Curle confident of halting Northampton’s decline
The new manager tells Pippa Field he is not worried by League Two club’s hiring and firing
Fresh from watching Europe reclaim the Ryder Cup, Keith Curle was about to try his new driver on the golf range when his phone rang. Northampton Town, fourth from bottom in League Two with one win in 10 having been relegated in May, had parted ways with manager Dean Austin and wanted Curle as his replacement.
The 54-year-old was available after choosing to leave Carlisle United last summer, a club he had transformed from relegation candidates to promotion challengers within the space of 3½ seasons.
His new suitors, putting together yet another severance package after sacking their fourth manager since Chris Wilder left to join Sheffield United just weeks after winning the League Two title in 2016, were craving a similar turnaround in fortunes.
Was the former Mansfield, Chester City, Torquay United and Notts County manager worried about the club’s recent tendency of hiring and firing when he agreed to join on a deal until the end of next season?
“You can’t be concerned about the past. As far as I’m concerned, I’m in charge of my own destiny,” said Curle, ahead of today’s trip to Swindon Town.
“It would be disrespectful to talk about the impact that any previous manager had or didn’t have. Every manager has their own methodology of how they want to work.
“I’ve been given the authorisation to manage how I see fit and have control over recruitment and being able to work with the stakeholders regarding the mechanics of the budget. Walking in, it’s for me to fail.”
A summer away from the game had allowed the former Manchester City and England defender to return to golf after playing only twice in four years at Carlisle – although that is now hit into the long grass again, Curle half-joking that he hoped success at Northampton would mean he did not play for another four.
He also kept himself busy by other means – clearing out the garage, reorganising the utility room, cleaning the cupboards and decorating family members’ houses, as well as indulging in episodes of Gordon Ramsay’s American reality cooking series Hell’s Kitchen. “I’m not as abrupt as Gordon with my coaching but probably as honest,” he said. “If something is not right, it’s not right.” But speaking with Curle, a man who has spent the last 37 years involved in football, it is clear where his main passion lies.
So it was straight to work this week, insisting on taking charge for Tuesday’s goalless draw with Bury. “My approach was that from the day you are paying me, so from Monday, I’m doing my job.”
He watched videos of the team’s season with assistant and former Northampton forward Colin West on Monday. Then gave a “sevenminute technical and tactical masterclass on the components of 3-5-2” on Tuesday, dropped five players including top-scorer Kevin van Veen, and watched as his new side claimed their fourth home point of the season.
“The pleasing thing was, it is about evolving as a team and not trying to start a revolution,” he said. “I said to the players that I want to go on a journey and it’s going to be down to the players who comes with me.
“I don’t need to fall out with players. It’s very simple. It’s clear what direction I want to go in, which is up the table. If players see themselves going in a different direction then obviously they find the bus stop that suits them and jump on a different bus. I don’t force anyone onto it.”
Curle’s achievements at Carlisle – including taking Liverpool to penalties at Anfield in the third round of the League Cup in 2015, and reaching the 2017 play-off semi-finals – mean expectation levels are high.
Speaking after the 4-0 defeat by Mansfield, his last game in charge, Austin argued it would be a struggle for anyone to rouse a group of players who had lost 57 games in just over two seasons.
But while agreeing confidence among the players was low, Curle has faith in his ability to bring about change. “Every blueprint is different for every club,” he said. “But I understand football. I’m a confident coach who has belief that I can produce winning teams with the players that I’ve got at my disposal.
“When I walked into Carlisle, they had won one game in 23. They were four points adrift at the bottom of League Two off the back of a relegation. I’m proud of the direction that we were able to take the club in.
“Probably the biggest thing that happened when I walked in at Carlisle was that I wasn’t scared of any challenges. We are going to have some challenges along the way here, too. It’s trying to create the environment that we are not scared of challenges individually and as a club.”