The chaotic situation up on Tyneside is another example of an old-school manager not being able to accept that the rules are changing - that he that pays the piper (the owner), really does now call the tune.
Even over at Eastlands, manager Mark Hughes was on the golf course when the new Abou Manchester City regime bought Robinho. His input was non-existent.
How many current managers in the English Premiership, in fact, do exercise significant control within their clubs?
Sir Alex Ferguson definitely, Arsene Wenger certainly, Martin O'Neill and Gareth Southgate probably. Beyond that short list, you begin to struggle.
David Pleat was a prototype English director-of football at Tottenham and he is uncomfortable with many aspects of the way football is moving.
He said: "At Spurs I had an excellent relationship with the manager, George Graham. I used to identify players who were within my budget, such as Simon Davies, Matthew Etherington, Gary Doherty, and George would say 'go out and get them.'
"Now, often the directors of football are appointments of the board and there is tension between them and the managers.
"I do believe the concept of a director of football is a sound one but he has to complement the manager. But I am very concerned about the route we are taking."
"The money being paid to players at the top level is just grotesque and is haemorrhaging from our game.
"What is happening defies sensible logic and we need to put it right before it is too late."
Another highly successful manager with traditional values is Harry Redknapp, whose name has been linked with a return to Upton Park in some quarters. He has had to deal with directors of football at Portsmouth and Southampton and been forced to accept diminished involvement in player deals.
Redknapp said: "Managers as we know them now could be a thing of the past in the next decade.
"I can see the manager's role being reduced. Now owners will go 'we'll have him, him and him and the managers must get on with it. For sure that is detrimental to football and the art of football management.
"Soon every club in the Premiership will be owned by mega-rich foreign investors. That's how it will go." Recent events would appear to confirm Redknapp's opinion, which is perhaps why foreign owners are now favouring foreign managers who are more comfortable with this concept.
English football is rightly proud of its traditions and its history, so it is not surprising there are members of the older generation struggling to adapt to the new order.
Those British managers who want to stay in the game at the very top had better come to terms with their diminished status or follow Curbishley out of the door.
