Cheers Critch! (and also fuck off Critch)

Impish little bastard lurking at back of shot. It wasn't a twinkle after all. It was a smirk...

So. He's gone. Walked out the door. He's not turning around, cos he don't need us any more. We've got all our lives to live though, and all our love to give, and we'll grow strong. We'll learn how to get along so go on Critch. Go. Be with Stevie if that's what you want. Take your body warmers with you and shut the door on the way out. Twat. 

The sensible grown up response is to thank him for a pretty fine two years in which he discovered some terrific players, won us promotion and developed a tough side that gave 100% pretty much all the time. To acknowledge that Jerry Yates last year was the sort of striker we hadn't seen in a decade and Bowler this season, the kind of winger you only get to see a few times in your life. Remember the defence in League 1. We were like fucking Arsenal under George Graham...

The churlish (but very tempting) response is to point out that he's a turncoat who plays sideways and backwards football and who never really unlocked the kind of football he talked about with "knock it across the backline and get Grimmy to belt it at Madine" being a mainstay of our style for much of the year.

Objectively, I admired his diligence, his calmness and his pragmatism. Emotionally, he frustrated me at times with his hesitant approach to risk. He rarely played Kaikai where he belonged, he kept Carey at arms length and preferred water carriers to flair players. We were solid first and then, if we got the chance, hit on the break. It was all far more Van Gaal or Mourinho than it was Cruyff.

His results are hard to argue with though. I've always maintained that, certain as I am that I am a football genius, I'm also certain that I'm really not. I'd just have picked all the attackers and we'd get hammered every week. He did a good job whatever we felt about the style and the few times he really didn't get it right (i.e at Deepdale) are far outweighed by the fact we're now looking back on a comfortable season in the Championship. Prizing style over substance irritates me as the preserve of hipsters and Critch won me over by abandoning his textbook and doing what worked. I can't now slate him for that.

He said all the right things. He did the badge stuff. He soaked up the adulation like a little grey haired sponge. You could almost literally see him grow in stature as a manager. When he started here, he looked startled by the camera, he looked frustrated by the players he had not being able to do the plan he'd laid out.

By the time he left, he was a terrier on the touchline, a punchy pugilistic figure who spoke in a calm, assured way and purred about wins at teams like Sheffield United. That's what made him seem special. We could see him develop, he'd signed on for five years. He was going to be different. We'd see him grow with us. We were all on a journey you see.

At least that's the spin we were fed.

It's a sad move as it shows the gap between the two divisions for what it is. A chasm.

It's a strange move because it feels as if that development we've seen in Critchley is now for naught. He's going back to the shadows. It's his old job, just with older players.

It's a move that hurts, because, naive as it is to put your faith in anyone in football, Critch had us singing his name, Critch had us staying after defeats to applaud him and his players. Critch *seemed* to genuinely appreciate what he had and we appreciated that he appreciated it and that is rare.

So. Fuck off Critch. But also. Thanks Critch. But also fuck off Critch. Stevie G? What the fuck has he got (apart from loads of money) that we don't have? But cheers Critch too. Jerry's goal against Pompey. That Oxford away game (twice,) Maxi in the last ten minutes v Sunderland, Wembley, beating Fulham at home. Josh Bowler, PNE at home, Sheff U and Boro away and plenty more.

But the way he left... Yes. I know. Money. Family. We'd all do the same. Blah. Blah. Blah. It's an emotional game though. Who can really spend their time following it and be objective and fair about it all? 

He brought some magic at times. He did his job. He worked hard. He worked very hard. He cared. That is not in doubt. The way he's left still leaves a bad taste though. 

We move on. I hope his successor can show the same dedication to detail but also play with some flair and trust in attack over counter attack. Critch isn't and never was the club. He's just a man who worked there. It turns out, we weren't stuck with him after all and we go on. It's us who are stuck with the club and who knows, this could be the kick up the arse we need. Things had all got quite cosy. It might equally be a disaster.

Any and every appointment will be a gamble. The joy of the game is the uncertainty.

Big Murphs in!

Onward.