Keith Curle is talking football as he walks on the hills of Sheffield, where he has settled since moving here as a player. Others have remained here, including Chris Waddle, after a taste of the Steel City before hanging up their boots. An adopted Yorkshireman he may be, but it is Manchester City’s result he looks for first at the weekend. 

“I can’t lose, whoever wins,” he says of this weekend’s FA Cup semi-final between two of his former teams.  

There is more than a tinge of regret in Curle’s voice when it comes to how it ended at City in 1996, given how he wanted to stay beyond his five years and 204 appearances. As club captain his aim was to get the club back into the Premier League following relegation, yet was deemed too expensive to keep on the wage bill and was transfer listed. 

It may seem incredible now City spend north of £300 million a year on wages alone, but back in the Nineties they wanted their one-time record signing to drastically change his contract or leave the club, which ended up being Wolves’s gain.

“You look at it now and reflect, and it was a conversation with the chairman and manager and was a financial decision because of the money I was earning, it was not sustainable in their view,” said Curle. “On reflection, how much did it cost them to get relegated, and then relegated again after that. Those decisions were made above me. 

“I had two years left, I wasn't asking for an extension and didn’t have a reduction written in. I wasn’t going to change my affiliation to the club but they asked for a large reduction. Wolves came in and had ambitions and offered more money. I told them I don't want to go and don’t want more money, just to be paid what I’m on. You are not talking £150,000-a-week.”

Curle had been made club captain when he arrived from Wimbledon as the most expensive defender in British football, then his performances earned him England recognition. For City, he helped them finish fifth in his first season. Their slide towards relegation and eventually the third tier came with a change of transfer policy.  

“I understand the politics and wanted to change the dynamic of the squad. They had older pros when I first arrived like Gary Megson and Adrian Heath and got through that transitional period with Peter Reid. 

“But then they tried to have a business model to get lower-league talent and promote them upwards. But they have to be good enough and if not potential doesn’t get fulfilled. It’s a great plan and many others have it too. As a manager I’ve sat down to talk to chairmen who think it is a unique plan. But sometimes what you think is a golden nugget is a lump of coal.”

'I still remember my home debut and hearing Blue Moon'

The sadness of how it ended at Maine Road perhaps comes from how Curle knows about the fabric of the club. He sees City as built on foundations that remain to this day even in the Abu Dhabi era of the club. They are a slick, multinational organisation rather than an outfit accused of Cityitis. Even when Niall Quinn came running down the touchline at Anfield to tell them they needed a win for survival and not a draw as they thought there was a passion for football that marked it apart for Curle. 

“People say it’s just money but the principles and foundations of what Pep Guardiola has doesn’t just happen,” he said.  

“This isn’t a snipe at Manchester United but if they went on the same journey would there be as many fans who stood the test of time? Or other clubs, how many would still have the affiliation like City? 

“I still remember my home debut, coming out and hearing Blue Moon. You hear players say the hair on their neck and arms stand up, and they literally did. Just that passion and hard work. Honesty, commitment. This is what the supporters brought on, they wanted that level of commitment from their players. You can be a £100 million player, the best player on their books, but Pep wants more, you have to fit in to what he built and just having a profile is not enough. That is the strength of the ethos. If they don’t fit, it is their loss.

“When I left there was change and no continuity with the team and above with the ownership. Too many opinions were put on the table. Too many cooks. You need one singer and one song. The decision makers have got their solo artist, they listen to Pep and to what he says.” 

'People who don't know Neil Warnock have an opinion of him'

While at Wolves, Curle was in contact with Neil Warnock, who eventually took him to Bramall Lane, where he played and coached the reserves, laying his own foundations for two decades as a manager. 

“I gave Phil Jagielka and Nick Montgomery their debuts in the reserves. Wow, that makes me feel old,” Curle says. 

“People who don’t know Neil have an opinion of him. I knew him as a man as well as a coach and went onto work with him at QPR and Crystal Palace. He has a clear view of how he manages the club. Managers can make mistakes, but what I learnt is not to be scared of change.” 

So does the current team have a chance at Wembley? City put six goals past Burnley, the only team above Paul Heckingbottom’s team in the Championship. 

“If you take it back to ‘88 with Wimbledon, a team with 4,000 gates and a team of honest pros against the mighty Liverpool,” said Curle. “Who in their right mind would have said they would win? There was an enormous void between the clubs, nobody would have put money on that. They were talking about how many Liverpool would win by. But we know Pep wants to win every single game.” 

As he points out, Curle is one of the few who cannot lose this weekend, no matter what the result is.