Aston Villa hold talks with Alan Curbishley
Sep 2 2010 by Mat Kendrick
ALAN Curbishley is on the shortlist to succeed Martin O’Neill as Villa’s next manager and has been interviewed by the claret and blue board.
The former Charlton Athletic and West Ham boss met with the club’s top brass yesterday as Randy Lerner closes in on an appointment.
Curbishley, who played for Villa in the mid-1980s after transferring from Birmingham, has been out of football exactly two years today.
The 52-year-old quit West Ham in September 2008 and has since been linked with several Premier League and Championship vacancies.
He fits Villa’s primary criterion of boasting top-flight managerial experience after around 300 games with Charlton and 60 with the Hammers.
Curbishley is among a handful of contenders being interviewed this week along with Villa’s caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald.
The former midfielder resigned from the Upton Park hot-seat after key players were sold without his permission. He later won a case for constructive dismissal after a ruling that West Ham’s transfer policy contravened the terms of his contract.
Curbishley played 36 games for Villa between 1983 and 1984 after arriving from Blues where he had made 130 appearances. Lerner and chief executive Paul Faulkner have headed up the club’s recruitment panel since the interview process got underway on Monday.
The board intend to speak to two more candidates today with a view to hopefully making an appointment by early next week at the latest.
