Why can't people just see that Reed was obviously just a caretaker manager helping out until pardew was sacked at West ham? They didn't say caretaker in order to give him more authority but the clue is in when Peter Varney said he is a friend of the club, which to my mind means he scarificed himself and his reputation in order to help the club (for no more money)
If he was a caretaker why did the club, approach and get the subesquent release of Mark Kinsella from Walsall to be the development coach, to allow Mark Robson to go up 1 position?
The Board believed in the structure they had created and must have thought it was Dowie and not the structure that was at fault. They soon scrapped it once this gamne happened
Don't know but regardless of what you call somebody, what does it matter? We were waiting for Pardew and i'm pretty sure Reed was never paid any more money and never had the terms of his contract changed. Same as parkinson i think but we were clearly looking to have another throw of the dice with Pardew hence Reed was temporary whereas we had to stick with Parkinson who, although he weren't up to much in my opinion, we had to stick with coz we had bugger all resources to change it.
I have the clearest memory of watching Amdy Faye kick the ball into touch, turn around, and shrug his shoulders...never boo'ed a Charlton player before or after and usually a very calm chap but at that moment I wanted to run down the stairs, onto the pitch and lamp him one (I just settled for booing instead!)
I have the clearest memory of watching Amdy Faye kick the ball into touch, turn around, and shrug his shoulders...never boo'ed a Charlton player before or after and usually a very calm chap but at that moment I wanted to run down the stairs, onto the pitch and lamp him one (I just settled for booing instead!)
Your lucky you saw him kick the ball . My memories of him are watching him trying to avoid the ball all match every match. The worst player ever to wear the shirt .
I think I remember Marcus Bent giving a w**nker sign to the fans as he was booed off and I believe Matt Holland was the only one to have the guts to face the North stand and give them a clap as he walked off.
is it just me that finds derogatory comments about Les Reed disrespectful? He was Curbs right hand man for a good period in our history and was a very nice guy to boot. Ok he wasn't up to being the main man but I blame Muzza for that not Reed in wanting to give it a go.
The what if comments would be amusing if it hadn't ended up so tragic. And for the comments about Curbishley having a wonderful, frugal transfer policy he still spent over a million on Marcus Bent, Francis Jeffers and Dennis Rommedahl. Also look what he did when he was giving free reign over transfer policy at West Ham. Charlton would have beaten Wycombe if we weren't full of big-time charlies and had hungry players a la the 90's mob. We can blame this manager and that manager but it started to go down hill when we started bringing in bench players from bigger clubs. Let's not forget that Traore started for Liverpool in the 2005 champions league final, Jeffers played and scored for England and Murphy had won multiple honours at Liverpool.
Have always said this, why were other clubs reserves thought worthy of our first team. No wonder we were on a downward slide.
Maybe we couldn't afford any better? You can't keep pulling rabbits out of the hat and i personally think that when he wasn't given all the parker money to spend, we entered a different era.
I believe Matt Holland was the only one to have the guts to face the North stand and give them a clap as he walked off.
Rommedahl did as well, as did Les Reed. Reed obviously wasn't up to management, but I liked him and it was painful watching him applauding the fans as he walked off the pitch to some of the most vicious abuse I've ever heard at The Valley (not that I think anyone was wrong to vent their frustration at the end of that shocking performance).
Maybe we couldn't afford any better? You can't keep pulling rabbits out of the hat and i personally think that when he wasn't given all the parker money to spend, we entered a different era.
There was an inteview last year where an ex member of the team stated very clearly that things changed when Curbs changed his tactics. Before Danny Murphy, Curbs had always bought in like-for-like and with Danny he decided to change the team to fit around the player. This happened with a few signings after and marked the point where the downward slope began.
I know people love Curbs and hate to hear any negative comments about him but this was the reality and no-one but Curbs decided to make that change.
As for what Large has said - do you not remember at the time, whenever we played badly the other backroom staff were often blamed - inlcuding Reed but mainly Mervyn - rather than blaming Curbs.
