https://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/sport/football/curle-responds-criticism-his-style-play-and-reveals-long-term-plan-evolve-cobblers-philosophy-3066901

That was a good read, I enjoyed that.

I was always getting into bother for defending Keith on the Carlisle board so here I go again 

When Keith took us over we were cast adrift at the bottom of League Two looking well and truly finished with a squad that many a supporter would agree to being the worst Carlisle United team they had ever seen, in comes Keith and we are still rubbish but he brings in his pal Derek Asamoah and I don't know how but we managed to scrape enough points together to avoid going down to to non-league level, properly saved us then he was allowed to build his own team and as I have previously mentioned we never got promotion but he turned us into contenders on a yearly basis.

This however was not enough for some fans and they were split, you got the regular 'Curle has never won a promotion and never will' brigade to the more appreciative fan like myself who enjoyed being in the thick of promotion chasing rather than scrapping about at the bottom of the league, it was a no brainer in my eyes.

When Keith's contract ran out he was offered a new one which he turned down, this could have been a really low offer so the club would say 'look we wanted him to stay' but the general feeling was that they wanted shot of him and his budget would have been drastically cut, had he stayed I think that he would have been living on borrowed time in the job so he left with his stocks still relatively high and was in a rare position for a manager to get a standing ovation after the final game as a manager is normally sacked or leaves acrimoniously so it was a little strange.

Another thing that split fans was that Curle was constantly on the radio or the tv giving opinions on various things and many Carlisle United supporter thought that he was bigging himself up looking for a better role - again this never bothered me as for Curle to have left Carlisle then we would have got money for him as he was under contract and just as important was that for anyone to actually want him we would have to be flying high in the league and doing well.

It was no surprise that after Curle, with a few tweaks Sheridan took us instantly to the top but did his normal thing and left abruptly, but the players were mainly the quality that Curle brought in that he was using - this is when the problems started when they brought in Pressley to 'build his own squad' and fast forward less than a year and we are scrapping around at the bottom of League 2 looking for a 'Keith Curle type' to come and save us.

With your recent promotion Curle has proved that he has got more in his cannon than a reliable manager to bring in if anyone is struggling with relegation issues but reading that interview with him he has stayed with his tinkerman methods and this will be his making or his downfall and he knows this, it drove our fans crackers when he would disrupt the team that won the last game when we were on a run and we would lose but you also forget that during this run he was doing the same thing changing things but it didn't matter because we were winning, he will rarely tell you how badly a player is injured and how long they will be out but this is common practice with some managers so as not to tip off leaking the team to the opposing manager.

Definitely an interesting bloke, one of his best qualities is that he endears himself to the fans and has all the time in the world for the supporters - he was getting a bit of stick from some of ours and so he invited them down to the ground for a bit of a crack and they came away with nothing bad to say about him - there was some bloke though that had his leg knee down in a massive tattoo of Keith - going a bit too far that though for example  

Hi all - a Carlisle United fan here again, the one that was pro-Curle when he was appointed your manager.

Just thought that I would have a look over here to see how he is getting on and it does make me chuckle as it virtually mirrors what a lot of Carlisle United supporters were saying when he was our manager, albeit with different players of course.

Like yourselves the players that we had under Curle were on those incentive based contracts, we however we were top of the league at Christmas and our board were furious because they were skint by forking out those bonuses and it put the club in a bit of bother financially, they are still blaming Curle for this 'mess' to this very day - basically they couldn't afford the money that success on the pitch was bringing and what happened was that the club found a way of how to stop paying these 'win' bonuses, the players reported the club to the PFA, the club won and then our form plummeted us down the league till we scraped a last upturn of form and got into the playoffs.

Our board would have loved to have sacked him but Curle has a knack of turning things around as you have seen, the arguments that you have that the football is poor is what our fans were saying but the majority of fans were behind him because the results on the whole were very good, after inheriting one of our worst ever teams that was routed to the bottom of the league he turned us into a club that pushed for promotion every season, the season was always kept alive until the last few games which I liked, I think that Curle is not bothered about a settled team which many find infuriating but sets the team up for individual games which can play havoc with your form, we for example hadn't won in a while and there were rumours from 'people in the know' that he had lost the dressing room then he went and won four games on the bounce silencing the critics.

