'Curbs' certainly has a meatier CV.
Have Dowie or Laws ever taken a Premier League side down?

Part of my hope that they don't make the top 4 is based upon it being harder for them to recruit if they aren't a CL side.

TBH, if Citeh are willing to blow money in a Tevez fashion, finishing 4th might not actually make that much difference.

I thought top 4 was too much of a jump this season. I think they were mad for getting rid of Hughes when he was making a clear improvement in the side. But having got rid of Hughes, it's pretty obvious that not finishing in the top 4 will be a failure.

Should Citeh fans be gutted if they don't do it? IMO not really. ATM they are just at the start of a journey which should see them becoming one of the powers of English football. They should be enjoying the experience that the Sheikh has given them, not fretting all the way that they're not getting there quickly enough.

But Curbishley also has a recent history of shafting a club because everything didn't go his way. That's unlikely to endear him to any PL chairmen.

Dowie most definitely will have taken a PL side down. This will be Laws first and only experience of managing in the PL. Having PL experience will probably help him in the eyes of Championship and League One clubs, where he'll be lucky to be in the future.

Meatier was intended to cover the walkout at Charlton. Neither Laws nor Dowie have taken a Prem club down[size of course that will all change come the end of May.[/size

Dowie was in charge of C.Palace when they got promotion in 2003/2004 and was still there when they got relegated the year after IIRC !?!

Just checked. Dowie got Palace promoted to the PL and took them down the season after.

Very true.

Maybe they have hired Dowie to see if he still has bouncebackability ?

Has he, who ?

If you're on about West Ham, he quit in protest that Gianluca Nani in his 'football director' role and the board decided to sell McCartney & Ferdinand against his wishes when he had it stipulated in his contract that he dealt with all transfer activity. He gleaned alot of support from other Premiership for his actions, SAF being one.

He recently got paid his compensation didn't he, as I think he took them to court over it. They argued he'd walked out etc, I saw him on Goals On Sunday a while back, whilst he couldn't talk about the case, he was on about how having that hanging over him (the court case) had stopped him from getting positions (i'm not sure how).

He might be limited, as in, he's not the man to push you from 12th upwards, but man alive, if I was a Hull fan, I'd take Curbishley all day long, For Hull this year & next, getting to be a 12th - 15th placed league side would be fantastic, he could deliver that.

From my point of view, there is just a massive incompatibility between multi-millionaire football managers and employment tribunals. IMO employment tribunals are totally justified when we're talking about powerless employees being treated terribly by their supervisor or office manager, but totally out of place when we're talking about Premier League football managers who are earning 20 grand a week doing a job most of the world would kill for.

Kevin Keegan and Alan Curbishley have had their day in court, took their clubs for millions, IMO they now deserve for football to turn their backs on them and they can spend their ill-gotten gains however they wish.



TBH I'd agree with you. Curbishley is clearly a superior manager to Dowie and Laws.

But if Curbishley and Keegan are willing to throw their dummies out of their pram at one club and take them for millions, what's going to stop them at the next club? Nothing. That's why other clubs won't go near them.

Curbishley won't come North. That is the sole reason he isn't in either of the aforementioned jobs.

Besides, he seems happy in his 'tired platitudes' media role. Good for him, i say.

Liverpool have turned up for their cup final again, Benitez will keep his job as long as they get this result every season

Big decision that. Definitely a foul but should it of been red? Was it outside the area? It's a hard one to judge. He was initially fouled outside the area but the foul continued into the area. Mascherano could easily of gone off as Valencia would surely of got a shot off.

It's been a cracking start

He dragged him back outside the area and then Valencia threw himself on the floor once he got inside the box, but it should have been a red so its swings and roundabouts I suppose!