, with his usual assistant being Mike Garrity, 44. An experienced coach after retiring from playing football 20 years ago, Critchley is keen to get back into first-team matters.

Holding a UEFA elite badge, Critchley was earmarked as one of England’s up-and-coming coaches. Born in Crewe, where he started his brief playing career, he was part of the Liverpool youth team set-up, taking charge of the under-18s and under-23s when Jurgen Klopp was the Anfield manager. His first top job came at Blackpool in 2020, earning promotion to the Championship via the play-offs. He comfortably kept them in the second tier the following season.

He left Blackpool in the summer of 2022 to become part of Aston Villa’s management team under ex-Rangers boss Steven Gerrard, who he crossed paths with while at Liverpool. However, he lost his job in the Midlands in October when Gerrard was sacked, only to be appointed by QPR two months later as head coach. His stint at Loftus Road was brief, being axed in mid-February 2023 after winning just one match.

Critchley returned to Blackpool in May last year and spent a season with the club once more, although they failed to win promotion, finishing 8th in the league. After a poor start to this campaign, he was removed from post.

An advocate of the 3-5-2 formation, Critchley’s win ratios at Blackpool first time around was 41.28% and then 48.39% in his second spell, with just 8.32% at QPR. He turns 46 on Friday and is a coach looking to restart his career after a couple of dismissals.

Interim manager Liam Fox has presided over Hearts’ past three competitive matches - including a 2-1 Conference League win over Dinamo Minsk - but it is anticipated that barring any late hitches in negotiations, Critchley and his coaching team will be in place for the visit of St Mirren on Saturday.