167: Alan Curbishley, Charlton Athletic, Merlin’s F.A. Premier League 05 Official Sticker Album, Autograph Edition

Mat Jolin-Beech addresses the elephant in the FA’s room at the moment with a look at some of the runners and riders for the vacant England men’s team job. Our subject did great things in South East London once upon a time and, as an aside, his brother has been manager of The Who since the 1970s so clearly has the necessary skills to deal with rockstar attitudes. Over to Mat to plead his case.

Now the dust has settled on another England failure, although getting to the Euro 2024 finals and being beaten by a promising and already good Spain team, the Three Lions are looking for a new manager. Gareth Southgate, for all the hate he received, did a decent job with the national team. Two finals, a semi-final and a quarter. Not bad for a national that failed to qualify for the Euros only back in 2008.

Yes, he probably should have been more adventurous with his tactics, style, and substitutions. Yes, the football was the most turgid and stodgy thing I have seen in a long, long time, and remember I have witnessed the Moyes, van Gaal and Mourinho Manchester United eras, as well as the joyful 2023/24 league campaign. And yes, with the talents of Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Kobbie Mainoo, Bukayo Saka, and the goal scoring prowess of Harry Kane, we perhaps should have done better. BUT, from a nation that hasn’t made a final before Southgate since 1966, I think you can call that progress. Plus we now know how to win penalty shootouts! Where am I going with this you might ask? (I am doing the same myself). The list of potential replacements.

It’s a big decision for the FA and one they need to get right to maintain that progress and hopefully go that one step further. The candidates though are not the most exciting, not the realistic ones anyway once you take Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp out the frame. U21 boss Lee Carsley is probably front of the queue by being the man closest to it and already in the system. Exciting? No. Then you’ll get English managers from the top flight who have a record of doing ok. Graham Potter and Eddie Howe. Potter is more realistic than Howe, but both could be good appointments. But again, exciting? Not really.

Then you get those who still believe it is 2004 and that good players automatically make good managers. And I am genuinely shocked, but sadly not surprised, when I’ve heard comments from fans who genuinely think Frank Lampard or Steven Gerrard would make ideal appointments. Why? Their records are appalling. Almost getting Everton and Aston Villa relegated, only to be replaced by managers who with essentially the same players have performed much better with Villa taking top four and a Champions League spot.

But, I have noticed a pattern, one I have seen before in about 2008-2010, roughly. There are some names that always are linked to jobs. Mauricio Pochettino is also one of them. Whenever a half decent job crops up with a Premier League team, these names are automatically towards the top of the bookies’ odds list. Back in the late noughties (I hate that phrase by the way) those names were normally Sam Allardyce (we saw how well he did with England – 100% win record), Alan Pardew, and Alan Curbishley.

I was going to state that they also fall into the category of managers who did ok once, but were generally a bit rubbish, but somehow always get good jobs or are linked to them. ‘Curbs’, as I’m sure some Charlton Athletic fans called him, took over the top job with the Addicks in 1991 in a joint role, before becoming sole manager in 1995. He masterminded two Premier League promotions and established the club as a stable(ish) top flight club. He left in 2006 after not extending his contract.

After a thankfully short stint in the TV studios, he returned to manage West Ham United between 2006 and 2008, saving them from relegation and then obtaining a top ten finish. Things soured and he left but he was always top of potential new manager lists for a long time even being named as a potential England manager after the whole Steve McLaren debacle. But he never returned to management – although he had a stint with Fulham’s backroom staff between 2013 and 2015.

Despite only ever middling the Premier League, I’d still take Curbs and his ten years out of the game over Gerrard or Lampard. Even if the latter would be funny.