 Curbishley atUpton Park in 2007 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Llewellyn Charles Curbishley[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1957-11-08)8 November 1957 (age 67)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Forest Gate,[1]Essex, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[2] | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1975–1979 | West Ham United | 85 | (5) |
| 1979–1983 | Birmingham City | 130 | (11) |
| 1983–1984 | Aston Villa | 36 | (1) |
| 1984–1987 | Charlton Athletic | 63 | (6) |
| 1987–1990 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 116 | (13) |
| 1990–1993 | Charlton Athletic | 28 | (0) |
| Total | 458 | (36) | |
| International career | |||
| 1973 | England Schoolboys | 8 | (1) |
| 1975–1976 | England Youth | 9 | (1) |
| 1980 | England U21 | 1 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1991–2006 | Charlton Athletic | ||
| 2006–2008 | West Ham United | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Llewellyn Charles"Alan" Curbishley (born 8 November 1957) is an English former football player and manager. He played as amidfielder forWest Ham United,Birmingham City,Aston Villa,Charlton Athletic andBrighton & Hove Albion. He became manager of Charlton Athletic in 1991 and held the role until 2006, becoming the second-longest serving manager of the club. He also managed West Ham United from 2006 to 2008, and had spells as both a technical director and coach atFulham.[3]
Curbishley was one of five children born to aLondon docker and his wife. He grew up a mile fromWest Ham station.[4][5] He was educated at South West Ham Technical School.[4] Curbishley is married.[4] He is the younger brother of the rock band managerBill Curbishley, who has been manager ofThe Who since the mid-1970s.[5]
He began his football playing career with West Ham United, joining them as an apprentice on leaving school in the summer of 1974.[6] After impressing in West Ham's South East Counties League side and owing to an injury crisis following pre-season training, he was named as substitute against Everton in August 1974 at the age of 16 and became the youngest ever West Ham player to be named on the teamsheet, although he did not play.[6] He made his first team debut in a 1–0 home defeat against Chelsea in March 1975, coming into the team forBilly Bonds who was out with an injury,[6] and in the summer, he was a member of theWest Ham youth team, alongsideAlvin Martin,Geoff Pike, andPaul Brush, that was beaten by Ipswich Town 5–1 on aggregate in the final of the FA Youth Cup.[6]
Curbishley's first win with the club and first goal came in a 2–1 home win over Newcastle in October 1975, in which he had replaced an injuredTrevor Brooking in the starting line-up.[6] His arrival in the first team was so impressive that he was given the nickname "Whizz" by teammatePat Holland.[6] He appeared in both legs of the West Ham's European Cup Winners' Cup 3rd round tie against Den Haag in March 1976, aged 18, although he did not play in the semi-final games against Eintracht Frankfurt nor in the final against Anderlecht.[7] He made two league and cup appearances in 1974–75, 18 appearances in 1975–76, 12 appearances in 1976–77 and 36 appearances in 1977–78,[7] while competing for a midfield position withTrevor Brooking,Alan Devonshire,Pat Holland,Geoff Pike andBilly Bonds.[6]
After West Ham were relegated at the end of the 1977–78 season, he fell out with manager,John Lyall, and although he made a further 28 appearances for West Ham in 1978–79,[7] he subsequently transferred toBirmingham City[4] in April 1979 for a fee of £225,000.[6] He joined local rivalsAston Villa in 1983 but a change of managers saw him transferred again toCharlton Athletic in the following year.[4] He began his first period atCharlton Athletic in 1984, helping them to promotion to Division 1 in 1985–86. He then moved toBrighton & Hove Albion in 1987. He helped them win promotion to the Second Division as Third Division runners-up in hisfirst season.
He returned to Charlton as player/coach under the management ofLennie Lawrence in 1990 and would stay there for 16 years.
Curbishley was capped atschoolboy level for England[8] and was a regular in theEngland youth team.[4][9] While at Birmingham City, he won his onlyEngland under-21 cap against Switzerland in 1980.[4] He was selected for theEngland B squad in 1981, but a fractured kneecap ended his involvement with England.[4]
When Lennie Lawrence left in July 1991, Curbishley became joint manager of the club withSteve Gritt, taking sole command from June 1995 and masterminding the revival of the club's fortunes with two promotions and consolidation into thePremier League.[10]
Under Alan Curbishley Charlton won promotion, via the play-offs in 1997–98 after a thrilling play-off final against Sunderland atWembley. The match ended in a 4–4 draw with Charlton winning 7–6 on penalty kicks, to take their place in the Premiership for 1998–99. Charlton had a good first month of the season with a 5–0 home win overSouthampton and credible 0–0 draws away toNewcastle United andArsenal respectively, which saw Curbishley win Manager of the Month for August. However, after victory overNottingham Forest, in the first game of October, Charlton won just one more game (against West Ham 4–2), before a dreadful run that yielded only three points from 13 games, including eight consecutive defeats, by February 1999. Charlton then won three in a row against Wimbledon, Liverpool and Derby, and Curbishley was again Manager of the Month, but the damage was already done. Charlton won just two more games before the end of the season. The double was completed over the Hammers andAston Villa were beaten 4–3, leaving the Addicks needing a last-day victory overSheffield Wednesday while hoping that Southampton failed againstEverton. Charlton lost and Southampton won so the Addicks were relegated back to Division One.
The club resisted the knee-jerk reaction to relegation of replacing their manager, and keeping that continuity proved an investment that paid dividends. With the prolificAndy Hunt netting 24 league goals, aided byClive Mendonca on 9,John Robinson andGraham Stuart on 7 andRichard Rufus on 6, Charlton stormed to the First Division championship winning 27 of their 46 league games to take the title with 91 points, two points ahead ofManchester City. Then, as if quashing any doubts about their title-winning form, Charlton thumped City 4–0 on the opening day of the Premiership.
