ALAN CURBISHLEY, a 1988 promotion winner with third tier Brighton, five years earlier had a watching brief as an unused sub for Aston Villa in a top-flight 0-0 draw with the relegation-bound Seagulls.
That trip to the Goldstone Ground on 26 March 1983 was his first involvement for Villa following a rare transfer between Second City rivals – a £100,000 fee plus makeweight Robert Hopkins taking him from St Andrew’s to Villa Park.
Villa hadn’t signed a player from the Blues since Geoff Vowden’s £12,500 move in March 1971 — and, after Tony Barton’s capture of Curbishley, they didn’t do so again until Spaniard Jota in July 2019.
After four seasons with City, Curbishley joined a Villa side who were the reigning European Cup holders and fourth in the table at the time. While it was a commendable result for bottom-of-the-table Brighton coming on the back of draws against leaders Liverpool (2-2) and third-placed Manchester United (1-1), Jimmy Melia’s side needed wins to have any chance of staying up.
As for Curbishley, he was again an unused sub the following week, away to Ipswich Town, but two days later, against his former club, he finally got a run-out as a 74th-minute sub for Des Bremner (brother of his future Albion teammate Kevin Bremner). Gary Shaw got the only goal of the game to give Villa the bragging rights.
It wasn’t until 19 April that Curbishley got his first start, slotting into midfield alongside Gordon Cowans and Dennis Mortimer, who scored the only goal of the game as Villa beat West Brom 1-0.
The new man’s debut caught the eye of this newspaper reporter, who wrote: “Curbishley’s quietly produced passes concealed their often considerable effect. Twice late in the match he tackled successfully at vital moments.
“It may well be that Curbishley, late of Birmingham City, is the type of player who makes a bigger mark in a better team for last night he appeared to have more time than ever he did at St Andrew’s.”
His second start saw him face another former club in West Ham and it was an unhappy afternoon because he picked up a booking and Villa lost 2-0.
Curbishley had begun his career with the Hammers and made 85 appearances across the First and Second Divisions before a £275,000 move to Birmingham in 1979.
Although his Villa career was under way, it didn’t pan out in the way he envisaged.
“I had high hopes of success there with them just having won the European Cup,” he told Dave Beckett in an Albion matchday programme article.
“It was soon obvious though that Tony Barton was under pressure from the moment he took over and all the players thought it was just a matter of time before he was sacked.
“He got a raw deal. That season we finished ninth in the league, got to the semis of the League Cup and were knocked out of the UEFA Cup in the last minute on the away goals rule.”
Curbishley played the majority of his Villa games under Barton in the 1983-84 season. A creator rather than a scorer, his only goal for the club was scored in a 3-2 defeat at Watford on Boxing Day 1983, a long-range shot that squeezed past Steve Sherwood in the Hornets’ goal.
Come the end of the season, Barton was replaced by Shrewsbury Town boss Graham Turner who proceeded to let go anyone who was a Barton signing.
In Richard Sydenham’s book Ticket To The Moon (deCoubertin Books), which charts Villa’s rise and fall in that period, the journalist discovered Curbishley was given an ex-gratia payment of £30,000 to leave Villa.
After 41 starts plus two as a sub (and nine as an unused sub), Curbishley was sold to Charlton Athletic for £40,000 in December 1984. It was the beginning of a long association with the Addicks punctuated only by his spell at Brighton under Barry Lloyd.
Off the field, Charlton were forced to move from their traditional home at The Valley and play home matches at Selhurst Park, but against that backdrop they managed to win promotion back to the 1st Division in 1986.
Unfortunately, Curbishley sustained an achilles tendon injury and only played 10 games in the 1986-87 season. “I knew I had an achilles injury but the operation was delayed until a week before the start of the new season and consequently I wasn’t fit again until December,” said Curbishley.
“The manager bought two new midfield players, which I understood, but, when I was fit again, I couldn’t get back into the side.”
After 13 seasons playing in the top two divisions, he left Charlton having scored six times in 63 games and dropped down to the Third to join the Albion for £32,500. He made his debut in a goalless draw at Chesterfield on 22 August 1987 in front of a crowd of just 2,286.
After the departure of Jimmy Case in 1985, the centre of Albion’s midfield had been crying out for someone who could put their foot on the ball and pass it, and Curbishley stepped neatly into that role, scoring six goals – mostly penalties – in 34 appearances as Brighton won promotion.
“Alan was a very level-headed guy, an excellent passer and really disciplined,” Albion boss Barry Lloyd told Spencer Vignes in a matchday programme article.
In total, over three years on the south coast, Curbishley played 127 games (plus five as sub) – making his 400th league appearance during the 1988-89 season – and scored 15 goals.
In 1990, Curbishley began his coaching career, returning to Charlton initially as player-coach under Lennie Lawrence. When Lawrence left in 1991, Charlton made the somewhat unusual decision to appoint joint managers: Curbishley and Steve Gritt (who would later be at the helm when Albion narrowly escaped dropping out of the league).
Curbishley’s first signings for Charlton were former Albion teammates Garry Nelson and Steve Gatting and he later plundered young winger John Robinson from the Seagulls. After four years, Curbishley took sole charge at The Valley and led Charlton to some of the most successful times in their history.
Born in Forest Gate, London on 8 November 1957, within a mile of West Ham station, he was one of five children (elder brother Bill famously promoted and managed The Who and Led Zeppelin and was producer of the films Tommy and Quadrophenia).
Curbishley first played in Brighton at under 11 level, in a Newham Boys side against Brighton Boys at Longhill School, in May 1967. He was later capped for England Boys aged 15 and after joining the Hammers straight from school played for England Youth.
He won nine England Youth caps under Ken Burton, scoring on his debut in a 1-1 draw against Poland in Las Palmas on 21 January 1975 when England went on to win the Atlantic Cup. Among his teammates were future England captain Bryan Robson, Peter Barnes and Keith Bertschin.
He vied for a starting berth with Mark Nightingale (Palace, Bournemouth, Norwich, Peterborough), making six starts and three appearances off the bench. His last appearance was in a 1-0 win over Wales in Cardiff on 11 February 1976, playing alongside Glenn Hoddle and Gary Owen.
Curbishley earned his one and only England Under 21 cap in a 5-0 thrashing of Switzerland at Portman Road when Justin Fashanu was among the scorers. He hoped to go to the 1982 World Cup with England, having broken into the England B squad, but fractured a kneecap sliding into a tackle with Albion’s Brian Horton.
“I missed the rest of the season and the start of the next, and the World Cup squad which I might have broken into otherwise,” he said. “It was the worst disappointment I’ve ever faced.”