two league and cup appearances in 1974–75, 18 appearances in 1975–76, 12 appearances in 1976–77 and 36 appearances in 1977–78, while competing for a midfield position with Trevor Brooking, Alan Devonshire, Pat Holland, Geoff Pike and Billy Bonds. After West Ham were relegated at the end of the 1977–78 season, he fell out with manager, John Lyall, and although he made a further 28 appearances for West Ham in 1978–79, he subsequently transferred to Birmingham City in April 1979 for a fee of £225,000. He joined local rivals Aston Villa in 1983 but a change of managers saw him transferred again to Charlton Athletic in the following year. He began his first period at Charlton Athletic in 1984, helping them to promotion to Division 1 in 1985–86. He then moved to Brighton & Hove Albion in 1987. He helped them win promotion to the Second Division as Third Division runners-up in his first season. He returned to Charlton as player/coach under the management of Lennie Lawrence in 1990 and would stay there for 16 years. International career Curbishley was capped at schoolboy level for England and was a regular in the England youth team. While at Birmingham City, he won his only England U-21 cap against Switzerland in 1980. He was selected for the England B squad in 1981, but a fractured kneecap ended his involvement with England. Management career Charlton Athletic When Lennie Lawrence left in July 1991, Curbishley became joint manager of the club with Steve Gritt, taking sole command from June 1995 and masterminding the revival of the club's fortunes with two promotions and consolidation into the Premier League. Under Alan Curbishley Charlton won promotion, via the play-offs in 1997–98 after a thrilling play-off final against Sunderland at Wembley. The match ended in a 4–4 draw with Charlton winning 7–6 on penalty kicks, to take their place in the Premiership for 1998–99. Charlton had a good first month of the season with a 5–0 home win over Southampton and credible 0–0 draws away to Newcastle United and Arsenal respectively, which saw Curbishley win Manager of the Month for August. However, after victory over Nottingham Forest, in the first game of October, Charlton won just one more game (against West Ham 4–2), before a dreadful run that yielded only three points from 13 games, including eight consecutive defeats, by February 1999. Charlton then won three in a row