Book Review: Valley of Dreams

Having finally got my hands on a copy of "Valley of Dreams", my seven-hour flight back to NY was the ideal environment for a cover-to-cover Curbs extravaganza.

As it transpired, I had about fifteen pages remaining as the plane crossed the start of the JFK runway lights, but out of nowhere the engines suddenly roared and we began climbing again. I'm not exagerrating when I tell you we were no more than fifty feet from the tarmac. Apparently it's called a 'go around' in the business and was caused by a plane that was too slow to leave the runway. Ordinarily I would have been a nervous wreck but instead it just seemed a final poetic tribute to Curbs himself, giving me the extra twenty minutes I needed to complete the book as we circled for a renewed approach.

In fairness to Curbs, the book was better than I expected. For any Charlton fan, it's an essential and cracking yarn which brought back great memories. His ghost writer Kevin Brennan is obviously experienced at maintaining the reader's attention although the book would be a long struggle for anyone not intimately involved with the club. It is one thing to read about Curbs' glowing tribute to Keith Jones if you have watched him play, but another if you have never heard of the bloke. Meanwhile, I could have done without his extensive use of the exclamation mark ("A quiet afternoon at the Valley!" "A step too far for Richard!") but I suppose you don't read football books for their grammatical value.

There were also one or two factual errors which a trainspotter like me was bound to pick up on. On page 119, he discusses the first-leg play-off match against Crystal Palace in 1996 and reminds us that "...we did score first just before the hour..." when infact Shaun Newton opened the scoring inside five minutes (I know because I missed the goal having been stuck in traffic).

The first few chapters cover Curbs' time as a player under Lennie Lawrence, and it struck me how the vital role that Lennie played during our time at Selhurst Park has in a way been underestimated in light of his successor's outstanding tenure. Had we not maintained our First Division status for four seasons, it is easy to imagine the club would have gone into freefall - instead, he bought those that cared enough (Alwen, Murray, Simons, the Valley Party etc..) the time to formulate a realistic plan to save the club.

The period between his joint appointment in 1991 and the second promotion in 2000 is well-covered and full of interesting anecdotes, not least the one about David Whyte missing the first day of preseason training, and Brendan O'Connell once giving the wayward striker a black eye at half-time. It is clear that he viewed certain players as vital, yet somewhat underappreciated during this rebuilding period (Steve Gatting, Garry Nelson, Colin Walsh, Carl Leaburn). Some of his signings were rightly highlighted as representing outstanding value (Mark Kinsella, John Robinson) but other more expensive underperformers were somewhat glossed over (Steve Jones, Bradley Allen, Gary Poole).

The period in the Premiership since 2000 was perhaps the least interesting part of the book, but not surprisingly so perhaps given that by this point we were, if we're honest, just a 'normal footbal club' again. I found it odd that Curbs found it necessary to 'put on record' (his words) thanks to Danny Murphy for his time at Charlton. This type of brown-nosing emphasises my concerns that football people will always close ranks around their own regardless of how immoral their actions may be in the eyes of Joe Public, not least us Charlton fans.

His relationship with Richard Murray was clearly outstanding throughout, and it emphasises what we always knew about the Charlton chief. In light of Dowie's transfer spending and the recent delays to the Valley expansion, it was interesting to note that the club always put aside 1/3 of any cash windfalls to stadium expansion and to a reserve buffer respectively, putting only 1/3 towards new players. It can only add to the anxiety that many around the club must be feeling about the current League position.

As I had discussed previously, I was hoping the book may throw some light upon what traits Curbs has which less successful managers lack but it was indeed found wanting. One could glean that good preparation, original training sessions, hard work and team bonding were key but these are all surely the factors that any manager would emphasise. What was interesting however was that he finally confirmed certain aspects of his management that the fans had always suspected were true. For example, he confirmed that he liked 'hungry and angry' players, as well as flexible ones, whilst being suspicious of signing foreign players without previous Premiership experience. Regardless of his biases however, it was touching to hear about how personally he took the importance of selling the club to prospective signings, not least when he took Super Clive on 'Alan Curbishley's Tour of London.'

However if there was one overwhelming conclusion that I was able to draw from the book, it was that the success Curbs had would simply not have been possible without the stability provided by the Board, and by the patience and loyalty shown by the fans. He may arguably have been our most successful ever manager, but as he himself clearly knew with regard to certain players, no-one is bigger than the club. He has moved on, we have moved on, and we owe it to Dowie to be patient enough to offer him the chance someday of writing his own lengthy memoirs, if of course he is up to the task.