I can see both sides to be honest but it all depends on what you are happy with, give Curle a bit of money and he will take you there or there about in the league nearly every time, if you don't then the lower placing in the league coupled with the style of football may be a bit too much for some - one thing Curle has though as mentioned is the ability to turn things around that many other managers don't have, usually they hit rocky form that they cannot get out of and are sacked.

Many wouldn't but I would have Curle back as manager in the future but our new lad Beech is doing the business for us now- I don't think that he would be allowed back anyhow as the DOF still slags him off at every opportunity to this very day, he also forgets that the squad that Curle left us with was excellent and even Sheridan had them flying at the top of the league, a lot of the bad feeling was that Curle was 'allegedly' side-stepping the usual routes to signing players and was going straight to the owner who sanctioned them going above others therefore putting their noses out of joint. 

Anyhow - good luck for the rest of the season and with a bit of luck we will be up there in League 1 playing you next season

Very honest of you.

Does losing Curle & Sheridan in quick succession indicate that all is not well with the way the club is being "run" by the money-people?

Are you expecting a mass-exodus of players this window?

Cheers Crutchless - just how it was though really.

We are relying on too many loan players this season who have over-performed and put themselves into the shop window meaning that their parent clubs want them back to play or to sell on.

The players that Curle signed are very similar to the ones that you yourselves moved on, on high money but as you can see the players that he signed for us are quality otherwise we wouldn't be in the play-off places but David Holdsworth signs players now to 'look after the books'.

The loan players had gone back before yesterday and our squad is threadbare so a draw is as much as I expected from that game.

Nearly everyone at our place is out of contract come the end of the season so possibly expect to see a few Carlisle United players coming in.

Check out the link below from our site - I think it is a hoax but you never know....

https://www.thecumbrians.net/cufc-forum/main-forum/9717-jamie-devitt-rumour

I bet the "Easier Games to Come" thread on the Carlisle forum is going into over drive tonight.

Nah, we were well turned over today.

Hacked off as it was the end of our winning run and if Hope had scored first half I think we might have bagged a draw.

There wasn't any major dodgy decisions or a dirty game so on that basis I cannot moan about anything really.

Keith Curle is a star - leave him alone

Funny as at Carlisle he left on a high note and got an ovation from the crowd and the directors were singing his praises.

Roll on a couple of months and the same directors and owner were slagging him off for all the money that he spent - erm it was them that were signing the cheques and waited till he had gone to have a sly swipe

I have heard the name Shaun Brisley mentioned.

Shaun Brisley is not that great and Curle could not wait to get rid of him so that would surprise me and if he is that good then why are Notts County second bottom....

Two of our players have just asked to go out on loan for game time and their contracts are up at the end of the season, Jones and Bennett - Curle signed both of them and we paid 50k for Bennett.

Bennett frustrated Curle and has not really shone but when Curle used him effectively he would get the goal in a 1-0 win whereas Jones is a big favourite of Curle, and a decent footballer as well so don't be amazed if he turns up at your place.

You could do far worse.

Yes MunchyMagic most of our players are on League One wages, although they were apparently reduced following relegation. Our Chairman has already stated that we need to bring the spending down in the next two transfer windows, so it will be interesting to see what activity takes place in January. 

We had that problem after relegation with lazy players sitting tight on high wages and Keith got rid of them - Paynter was a waste of space but Dicker divided the fans as he was pretty decent but Keith made them do extra training as they were always coming back from injury and they reported him to the FA.

Paynter by the way was on a fortune and claimed he had nowhere to stay as he was from Liverpool so slept in his car at times in the club car park till he found a caravan out somewhere along the Solway!

Keith got lucky and offloaded him to Hartlepool and he managed to help relegate them.

That's what I mean pal, the players have to earn it but there is an incentive to earn big money if you are successful - our board bricked it when we went on that winning run and we had ran out of money by Christmas, half way through the season.

There is no better way to implode than when you are top of the league and you reward your players by stopping their bonuses.

Thanks for the info.

However, there is no-way that Nicky Adams would re-sign for us. He left us to join you at Carlisle and to be closer to his family in the Manchester area, so Bury is where he will stay, unfortunately. We are also trying to reduce our wage budget, so doubt we will sign your high earners.         

No problem pal.

