Best place to start with this series I figured, and I promise to leave all personal grudges at the door. Well.

So to start with, the bare faced facts comparing Alan Curbishely with Harry Redknapp:

Manager Profiles

Harry Redknapp

[TABLE=10]

Alan Curbishley

[TABLE=11]

So it turns out that statistically speaking, Alan and Harry are actually very similar. Although for West Ham so far, Curbishly has lost more games than he has won whereas Harry won the same amount as he lost. But stats are worth nothing when you are playing incredibly boring football, *Cough* Chelski. Actually, make what you want from the stats, I just put them there to look pretty!

This is what it comes down to in my opinion, what does each manager do with the quality of squad he is blessed with? And on the back of that, what enjoyment does this bring to the fans?

I realise obviously that the quality of league was completely different when Harry took over compared to when Curb’s did, but at the end of the day everything is relative. The league wasn’t quite as good, but neither were our players back in 1994. Make of that what you will!

Harry Redknapp seemed to successfully play attractive football that people wanted to pay money to see, and it payed dividends…we qualified for Europe. He did have an absolute wealth of young talent at his disposal nearer the end of his career, but he also used it. Some questions I have to ask about Curb’s is his apparent reluctance to rest/not play some of our younger players, particularly at a point last year when actually we were going nowhere. I personally think that one thing above most that West Ham are about is our desire to produce consistently high quality youngsters of Premiership quality…please don’t lose that ethic Curbs.

Another key difference between these two lovely people is their abilities to wheel’n'deal. Or in Curb’s case, lack of. Harry would barter and bargain and get players at the best deal possible…Curb’s on the other hand seems quite content with paying through the nose for old time mercenaries…LBM for £5m? You have got to be kidding me.

I could go on all day on this one, but I won’t because otherwise it will turn into a slag fest and I don’t want that. I just think that Curb’s needs to make some serious changes to the way he deal generally with everything, because sometimes it has been worse than poor. Harry dealt with the press and the fans amicably, Curbs’ PR skills however are absolutely shocking and that I something I believe that has lead to the criticisms aimed his way. Even more so than the performance of the team. He needs to be careful.

I think therefore and thusforth in conclusion I would say that with what he had, Harry did a whole lot better. Curb’s needs still to prove himself to the fans and prove that he can perform with an injured team. That he can perform is he needs to with sometimes inadequate players. That he can also be trusted with the team. They are all things that Harry had on his side.

Thanks for reading

Sam

(comments are very welcome!)

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