Keith Curle leaving Carlisle

[Chris FGR]

Arsene Wenger is available. As is Sol Campbell. And Russell Slade.

Carlisle are spoilt for choice.

 

[UTS]

Lee Clark ahahahaha

 

[valefan16]

If Carlisle are considering Danny Wilson, then why not Mickey Adams?

Granted his record has been very patchy of late, but he has a similar win % and he's achieved more in a shorter career, including three promotions from this division.

Micky has finished in management, he came back to help us appoint a replacement for Michael Brown but has a football consultancy business now as a lot wanted him back as boss to see us through.

Did a miracle for us though to turn us around and then come back and finish the job and get us into a top end league one outfit with a lot of the same squad that had been meh at this level such as Loft and Griffith.

 

[BigDaveCUFC]

I cannot believe ANY club would be stupid enough to appoint Clark or Wilson.....the amount of clubs in the last few years they have left a total shambles should tell anyone with sense to leave alone.

May as well re-appoint Roddy Collins if we were wanting to go that route.

 

[shoddycollins]

I cannot believe ANY club would be stupid enough to appoint Clark or Wilson

Even us?

 

[DippyDon]

Robbie Neilson is available and you're about as close to Scotland as you can get...

As for Curle, he's now dropped to 5/1 on Sky Bet and is second favourite to be our next boss. I sincerely hope we're looking at better than his record, but knowing Winkelman it wouldn't surprise me.

 

[shoddycollins]

Robbie Neilson is available and you're about as close to Scotland as you can get...

As for Curle, he's now dropped to 5/1 on Sky Bet and is second favourite to be our next boss. I sincerely hope we're looking at better than his record, but knowing Winkelman it wouldn't surprise me.

As a Wimbledon legend, part of the Crazy Gang squad and someone known to wear his heart on his sleeve, I can't really see him going to MK.

 

[DippyDon]

As a Wimbledon legend, part of the Crazy Gang squad and someone known to wear his heart on his sleeve, I can't really see him going to MK.

Laurie Sanchez himself once applied for it, I don't think that will make much of a difference.

 

[King Kev]

Beginning of the end for us.

I know it sounds like I'm just bitter because a manager I liked has been shown the door but down here you change manager at your peril, and if you do then you'd better be sure you can bring in someone who will improve things. IMHO only worth doing if your current manager has either badly and indisputably failed; has lost the support of the players or fans; or his actions have damaged the club in some way.

I don't really buy into the received wisdom among football fans that managers have an expiry date, that after two or three seasons a point is reached where 'he's taken us as far as he can'. There are many reasons why a club may have failed to achieve their ambitions and many things a board or a manager can try and do to turn it around, but no matter what you do, there are another 23 managers trying to do the same, and sometimes, someone else just finishes above you, not your season, move on, next season might be your season. Boards' constant changing of managers as if it is the only thing they can do is like an incompetent plumber not sure which tap to turn to stop the leak, so just choosing the one which turns the easiest and turning it this way and that over and over with no idea how it is affecting the leak, if at all. Probably they just do it to deflect criticism of themselves.

Curle has been putting together a squad and style of play, he's had his setbacks, some which are through no fault of his own and some where he's had to take responsibility, he's done well on a below-average budget at a club with an obstructive and negative board. I'm sure he hasn't seen eye to eye with them a lot of the time but he's maintained a professional approach, kept the unity of the dressing room and to an extent distracted the fans from the goings on behind the scenes.

Like any manager, he's put his own stamp on the club, and this is one of the main risks with changing manager. It's not just a case of out with one set of backroom staff, in with another. A new manager will decide which players he can and can't work with and almost always one of the results is the freezing out of players who are in contract, who may have previously been seen as among the best at the club, and at great financial cost to the club. Not to mention a new manager will want to do far more in the transfer market than an incumbent manager ever would. If he can't then he'll struggle to get the best from a team that isn't his, that have learned each other's game under the guidance of the previous boss. If he can make all the changes he wants, well that's expensive, and no guarantee of success.

Though I do believe the majority of managers, even those who are maligned by fans know what they're doing, there are always those that don't, and many more that only know what they're doing once everything at the club is just how they like it, so each change carries the risk of failure, a risk only worth taking if failure is either relatively minor (Arsenal failing to qualify for the Champions League) or almost inevitable under the current management.

Can't see us bringing in Lee Clark. He's far too highly thought of, we can't afford him, he's only among the favourites because he once went to one of our games, even though he attended several other games that week.

