Great manager for us but he left us with a terrible team imo.
He failed at west ham and played bad football imo that and he has shed loads of money is why he aint had another job
In what way did he "fail" at West Ham? Saved them from almost certain relegation and left them in a much healthier position on the pitch than when he came.
I loved Curbs but it was obvious we needed a change and Curbs was looking tired and he got a deserved break. It was a shame Billy Davis never came to us because he would have done a much better job than Dowie.
It was obvious we needed a change from Premier League football so we went and got relegated as soon as he left.
I was one of the people calling for his head at the time but now realise how good we had it. Everyone needs to be reminded of this everytime they start coming out with comments like "Chris Powell is out of his depth" and "I'm starting to lose patience with Chris Powell he doesn't know what he's doing".
We got relegated because we appointed the wrong manager, not because Curbs left us. Are you seriously suggesting that any manager would have relegated us?
The fact is, Dowie was a joke and I honestly believe we would have done better without the Dowie saga.
The choice of manager post-Curbs was limited, of course there were plenty of applicants - there always is - but in terms of quality, proven performers the choice was not great.
In retrospect the best choice would probably have been Mick McCarthy, he knew the club, the area and had a decent track record apart from a relegation at Sunderland.
He proved at Wolves that he could do a good job and was in the Curbs mould as a manager, being pragmatic and solid rather than spectacular but I think the biggest problem was that Curbs left us with a very, very weak squad.
Dowie exacerbated this by buying a load of shit (apart from Reid, but he hardly played anyway) and because there was no dough in the kitty not even Pardew - who was very impressive at first - could sufficiently change the course we were set on.
The Dowie appointment was a terrible mistake, I knew in my gut that it was doomed from the start, the chemistry just did not seem right.
I still get angry to this day about the idiot who sits a row in front of me and about 6 seats to the right who actually cheered when the news was announced at The Valley that Curbishley was leaving.
It's strange looking back that Curbs in 2006 was a serious candidate for the England job, and that leaving Charlton to manage his country was a possibility. He's clearly reached the point in life where very few jobs would interest him, and the longer he is out of management, the fewer the number of clubs interested in him.
It's hard to tell what would have happened if Dowie had been left to manage the whole season. Or if Pardew had been sacked by West Ham earlier, and had taken the job in the summer rather than at Xmas.
I don't think Dowie would have kept us up - but if we missed out the sorry Les Reed episode and sacked him a bit later we would have had more points. Then Pardew may have saved us and we might all love the bloke now instead of hating him.
I think Curbishley's biggest problem was that he was an ambitious manager.He wasn't arrogant but he knew he was a very good one. He simply realised that after a long relationship with us- he had taken us as far as he could. In the 2003/4 season - before we lost Parker to Chelsea - we were the fourth best team in the Country. I have no doubts about that fact at all. But money talks and Curbishley team was scuppered before it had a chance to achieve anything. It doesn't take a genius to work out that we are one of a number of sides that always face a long and difficult climb to the summit and as soon as we get there, we don't stay there but start going downwards.
He then tried to rebuild the side into one that emulated that super side, and got reasonably close but he knew when Murphy left that if he ever did manage it through toil, blood and sweat, the outcome would be the same. Curbishley always said he would know when it was time to leave - he'd know as he is driving to the training ground. His team stayed up but was worryingly deficient in certain areas and they were not ones that would be easy to fix with the money we had. Curbishley clearly also wanted to manage England and I think the mismanagement by the FA probably only served to confirm that if he wanted to reach the heights, he had to leave and join a higher profile team.
What is ironic is that on leaving, the baord found more money than Curbishley ever had to spend. Maybe the promise of this money may have persuaded him to stay and reinvigorated his desire. But I doubt it - he knew that he had been with us so long that he had to leave to progress or stay with us for th erest of his career. Unfortunately, his departure has not worked out for both parties but he will always be a legend and it is probably about time we named a stand after him.
Comments
Some people on here make it up as they go along!
A bloke I know was calling for Curbishley to go long before he did because "He can't take us onto the next level".
Don't worry, I have since reminded him of the bollocks he was talking - every time I see him.
In retrospect the best choice would probably have been Mick McCarthy, he knew the club, the area and had a decent track record apart from a relegation at Sunderland.
He proved at Wolves that he could do a good job and was in the Curbs mould as a manager, being pragmatic and solid rather than spectacular but I think the biggest problem was that Curbs left us with a very, very weak squad.
Dowie exacerbated this by buying a load of shit (apart from Reid, but he hardly played anyway) and because there was no dough in the kitty not even Pardew - who was very impressive at first - could sufficiently change the course we were set on.
The Dowie appointment was a terrible mistake, I knew in my gut that it was doomed from the start, the chemistry just did not seem right.
It's hard to tell what would have happened if Dowie had been left to manage the whole season. Or if Pardew had been sacked by West Ham earlier, and had taken the job in the summer rather than at Xmas.
He then tried to rebuild the side into one that emulated that super side, and got reasonably close but he knew when Murphy left that if he ever did manage it through toil, blood and sweat, the outcome would be the same. Curbishley always said he would know when it was time to leave - he'd know as he is driving to the training ground. His team stayed up but was worryingly deficient in certain areas and they were not ones that would be easy to fix with the money we had. Curbishley clearly also wanted to manage England and I think the mismanagement by the FA probably only served to confirm that if he wanted to reach the heights, he had to leave and join a higher profile team.
What is ironic is that on leaving, the baord found more money than Curbishley ever had to spend. Maybe the promise of this money may have persuaded him to stay and reinvigorated his desire. But I doubt it - he knew that he had been with us so long that he had to leave to progress or stay with us for th erest of his career. Unfortunately, his departure has not worked out for both parties but he will always be a legend and it is probably about time we named a stand after him.