Alan Curbishley has resigned as manager of West Ham.
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As someone with vague Charlton sympathies, I can safely say...
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Tapped up by Newcastle, perhaps? The conspiracy theory starts here...Comment
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Even Newcastle aren't in that much shit!Comment
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What was suddenly the problem with Curbishley? Apparently, having just beaten Blackburn 4-1 at the weekend, they had an "inquest" into their performance, on the same sort of, in-a-parallel-universe-the-result-could-have-been-very-different grounds Arsenal might have had an inquest after beating Internazionale 5-1 that time.Comment
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Spearmint Rhino wrote:
yes. a club looking to get rid of a manager who is unhappy about not controlling transfer policy is going to replace him with a manager who has just resigned because he was unhappy about not controlling transfer policy.Tapped up by Newcastle, perhaps? The conspiracy theory starts here...Comment
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There can only be a handful of managers who are happy with the board/the chairman, though. The rest of them must surely privately regard each management job as a bucking bronco ride where the objective is to stay in the saddle as long as you can, with no delusions of permanence.Comment
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The reason for this is obvious. Curbishley was the pre-season favourite to be the first EPL manager to part company with his club, he obviously had a lot of money on himself and has bolted today to make sure he's out before Keegan.
I wonder if Redknapp has money on himself to be West Ham's next manager?Comment
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Thank you, Baby Jebus!
Mind you, we aren't half ruining our reputation as the safest job in football. Five managers from 1901 - 1989, now we've had six in just under twenty years. Profligate, I say.
Heaven knows who'll replace him. Someone foreign, I suspect. I mean, it was bad enough when we had a Scotsman in charge, now we'll get Luigi Del Manager or something.
It's just a shame Paul Ince leapt into the Blackburn job. I'm sure he'd have been welcomed home as the prodigal son.Comment
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Eggchaser wrote:
Give it two months and you may yet get him.It's just a shame Paul Ince leapt into the Blackburn job. I'm sure he'd have been welcomed home as the prodigal son.Comment
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Hey, Graeme Souness is available. Maybe the Hammers will try and reunite him with Bellamy?!?Comment
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This season marks the arrival of manager power. They're fed up with chairmen and multi-millionaire conglomerates calling the shots, and they're signalling their dissatisfaction in no uncertain terms.
More power to their elbow, say I!Comment
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'Elbows'?Comment
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Curbishley had substantial funds at his disposal. He bought a shit load of players who have been on six figure weekly salaries who have hardly kicked a ball in anger, and avoided relegation only be virtue of having an on fire Tevez and a series of fixtures against teams with nothing to play for (much as I hate to admit it, Neil Warnock did have a point here). This is hardly likely to install confidence on the part of those who have put their money into the club.
For all of their injury problems, it was the likes of Freddie Sears that provided moments of cheer for West Ham last season. Sears is the latest instance of home grown talent to come from a club that has got the best record of bringing players through into the top level in recent years.
If players are sold to balance the books, then surely this takes some pressure of the manager as the fans will invariably question the ambition of the board and not the manager who has to make do with what he’s got. And with an excellent youth policy in place that allows genuine talent to come through the ranks (even at this high level) then this would also help maintain faith with the fans that just may look upon you with some respect for punching above your weight.
Curbishley has spat his dummy out here, and for that alone he is unlikely to be missed. In the Premiership it will soon come to a stage where no manager will have control of who comes in and out. Mark Hughes, linked with walking out of Man City just 2 weeks ago, seems to have learned this lesson very quickly.Comment
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ykikamoocow wrote:
I can't believe that for a second. Who the hell are West Ham paying more than 100k a week to?? Lucas Neill was seen to break the wage structure at 60k.He bought a shit load of players who have been on six figure weekly salariesComment
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Rob Green was a bit put out at his contract offer recently, which is understandable given he was Hammer of the Season and is a very good keeper. And the issue over Ferdinand (a pretty good if not ever going to be a great defender) being summarily offloaded (to Sunderland of all places) leaving a big hole in the middle. What was that about?
Our problem is that the squad is a classic "One manager bought this lot, the next manager didn't like them and bought his lot, so we've got two squads' worth of duffers" situation.
Add in chronic sicknotes on high wages (Bellamy, Dyer, the unlucky Ashton), paying off Ljungberg to take his crippled limbs elsewhere (shame, I always really liked him as an Arsenal player, but Wenger was 100% right in offloading him on us when he did), horrible shits like Bowyer and, as yikkamoocow says, the only real bright spots are players who have come through the youth system. Until we sell them.Comment
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As Eggchaser says the players who Curbishley moans are injured are always injured! What did he expect? In ratio to minutes spent on the pitch since he left Ipswich Keiron Dyer must be the highest paid footballer in history.Comment
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Increasing foreign ownership of English clubs is going to see this culture clash occurring more and more regularly. Most of the incoming owners are going to be more inclined towards the European model where the manager is in essence the coach who has a say in transfers, but not overall control.