Neil McDonald would not be the messiah some fans seem to think he is. Yes he did well for us the first time around, but that was over ten years ago, for one season, when he was a young manager with new ideas. Since then he has mostly had a string of assistant jobs and never really looked like establishing himself as a league manager, not to mention spent a lot of that time under Sam Allardyce, I shudder to think what ideas about football he's picked up from Big Sam.

Edmo would be the classic appointment from our board, nice and cheap, already under contract, probably will just give him a nominal pay-rise and tell him to have-at-it. This will last until January, at which point he will be sacked so we can try and find someone to save us from relegation. Nothing against Edmo, he's doing a good job with the academy but I can't see him making the step up in the current climate.

Then you have the usual assortment of ex-players, Jansen, Aranalde, Lumsdon, Bridges etc. None of whom are probably even remotely interested in the job but the bookies have stuck odds on anyway.

And that's probably it, apart from your usual lower-league dross, like Danny Wilson who is linked with every job and I wouldn't be surprised if the board were seriously considering. I can't think of a single manager who would come highly recommended and who would be willing to manage us and who we could afford.

We can't afford a manager who isn't either already employed by the club or left at the bottom of the barrel having been passed over by the likes of Chesterfield and Barnet, and when we do appoint whoever we will need a whole new squad, which we won't be able to afford. Our defence will quickly return to being woeful, our attack won't improve we'll start getting humped week in week out just like we did in our relegation season in League One.

Carlisle United will be relegated next season, you heard it here first.

Lee Clark highly thought of......You do not want that joke anywhere near your football club.

 

[KeithH]

I seem to have touched a nerve in South Yorkshire with my comments about Wilson. I'm really just basing it on the fact that he seems to always be out of work and applying for jobs when some manager gets sacked down here and rarely gets the job, that and what Chesterfield fans have said about him this season. I don't know much about Lee Clark's managerial style or nous, but I just think of him as that young manager at Huddersfield back in the day. Seems his career since then hasn't gone as I'd imagined. He's probably still the most highly regarded manager we're likely to even consider.

Well at Bury we hold the useless Geordie twat in very high regard, the higher the better and then chuck the bugger off the highest point we can find.

 

[shoddycollins]

I'm sure our board are on the phone to Mansfield as I write, enquiring about the availability of David Flitcroft.

 

[GTFCfish]

 

[shoddycollins]

View attachment 8209

Fear not Sol, our chairman won't even realise you're black, so if you do get rejected you can sleep easy knowing it was just because you're shit.

 

[Conker]

I think if Radford gives Flitcroft the boot he will go for Curle.

 

[shoddycollins]

We should appoint Sol. If we're on our way out of the football league then we may as well make our parting gift to football one of giving Sol a chance, letting him show himself up completely and shutting him up for good (then the debate about black managers in the game can be about those that are actually any good).

 

[Carver]

I think Graham Alexander would be our best option, after that I am not so sure but I think Zigor Aranalde might be a good shout if we go for a previous player. He knows the English leagues and he is Spanish so that could bring something different. He is currently coaching at Watford and has also coached at Brighton and done some scouting so he could be worth a gamble.

As for the usual losers like Lee Clark they can fuck off, no way man, no fucking way are they appointing that ugly pissed sounding c***!!

 

[Carver]

Laurie Sanchez himself once applied for it, I don't think that will make much of a difference.

Keith Curle is actually good at stopping newly relegated teams from L1 from dropping down even more. If you have some cash to splash he may do quite well with you. We had no money to spend and that is the reason he could not take us any further.

 

[KeithH]

I'm sure our board are on the phone to Mansfield as I write, enquiring about the availability of David Flitcroft.

Mate, are you determined to make me piss myself?
I wouldn't wish Fatcroft or the Geordie twonk on anybody




Except Noblot!!

 

[Carver]

Mate, are you determined to make me piss myself?
I wouldn't wish Fatcroft or the Geordie twonk on anybody




Except Noblot!!

Don't mind Shoddycollins mate, he just talks crap every now and then and is a sarcastic prat when it comes to us trying to do something.

 

[Luke Imp]

Shame to lose Keith Curle like this but it is no suprise as the football at home this season has been dross and I think it is time for a new voice. If he had had more backing from the club to spend money in January last year I think he will have got us promoted. He will go down as a good manager of the club though and that is rare for us lol.

As for the new manager I think we should try for Graham Alexander who was last at Scunthorpe. If we cant not get him then we should offer it to Clint Hill our 39 year old defender and see how he does seen as he is so adored.

Isn't Clint Hill off to be Barton's Assistant at Fleetwood?

