Steven Gerrard itching to bust Neil Critchley myth as he guarantees Hearts this guy’s nothing like Beale

Neil Critchley may have been Steven Gerrard’s number two at Liverpool and Aston Villa – but he’s nothing like Michael Beale, and that’s straight from the horse’s mouth.

The former Blackpool and QPR boss is due in Edinburgh on Monday as he gets set to take over at Hearts to replace Steven Naismith. News of his imminent appointment has been met with a mixed reception from fans, who largely preferred names like Per-Mathias Hogmo, with whom talks collapsed.

Critchley is an experienced coach but his management record, having been sacked from his last two roles out on his own, has worried some fans on social media, fearing he could be a ‘Beale 2.0’. There’s a feeling he’s a coach, rather than a manager, something Hearts fans were stung by during the Ian Cathro debacle. There are obvious parallels between Critchley and Beale, underlined by the fact Gerrard brought Critchley in to replace his former No.2 at Aston Villa. Gerrard had Critchley working under him at Liverpool and later Villa, and there was talk of a third link-up in Saudi Arabia before Blackpool dismissed it. But while he’s worked closely with both Critchley and Beale, Gerrard doesn’t see the two as similar.

Speaking after bringing him to Villa in 2022, Gerrard said: “I’ve got good relations in football and I knew that if that day did come I always prepared myself for that moment (that Beale left). For us to go and act so quickly as a club and the support I had to go and get Neil Critchley was really important, I’m glad we’ve done that.

“I don’t think in terms of the quality of coaching (they’re similar), because you’re talking about two high-level coaches. They’re very different. The important thing is that they deliver what I want and how I want it to look. It’ll be very seamless, that transition.”