Craig Liddle

Craig George Liddle (born 21 October 1971 in Chester-le-Street, County Durham) is an English former professional footballer, who played in central defence. During his playing career, made more than 300 appearances in the Football League, playing four years for Middlesbrough, as well as a seven-year spell at Darlington.

With the appointment of Colin Todd as the new manager on 20 May, Liddle remained at the club as the head of youth coach. Todd departed on 26 September and Liddle took over as caretaker manager the following day, assisted by Maddison once again, until a replacement for Todd had been found. Liddle ruled himself out of taking the permanent management role, saying he did not have the experience needed to run a club.

On 5 October, it was announced that the former Republic of Ireland national team manager, Steve Staunton, had been appointed as the new permanent manager of the club. In addition to Staunton, the club brought in former Sunderland coach, Kevin Richardson, as his assistant. The pair did not start their roles until later that week, while Liddle finished his role as caretaker manager after the Football League Trophy tie against Leeds United on 6 October. On 21 March 2010, he joined Maddison as caretaker once again, following the dismissal of Staunton, before Simon Davey was appointed manager on 1 April.

Liddle then started a fourth spell as club caretaker manager on 25 October 2011, following the dismissal of previous manager, Mark Cooper, the previous day. The club suffered financial difficulties during his time at the club, and his contract was terminated on 16 January 2012, along with his playing squad. After a last minute offer of funding to the club's administrators, the team's players were reinstated; Liddle re-registered as a player, taking his previous number 4 shirt. However, he did not make an appearance, with the club relegated and then liquidated at the end of season.

Middlesbrough Liddle was an under-18 coach at the Academy of Middlesbrough, before being appointed Academy manager in January 2017. Following the departure of Garry Monk, on 23 December 2017, Liddle was appointed caretaker manager, dealing with the first-team affairs until a permanent replacement was found. Tony Pulis was appointed permanent first-team manager on 26 December 2017, however Liddle acted as caretaker manager for that day, due to Pulis not having trained the club, and led the team to a 2–0 victory over Bolton Wanderers at the Riverside Stadium.

Personal life Liddle's son Ben, was also a professional footballer who came through the academy at Middlesbrough.

Managerial statistics

Darlington (caretaker)

13 4 4 5 30.76 Middlesbrough (caretaker)

1 1 0 0 100.00