Thursday, September 04, 2008

Alan Curbishley resigns as a hammer


Alan Curbishley resigns as manager of West Ham.


Curbishley has become the first casualty for the new season.Although the exit was on the cards for quite some time but the reason for his resignation is quite an interesting one.

You would expect a manager to resign if your team isn't playing well or not up to the expectations of the fans or the board?But I don't think 6points out of a possible 9,best start in 9years and on the back of a 10th place finish in the previous season.I think you're doing pretty well for a "middle level" club.

The reason however is very different and doesn't bear any links to on the pitch activities of the London club.Alan Curbishley passed on the resignation because of his lack of control over the transfer situations at the club.

He was completely miffed over the outward transfers of George McCartney and Anton Ferdinand to Sunderland despite a depleting squad courtesy the ever growing injured list for the Hammers.

Interestingly Curbishley had met the CEO on Sunday to ask for some loan deals and was told to offload some players before any new ones could come in to which Alan didn't agree.Despite the managers decision,the owners still sold the players which didn't go down well with the Englishman.

He had this to say upon his exit,
"I was vehemently against the transfer of McCartney because of the injuries to other defenders.

"I was looking at that, along with the sale of Anton Ferdinand, and thinking we are quite stretched. That got to me more than anything."


For now the reign goes into the hands of Kevin Keen,reserve team coach until a full time manager could be found.Croatian national team coach and former West Ham player,Slaven Bilic is touted to be the successor.

A sad end to what seemed like a good season for Curbishley.



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