Queens Park Rangers boss set for first game against former rivals Preston North End after merry-go-round

Critchley was appointed as QPR’s new head coach this week in what can only be described as bizarre circumstances, but very football.

The appointment really tracks back to the start of the summer, when Mick Beale was originally appointed QPR boss. He left his post at Aston Villa, where he was working as Steven Gerrard’s assistant, to take up the role as head coach at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.

In need of a new right-hand man, Gerrard looked to Critchley with whom he had worked with at Liverpool and in June he left Blackpool, where he was head coach, to be an assistant at Villa Park.

Fast forward to October and after a good start to life at QPR, Beale was courted by Wolved in the Premier League but in a defiant show of loyalty, he spurned their advances to stay in London saying he needed to show the level of commitment he wanted from his players. He left a month later to be appointed the Rangers manager in Scotland.

But with Gerrard having been sacked at Villa, he, and his staff were now out of work, leaving Critchley available to step in.

Meaning in the football soap opera involving Blackpool, QPR and Aston Villa this summer… Beale left Villa for QPR, Critchley left Blackpool for Villa, Beale rejected the Wolves job to show loyalty and then left a month later, Critchley was sacked at Villa, then appointed QPR boss.

And now he faces PNE in his first game, who are bitter rivals to the club he was previously head coach at. And they go into the game without their most influential player who was most recently playing France in the World Cup semi-final for Morocco.

He still has threats such as Chris Willock and Lyndon Dykes at his disposal, both of which have scored in the past against PNE, even if Ilias Chair is in Qatar.

QPR were three points off the top of the table when Beale rejected Wolves, since then their form has slipped, losing five of their last six and drawing the other. The first task on the agenda for Critchley will be to arrest the slide but he’s no planning wholesale changes.

He said: "There will be slight changes, and that's inevitable when there's a change in head coach. I've asked the players to be open-minded and be ready for some differences. The group might not be in a great moment now, but there's no doubt in the quality in the squad and we have to remind them what they're good at and get back to that.

"As quickly as you can lose a few games in the Championship, you can very quickly win some - the feeling can change very, very quickly.

"I like my teams to be attack-minded, on the front foot. We want to attack with and without the ball.

"Everyone has to be together - our 'game way' has to be with everyone in line and with total clarity about how we want to play. That's how we'll train every day. That's the process that we'll follow.

"It's the responsibility of everyone to defend together and attack together, and that's important. So that process starts now.”