I'm not trying to put a downer on Curb's time the man is, was, and always will be a legend but sometimes people have to understand the limitations and realities of their heroes.
Maybe we couldn't afford any better? You can't keep pulling rabbits out of the hat and i personally think that when he wasn't given all the parker money to spend, we entered a different era.
There was an inteview last year where an ex member of the team stated very clearly that things changed when Curbs changed his tactics. Before Danny Murphy, Curbs had always bought in like-for-like and with Danny he decided to change the team to fit around the player. This happened with a few signings after and marked the point where the downward slope began.
I know people love Curbs and hate to hear any negative comments about him but this was the reality and no-one but Curbs decided to make that change.
As for what Large has said - do you not remember at the time, whenever we played badly the other backroom staff were often blamed - inlcuding Reed but mainly Mervyn - rather than blaming Curbs.
I'm not trying to put a downer on Curb's time the man is, was, and always will be a legend but sometimes people have to understand the limitations and realities of their heroes.
I guess that was an experiment to try and push onto the next level on a shoe string.
It didn't work but even with the stroppy scouse git we still had our usual boring mid table Premiership seasons which caused so many of our fans to moan.
It's been so much better since. £25 million spunked on crap and the Club rundown almost to extinction.
..."I'm not trying to put a downer on Curb's time the man is, was, and always will be a legend but sometimes people have to understand the limitations and realities of their heroes.".....
Curbishley performed miracles to keep us at midtable and better when you look at the resources of other premiership clubs. We regularly finished higher than both Spurs and West Ham under Curbs.
The man was a hero and worked miracles. For me he is our greatest ever manager closely followed by Seed and then, also close, Lawrence.
Seed was a great, great manager and deserves the utmost credit for achieving 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishes in the top tier before World War 2 and keeping us up for 12 years afterwards and reaching two cup finals, winning one.
However there was a maximum wage in operation when he managed, there was no European football carrot and contracts were worth the paper they were written on in those pre Bosman days.
Curbs had to cope with factors Seed did not and still got us to 7th and 9th in the top tier.
I agree with Len. You have to take account of what they were up against. Seed was great but he had a level playing field. When Curbs arrived average gates were around 6,500, and when he left they were around 27,000. The figures for Jimmy Seed are 13,000 and 24,000. But of course it's all a matter of opinion.
First game Id ever taken my then girlfriend, now wife to....all she had heard from me in months before was Charlton, this, Charlton that. We were living in Sydney at the time and she had just flown in the day before from South Africa were she had been working....what a come down.......All she saw from then on in was the downturn. However, the first thing she asks on a Sunday morning these days is how we got on.
That's right mate. I've never said such things before have I? I have been totaly 100% on my stance on the Dowie/Reed era. Where were you then? Still at school probably.....
After all our time in the premiership we plumped for Dowie after Billy Davies turned us down. It was very disappointing that we did not get a manager with premiership experience. I was at a Bromley branch meeting 2-3 weeks after Curbs left with Richard Murray doing a QnA session. Murray is first class and answers everything. He insinuated that George Graham applied for the job, also, I quote "someone who likes to play sexy football" Gullit uses that expression. Yes these people may have wanted money, but I am sure we could have afforded Graham, he did not like spending at Arsenal after all! Bad appointment by the board but I would never criticise Murray for what he has done for this club, his heart is in the right place.
Maybe we couldn't afford any better? You can't keep pulling rabbits out of the hat and i personally think that when he wasn't given all the parker money to spend, we entered a different era.
There was an inteview last year where an ex member of the team stated very clearly that things changed when Curbs changed his tactics. Before Danny Murphy, Curbs had always bought in like-for-like and with Danny he decided to change the team to fit around the player. This happened with a few signings after and marked the point where the downward slope began.
I know people love Curbs and hate to hear any negative comments about him but this was the reality and no-one but Curbs decided to make that change.
As for what Large has said - do you not remember at the time, whenever we played badly the other backroom staff were often blamed - inlcuding Reed but mainly Mervyn - rather than blaming Curbs.
