Alan Curbishley - come back all is forgiven!

When Curb’s was on TV making his way for an interview for West Ham’s football manager opening, I was praying please don’t let him become manager, especially as West Ham now seemed to have the backing of a Billionaire – I thought it would show a real lack of ambition, and that we should be looking to appoint a top international manager.

 

My worst fears were realised and he became manager, and I was one of the cynics right from the off, to say we had chosen an average football manager that didn’t fit the aspirations and financial clout that the club now had.

I remember people in forums i.e. ‘mordant.org’ would show blind loyalty to him, and vitriol towards me for stating the blindingly obvious. They persisted to support him because he was English, nay even from the east end of London. It was entertaining to see over that year people’s opinions gradually changed, until finally it seemed all fans had witnessed enough of his boring football, along with his dour TV personality, and his footballing philosophy; that seemed to be concerned with nothing more than staying in the league or constantly saying he was ‘stabilising the ship’.

 

So when he finally walked, ironically because the clubs technical director Nani had sold two average players, and replaced them with a much better midfielder and defender, I was the first person cheering and relieved that we could now get back to showing the ambition that the club finally deserved, and appoint a manager that would be an attractive prospect for players to play for, and one that I could wholeheartedly get behind and support.

 

In came Gianfranco Zola, and although I was as surprised as anyone else at the choice, I at least thought that world class players may be attracted by the prospect of playing for him, and that if his winning mindset would rub off, and his contacts utilised, that it would better the options we had with Curbs.

 

Now people are raving on about Zola’s exploits, and the new players that he has at his disposal, thanks to Nani’s wheeling and dealing and the academy graduates coming of age. And it is regularly reported that Curbs bought a load of lemons and wasted the money and resources that were initially pumped into the club. Now that’s where I draw the line, although many of the same people that were supporting Curbs, are now slating him, I do acknowledge that his purchases were actually very shrewd.

They were also necessary in keeping the team in the premier league at the time, and it could be agued that he didn’t pay over the odds, when you compare the purchase prices with those of Spurs, or other clubs, most have since shown to bring back a great return for the club.

 

Bellamy – his class is not in question, champions league experience, a potent striker, he brought a goal scoring edge and pace dynamic that the team has since sorely missed. He was chased by quite a few clubs and later sold on for nearly double the fee paid for him.

 

Upson – became an England international and must again be worth at least double the fee we paid for him, and among the best centre- halfs in the premier league.

 

Parker – one of the best defensive midfielders in the premier league, again could have been sold for more than double the fee paid for him, and was chased by many clubs, during the January transfer window.

 

Neill – Although suspect at times, with his shirt tugging and lack of speed, has been a steadying influence in the team and at times shown the worth of his transfer fee.

 

Dyer – No doubt the ability to win games with his speed, creativity and eye for goal. Also an England international when fit, and at least worth the fee paid and could prove a bargain if he doesn’t get injured J

 

Boa morte – The boo boys are starting to choke on their pies, as he is showing that he is well worth the fee paid for him and adds speed and attacking options to the team.

 

Cole – Ok curbs didn’t buy him, but when many fans would have had him sold and shipped off to Canvey Island, Curbs kept him and saw and developed his potential, which he is now beginning to realise.

 

Now onto Curb’s relatively small number of doubtful purchases.

 

Quasie – I can’t defend this one – Enough said.

 

Ljungberg – Was bought for a very small fee, apparently very high wages though, not sure if he was past his best – we’ll never know.

 

Davenport – bought for a smallish fee, the club should be able to recuperate most if not all of it back, and for the record played well for the team when Collins/ Upson was injured.

 

If people require further proof of Curbs ability to identify good talent, he also tried to purchase Ashley Young and Darren Bent among others who’s, attacking and goal scoring talents are not in doubt.

These players among others didn’t want to join a club that only just survived relegation the following year, when people blame curbs or the Eggmeister for allowing inflated wages, lets remember it was one of the few tools of leverage the club had at their disposal at that time – and so was justified.

So, Curbs although I didn’t think you were the right manager for the long term (or even the short tem), I do acknowledge this, that the players that you identified, tried to purchase and did purchase were overall very good! Good luck in your next job!

 

Hotshot C

“You can’t buy that” & “Money Can’t Buy You Love” – New songs for Chelsea Blues

John Terry’s recent quote to the media after beating West Ham, “You can’t buy that” may have come back to bite him on his proverbial backside.

Unfortunately you can’t buy a Champions League final either, one of the most expensive teams in Europe tried their utmost to intimidate the referee, and at times it looked like an Olympic diving competition, the Chelsea players displayed arrogance to the point of presuming that they had a divine right to be in the final.

