Blackpool boss Neil Critchley feels more accomplished as a coach now than he was previously at Bloomfield Road

The Blackpool boss departed 12 months ago when accepting a new challenge as Steven Gerrard's second in command at Aston Villa.

The 44-year-old survived just four-and-a-half months in that role having stepped down in light of the ex-England international's dismissal.

Villa had managed just two wins in 11 Premier League fixtures at the start of last season and the duo's alliance was ended following a 3-0 defeat against Fulham at Craven Cottage.

"Good experiences, bad experiences, they all shape you," he said. "I've had different experiences this year, some that ideally I wouldn't have wanted to go through, but I have. I'm better for them and I want to try and use that for my benefit and for the staff and players of this football club."

Critchley, who had known Gerrard from his time at Anfield when operating as Liverpool's Under 23s coach, returned to full-time employment a couple of months later when succeeding Michael Beale at QPR.

However, his time at Loftus Road, which began at the back end of the Qatar World Cup, didn't go to plan as the Hoops won just once in 12 games, meaning the former Crewe Alexandra midfielder concluded with the lowest win percentage of any permanent manager in the club's history.

"I only had 11 games there, 171 days, but I don't think that's a reflection of me, my staff and the work that we can do," he declared. "One of the reasons I came back here was to try and build something for the future and that can take a little bit of time.

"But even though they didn't go the way I wanted them to, they're still good experiences. I was still working in the Premier League with international players, and I still had the chance to work at a club like QPR."

Critchley added: "It's hard to plan in football, you have to be prepared for the unpredictable at times.

"The experiences that I've had have not been great experiences, but they are still experiences and I've still taken a lot from them. Hopefully I'll be better for those experiences in the future. It strengthens your resolve to show what you're capable of."

The promotion-winning head coach, who steered the Seasiders to Championship survival in his second season in charge, admitted that he didn't realise what he'd got at Blackpool until it was gone.

Having developed strong bonds throughout the club in his previous two-and-a-bit years at the helm, he said: "You need a good working environment around you and good people.

"Everyone wants to have that sense of belonging, feeling valued and being appreciated in your work. It can take time to build that trust, I had that, so it just feels that little bit more important coming back here because those feelings never went away. It feels like a big responsibility and that's something I thrive on.

"It was an extremely difficult decision to leave this football club and it was a really easy decision for me to come back."