Curbing his ambition is a big mistake

Andrew Fifield On the PremiershipAlan Curbishley has been happily married to Charlton Athletic for 14 years, but now, for the first time, his relationship seems in serious need of counselling.

Before Saturday's routine win against Sunderland, who are threatening to set new standards in incompetence this season, the south Londoners had slumped to five consecutive Premiership defeats and somehow contrived to eject themselves from the English League Cup. The air was thick with the rustling of divorce papers. Trouble in paradise, indeed.

Victory over the Wearsiders brought much relief to Curbishley, for he is not the sort of manager who feels comfortable as the lead story. Charlton and Curbishley are football's equivalent of the quiet, unassuming couple who live at the end of the cul-de-sac. Not for him Steve Bruce's bed-hopping or Jose Mourinho's glitz and glam. Curbs simply isn't interested.

All of which explains the shock at hearing his comments in the build-up to the Sunderland game.

"I'm not immune," he admitted. "If these three or four weeks hadn't hurt me, then I'd have been out the door. But if this carries on, in five weeks I might be going on holiday anyway."

The news that the Teflon-coated Curbishley was under pressure would have been enough to make many of his Premiership peers twitchy. But then, few coaches are permitted the luxury of choosing the moment of their departure. Even Alex Ferguson, who changed the face of English football when, in his words, he "knocked Liverpool right off their fucking perch" with Manchester United, is unlikely to be able to leave Old Trafford with dignity in the summer.

Curbishley had seemingly earned the right to decide his fate after a mostly blissful spell with Charlton, but that has now been stripped away from him. Having raised expectations at the Valley to unprecedented heights, the manager is paying the price for failing to fulfil them. Lower mid-table simply will not do for the club and their new generation of supporters, who now demand that Charlton challenge for the top six at least.

Curbishley has, in effect, become a victim of his own success.

He would never publicly admit it but, in his darker moments, Curbishley must muse on what might have been had he decided to swap the Valley for more grandiose surroundings. There has been no shortage of opportunities. Although Curbishley has never openly put himself forward for any vacancy, he has been considered for positions at West Ham (at a time when Upton Park boasted some of the finest young talent in England), Tottenham, Aston Villa and Liverpool, only for each club to drop their interest after their target professed himself content in southeast London.

His loyalty to Charlton is, in many ways, admirable, particularly as that trait is in desperately short supply in the modern game. But Curbishley has also shown a craven lack of ambition in choosing to remain at a club whose potential is restricted by a lack of financial resources and the looming shadow of the English capital's footballing giants.

Curbishley's decision to stay put has also raised doubts over his managerial depth.

Nobody is doubting the scale of his achievements at the Valley, which was an overgrown, rubble-strewn rubbish dump when he arrived in 1991. Since then, both the ground and the squad have undergone extraordinary renovation.

The Valley is a gleaming, 27,000-capacity stadium, and at least three Charlton players - Darren Bent, Danny Murphy and Luke Young - can boast realistic hope of earning a place in England's squad for the 2006 World Cup.

But, realistically, what more can the club achieve? The League Cup and a short run in the Uefa Cup remain the limit of their aspirations. These would be enjoyable diversions, but from Curbishley's point of view they rank no higher on the scale of accomplishments than establishing Charlton in the Premiership. They would certainly not add any significant lustre to his managerial record.

More damagingly, the Londoner's reluctance to leave behind his creature comforts has almost certainly cost him his best chance of ever managing England. The Football Association is understandably reluctant to appoint someone who has not accumulated significant experience in Europe or tasted the pressure that defines football's top jobs. Curbishley could have had both had he chosen to uproot to White Hart Lane or Anfield; at Charlton he has had neither.

Perversely, Curbishley's fidelity is now starting to eat away at both his own reputation and that of the club he loves so dearly. They are turning into the couple who, after years of companionship, have developed an unspoken loathing of each other. But it is still not too late for Curbishley. Soon, maybe very soon, one of the Premiership's glamour pusses will flutter her eyelashes and beckon him towards her. For the sake of himself, and Charlton, Curbishley should consider breaking his shackles and playing the field.