I'm not trying to put a downer on Curb's time the man is, was, and always will be a legend but sometimes people have to understand the limitations and realities of their heroes.
I guess that was an experiment to try and push onto the next level on a shoe string.
It didn't work but even with the stroppy scouse git we still had our usual boring mid table Premiership seasons which caused so many of our fans to moan.
It's been so much better since. £25 million spunked on crap and the Club rundown almost to extinction.
..."I'm not trying to put a downer on Curb's time the man is, was, and always will be a legend but sometimes people have to understand the limitations and realities of their heroes.".....
Curbishley performed miracles to keep us at midtable and better when you look at the resources of other premiership clubs. We regularly finished higher than both Spurs and West Ham under Curbs.
The man was a hero and worked miracles. For me he is our greatest ever manager closely followed by Seed and then, also close, Lawrence.
Curbs our most successful absolutely. However, Lennie Lawrence is god for what he did. I believe we would have folded without him. Most important game in our history was the play-off final with Leeds in '87 without any doubt
Comments
Don't know but regardless of what you call somebody, what does it matter? We were waiting for Pardew and i'm pretty sure Reed was never paid any more money and never had the terms of his contract changed. Same as parkinson i think but we were clearly looking to have another throw of the dice with Pardew hence Reed was temporary whereas we had to stick with Parkinson who, although he weren't up to much in my opinion, we had to stick with coz we had bugger all resources to change it.I have the clearest memory of watching Amdy Faye kick the ball into touch, turn around, and shrug his shoulders...never boo'ed a Charlton player before or after and usually a very calm chap but at that moment I wanted to run down the stairs, onto the pitch and lamp him one (I just settled for booing instead!)
The worst player ever to wear the shirt .
That's what I thought.
This totally
There was an inteview last year where an ex member of the team stated very clearly that things changed when Curbs changed his tactics. Before Danny Murphy, Curbs had always bought in like-for-like and with Danny he decided to change the team to fit around the player. This happened with a few signings after and marked the point where the downward slope began.
I know people love Curbs and hate to hear any negative comments about him but this was the reality and no-one but Curbs decided to make that change.
As for what Large has said - do you not remember at the time, whenever we played badly the other backroom staff were often blamed - inlcuding Reed but mainly Mervyn - rather than blaming Curbs.
I'm not trying to put a downer on Curb's time the man is, was, and always will be a legend but sometimes people have to understand the limitations and realities of their heroes.
yep curbs's limit was getting us to the prem and eventually keeping us there comfortably
and those managers are easy to come by for a club of our stature
I guess that was an experiment to try and push onto the next level on a shoe string.
It didn't work but even with the stroppy scouse git we still had our usual boring mid table Premiership seasons which caused so many of our fans to moan.
It's been so much better since. £25 million spunked on crap and the Club rundown almost to extinction.
..."I'm not trying to put a downer on Curb's time the man is, was, and always will be a legend but sometimes people have to understand the limitations and realities of their heroes.".....
Curbishley performed miracles to keep us at midtable and better when you look at the resources of other premiership clubs. We regularly finished higher than both Spurs and West Ham under Curbs.
The man was a hero and worked miracles. For me he is our greatest ever manager closely followed by Seed and then, also close, Lawrence.
Seed was a great, great manager and deserves the utmost credit for achieving 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishes in the top tier before World War 2 and keeping us up for 12 years afterwards and reaching two cup finals, winning one.
However there was a maximum wage in operation when he managed, there was no European football carrot and contracts were worth the paper they were written on in those pre Bosman days.
Curbs had to cope with factors Seed did not and still got us to 7th and 9th in the top tier.
That's why, narrowly, I place Curbs above Seed.
All about opinions though.
"It's been so much better since. £25 million spunked on crap and the Club rundown almost to extinction."
Yes and 2+2 = 17.
How much we have spent and have little we have acheived since, does not change how good Curbishley was.
If we had remained in the premiership, or if we go on to re-build and re-gain our place in the top flight, will Curb's achievements be less?