Former Blackpool striker Gary Taylor-Fletcher has revealed his preference for the next incumbent of the manager’s role and has succinctly suggested he might be interested.
The Tangerines dispensed with the services of Neil Critchley this morning after a dour start to the season. Crawley beat them in their opening fixture, and then they were hammered at home by another promoted club, Stockport, this weekend. The manner of that 3-0 defeat raised concerns amongst supporters, but even greater worries in the boardroom.
Even the midweek win against Burton Albion in the League Cup couldn’t save Critchley, whose second spell with the club ended without a promotion. His side were on the cusp of the top six last season, missing out on the final day of the season as they lost 3-2 to Reading.
The hunt for a new manager begins earnestly, with Richard Keogh in temporary charge, and former player Gary Taylor-Fletcher has had his say. Taylor-Fletcher spent six years with the club, scoring in the play-off final win against Cardiff City in 2010, which sent them to the Premier League. A couple of months later, he scored their first-ever Premier League goal as they hammered Wigan on the opening day of the campaign.
In total, Taylor-Fletcher appeared 234 times for the club, bagging 38 goals, and he’s now spoken out about the current situation, and who he believes should take over as boss.
“Need to get someone with tangerine blood as the next manager of Blackpool,” he wrote on the social media platform X. “Big appointment for the club to get right. Lots of players from our era including myself have coaching/managerial experience and would be a great fit to get the positivity around the club again.”
Taylor-Fletcher does have coaching experience – he’s been with Nantwich Town, a role he left in February 2023 with them in the relegation zone of the Northern Premier League. He’s currently in charge of AFC Crewe, whom he took to the Staffordshire County Senior League Premier Division in April 2024.
Currently, despite his message, Taylor-Fletcher does not rank among the favourites for the role. Ryan Lowe, Scott Lindsay, Brian Barry-Murphy and Pete Wild are the four front-runners.
Writer’s View
This is quite amusing because Blackpool has been down the former player/manager route before – Critchley took them to promotion in 2021, and Michael Appleton returned for a second spell as well. If anything, keeping things ‘in-house’ has not worked for the Tangerines, and they’d be foolish to do that with their next appointment.
They’d also be foolish to appoint Taylor-Fletcher as manager. That’s perhaps not what he is suggesting; he could be a valued member of the coaching staff, but they need someone with fresh ideas and perspective. Brian Barry-Murphy is the obvious choice, but even then there’s his Rochdale spell to consider, which was less than acceptable.
It’s hard to know which direction they take now, but one thing Taylor-Fletcher does have right is this – it is a big appointment and one that could make or break their season already. That’s if it isn’t already broken, given the proximity to the transfer window.
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