Neil Critchley has been appointed manager of Blackpool after leaving his role as head coach of Liverpool Under-23s. Critchley succeeds Simon Grayson, who was sacked by Blackpool on 12 February after a run of seven defeats in nine league games.

Blackpool are 13th in League One with little threat of relegation nor much hope of making the play-offs. The club made an approach for the Oxford manager, Karl Robinson, to succeed Grayson, who had been in charge for just over seven months, but that was turned down by their League One rivals.

Critchley, 41, was thrown into the spotlight twice at Liverpool this season, when Jürgen Klopp allowed him to take charge of a young first team in the Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat at Aston Villa and the FA Cup fourth-round replay victory against Shrewsbury at Anfield, and is expected to implement a blueprint for how Blackpool play over the coming months and years.

“The fact that we’ve been able to attract a coach of Neil’s calibre is testament to how this club is now viewed and is a result of the work that has been done here over recent months,” the Blackpool owner, Simon Sadler, said. “Neil is a highly regarded coach who impressed us with his thorough preparation and analysis of the team. We want this club to represent the town and community by playing entertaining football, working hard and being organised. We firmly believe that Neil can deliver this and lay down the blueprint for our footballing philosophy.”

Critchley said: “I am absolutely delighted to join Blackpool. I can’t wait to get started, I’m really looking forward to the weeks and months ahead, meeting the players, working on the grass, developing the team and meeting some of the supporters.

“The time I’ve had at Liverpool has been truly special. I’ve been incredibly well supported there from Alex Inglethorpe, the academy manager, and all the staff. It’s a truly special football club and it’s the people that make the football club the place that it is.

“It would have had to have taken something equally as special, if not more, for me to even think about leaving. But from the conversations I’ve had here, I got a really good feeling about the people, where they want the club to go and how they want it to grow.”

Klopp congratulated Critchley on his new job in his press conference to preview Liverpool’s FA Cup fifth-round tie at Chelsea. “It’s a nice challenge for him, a nice opportunity. He wanted to take it, he asked the club and we said, ‘Yes, of course’,” the Liverpool manager said. “I’m really happy for him that he got that opportunity and that he takes it. It’s a big club and hopefully everything will go well.”

Critchley’s first game in charge is the local derby with Joey Barton’s Fleetwood on Saturday.