However we have had players in recent times who wanted to leave as we were too far north and they wanted to be nearer family in London and when they left they promptly signed for Scottish clubs

As for reducing your wage bill, I am guessing that a lot of your players are on League One salaries and Keith knows exactly what our players are on as he signed them - our highest earners will be on about a grand to fifteen hundred quid a week, apart from Gerrard who is on more allegedly but his contract is up next month anyhow.

What is the wage structure like at your place mate? - I do know that Keith put incentives into all his signings here with massive win bonuses and clean sheet bonuses so expect these at Northampton.

It worked for us a couple of seasons back and we were top of the league at Christmas - then because we were winning loads of games then the bonuses kicked in to the point that we ran out of money and stopped paying them the bonuses!

To cut a long story short Keith had a rant on the radio saying that people inside the club were against him, the club apparently were in their rights not to pay the bonuses after the players took it to the FA and we dropped like a stone, to the point where we had to win at Exeter on the final day to make the play-offs and we scraped into them.

It was a complete mess and the Carlisle United board shafted him.

Was watching Hope last night on the goals on quest and thought would Curle be in for him.

Rumour has it that we (Carlisle United) are in the crap financially and all bar two of our players are out of contract at the end of the season so if Keith did fancy any of them then the biggest earners will be given the push and you will get them with ease.

There was a funny story when Hope left Bury he went to Los Angeles or somewhere near in America for his holidays and Keith flew out there and hounded him - the story is obviously true as Keith himself confirmed it on the radio, he said that "I ran after Hallam more than I have ever chased after a woman in my life"

The bit that angered the fans was the rumour that to sign Hope then we had to sign his apparently 'rubbish' mate Kelvin Etuhu who was also released by Bury - turned out that Etuhu was quality, possibly our most consistent performer this season and would easily average a seven for his performances.

I would not like to lose either or both of those two but it looks imminent even if not to yourselves, Keith likes Devitt and Jones who are also on high money and out of favour (Devitt was swearing at our manager on Saturday even though we won 6-0).

It wouldn't surprise me if you go in for Bury's Adams or Cambridge's Ibehre as Keith loves the pair of them.

Bit of a difference between Hylton and Carlisle's 'best' players tbf!
Merry Christmas...always travel to Carlisle away - good weekend!

Cheers pal and likewise, I used to live and work nearby for twenty years so when the Northampton away game came up for Carlisle it was always a treat and Northampton has a decent friendly nightlife and is not full of knuckle dragging idiots looking for a fight, we always found the folk friendly and the pubs great.

I think a lot of the supporters would agree with this - it would be interesting to know if KC thinks the same way.

Hi guys, at Carlisle Keith rarely promoted youth yet the three that spring to mind that he did, Potts/Dempsey/Cosgrove are currently doing really well at a higher level - every club thinks what you stated and our fans said the same thing last season with Keith in charge yet the youth set up had its own manager and we were bottom or near bottom of the youth league so that tells me that if they are not any good then he would be risking his job by playing them.

He always admired Hylton so it would not amaze me if you land him from Luton or pick up some of our best players - not many to pick from our lot really worth taking.

Merry Christmas to you all and best of luck in the league unless it is to Carlisle United's disadvantage

Come on lads, stick with tradition, whoah-ooo-ooo mysterious Curle, he wants to play 3-5-2

To the tune of Peter Andre's Mysterious Girl of course.

Following JFH, Austin etc, Curle is exactly the kind of manager we needed: pragmatic, experienced, tough. His style of play is fairly primitive ATM and appears to involve hoofing it into the channels and playing the percentages.

However, the players appear to enjoy the clarity and simplicity of the instructions after Austin's total football approach and JFH's pseudo-premier league catenaccio.

Hopefully the current defensive woes are just a blip in an otherwise upward sweep.

In many ways this is reminiscent of when Hoofroyd took over from Johnson and I wouldn't be surprised if Curle's Cobblers career follows a similar trajectory. Let's just hope that, unlike dear old Aidy, Curle is eventually able to evolve.

Sounds like he is working out what he has got, Curle controversially hounded out two of our players on arrival (Dicker and Paynter) both on big money but they were made to do extra training and whined to the FA and they were soon jettisoned - Dicker was fairly decent but Paynter was a waste of space, yet they fell foul of Curle and you rarely come back from that.

