Gareth Ainsworth has left Wycombe Wanderers after more than a decade in charge to become head coach of Championship club Queens Park Rangers.
He will be replaced at Wycombe by Colchester boss Matt Bloomfield, who has “agreed in principle” to return.
Bloomfield, 39, left Adams Park in September to take charge of the U’s.
Ainsworth spent almost seven years as a QPR player before joining Wycombe in 2010, becoming their manager two years later.
Before his exit from Wycombe, he was second in the list of longest-serving managers in England’s top four divisions.
‘Absolutely rocking’
Only Harrogate’s Simon Weaver had been at the helm for a longer period than Ainsworth, who leaves the Chairboys seventh in League Onejust three points outside the play-off places.
“This is all a little bit surreal. It has been a whirlwind two days and leaving Wycombe Wanderers was very tough because of the connection there,” he said.
“This is going to be a real challenge because the club is so special to me, and so huge as well. I want to get Loftus Road absolutely rocking again.”
Ainsworth is QPR’s third full-time head coach this season.
Michael Beale started the campaign in charge before leaving to take over at Scottish Premiership club Rangers in November, followed by Critchley’s short reign which began with a win at Preston on 17 December.
That result saw QPR climb into the play-off places, where they were for much of the first half of the season.
But after a winless league run of 10 games, the London club are now 10 points adrift of the top six and only eight above the relegation zone.
Ainsworth’s assistant Richard Dobson and analyst Josh Hart will be moving from Wycombe with him.
Wycombe’s greatest ever?
When Ainsworth took over from Gary Waddock at Adams Park, he had just 11 games of managerial experience behind him from two spells as QPR caretaker boss in 2008 and 2009, winning three.
Aided by experienced professionals like Bloomfield – who was signed by former Wycombe boss Tony Adams in 2003 – and cult hero Adebayo Akinfenwa, he led them to promotion from League Two in 2018 and two years later guided the club to the second tier of English football for the first time.
Their stay in the Championship was only a single season, but they came close to an immediate return last term when they reached the play-off final before losing to Sunderland.
“Everyone at Wycombe Wanderers will forever remember the memories created by – and the legacy left by – Gareth Ainsworth and Richard Dobson throughout their time at Adams Park, and wishes the two of them, plus Josh, every success for the next chapter of their careers,” said a club statement.
Ainsworth – whose first game as QPR boss will be at home to Blackburn on Saturday – has spoken many times about Wycombe’s ability to “crash” the promotion party and they have maintained their form this season to leave them poised for another play-offs push.
Bloomfield makes good impression
The job of overseeing that push will now fall to Bloomfield, who played 558 games for the club before retiring 12 months ago following a serious concussion.
He had already been added to the coaching staff at Adams Park by Ainsworth but left when the chance to take his first managerial job at Colchester came up.
The U’s are 18th in League Twonine points clear of the bottom two, but Bloomfield leaves on a downbeat note following Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Carlisle.
“You can’t handcuff someone to the club,” said Colchester chairman Robbie Cowling, who was approached by Wycombe on Monday for permission to speak to Bloomfield.
“There’s no specific clause in his contract other than another club would have to pay compensation. You can’t stop someone from talking to another club; we learnt that with Paul Lambert when he moved to Norwich. There was no clause then and he went there.”
Wycombe are away to Shrewsbury, the team immediately below them in League One, on Saturday, while managerless Colchester are at home to Northampton.
“It’s part of being a football chairman, sometimes you’ve got to roll with the punches and deal with things when they come along,” Cowling told BBC Look East.
“There’s always opportunities in every problem and we’ve got to make sure that it works out good for the club.
“Matt has a very good personality and lifted the club. We’re certainly in a better position now than he found us in.
“We’ve got a few options [that] maybe we can look at in the short term but if that doesn’t work, there’s certainly a process that we’ll put in place again.
“I have no doubt that if we go through that process again, we’ll come up with another good head coach.”