Curbishley - the jury is still out?

How do you judge a manager? Whilst most West Ham fans set a high stall on playing attractive attacking football, first and foremost the team needs to win.

Lets be honest, Curbishley was appointed because, after the promise of the previous season, the Pardew era had ended in tatters. Poor football, lack of basic discipline on and off the pitch, a lack of tactical nous and the prospect of relegation. The board clearly lacked confidence in handing a big cheque book to Alan Pardew. Enter AC, to, at best, lukewarm applause from the vast majority of West Ham supporters.

The question is - given almost unprecedented financial clout for a West Ham manager, did he make good use of the funds?

It was a most unusual experience as a West Ham supporter being linked with almost any player available, and some who weren't. So how did young Alan do:

Calum Davenport £2m (guess)(rating 4 out of 10) - quite fondly remembered for his loan spell during our Championship days. After his initial baptism has rarely featured, and seems to be almost permanently injured. Doesn't appear to have been money well spent but a case could be made that injuries forced his hand and an extra body was needed.

Nigel Quashie £1.5m(rating (3/10)- what was he thinking. Had nothing to offer over what was already available at the club. Only claim to fame was previous association with relegated clubs.

Lucas Neil £1.5m (guess) (6/10) - received rave reviews last year and subsequently made captain. Over rated and overweight in my opinion. Can't tackle or run and seems to have lost the ability to pass with accuracy. An Australian "Christain Dailly" without the work rate ethic.

Matthew Upson. (6/10) £7.5m. Injured on debut, and now appears to be first choice centre half playing alongside anyone else who happens to be fit. Has looked off the pace in several games this season. Paid a very full price. Maybe more to come with regular football. Had an especially torrid time against Kenwyn Jones in the Sunderland match.

Luis Boa Morte. (3/10) £5m. Has been so ineffective I almost forgot he was signed. Surely can't be as bad as he has appeared to date.

Signed in a hurry, and at inflated prices in an effort to climb the table and pull clear of the relegation zone. Only Lucas Neil could be regarded as a success last season - but that is often attributed to his influence in the dressing room as much as on the pitch. His greatest fans wouldn't argue that he is blessed with great pace.

And then on to the Summer, where, once again our priority was a proven goalscored with pace, to complement a fit again Dean Ashton.

Here's what we got.

3, make that 4 right sided midfield players.

Julian Faubert £6.1m (unfair to offer a rating). Considered by many to be one of Curbishley's better buys - perhaps because he hasn't played. He's young, can run and capped at full international level by France. Lets hope he features at some stage this season.

If at first you don't succeed...

Freddy Ljungberg. up to £3. Rating (4 out of 10). Let go by Arsenal because he was injury prone and past his best. Has done little to prove Arsene Wenger wrong.

Kieron Dyer. £6m. Injured too quickly to merit a mark. That he was injured was entirely predictable but the nature of his injury wasn't. Appeared to be over priced, and unreliable.

Scott Parker £7m. Hasn't played enough to warrant a rating. Injured, and then bizarrely played 2 games in 5 days. Injured ever since. Looked like a solid signing but with a chequered injury receod at Newcastle.

Craig Bellamy. £7.5m (7/10). A proven premiership player, hard worker but mot prolific in front of goal. A poor man's Carlos Tevez, if you like. Has looked the part on occasions and can't fault his work rate - but doubts remain about his temperament, goal scoring and fitness record.


Richard Wright (6/10), Nobby Solano (6/10) - despite his heading prowess, and Henri Camera (6/10) complete the new additions.

Value for money from our £47.1m shopping spree - I think not. Could Pardew have done worse given such resources? Has anyone done worse?


So how would we rate Eggert's signing of Alan Curbishley. Its hard to score anything higher than a 6/10 and that's giving the benefit of the doubt.

Lets look at it slightly differently - from a job describtion point of view.

Essential Criteria.

Avoid Relegation. Successful, by the skin of his teeth. (6/10).

Sort out player discipline. Seems to have made some solid progress after and slocw and difficult start. (8/10).

Finish in top half of table or better. An OK start with results better than performances. (6/10)

Use transfer funds effectively to enhance value of squad. A mixture of bad lack, bad judgement and generally poor buys has failed to excite or obtain value for money. (3/10)

Desirable.

Play attractive football. A few glimpses or attacking football have been very much the exception. (5/10)

Raise profile of the club. The club has rarely been out of the news but for the wrong reasons, by and large. (7/10)

Have successful League and FA CUP runs. Promising start in League Cup. Losing to Watford in the F A Cup hardly what the doctor ordered. (6/10).

Qualify for Europe. Looks unlikely on record and preformances to date, but not an impossibility. (6/10)

Develop Home Grown Players. Noble excepted, little progress to date. Youth team not had the best of starts and reserves struggling to impress (5/10)