From a studio at the top of the stand named in his honour, Alan Curbishley is recounting the day a record crowd came to The Valley and he sat on the stage watching The Who performing to an estimated 88,000 people.
He was 16 years old and a month from joining West Ham as an apprentice, and he spent the morning making pin badges on a small machine and selling them to gig-goers for 20 pence apiece.
‘I earned more money that day than I did in a month as an apprentice at West Ham,’ says Curbishley, whose brother Bill was managing the band and fielding demands as they all became engulfed by the chaos of the day.
‘I always remember my brother on the phone to his wife. They’d had a new fridge delivered and she was telling him they’d ripped the carpet bringing it in. Then someone else walked into the room and said one of the lorries had just knocked down a wall. He stood up and said, “Get a new carpet and a new f***ing wall” and then he walked out. It was incredible.
‘A great show, it was the start of the big all-day concerts and there were supposed to be 80,000 in but there were 88,000 allegedly. I sat at the side of the stage, looking out across this east bank with 40-odd thousand standing along here.’
This was 1974, a decade before the first of Curbishley’s two spells as a Charlton player and 15 years as manager, and the club’s seven-year exile from and romantic return to its spiritual home, and the unforgettable ascent to the Premier League.
Alan Curbishley back at The Valley where his old club Charlton take on Chelsea in the FA Cup this weekend
Curbishley is reunited with members of his fine Charlton side from the early 2000s – (from left) Scott Minto, Steve Brown and Kevin Lisbie
All part of the folklore in this corner of south-east London, where on Saturday, midway through their 19th consecutive season outside the top flight, Charlton are braced for Chelsea and the biggest FA Cup crowd at The Valley since the mid-70s.
Curbishley has spent the previous hour recording a show with ex-players Scott Minto, Kevin Lisbie and Steve Brown for Charlton’s media channels.
Sensible thoughts have been shared on Chelsea and their new head coach Liam Rosenior (a change in the dugout which Curbishley suspects is bad news for the Addicks because it will chase complacency from the visiting team) and on Charlton’s progress under Nathan Jones since promotion from League One last season.
They have sparred on big topics such as cars bought from team-mates, traffic through the Blackwall Tunnel, Brown’s faux anger about recency bias and Christmas knitwear, with Curbishley’s unexpected advocacy of mothballs met with three very blank stares.
Lisbie has been teased about the half-and-half scarf he was pictured in ahead of last year’s play-off final against Leyton Orient, a club where he spent four years towards the end of his career, and they have had a good laugh at the hairdo and sunglasses worn by Minto for a pre-match interview from Wembley ahead of the Chelsea v Middlesbrough FA Cup final in 1997.
‘George Graham wouldn’t have let you on the pitch looking like that,’ roars Curbishley, recalling how he had struck a deal to sell Minto, his dashing young left back, to Arsenal for £200,000 more than the £875,000 paid by Chelsea in 1994.
And Minto admits he lied to buy himself time before walking out of Highbury and found a phone box from where he launched a move to Stamford Bridge instead with the help of Keith Peacock, another Charlton legend who became Curbishley’s assistant manager at The Valley and whose son Gavin was already playing for Chelsea.
Dressing room humour bounces around the studio and Curbs, as everyone calls him, is still the boss, respected for his great wealth of knowledge and catalogue of hilarious stories, from the time Bobby Moore and Frank Lampard Snr sent him home with a crate of Skol lager from the boot of Moore’s car after dropping him home after his West Ham debut to characters of the modern game like Paolo Di Canio and Carlos Tevez.
Curbishley celebrates leading Charlton to promotion via the play-offs in 1998
Curbishley oversaw Charlton’s greatest era, when they ascended to the top flight and signed star players such as Paolo Di Canio
On signing Clive Mendonca from Grimsby in 1997, he recalls how he picked him up at King’s Cross to take him to his medical at Buckhurst Hill in Essex.
‘Clive had never been to London before and seemed all nervous,’ says Curbishley. ‘I thought I’d better drive him around and show him a bit of London, and we got to Chigwell. I said, “Clive, this is Chigwell, this is the other side of London to Charlton, but you can live over this side if you want. I live over this side”.
‘But he hadn’t said a word for about half an hour. I was starting to think he didn’t want to sign for us. Alan Buckley, the Grimsby manager, wanted to keep him and had been trying to stop the deal. Then, Clive suddenly said, “This is where Sharon and Tracey live”.
‘I said, “what?” And he said, “Sharon and Tracey… from Birds of a Feather. They live in Chigwell”.’
The familiarity of Mendonca’s favourite TV sitcom settled his mind. Charlton got the medical done and completed the deal. Did he settle in Chigwell, though? ‘Nah, south London,’ laughs Curbishley.
