Alan Curbishley is the former Manager of Charlton Athletic and West Ham United in the Premier League. Curbishley resigned as West Ham United Manager in September 2008 after a difficult period in charge of The Hammers. He has been out of the loop since the as he looks for a way back into the Premier League, which has prove more difficult than he had hoped for.
Curbishley is currently being linked with Ipswich Town.
Curbishley had a good playing career as a midfielder playing for several clubs including West Ham, Aston Villa, Birmingham City and Charlton Athletic among others. He moved into coaching in 1990 when he returned to Charlton as a Player-Coach under Manager Lennie Lawrence. Lawrence left the club in 1991 and Curbishley was appointed joint-manager with Steve Gritt in a partnership that worked well early on. Gritt left the club in 1995 and it was left to Curbishley to take sole charge at The Valley. Curbishley took Charlton into the Premier League on two occasions once through the Play-Offs and after relegation they became Division 1 Champions in 2000.
After that promotion Curbishley established Charlton as a solid Premier League Team that were difficult to beat. This was a trait that remained in Charlton until he left The Valley at the end of the 2005/06 season after 729 games in charge. Curbishley returned to management at the end of 2006 with his one of his former clubs West Ham United.
The Hammers looked a certainty for relegation when he joined but after a brilliant second half of the season West Ham escaped relegation on the final day of the season with a win over Man United at old Trafford. The following seasons were more difficult for Curbishley as he grew annoyed by the clubs transfer policy and as speculation mounted he resigned his position in September 2008. Since then it has been quiet on the Curbishley front with only a few stints on Match of The Day to keep him busy.
Alan Curbishley has proven himself as a good Manager in both the Championship and the Premier League and is sure to be in demand for any vacancies that become available. It seems that Curbishley is happy to take some time out of the game at the moment and is waiting for the right opportunity to come his way. As far as Curbishley is concerned, he is clearly eager to get a job in the top flight but so far the Premier League clubs have been reluctant to take a punt on him.
He is sure to feature heavy in any speculation for some of the top jobs in the country as he is an experienced top coach.
