There is a slightly odd feature each week in tbe programme which compares Charlton players with the intention of finding the all time best Addick. Last Saturday Mark Kinsella knocked out Sam Bartram which is not surprising when you consider that one of the criteria is Google hits. Of course, it's not meant to be taken seriously.
But the position of Alan Curbishley at West Ham is serious. After three successive 4-0 defeats, which he never faced at Charlton, he faces not just the vote of confidence, but the sack: Curbs .
'It's just like watching Charlton', chant the Hampsters. But what do Curbs do for us? He won the Championship twice and established us a mid-table Premiership club, but he is not too popular at The Valley these days. In large part this was because of the defensive, cautious style of football he favoured which kept us up, but was often not that entertaining to watch.
So what about Pards? It seems to me an overreaction to a very poor performance on Saturday to talk about sacking him. We don't want another Dowie/Reed scenario. The most likely replacement in the event of a sudden departure would be Phil Parkinson. He's a decent enough manager, but I think that he would probably establish us as a mid table Championship club.
The performance on Saturday was the worst I have seen for a long time, but we need to keep a sense of proportion. We are still 5th in the table and that reflects the fact that a lot of other teams in this division lack consistentl quality, but occasionally can pull it off as recent cup results testify. As a celebrating Stoke fan noted on 606 last night, the Baggies now have a cup run on their hands and it may scupper their promotion hopes.
Some fans are saying they don't want us in the play offs at all. This seems perverse, because the money would be useful if nothing else. We also have an ability to rise to the big occasion. Of course, if we won, we would probably be relegated from the Premiership. But then we would have a year of Premiership money and two more years of parachute money rather than a nervous last year on the money we have become used to.
I go to Burnley tomorrow with optimism because I know we can play better than we did on Saturday, particularly if we make a few much needed team changes, in particular at left and right back, while also giving Zhi a much needed rest.
4 comments:
Wyn good luck at burnley tomorrow, take your mac
A couple of points Wyn. Curbs. did not win us the Championship twice. He won the Championship (1st Div.) once and the Play-offs once.
About Pards. Some were calling for his head after ten games, quite ridiculously. Some began to doubt as we moved to the new year. I defended him throughout.
However after the debacle' of PNE i now begin to wonder, is he the man for the job?
We now have probably the largest squad in the Championship. I've not looked at the figures but he must have used a record number of players in one season.
He has bought in players and loanees of his choice, many of whom just aren't good enough. He doesn't appear to know his best eleven.
After the match he blames anything and anyone, but not himself.
He kept banging on about "automatic promotion" the team kept on losing. It's quite likely we will not make the Play-offs now. If we do scrape into them, there's no chance of stringing three good results together!
He should be critically assessed at the seasons end, but no promotion, is failure!
Anyway, that nice Mr Curbishley might be looking for a job then.
I certainly share your concerns about Pards. But I think that managers are changed too often these days in football. It is a big challenge to him to sort it out, but let's give him a bit longer to do it. I don't think there are that many good alternatives out there, plus changing managers is expensive. Allerdyce has been mentioned but is a long ball man if there ever was. In case of any misunderstanding, we have to move forward which means no return for Curbs.
Wyn - I admire your dedication in heading off to Burnley tomorrow, especially after Saturday. I hope we bounce back because we need a play-off finish to give the season some purpose, although I'll not be betting on it. The Curbs v Pards situation gets more interesting by the week. There really has been little to choose between them as managers and it's only getting closer. Far too early to write Super AP off.If we miss the play-offs and are outside Top 6 next Christmas it might be time for a change.
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