Curbishley: Calls for stability

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Alan Curbishley believes West Ham need a period of stability following his decision to call time on his Hammers tenure.

The former Charlton Athletic boss became the first managerial departure of the new Premier League season on Wednesday, just three games into the 2008/09 campaign.

Curbishley replaced Alan Pardew in December 2006 and following his lengthy tenure at The Valley, he believes the Boleyn Park outfit need his successor to be in the post for longer than his reign.

"Perhaps a little word of warning is that I've been there 20 months and West Ham will now have had three managers and three different chairman if you like," he told Sky Sports News.

Stability

"Stability, as we all know, is the key to success."

Despite being out of a job for less than 24 hours, Curbishley has confirmed he is looking to make a swift return to Premier League management, if a top-flight job becomes available.

"If anything becomes available I'll be looking for that in the Premier League," he continued. "That's where I want to be and we'll see if that materialises."

Curbishley's position became untenable following a meeting with club officials on Sunday, in which he was informed players would need to be sold in order to fund future signings.

However, Curbishley, who guided West Ham to a 4-1 success over Blackburn just one day earlier, could not have envisaged the passage of events that would unfold over the weekend.

Looking forward

"This was the furthest from my mind when I came off the pitch on Saturday. It all changed on Sunday morning.

"I was looking forward to this season. In the pre-season I was hopeful of one or two players coming back.

"I'm a big boy, I've been around, I'm quite experienced. I just felt that this wasn't right. In the end I've had to make a stance on it.

"I look back at my time and no matter what people think, I've enjoyed it and I think I've done a good job."