‘But that was a turning point for us because we’d been selling to survive and it was the first time we were buying players. We spent a million on Clive and Matty Holmes, who was a good player as well and that changed us.’
Charlton went up via the play-offs in 1998 with Mendonca the Wembley hero against Sunderland, then straight back down and back as champions and stayed in the Premier League until 2007. There were some fierce battles with Chelsea along the way.
The Addicks won four in a row to start the 21st century, including one when Jason Euell scored twice. ‘Another big signing,’ says Curbishley. ‘Club record. When he introduced himself, he said, “My name is Jason Euell and I score goals”. I said, “Let’s hope so Jason”.’
Kevin Lisbie in action against Chelsea’s Ricardo Carvalho and John Terry in 2005
There was also ‘the beach’ controversy in 2003, when Charlton took Chelsea to the FA after defeat, complaining they had been made to play on an artificial sand surface without warning
Lisbie came off the bench to score the winner in one. Then came ‘the beach’ controversy at Stamford Bridge in 2003, when Charlton took Chelsea to the FA after defeat, complaining they had been made to play on an artificial sand surface without warning. ‘Like a piece of land you’d prepare for a new patio,’ was Curbishley’s take, further enhancing his everyman status.
There was the Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink goal for Charlton at the Bridge and the bizarre sight of Blues fans standing to applaud a goal by the visitors, scored by a former favourite.
But the one that stands out at The Valley came on Boxing Day 2003, midway through Chelsea’s first season of the Roman Abramovich era. Abramovich had invested more than £110million in his team but Charlton beat them 4-2 with Scott Parker outstanding in midfield. They were fourth in the Premier League.
Two days later, Chelsea’s chief executive Peter Kenyon called to buy Parker. ‘They offered really poor money,’ says Curbishley.
‘Terrible, terrible offer, which didn’t bother Scott. And then our chairman Richard Murray went on holiday and left me in charge, basically.
‘We got them up to £12m plus Carlton Cole on loan, but we couldn’t stand in Scott’s way. I don’t blame Scott, it’s just a fact of life, isn’t it? I mean, it’s happening now with Antoine Semenyo. Matty Holland, the captain, and Di Canio came to see me and said, “Look, we’ve got to let him go”.
‘But by the time we made the deal, we couldn’t spend the money. It was the last week of the window. Everybody knew we had £12m and every time I went for someone the price doubled.’
Fans started grumbling as results faded. Curbishley was interviewed but overlooked for the England job. In the end, he left in summer 2006
A Scott Parker-inspired Charlton beat Roman Abramovich owned Chelsea 4-2 in 2003. Chelsea promptly signed Parker but not before putting in a ‘terrible, terrible offer’ says Curbishley
Charlton won only two of their last 10 games and slipped to seventh, still their highest Premier League finish. Di Canio left after one season to rejoin Lazio and with Chelsea’s billions changing the landscape, Curbishley’s collective were unable to kick on and frustration set in.
Fans grumbled as results faded. Curbishley was interviewed but overlooked for the England job. In the end, he left in summer 2006.
‘The chairman wanted me to sign a new contract,’ Curbishley recalls. ‘I had a year left and I was reluctant and his argument was that it would be difficult to sign players for three or four years if I only had a year left.
‘I don’t think that’s right, but the conversation went on, and it worked out that I was going to leave.
‘It was a Friday before a home game against Blackburn. After Friday training I was the manager and Friday afternoon I wasn’t, but it was amicable. I told the players the next day and we moved on.’
Charlton were never the same without him and relegated a year later, lurching from one ownership crisis to another. ‘The bottom line,’ says Minto, ‘is that Curbs oversaw Charlton’s greatest time in their history.’
Even now, it stands as an object lesson for clubs who come into the Premier League, establish themselves and then want more. Be it European football or trophies or more attractive football. Appreciate what you have and be careful what you wish for.
Prince William visits Curbishley at Charlton’s training ground in Eltham, south London, in 2005
‘The gate is as important as the result,’ says Curbishley of the Chelsea match. ‘I’d rather not play them and the new manager makes it more difficult’
‘Look at West Ham,’ says Brown. ‘Had David Moyes, didn’t like him, changed manager and they’re heading for the Championship where they’ll have 30,000 rattling around in that stadium.’
Charlton are on the mend. Back in the Championship this season under Jones. Looking to establish again and maybe one day push on back to the Premier League. Curbishley is looking forward to a big crowd at The Valley once again.
‘The gate is as important as the result,’ says Curbishley. ‘I’d rather not play them and the new manager makes it more difficult. He will pick the strongest side and it takes any complacency out of it.
‘It would be better if they still had some of those players in sunglasses.’