 

[Luke Imp]

I don't know too much about Carlisle over Curle's tenure but he comes across as someone who'd be difficult to play for. Seems a bit of a weird character.

 

[Carver]

I don't know too much about Carlisle over Curle's tenure but he comes across as someone who'd be difficult to play for. Seems a bit of a weird character.

At least he is not difficult to ref like your two bum bro managers.

They are a disgrace to football!

 

[shoddycollins]

I don't know too much about Carlisle over Curle's tenure but he comes across as someone who'd be difficult to play for. Seems a bit of a weird character.

He seems to instill loyalty in his players, expects a lot from them but gives a lot in return. Our previous manager Graham Kavanagh was almost the total opposite, very hands-off and by all accounts a nightmare to play for. Under Kavanagh we had several entitled players who expected the club to bend over backwards to accommodate them, for one, he allowed players to commute to Carlisle from wherever every day for training rather than expecting them to find temporary accommodation locally so they were together as a squad during the week, fresh when they arrived for training and attached to the city. Curle put a stop to all that. He also set about changing the culture behind the scenes, banning the chief exec from coming into the dressing room to give his own team-talk before each game, and having a clear-out (apparently found a tactics sheet in the manager's desk from the 70s)

Definitely a weird character though, he once started a press conference by placing a lipstick and a brick on the table and likes to make sex references, saying things like we're gonna get into the opposition's pants and saying he chased Hallam Hope like a girlfriend. He's a nightmare to interview but at the same time seems to have a good relationship with the media. If they ask him a question he doesn't want to answer then he'll just talk for five or ten minutes non-stop on something unrelated, usually asking and then answering his own questions. He's pretty good with the fans who enjoy his weirdness, he doesn't make excuses and even when we suffer setbacks that aren't his fault he takes responsibility for them and like most experienced managers will look to deflect anything negative onto themselves.

 

[Luke Imp]

Yeah, I've heard his answers that don't match the question that's been asked!

He's obviously doing something right if the players seem to play for him. Just comes across as a little unpredictable and as I say, a bit of a weird character. I've never really been able to work him out.

 

[shoddycollins]

Yeah, I've heard his answers that don't match the question that's been asked!

He's obviously doing something right if the players seem to play for him. Just comes across as a little unpredictable and as I say, a bit of a weird character. I've never really been able to work him out.

I think that's partly by design. He considers it a tactical advantage if he can't be worked out. Some of his tactics and substitutions are highly unusual, risky, and when it works it looks as though he's completely outdone the opposition manager (hence Mysterious Curle), there's always a chance that risks don't come off though and when that happens he faces accusations of having lost the plot. It's a bit of a balancing act really as the opposite of that is the manager who does the same thing week in week out seemingly oblivious to the fact that it's not working. I've personally never felt that he lost the plot, as even when his risks backfire I've always felt it was a risk he knew he was taking and in his opinion (which is what he's paid for as a manager) needed to be taken at that particular time. The fans don't always agree but it's never seemed like he was just throwing players around randomly in the hope that something would come off.

Like other Carlisle fans have said, I don't think he would get a team relegated. He knows too well how to get the best from average players, through motivation as well as by doing the ugly side of the game, that's the Neil Warnock in him. Though there is still a question mark on whether he can get a team promoted, it's only been fine margins the last couple of seasons that have prevented him from getting us promoted. Things could easily have been very different.

 

[DippyDon]

Keith Curle is actually good at stopping newly relegated teams from L1 from dropping down even more. If you have some cash to splash he may do quite well with you. We had no money to spend and that is the reason he could not take us any further.

That would be why he's being looked at I guess, but I'd hope that a club with our profile after the last few years would be able to hire someone with a bit more to them than Curle, hopefully Alexander considering he's local and his kids were apparently born in the city.

 

[UTS]

Curle is being linked to us and MK Dons by numerous journos... not sure if Carlisle to Bury is the wisest career move to be honest.

 

[shoddycollins]

Curle is being linked to us and MK Dons by numerous journos... not sure if Carlisle to Bury is the wisest career move to be honest.

He'll be linked to any available jobs I presume. He lives in Sheffield so should Barnsley go down and sack their manager then he may get linked there too, same with Mansfield if they sack Flitcroft.

Bury must be a pretty tough job, a succession of failed managers, sometimes loads of money to spend, sometimes none.

 

[Richard Cranium]

For as long as Curle is out of work I hope we don’t give Flitcroft the boot. Can’t believe any of our fans would want him back here.

 

[Conker]

I think it’s something to do with he would be a clear improvement on Flitcroft, but yeah he wouldn’t be my choice.