Tab Interview: Alan Curbishley

Alan Curbishley spills the beans on life as a Premier League manager in this exclusive interview with The Tab

In a career spanning 35 years, Llewellyn Charles “Alan” Curbishley played 459 matches as a professional footballer but is best known for his spells as manager of both Charlton Athletic and West Ham United.

Curbishley resigned from his post as West Ham in September 2008, citing that he had been undermined as a manager by the club’s owners who had sold players without his consent.

It is well known that you left West Ham amid acrimonious circumstances. How do you now feel regarding the situation?

AC: ‘As a manager, your job is to sculpt a team capable of improving your performances on the pitch. The last thing I had on my mind at West Ham was the board breaching my contract. I started my career at West Ham when I left school; I’ve been a lifelong fan ever since and was upset at the way I had to leave the club. The last few months surrounding the court case have been time consuming; I’m happy the right outcome was reached, and now we all need to move on’.

Do you foresee a return to management in the near future?

AC: ‘Ideally I’d like a club with the potential and ambition to challenge for the top six. 14 out of the 20 teams in the Premiership today spend the entire season looking over their shoulder. As a manager you want to be looking upwards. I suppose the dream job would be a challenging one, but with the resources to push on; so clubs like Tottenham, Everton or Aston Villa. We’ll see what comes up, but I’m in no rush and wouldn’t take a job for the sake of it’.

Best career moment?

AC: ‘Promotion to the Premiership with Charlton. It was career changing and put Charlton on the map’.

Worst career moment?

AC: ‘The way I left West Ham’.

Best player you signed?

AC: ‘Clive Mendonca. Only cost £700,000, and scored some important goals for us including a hat-trick at Wembley. He gave the team a lift and changed the way we played.

Worst player you signed?

AC: ‘Dennis Rommedahl. He’d done well at PSV and internationally; we paid big money for him. We bought him for his attacking flair, but all he could do was defend’.

Most embarrassing moment?

AC: ‘Getting caned by Reading 6-0 when managing West Ham. We’d beaten Manchester United the previous week, the team was looking good and we weren’t expecting it. It did the rounds for a few days on the back pages of the national papers’.

Any training ground bust-ups?

AC: ‘Always, always. They seem to be part and parcel of the game. When I was a player they stayed in the changing rooms which is what should happen. Unfortunately, all the PR people, agents and press contacts in the modern game mean they get reported and its the manager who normally ends up looking bad, not the players’.

Most Intelligent Player?

AC: ‘There’s probably only one player I’d describe as intelligent and that’s American international Jonathan Spector. He’s the only player I ever saw actually reading the Financial Times; the rest of them focused on Page 3 of The Sun’.

Least Intelligent Player?

AC: ‘God! I don’t even know where to start… it would probably be unfair to single one of them out. I could easily field a full starting XI of unintelligent players’.

Who were the biggest boozers of all the footballers you knew?

AC: ‘It’s been well publicised but probably Paul Gascoigne. I suppose the difference is that now footballers can be tested for drugs and alcohol randomly at any time so they’re less likely to get involved with it’.

Any smokers?

AC: ‘Claus Jensen, Mark Fish and George Costa all smoked like chimneys’.

What was the weirdest pre-game ritual?

AC: ‘When I was a player at West Ham, Alan Devonshire who was also an England international used to get a bit nervous before the match. He’d walk into the changing rooms and sleep on the physio table before the game so he could relax. Often we’d have to wake him up 5mins before kick-off’.

‘The other pre-game ritual that I’d single out would be Mark Fish blaring Heavy Metal music in the changing rooms before the games to get psyched up. I didn’t say anything, but we’d all be thinking “Thank God” once it’d reach 2.20pm and he’d go on the pitch for a warm-up.’

What do you think of Cambridge University Sport?

AC: ‘Well I always watch the Varsity Rugby match every year, as well as the Varsity Football and the Boat Race when I remember. I’d say, and not just because you’re interviewing me, I always support Cambridge! I was talking to a few people about this yesterday; there’s no real reason – I suppose it’s because Cambridge is only an hour away’.

What will the outcomes be in the following competitions this season?

Premier League: Chelsea

Top Four: Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Spurs

Relegation: Portsmouth, Wolves, Burnley

F.A. Cup: Spurs

Champions League: Barcelona

World Cup: Spain