Your morning digest for Monday, February 20.
Ex-Liverpool coach sacked after 12 games in charge of Championship club
Former Liverpool Academy coach Neil Critchley has been relieved of his duties at Queens Park Rangers, just two months after being appointed by the Championship club.
Identified in December as a replacement for fellow ex-Liverpool employee Michael Beale, who left the second tier side for Rangers, Critchley won his first game in charge against Preston but has failed to secure a second victory in the 11 matches that have since followed.
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QPR sat in the play-off places after Critchley's one and only win as head coach but are now closer to the relegation zone than the top six, highlighting the drastic drop-off in performance levels. Such is the severity of this decline, the 44-year-old has now been sacked. His assistants Iain Brunskill and Mike Garrity, who have also previously served in roles at Liverpool, have also departed.
Critchley's previous role within football came at Aston Villa, leaving his post as Blackpool boss last June to form part of Steven Gerrard's backroom staff. His stay at the West Midlands club was short-lived, however, lasting only until October when Villa parted company with Gerrard.
Read the full story, here.
Liverpool 'unhappy' with Premier League as 33-minute flight after Newcastle explained
Liverpool have reportedly cited the quick turnaround between Premier League and Champions League fixtures as their explanation for flying back from Newcastle on Saturday.
The Reds made the 33-minute flight back from the North East just hours after recording their second Premier League victory of 2023 as first half goals from Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo helped down Eddie Howe's side and strengthen their prospects of finishing in the top-four.
However, the club has drawn criticism for choosing to make the 145-mile journey back to Merseyside via aircraft with the Premier League recently dedicating one of its game weeks to Green Football Weekend in a bid to raise awareness around climate issues.
But according to the Mirror, Anfield officials have cited the tight fixture schedule as the reasoning behind their decision, as Jurgen Klopp's side host Real Madrid at Anfield on Tuesday in a repeat of the 2022 Champions League final.
The report claims that Liverpool "does factor in environmental concerns when making travel decisions, with distance and cost the other main considerations" and part of the decision-making process was down to Klopp wanting his players to be in the best possible shape for the mouthwatering clash against the Spanish champions.
Read the full story, here.
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