17Feb

Has Curbishley been out of football too long to save Wolves?

by Mike Calvin

Share:

Alan Curbishley faced the most important job interview of his life at a secret London location yesterday. He was doubtlessly PowerPoint perfect when he met the men who matter at Wolverhampton Wanderers. He would have exuded enthusiasm, without sounding desperate. Yet, however convincing his short, medium and long-term strategies, he needed to answer one critical question.

Has he been out of football for too long?

Curbishley will need to hit the ground running if he succeeds Mick McCarthy as Wolves manager. There is terrifyingly little margin for error at the wrong end of the Premier League. He will inherit a self-regarding set of underachievers with a penchant for passing the buck. Four years’ absence from the game, since his messy sacking by West Ham, will seem like an eternity.

Wolves cannot afford to give him time to make the transition from TV pundit. Insecurity corrodes the fabric of a struggling football club. Players are primed to make instant judgements on the new manager’s coaching ability and his character. If they detect weakness, real or imagined, there may be trouble ahead.

To his credit, Curbishley has never wavered from his belief that he is a Premier League manager. He came very close to succeeding Martin O’Neill at Aston Villa, and has resisted the impulse to accept offers from the Championship. But, as time passes, doubts crowd in.

Eloquence in a TV studio is all very well, but Curbishley has not taken a training session since his career became collateral damage, in West Ham’s doomed flirtation with Carlos Tevez. Football evolves with surprising speed. A team’s life cycle spans between three and four years.

Management is a fashion industry. When Curbishley was hot, he was interviewed for the England job, and subjected to fawning and flattery. Now he is lukewarm, one of the usual suspects who linger, unwanted, on too many shortlists, he will have to prove himself all over again.

Some of the senior Wolves players, like Roger Johnson and Jamie O’Hara, are using fat new contracts as comfort blankets. Steven Fletcher, their key striker, would be forgiven for listening to the siren voices who whisper he must leave Molineux to fulfil his potential. Complacency must be challenged, and collective responsibility must be preached.

It will not be easy for McCarthy’s successor. All Alan Curbishley can do is win trust, and an overdue opportunity. If he’s turned down, publicly, his career is in danger of petering out. If he’s Molineux’s man, he will feel reborn.

Related articles:

Video: McCarthy sacked after a “lack of fight at Wolves this season”

Video: Frimpong, Macheda and Sigurdsson: Hit or miss?

Adam Bate: Is McCarthy still capable of delivering progress at Wolves?

Mike Calvin: Why football needs managers like Mick McCarthy

Video: “What does this minority of Wolves fans want?“

Follow Mike Calvin on Twitter @CalvinBook

Follow Life’s A Pitch on Twitter @BTLifesapitch

Watch Wolves live on BT Vision:
Fulham v Wolves, live 1pm, 4 March, Sky Sports 1
Wolves v Man Utd, live 1pm, 18 March, Sky Sports 1

Not got BT Vision? Find out how to get it

More live football fixtures on BT Vision