Any 'sulkers' will be firmly kicked in the bollocks and will be gone come January.

The weirdest thing for me is that Curle was never sacked by Carlisle United, managers normally get the chop or move onto better things but mutually agreeing to end a contract is an odd one, especially when you are a top ten side.

Even stranger is that he took over a pile of crap that was not even Conference North quality (seriously) brought in Asamoah and the rest is history.

Odd that we ended up with a far better squad than what our previous manager left us with so I am grateful for that too

Your feet wont touch the ground mate my rapid response team will have you out the door before you can say Keith Curle is useless? 

In that case I will stick to regular tap beer thanks - the lads that frequent your place that I have seen are Carlisle United legends and hard looking rugby playing chaps, you probably served me when I was there.


Will say hello when am up there pal, don't get there too often but a few of my mates live in the area and drink in there often so you will probably know them all.

Dammm,
You've found me Munchy, just when I thought I would get away with saying a few things.
You see folks me and Munchy will always disagree about Curly Chops, I think in the past they've been secret lovers  Grin
I was not trying to put Curly down too much only pointing out what you lot as fans will have to endure.
As munchy says I do work where the squad trains, so I do get to know the squads very well, and I got to know KC very well as well. And (cover your eyes here Munchy) I did actually quite like Keith, he was always polite and gracious and always took great interest in what I was doing. My biggest grievance (as with any manager) was the chopping and changing of the squad, Munchy was saying that it was normally due to injuries which I'm afraid is complete rubbish, it was down to Keith thinking he could outsmart the opposition which leads me back to the big squad/premiership attitude, that he had.
As Munchy was saying there is a hell of a lot I could divulge about the goings on over the last few years, but I think I'll leave it at that.
I suppose at the end of the day its about opinions, Munchy obviously loved him to bits, myself and a good 50% of our support thought differently, which is probably the reason most of us love this bloody stupid game.         

When am back up and about I will have to pop up and have that pint Bry and any of your anti-Curle crap then I'll order something from the top row and when you turn around I will t wat you with my crutch lol

Thanks Munchy - a decent enough counter to Mr Brys effort where I gained the impression that he was representative of your board! Bit misleading there ; he also sounded a bit bitter? Pleased you made the effort as it puts things in perspective.

No problem mate.


One thing we did notice up here was that when there was a period of drawing too many and the odd loss folk were saying that Curle had lost the dressing room then we would maybe win seven on the trot afterwards, he always made it hard for the board to sack him as he always turned it around.


When he saved us from certain relegation (our squad was far worse than what you currently have) in his first part-season was an amazing feat and what I really appreciated is that in the next few seasons we were there or about around the top of the table and when we did not grab promotion it was always a case of being in with a chance up until the last couple of games for promotion meaning the season stayed alive until the end.

You've got a good manager there, yes he does tinker at times but so what, the best managers do this as we do not know what goes on in training and what they see in the week.

He will not tell you what reason and why he leaves players out which infuriated people up here but normally it was because they were injured and did not want to give the opposition that knowledge and that is normal practice, rumours fly around that he has fell out with said player however.

When we were still in with a chance of promotion some guy unfurled a Curle out banner in Brunton Park and got ejected, his prerogative I guess but clubs of our side in with a shout of promotion doesn't happen that often so that baffled me as well.


Sheridan is doing okay for us but he is no Curle.

Another Carlisle United supporter here, we are like busses

Just like on the Carlisle board, I totally disagree with Bry as since Keith left Carlisle United we have gone backwards and the football is worse - Bry is a good lad but what he fails to mention is how Curle turned us around and turned us into a decent side even getting us into the play-offs, given a full season there is no reason why you shouldn't be challenging which when you look at our last few seasons I am amazed at some fans not rating him, they are in the minority however as Keith won every single 'should we sack our manager' poll well, as in 'keep him'.

Our board did not offer him a new deal and then they had various managers in the box with them 'courting' his job and Keith remained dignified.


Bry however is an insider as in he works at our training ground so probably knew Keith and most of the players and has more info on him than anyone on here I guess but many of us on the Carlisle Board just believed that the players who were out of favour and not getting a game were getting in Bry's ear and slagging Curle off.

I bet that Bry has a good few stories that are true mind you that he wouldn't dare put online