Curbishley steering clear of England talk

Should things not go to plan for England over the next 10 days, the issue of just how long Sven-Goran Eriksson will sta in the job are bound to be raised once again – along with just who would be in line to take over from the Swede.

Should things not go to plan for England over the next 10 days, the issue of just how long Sven-Goran Eriksson will stay in the job are bound to be raised once again – along with just who would be in line to take over from the Swede.

Alan Curbishley, however, is one manager who will not be losing any sleep if the rumour mill begins to turn once again.

The Charlton boss has long been linked with just about whatever managerial vacancy may arise at a so-called ‘bigger club’ or ‘sleeping giant’.

While they do not get much more high-profile than to be handed the seemingly simple, yet continually perplexing, task of picking 11 Englishmen who can win the World Cup, Curbishley has never been keen to firmly thrown his hat into the ring, despite everyone else willing to do so on his behalf.

“I just let it roll, that is the only way to deal it. It is all hypothetical,” the Charlton manager commented when deflecting yet another leading question on the England job during the build-up to last weekend’s Barclays Premiership clash with Tottenham.

Indeed, the 47-year-old was quick to dispel suggestions there would be anything other than positive back pages on Sunday morning and again next Thursday.

“I think we are going to get the results, we are going to go to Germany and will do well there,” declared Curbishley. “The sooner we do that the better.”

Curbishley was, though, once close to becoming involved with the England set-up when the national team’s coaching staff was overhauled following the appointment of Eriksson back in January 2001.

The concept, initiated by former chief executive Adam Crozier, would have seen a select few top English coaches work alongside the Swede but, as Curbishley lamented, it was never implemented.

Middlesbrough boss Steve McClaren has, however, at least ensured a home presence is maintained during his work as an assistant to Eriksson.

And it is a role which Curbishley would like to have seen expanded.

“I don’t know if it ever really got as far as to Sven, but it never really materialised,” recalled the Charlton manager in an interview last year.

“How I understood it, it would have been a good idea because I would have felt that managers who are not lucky enough to be in the European competitions with their clubs would actually get some experience – how else are you going to get it?

“If they had a few people around, then if the manager evr left, they would have someone lined up. Maybe that is what has happened with Steve McClaren.

“Getting an insight into what goes on. It is not just about turning up on a Sunday and playing a game on a Wednesday, it is the whole thing, the organisation, the training.

“How are you going to get to see what it is like unless you are involved with it?

“I thought perhaps being a fly on the wall and around it, wouldn’t have been such a bad idea – but perhaps they have done that with Steve McClaren.”

It is, though, no surprise to see Curbishley’s name mentioned alongside the likes of McClaren and Bolton boss Sam Allardyce as potential suitors to the toughest job of them all.

Under his 15-season tenure, the south-east London club have been transformed from a team with no home and uncertain future to one now established among the elite sides of English football, playing in front of 27,000-plus fans cheering on a string of internationals at a rejuvenated Valley.

For the current England squad, Charlton have both striker Darren Bent and full-back Luke Young in contention to feature against Austria and Poland – some achievement for a club of the Addicks’ status.

Curbishley penned a new, three-and-a-half year contract in February 2004, and while Charlton chairman Richard Murray fully expects his manager to be around fr some time yet, he maintains should England eventually come calling, the club would not “stand in his way”.

“We’ve got Alan for at least another two or three years, but because of our relationship, if the England job ever did come along and he wanted to take it, we couldn’t stand in his way,” said Murray.

“Everyone says Alan is a great manager – but he hasn’t had European experience. Maybe we have got a chance of that over the next two years and then the talk is that he may not be there to guide us through it.”

The development of Young – signed from Tottenham in July 2001 – into an international-class full-back is testament to the unquestioned coaching abilities of Curbishley.

“He has been a big influence on me,” Young, 26, reflected. “Alan gave me the chance by bringing me over to Charlton – and for quite a lot of money at the time as well.

“I was hot and cold in the first season, but he stuck with me and then hopefully I’ve repaid him for the last few years.

“It was good of the England manager to trust me in a qualifier, but playing full-back for Charlton week in and week out is what helped me.”

Young is likely to be playing regularly for Curbishley over the coming seasons, and only time will tell if it is to one day be in his England colours.