Terry Curran

Terry Curran
Personnel
Surname	Edward Terrance Curran
birthday	March 20, 1955
place of birth	Kinsley , West Yorkshire ,  England
size	178 cm
position	Winger (right)
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1973-1975	Doncaster Rovers	68 (11)
1975-1977	Nottingham Forest	48 (12)
1977	→  Bury FC  (loan)	2 0(0)
1977-1988	Derby County	26 0(2)
1978-1979	Southampton FC	26 0(0)
1979-1982	Sheffield Wednesday	125 (35)
1982	Sheffield United	33 0(3)
1982-1983	→  Everton FC  (loan)	7 0(1)
1983-1985	Everton FC	17 0(0)
1985-1986	Huddersfield Town	34 0(7)
1986	Panionios Athens
1986	→  Hull City  (loan)	4 0(0)
1986-1987	Sunderland AFC	9 0(1)
1987	→  Matlock Town  (loan)
1987	Grantham Town
1987-1988	Grimsby Town	12 0(0)
1988	Chesterfield FC	1 0(0)
	Goole Town
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1989-1992	Goole Town
1992	AFC Mossley
1 Only league games are given.

Edward Terrance "Terry" Curran (born March 20, 1955 in Kinsley , West Yorkshire ) is a retired English football player . The attacking midfielder and striker , who mostly played as a right winger , was one of the most colorful figures in English football of the late 1970s and early 1980s. He has worked for more than a dozen different clubs and made the most lasting impression on Sheffield Wednesday - even as a singer at times.

Athletic career

Doncaster Rovers (1973-1975)

Curran was born in the small village of Kinsley - in the middle of the triangle of the football strongholds of Leeds , Sheffield and Doncaster - and the Doncaster Rovers active there discovered his talent in the latter city . In the 1973/74 season he made his debut for the fourth division and although the Rovers were only hired out there in the lower regions of the table, they offered young offensive talents, who in addition to Curran also Peter Kitchen , Mike Elwiss and Brendan O'Callaghan , a suitable environment. In the absence of defensive qualities, the alignment was accordingly offensive, whereby Curran expressed his strengths, which showed in direct one-on-one duels, crosses and scoring danger.

After the debut, which ended with a 1: 5 defeat at Gillingham FC , the appearance in the FA Cup replay against Liverpool (0: 2) in front of over 20,000 spectators was the beginning of a longer series that coach Maurice Setters despite him which allowed the team's poor results - in the end the club only averted a threatened relegation due to the successfully applied re-election process. In the 1974/75 season Curran was missing in only two of 46 league games and although the team improved only marginally to 17th place, the dribbling and increasingly self-confident Curran recommended himself for higher tasks. It was followed by two league games and as many goals early in the 1975/76 season before he moved to second division Nottingham Forest in August 1975 .

Nottingham Forest (1975-1977)

Brian Clough had recently taken over as coach in Nottingham and Curran was one of his first transfer commitments. He quickly found his way around the new environment. With John Robertson he shared the wing positions and in 33 league games in the 1975/76 season, which ended in eighth place, he scored six goals. With five goals in the first eleven matches of the 1976/77 season, things continued to be even more promising, before he lost his regular place after a serious injury from the match against Burnley FC . Even after his recovery he did not find his way back into the team, which was particularly due to Tony Woodcock , who had represented him more than satisfactorily. More or less without him, the team managed to climb to the top English league.

It quickly became apparent that Curran was not suitable as a supplementary player and so he expressed his emotions to Clough. The eccentric coach Clough, on the other hand, saw little point in parking a dissatisfied player in the reserve team and after a short loan period at third division FC Bury , Curran moved in November 1977 for 50,000 pounds within the first division to neighboring Derby County not far to the west .

Derby County and Southampton FC (1977–1979)

At first glance, the step from promoted to English champion in 1975 seemed to open up better opportunities for him, but the collaboration soon turned out to be a misunderstanding. Derby's new coach, Tommy Docherty , radically rebuilt the team and initially Curran was one of the few constants. At the end of the 1977/78 season, in which the ex-club from Nottingham sensationally won the championship title and the league cup , the "Rams" took a respectable twelfth place. Nevertheless, Docherty let Curran move on in the summer of 1978 and for a transfer fee of 60,000 pounds, he hired the newly promoted FC Southampton .

The fact that he did not find his permanent luck on the English south coast was little due to his shown performances, which were partly responsible for the fact that the "Saints" occupied a comfortable midfield position at the end of the 1978/79 season and reached the final in the league cup . He had previously scored the only goal to win 1-0 in the semi-final second leg against Leeds United following a 2-2 draw - ultimately his only goal for Southampton FC. In the final Curran celebrated a reunion with Nottingham Forest, but lost the final 2: 3. Possibly due to homesickness, Curran's engagement ended prematurely in March 1979 and thus before the end of the season. What was most surprising was that his fourth club change within three years led him two leagues down to Sheffield Wednesday .

