20 years ago today (June 15th), Alan Curbishley appointed sole manager

Airman Brown

An anniversary worth noting. A lot of people, me included, have a lot of time for Steve Gritt (whose sacking as joint boss was announced as part of this decision). It might also have been easier (although expensive) to have sacked both men at the same time, which some argued would have been fairer.

But I think Richard Murray's decision can fairly be said to have stood the test of time and since he gets some (deserved) stick over what happened 11 years later, let's also give him some credit for this (historically more important) decision, which was very much his.

June 15th was the date of the announcement, although discussions had taken place over previous days.

Stig

Am I the only one that was surprised at this when it happened?

ThreadKiller

I remember being thoroughly underwhelmed by this move. Took me a year before I got over myself

Henry Irving

Stig said:

Am I the only one that was surprised at this when it happened?

Someone in VOTV (not Airman) said it could be re-arranging the deck chairs on the titanic but to wait and see ; - 0

Lincsaddick

dual monarchys never work .. Curbs was the better choice as sole sovereign .. and it all worked out wonderfully well .. for a long time at least

paulsturgess

And thus followed the best decade of Charlton Athletic football club that any of us are likely to witness.

Brendan_O_Connell

Move on

ForeverAddickted

Anyone know how this move worked out for the club?

AFKABartram

i remember thinking at the time 'bumpy ride'.....

soapboxsam

20 years since Llewellyn Charles Curbishley was appointed manager on his own.
Time flies when your having fun.
Only Charlton and West Ham on his CV.
Alan left the hammers as manager in 2008,If he's still on garden leave,
he must be a good bet to take over from Monty Don.

oohaahmortimer

I thought it was a bad decision but over the fullness of time I fell in love with Curbs and our never to be repeated feat of a few seasons of top flight footy on the spin

Lincsaddick

always remember that Lord Llewellyn comes from a family well versed in management skills .. Big Bro Bill has for many years been a major player in the management of top rock bands .. compared to running a pro FC, managing (for example) the 'oo is like swimming with sharks rather than dolphins

Riviera

Airman Brown said:

An anniversary worth noting. A lot of people, me included, have a lot of time for Steve Gritt (whose sacking as joint boss was announced as part of this decision). It might also have been easier (although expensive) to have sacked both men at the same time, which some argued would have been fairer.

But I think Richard Murray's decision can fairly be said to have stood the test of time and since he gets some (deserved) stick over what happened 11 years later, let's also give him some credit for this (historically more important) decision, which was very much his.

June 15th was the date of the announcement, although discussions had taken place over previous days.

11 years later? You mean when Curbishley quit? His choice.

nth_london_addick

I remember saying we kept the wrong one

nth_london_addick

And how right I was we would be the biggest club in London and European champions 5 or 6 times by now had we kept gritty , muzza made loads of mistakes that was his biggest

oohaahmortimer

Riviera said:

Airman Brown said:

An anniversary worth noting. A lot of people, me included, have a lot of time for Steve Gritt (whose sacking as joint boss was announced as part of this decision). It might also have been easier (although expensive) to have sacked both men at the same time, which some argued would have been fairer.

But I think Richard Murray's decision can fairly be said to have stood the test of time and since he gets some (deserved) stick over what happened 11 years later, let's also give him some credit for this (historically more important) decision, which was very much his.

June 15th was the date of the announcement, although discussions had taken place over previous days.

11 years later? You mean when Curbishley quit? His choice.

You don't get it , Curbs offered to see out the last year of his contract .....Murray turned him down , I would say he was sacked more than quit !

Riviera

oohaahmortimer said:

Riviera said:

Airman Brown said:

An anniversary worth noting. A lot of people, me included, have a lot of time for Steve Gritt (whose sacking as joint boss was announced as part of this decision). It might also have been easier (although expensive) to have sacked both men at the same time, which some argued would have been fairer.

But I think Richard Murray's decision can fairly be said to have stood the test of time and since he gets some (deserved) stick over what happened 11 years later, let's also give him some credit for this (historically more important) decision, which was very much his.

June 15th was the date of the announcement, although discussions had taken place over previous days.

11 years later? You mean when Curbishley quit? His choice.

You don't get it , Curbs offered to see out the last year of his contract .....Murray turned him down , I would say he was sacked more than quit !

I think it's you who doesn't get it.
He'd have been a Dead Duck manager. No one "sees out the last year of their contract" it just creates uncertainty and disruption. Curbs couldn't motivate the players in a normal season post 40 points, imagine if he'd been seeing out his last year? None of the players would respond to him, or anyone in that position, they'd just be thinking about who the next boss would be and their own contracts.
He offered to do his final year yes, but he turned down a new 5 year deal, so in fact he quit.

