By EX Editor Tony McDonald

WEST Ham are looking to appoint only their 12th full-time manager following the resignation of Alan Curbishley (Wednesday, September 3) shortly before 2pm today.

Curbs walked away 20 months after being appointed as Alan Pardew’s replacement in December 2006, with his team placed fifth in the Premier League after two wins out of three - their best start for nine years.

He quit on a matter of principle, his position having become virtually untenable after being undermined by the board of directors, who have now come under fire from outraged supporters unhappy at the way the club is being run.

Curbishley spoke to Sky Sports' Nick Collins on the afternoon of his departure and admitted that it was a breach of trust concerning the club's transfer policy between the board and himself that prompted him to quit.

"I'm absolutely gutted that I've had to come to this decision," said Curbs, who said he made up his mind soon after he met West Ham CEO Scott Duxbury on Sunday morning. At that meeting, he says he was told that he would not be able to bring in any more (loan) signings unless he sold another player.

"I told him we might as well all go home now," said Curbs.

He took over a club doomed to relegation from the Premier League and, thanks to Carlos Tevez’s dramatic winning goal on the final day of the 2006-07 season, saved them from relegation after all had looked lost. How much of the credit for that Houdini act should go to Curbishley and how much of it was due to the brilliance of individuals such as Tevez and keeper Robert Green is a moot point.

Although the football was rarely pretty to watch (Curbs’ two most creative players, Tevez and Yossi Benayoun, were both sold to Manchester United and Liverpool respectively), Hammers managed to finish halfway (10th) in the PL last season despite a spate of injuries.

And despite an abysmal 3-0 defeat at Manchester City in their first away league game of this season, West Ham have won all three of their home matches so far this campaign – the last two by a 4-1 margin.

But there was a growing inevitability about Curbs’ departure. A case really of when, not if.

He had been installed as the bookies’ 4-1 pre-season favourite for the chop and he had still not won over the majority of fans who have been critical of his team’s lack of style, a cautious approach and his judgement in the transfer market.

Curbs will counter that he was never able to field his first choice team due to a catalogue of unavoidable injuries to key players, notably expensive signings Kieron Dyer, Julien Faubert, Craig Bellamy and Scott Parker. Many fans will argue that Curbs put his faith in too many players who have a history of injury problems and question the club's injury-prevention and rehabilitation systems.

Certainly, Curbs can feel that he has been let down by certain players, including some he has brought in on sky-high salaries. Disgusted by his team's lack of fight in the second-half capitulation at Manchester City on August 24, he held a heated dressing room inquest in which he questioned the poor attitude of his players. He asked them to 'put up their hand if they had given 100 per cent'.

No-one did.

He was clearly also angered that the club, desperate to cut its running costs following the extravagance of former chairman Eggert Magnusson, recently sold two players to Sunderland against his wishes. Average defenders Anton Ferdinand (£8m) and George McCartney (£6m) may not be a great loss to the club in the grand scheme of things, their departures exacerbated an obvious lack of rapport between the board, who are struggling to balance the books, and their beleaguered manager, who must have felt that he was working with one hand tied behind his back and the other fending off the knives.

Curbs admitted: "I was vehemently against the sale of McCartney because of all the injuries we have to other defenders at the club.

"It was that which got to me more than anything," he added.

It's a great shame that Curbs' brief reign has ended so unhappily. He is a likeable man, a local Canning Town lad who first joined the club as a young player at the age of 13, who went on to make the first team grade. Just about everyone wanted him to succeed back at his old club but, for various reasons, he hasn't be able to complete the 'unfinished business' he spoke of when he returned as manager in December 2006.

Maybe he was just a little too 'Old School' for modern football and overhyped players who need pampering before they can perform at their best. After 17 years as manager at Charlton Athletic, where he enjoyed a great relationship with the main board hierarchy, and his spell at the Boleyn, Curbishley has seen a massive change in the game and the attitudes of the players and directors within it.

He leaves West Ham with his dignity in tact, his head held high.

Alan's salary and settlement already make him a millionaire, so he won't have to work again if he now believes that the cut-throat, business-led world of football clubs and football management is no longer for him. Whatever he decides to do next, we wish him well in the future.

Former Hammer, Croatia manager Slaven Bilic, was immediately installed as the 7-4 favourite to be the next man to occupy the Upton Park hotseat, with Harry Redknapp next at 4-1. The West Ham board have come under fierce criticism for their recent handling of the club, including the embarrassing Alan Curbishley debacle, and their next move is awaited with baited breath...