Sheffield Wednesday (1979-1982)

Although only located in the third division, Sheffield Wednesday was considered a "sleeping giant" at that time, who also employed a well-known coach in world champion Jack Charlton . The team was said to be “well organized” and so it fell to players like Curran to provide “inspiration”. The new addition quickly satisfied this need. Especially from the 1979/80 season, the newcomer developed his game, which saw him primarily on the right wing, but also offered him all the freedom in the center. With 24 competitive goals, he was instrumental in ensuring that the "Owls" rose to the second division in the spring of 1980. The appearance on Boxing Day 1979 against local rivals Sheffield United in front of almost 50,000 spectators also made a lasting impression, because the 4-0 victory went down in club history as the "Boxing Day Massacre". His popularity reached its peak and in addition to his own fan club, he recorded a cover version of the 1956 hit songs Singing the Blues .

As with many extroverted player personalities, Curran was often on the verge of minor sporting disasters. An example of this was his behavior in September 1980 against Oldham Athletic (0-2), which not only earned him a suspension after a tumult with Simon Stainrod . She also made sure that her own fans stormed the pitch, which in turn resulted in a heavy penalty for the club. Subsequently, the rumors increased that Curran's relationship with "Big Jack" was now more and more characterized by differences of opinion and after a certain relegation in the 1980/81 season, the subsequent 1981/82 season should be the last for him. Although Sheffield Wednesday developed into a promotion aspirant, Curran seldom built on the performance from the early days with only three league goals, but after the commitment of Gary Bannister he also had to play more of the role of the preparer on the outside position. His original contract expired after three years and since Curran rarely avoided a scandal, he moved in August 1982, of all places, to bitter rivals Sheffield United in the third division. The transfer modalities also caused displeasure, as the proceeds of £ 250,000 targeted by Charlton were reduced to £ 100,000 after a decision by the football association.

Sheffield United & Everton FC (1982–1985)

Since Curran was just as hated by the supporters of Sheffield United as he was revered as a hero by the Wednesday fans, his involvement with the "Blades" was under a bad star from the start. The pessimistic voices were then quickly confirmed, because despite the prominent reinforcement, the team did not manage to break away from the midfield, which in turn did not meet Curran's claims. Although he formed a well-known offensive with the tricky Colin Morris and the goal- scoring Keith Edwards , the spark in the team never jumped over permanently. When he was loaned to the first division club Everton for a month in December 1982 , an early departure was announced. In the seven league games for the "Toffees" he scored one goal and during this time the club only lost one game, which aroused the desire for a permanent commitment from coach Howard Kendall - especially since three with Joe McBride , Alan Ainscow and Alan Irvine Players in this position had been tried in vain. However, since the required transfer fee was still screwed up by Sheffield United, no agreement was reached. Curran had to stay in Sheffield for the time being, but did not agree to go into another third division season. The summer of 1983 developed into a tough struggle with interested parties from the first division and after long speculations - Arsenal FC was often mentioned - Everton FC spoke up again in September and ultimately secured the services of the coveted winger (somewhat surprisingly for "only" 90,000 pounds in the end).

The hopes for a permanent place in a first division club got an early damper when Curran was seriously injured during his second appearance against West Bromwich Albion (0-0). During his recovery, Trevor Steven established himself on the right wing position and Kevin Sheedy on the left as well . It was a long time before it was used again in the 1984/85 season. He did not actively contribute to the success in the League Cup , was then briefly back in the team in the 1-0 semi-final victory in the FA Cup against Southampton FC , but was again left out in the subsequent 2-0 final victory against Watford FC . Even in the 1985/86 season, Curran did not get beyond the role of supplementary player. The "Toffees" won the English championship that year , but the now 30-year-old had only played eight games - too few to receive an official medal. He also only made a brief comeback in the games against Ipswich Town and Fortuna Sittard (both in the quarter-finals) in the triumphs in the European Cup Winners' Cup and until the final in the FA Cup , but the impression solidified that Curran was no longer needed. Therefore, the Everton FC enabled him in the summer of 1985 a transfer to the second division Huddersfield Town .

The last years (1985-1991)

On Leeds Road in Huddersfield, Curran spent a satisfactory sporting year and with 34 league appearances and seven goals he helped the club to stay in the league. But after only one year he was drawn away and a short interlude in Greece with Panionios Athens followed . After his early return, the second division clubs Hull City and Sunderland AFC between October 1986 and the end of the 1987/88 season and, after excursions into semi-professional football for Matlock Town and Grantham Town, the third division clubs Grimsby Town and Chesterfield FC were both short and less successful in Curran's professional career.

The last club Curran played for was Goole Town and Curran was the head coach of the Northern Premier League club between 1989 and 1992. When AFC Mossley he worked after just five weeks. After that, he began to focus more on youth education, including a position at the Rotherham United Academy . He never ruled out a possible new job as head coach and to this day his name is always mentioned as one of the first when a new coach is sought at Sheffield Wednesday.

literature

• Brodie, John & Dickinson, Jason: Sheffield Wednesday - The Complete Record . DB Publishing, 2011, ISBN 978-1-85983-973-7 , pp. 148-150 .

Web links

• Profile at football-england.com
• Statistical data from the Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Database