ThreadKiller

Riviera said:

oohaahmortimer said:

Riviera said:

Airman Brown said:

An anniversary worth noting. A lot of people, me included, have a lot of time for Steve Gritt (whose sacking as joint boss was announced as part of this decision). It might also have been easier (although expensive) to have sacked both men at the same time, which some argued would have been fairer.

But I think Richard Murray's decision can fairly be said to have stood the test of time and since he gets some (deserved) stick over what happened 11 years later, let's also give him some credit for this (historically more important) decision, which was very much his.

June 15th was the date of the announcement, although discussions had taken place over previous days.

11 years later? You mean when Curbishley quit? His choice.

You don't get it , Curbs offered to see out the last year of his contract .....Murray turned him down , I would say he was sacked more than quit !

I think it's you who doesn't get it.
He'd have been a Dead Duck manager. No one "sees out the last year of their contract" it just creates uncertainty and disruption. Curbs couldn't motivate the players in a normal season post 40 points, imagine if he'd been seeing out his last year? None of the players would respond to him, or anyone in that position, they'd just be thinking about who the next boss would be and their own contracts.
He offered to do his final year yes, but he turned down a new 5 year deal, so in fact he quit.

Alex Ferguson was on a 1 year rolling contract from 2005.

Anyway, Curbs wanted to see out his contract, he even offered to stay on and help out whoever the club chose as his replacement. But Murray knew best and handed Dowie and Pardew ridiculous war chests when in the past had quibbled over small change in signing Tim Cahill and the like.

Of course he was sacked.

Airman Brown

Riviera said:

Airman Brown said:

An anniversary worth noting. A lot of people, me included, have a lot of time for Steve Gritt (whose sacking as joint boss was announced as part of this decision). It might also have been easier (although expensive) to have sacked both men at the same time, which some argued would have been fairer.

But I think Richard Murray's decision can fairly be said to have stood the test of time and since he gets some (deserved) stick over what happened 11 years later, let's also give him some credit for this (historically more important) decision, which was very much his.

June 15th was the date of the announcement, although discussions had taken place over previous days.

11 years later? You mean when Curbishley quit? His choice.

No, I mean the appointment of Dowie and things that flowed from that. I think the argument over Curbs is sterile - whether he left in 2006 or later, he wasn't going on forever. You can only continue indefinitely if you are at a top club like Manchester United or Arsenal - or you have limited personal ambition.

Curbs was always going to seek out opportunity that Charlton couldn't give him, even if only the chance to manage West Ham, and I don't criticise him for that. The fundamental error was the appointment of Dowie, but it's not as if there was an obvious choice who would certainly have done better.

Its_Hamer_Time

Curbs was and always will be a hero! He couldn't motivate a team after they'd hit 40 points? It's a damn sight better than what we currently have, and have had for the past few years. A man that against the odds got us promoted, fought to keep us up and when he couldn't, went one better and won the League to be promoted again!! Then kept us up for 7 seasons or so?

What we'd do for a Curbs now. For all his faults he had many more positives in my eyes.

Lincsaddick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gwg_d3XZ5A

oohaahmortimer

Riviera said:

oohaahmortimer said:

Riviera said:

Airman Brown said:

An anniversary worth noting. A lot of people, me included, have a lot of time for Steve Gritt (whose sacking as joint boss was announced as part of this decision). It might also have been easier (although expensive) to have sacked both men at the same time, which some argued would have been fairer.

But I think Richard Murray's decision can fairly be said to have stood the test of time and since he gets some (deserved) stick over what happened 11 years later, let's also give him some credit for this (historically more important) decision, which was very much his.

June 15th was the date of the announcement, although discussions had taken place over previous days.

11 years later? You mean when Curbishley quit? His choice.

You don't get it , Curbs offered to see out the last year of his contract .....Murray turned him down , I would say he was sacked more than quit !

I think it's you who doesn't get it.
He'd have been a Dead Duck manager. No one "sees out the last year of their contract" it just creates uncertainty and disruption. Curbs couldn't motivate the players in a normal season post 40 points, imagine if he'd been seeing out his last year? None of the players would respond to him, or anyone in that position, they'd just be thinking about who the next boss would be and their own contracts.
He offered to do his final year yes, but he turned down a new 5 year deal, so in fact he quit.

lol we have managers on 5 mins contracts now ... players don't give a toss who the manager is when they're signing their big contracts
threadkiller explains what happened correctly