Curbishley Hits Back

There’s no better time than the period of speculation about the identity of the next England manager to examine the credentials of one of the alleged candidates and by common consent Alan Curbishley is a man with no known skeletons in his cupboard. He is also a man without rancour so when he is quoted as observing, with heavy sarcasm, that Danny Murphy’s “social diary will be that much fuller because he’s a Spurs player and not a Charlton player” it tends to attract attention – especially when he follows up with “I’m sure Sven Goran Eriksson goes to White Hart lane more times than he does to The Valley. As long as Martin Jol doesn’t leave him out for any reason, I’m sure it will be a perfect move.”

By Curbishley’s standards, that’s pretty vitriolic stuff, so what has upset the normally equable Charlton boss? Could it be Murphy’s insistence that he’s moved to a bigger club? Or his apparent ingratitude towards a manager who had backed him for an England recall? Or was it simply that Murphy had indicated his desire to move through his apathetic approach to his work over a period of several weeks?

Whatever the reasons, the fall-out from Danny Murphy’s transfer could provide Charlton with a little extra motivation in their clash with Spurs at White Hart Lane.