Curbs tempted by The Toon?

Well it’s started already. No official links as yet, but Wyn Grant has become the first person I’ve seen to link Curbishley with the newly vacated Newcastle hot seat.

It was something I considered a few months ago in my own head, the fact that Souness was probably going to be sacked at the end of this season, and if Charlton haven’t achieved what Curbs feels we should achieved by May, that he would consider the job a very attractive proposition.

There is obviously money to spend up there, passionate fans, and a squad that is capable of easily making the top 7-8 with one or two additions.
Plus the chance to link up with Parker again would no doubt appeal to Alan, we all know what an admirer he is of the player.

A couple of seasons ago I recall Curbishley saying that if he could leave Charlton mid table in the premiership, with a 30,000 all seater stadium and perhaps a major cup in the cabinet, then he would consider it a job well done (which of course it would be). I don’t recall the exact quote but they were definitely words to that effect.
Well, two out of his three criteria are pretty much fulfilled, and we currently find ourselves with only Brentford standing between us and the FA Cup Quarter Finals.

Over the last year or so there have been the occasional few idiots in the covered end who boo a particular decision (normally a substitution) made by Alan, and there have been a couple of times I have watched him throw his arms up in exasperation at the North Stand, once even indicating to the fans that it was an injury rather than a tactical decision he had made.
After that game (I can’t remember which it was), he said in the post match conference that the fans were ‘getting on his back’, and that must be so frustrating for him after all he has done for us.

A minority of boo-ers can sound deafening when the rest of the ground is silent.

You know and I know that vast majority of the boo boys have no idea where the club has come from over the last 14 years. They may well be Charlton fans now, but they have only joined the ride during the premiership years, and these are the people who, if Curbishley goes, will be the ones who have forced him out…

I’m pretty sure that Alan would be a popular choice with the Geordies.

I predict that the Toon will band around the likes of the Hiddinks, the Sven Goran Erikssons, and the Martin O’Neills, and then set their sights a little more realistically. Names like Curbs and Allardyce will no doubt then come into the frame.

Curbishley’s odds to get the job are currently 30 on Betfair (which translates to about 27/1 in traditional odds).

Don’t take this post as meaning that I want Curbishley to leave, just as an opinion that if the job was offered to him, I think he could feel that perhaps it’s the right time to move on...