Of course the reason Chelsea lost The game was because of bad refereeing, and match fixing by UEFA, sound credible? It’s a big claim to make… Arsene Wenger is perhaps one of the few managers that doesn’t, regularly, blame the referee when his team loses, the same can’t be said about Chelsea. The sign of a great champion is gracious in victory and defeat, but this sight is becoming far too common in football and with particular teams, you don’t see child like tantrums in a rugby or tennis final, do you?

So there was one clear cut penalty claim when Malouda was bundled inside the penalty area, but let’s not forget the same happened against Henry in the first leg with the same outcome - no penalty. The other penalty appeals were very tenuous indeed, as for the ‘hand ball’ claim, the ball was rocketed towards the Barca player, he turned his back to the ball and it hit him near the top of his arm, is this a handball? It all smacks of desperation, Anelka commented that there is a huge pressure on players to win every game. If people are appealing for a penalty for the Anelka, Abidal incident, the latter being sent off, it was clearly not a penalty let alone a foul, consequently Barca had to play a third of the match with ten men – now that’s what I call an injustice! And to their credit Barca accepted it without verbally abusing the referee, instead they fought like champions and well the rest is history, as we know Iniesta scored a scorcher in the last minute of the game, every bit as good as Essien’s first half goal. Some people have commented on the incompetence of the referee, but let us not forget that it’s a game of two halves, or in this case two legs, and Barca came into the match with a slight disadvantage of an away game, but with a huge advantage of having no goals scored against them at home from the first leg, hence a goal on the night would put them in the driving seat - who’s fault was it that Chelsea played an unimaginative stifling game instead of an attacking one in the first leg, putting them in a vulnerable position?

Barcelona had 65% possession overall, and tried to play the beautiful game as it should be played: the attacking, passing game on the deck. I think from a neutral’s point of view Barcelona versus Man United will be a dream final, two positive attacking teams with bags of creativity and amazing goal scoring talent. Although many whinge about him I have to agree with Platini - who wants to endure a deja vu of last year’s premier league teams playing each other in the final again? After all we want to watch less familiar European teams fight it out for the ultimate prize in football, don’t we? Although I’m sure many Chelsea fans won’t share that sentiment.

The Beatles once sang that ‘money cant buy you love’, try telling that to Abramovitch, I’m sure we’re all aware, there are many things that money can’t buy, but try as they did testing the referee’s resolve by intimidation in order to win a game they were clearly in danger of being outclassed in, the referee would not budge and couldn’t be bought, maybe John Terry’s quote is most fitting for these moments: “you can’t buy that”.

Hotshot C

Barcelona V West Ham

I once watched West Ham beat Roma in a pre-season friendly and like many fans perhaps believed that the club had the potential to be world beaters. Gianfranco Zola was no doubt world class, and he has done much to spruce up the current West Ham motley crew and have them playing the free flowing football that their fans insist on, and yet after accidently being in Barcelona while they were playing Bayern Munich I bought a ticket to the match. I have only ever been to Upton Park's 35, 000 capacity stadium so straight away the 90,000 capacity hit me like a sledgehammer in the gonads, and yet it was a pleasing experience- the atmosphere not the sledgehammer.

Barcelona passed the ball around all over the field fearlessly and with pin point accuracy and unbelievable imagination and conviction- it was a master class in football. It was awesome to watch and yet deflating in that it highlighted the distance West Ham have to go if they really want to be among the best in Europe. There are pretentions of West Ham fighting it out for the 4th Champions league place on offer, for finishing in 4th position in the English Premier League, and yet even if they some how found the firepower to catapult themselves into this elite league, after watching Barcelona take apart Munich, who are a decent team, and making them look like an overweight and comical sunday league team, beer bellies and all, if West Ham had played Barcelona it would have been carnage. Like watching car crash TV, or an injured zebra being fed to a pack of hungry lions.

I fear West Ham are chasing an empty dream and need a reality check. Already they are punching above their weight, and without real investment in a new stadium and at least 60 million on players, they will forever be stuck in the premier league mid table mediocrity, also known as the also ran's, or top four cannon fodder.

West Ham Heading To The Champions League

Gianfranco Zola has been clear on two things recently, that he has been depending on the youth to give a good account of themselves, and secondly that his ultimate goal is to gain a top four place and hence enter the elite in the Champions League. The fans desperately want Champions League football, but the management seem to be naive as to what that involves and more importantly, how much that is going to cost the club in investment in top class players, and nowhere is that more apparent than up front. The current strike force are not comparable with the top four in any shape or form, the current team looks destined to go a long way, the question is have they already reached their ceiling?