Charlton didn't have a prolific scorer in 2000–01 and again the goals were more widespread among the team.Jonatan Johansson finished top scorer with 11 league goals, andShaun Bartlett,Claus Jensen, Graham Stuart andMathias Svensson all hit five each. A couple of useful unbeaten runs kept Charlton around mid-table position, although they were fifth in September after beating Newcastle. The best sequence, nine games unbeaten, came between the last game of 2000, when the league double was completed over Manchester City, 4–1, and a goalless draw withMiddlesbrough that left the Addicks in eighth place. Eventually Charlton finished the campaign in a convincing ninth place – some highlights included a 3–3 draw at home to Manchester United and wins at home against Chelsea and Arsenal.
The following season started similarly in that the team reached as high as eighth at the turn of the year, but no wins in the final eight games brought them perilously close to the drop. In the end, though, three draws from the last four games ensured safety in 14th place. Ably assisted byKeith Peacock andMervyn Day, Alan Curbishley built a sound squad capable of holding its own in the elite league with a good balance of experience and youth, withChris Bart-Williams,Chris Powell and Graham Stuart alongside up and coming youngstersScott Parker andLuke Young. It looked as if the team might make a real impact and five successive wins in early 2003 elevated the side to sixth, although defeat by Arsenal started a run of eight defeats in the last 10 games for a 12th-place finish.
Charlton did so well in 2003–04 that they even threatened to claim a Champions League slot for a large part of the campaign; this eventually resulted in a 7th-place finish by the end of the season. Curbishley continued to mastermind their consolidation over the next two seasons with 11th- and 13th-place finishes. During the 2005–06 season, he also celebrated his 600th game in charge of the team with a 1–0 victory at one of his old clubs, Birmingham, in September 2005.[11]Darren Bent scored the goal.
Throughout his time at Charlton, Curbishley was frequently linked with higher-profile managerial positions. In 2004, he was one of the main candidates to become manager ofLiverpool;[12] reportedly being the favoured choice of clubcaptainSteven Gerrard, amongst others.[13] Two years later, he was one of several candidates interviewed bythe Football Association for the vacant position ofEngland manager.[10] Former England managerSir Bobby Robson described Curbishley as being "the best equipped [candidate] to deal with the pressures of running a top international side."[14] The post, however, eventually went toSteve McClaren.[15]
After declining to extend his contract with Charlton, Curbishley agreed to leave the club at the end of the 2005–06 season.[10] He received astanding ovation from the Charlton supporters in his final home match in charge againstBlackburn Rovers. Curbishley managed his final game as manager of Charlton away toManchester United on 7 May 2006, which Charlton lost 4–0. Overall, he managed 729 games for the Addicks, just one fewer than the record held byJimmy Seed.
Curbishley continues to be regarded as one of Charlton's greatest ever players and managers. On 9 April 2021, Charlton announced that, from the start of the 2021/22 season, the East Stand at the Valley would be renamed to the 'Alan Curbishley Stand' in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Curbishley taking charge of the club as manager.[16]
After a short spell away from management, during which he worked as a televisionpundit, Curbishley was appointed as manager of West Ham United in December 2006.[17] After looking certain for relegation, Curbishley led West Ham to seven wins out of their last nine games, beatingBlackburn Rovers,Everton,Bolton Wanderers,Wigan Athletic,Arsenal,Middlesbrough and a 1–0 win atManchester United on the last day of the season, to keep West Ham in the Premier League.[18] The2007–08 Premier League season was relatively successful for Curbishley, as he led the club to a top-ten finish despite long-term injuries to many of the key signings he had made that summer, includingScott Parker,Craig Bellamy,Kieron Dyer andJulien Faubert. Before the start of the2008–09 Premier League season, there was ever increasing speculation about his future at the club.[19]
Despite the club taking six points from their first three games, he was unhappy with the club's transfer policy, after key playersAnton Ferdinand andGeorge McCartney were sold without his permission,[20] a claim denied by the West Ham United board of directors,[21][22] and he resigned his post on 3 September 2008.[20]
On 3 November 2009, Curbishley won his case forconstructive dismissal against West Ham United. After the ruling, he said: "I am obviously delighted with this result. I very much enjoyed my time at West Ham and never wanted to leave, but on joining the club I insisted that my contract contained a clause confirming that I would have final say on the selection of players to be transferred to and from the club."[23] West Ham paid him £2.2 million in compensation.[24]
On 24 December 2013, Curbishley was appointedtechnical director at Premier League sideFulham.[25] In February 2014 following the appointment of a new manager at Fulham,Felix Magath, Curbishley was dismissed after less than two months in the role.[26] He rejoined the coaching staff on 5 March 2015, to work alongsideKit Symons, for the remainder of the2014-15 season.[27] On 9 November 2015, Curbishley took charge of Fulham's first-team training following the dismissal of Symons.[28]
| Team | From | To | Record | Ref | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Charlton Athletic | 24 July 1991 | 8 May 2006 | 720 | 274 | 187 | 259 | 038.1 | [29] |
| West Ham United | 13 December 2006 | 3 September 2008 | 71 | 28 | 14 | 29 | 039.4 | [29] |
| Total | 791 | 302 | 201 | 288 | 038.2 | — | ||
West Ham United
Birmingham City
Charlton Athletic
Brighton & Hove Albion
Charlton Athletic
Individual
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