It's hard to have much sympathy with the current managers in the news rebelling against this system. If Keegan didn't like having a Director Of Football making those decisions then he should have resigned when Wise was appointed. Curbishley was given a lot of autonomy by the Icelandic guys, but he made a mess of it and you can understand why they have reigned in his say over these matters.
Perhaps they still saw him as a good coach and that's why he wasn't sacked, they simply wanted to descope his role somewhat and his pride won't accept that happening.Comment
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dglh wrote:
Neill, Kieron Dyer and Freddie Ljungberg are all reportedly on £90,000 a week each, or very close to it.I can't believe that for a second. Who the hell are West Ham paying more than 100k a week to?? Lucas Neill was seen to break the wage structure at 60k.
You can't blame West Ham for the fact that half of their signings under Curbishley broke their legs or split their intestines within weeks of joining the club -- Dyer, Bellamy, Faubert, Upson etc. But the whole Freddie Ljungberg/£90k a week episode is the one that I can't figure out.
Why would you give a guy like that, who was very useful in his time, but as a footballer was also clearly hurtling downhill at Grand Prix speed, a wage of that size? Why?Comment
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Nice that the media can reach a consensus over this.Croatia coach Slaven Bilic heads the shortlist to become West Ham's new manager after Alan Curbishley's resignation. (Various)
Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp tops West Ham's wanted list to fill their manager's vacancy. (Daily Express)
But Redknapp will resist the temptation to take over at West Ham, leaving the way clear for Bilic. (The Guardian)
However, Bilic would prefer to continue as Croatia coach. (The Times)Comment
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I concede that six figures a week was a mild exaggeration – being used to life in the third tier of English football means that I don’t have the greatest grasp when it comes to figures. I’m still coming to terms with Anton Ferdinand & George McCartney being worth more than Tranmere Rovers lock, stock & barrel.dglh wrote:
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I can't believe that for a second. Who the hell are West Ham paying more than 100k a week to??
But this belies the fact that Curbs was given a considerable budget, something he wasn’t used to at Charlton, and he pretty much squandered it on players who were talented but unpredictable (reuniting Keiron Dyer with Lee Bowyer was particularly bizarre).
For someone who was a lifelong Hammers fan, he would have known better than most about the ethos of the club, especially when it came to the Academy and the home grown talent that has continued to emerge through the ranks. It inspired his success at Charlton, and he could have had a go at repeating the trick at Upton Park. When he took over, relegation was seen as being almost inevitable but it was felt that it would not have been the end of the world for West Ham, provided that he was given time to lay the foundations in the way he did at Charlton (a club that continues to go backwards since his departure).
If it was the case that the board stated that Curbs had to spend an obscene amount of money to keep West Ham in the top flight, then they should have picked someone else for the job who was used to dealing with such budgets (Sven-Goran Eriksson was strongly linked with the job, even when Alan Pardew was still at the club and seen as being in a reasonably safe position after their success during 2005/06.)
I wouldn’t even claim to know what was on the mind of the West Ham board when it came to appointing Curbishley, but I guess that they felt that he could bring success with a combination of talent coming through the ranks combined with some astute signings. He has come up short here, particularly with the latter.
Bilic will take over. Of that I’m certain, and I guess that he will have certain restrictions in respect of transfer policy by virtue of his lack of experience in the world of transfers. He saw the potential on offer at Croatia, and unlocked it to pretty good effect, only coming unstuck against an unbelievably inspirational Turkey in Euro 08. It won’t be easy, but there’s a chance he could repeat the trick at West Ham and will at least make a better fist of it than his predecessor.Comment
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But, Faubert aside, these were all players with long histories of injuries behind them and they were all signed by Curbishley.You can't blame West Ham for the fact that half of their signings under Curbishley broke their legs or split their intestines within weeks of joining the club -- Dyer, Bellamy, Faubert, Upson etc.
Dyer is a classic. As has been said, he's played virtually no football since he left Ipswich and has utterly failed to live up to the promise he showed there. At the very least Darren Anderton had an excellent Euro 96 to show for his scars, but Dyer's done fuck all except brag about his money, fight his own team mates and be a total waste of oxygen.
And we still signed the little bugger. Why?Comment
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Is Bilic really so motivated by money that he would throw over the national team on the eve of what should be a relatively easy qualifying campaign?
He had a lot of the current squad on his U-21 team, and I would think that it would take a lot to pry him away from seeing how they would do on a bigger stage.
I'd be very interested to hear PPV's view on what the scuttlebutt about this is back home.Comment
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Bilic earns £81,000 a year for managing Croatia.Comment
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True, but he also has significant endorsement contracts that he could well lose, doesn't have to work anywhere near full time, and gets to spend his quality time on the Adriatic, rather than at Upton Park.
He also didn't starve during his playing career.
The question, as I noted initially, is just how motivated by money he is.Comment
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