WITH football generally a short career, those who play the game often look for a ‘Plan B’ to sink their teeth into once they’ve hung up their boots.

For Keith Curle, it was property development.

As it happened there has not been too much respite from coaching and management since he played his last game back in 2003. Having signed for Mansfield as player-coach the previous December he was soon appointed player-manager with the team struggling in the relegation zone and fourth tier football looming, and a new chapter in the game began for the former Manchester City and Wolves defender.

There have been a succession of managerial and coaching roles since - working on Neil Warnock’s backroom team for a spell when he has been out of the hot-seat - but his property career has continued in tandem.

Taking on a new club is not too dis-similar to looking for a new house. You get a feel for the place, you look for positives and where there is scope for upgrades and improvement, something that you can put your own stamp on. With both elements, you want to leave the place in better condition than you found it.

And although the industries are completely different, Latics head coach Curle admits there are transferable skills. For starters, his background in both means he can always spot the potential for improvement and investment - be that time, or money. Or both. And it is why Curle has went into Boundary Park with his eyes wide open.

“I restore houses myself. I buy and sell houses, I rent houses,” he explained.

“Some of the houses that I buy, I buy with a plan of selling them, but then I like them and keep them and rent them out, others I spin because I think ‘I don’t like this house’, so I go in, I do it up, get the best out of it that I can and then sell it.”

So with that in mind - and still with scope to weigh things up while still on a short-term contract - what sort of ‘house’ is Oldham?

“Oldham’s a house that needs the foundations checked and then rebuilding with good material,” said Curle who, while frustrated with elements in the dressing room in recent games, sees the potential of the club, and the commitment, from people in and around it.

“I know there’s a hunger in that football club, I know there’s a hunger from the owners to get this football club success,” he said. “The people that work for the football club, there’s a desire.

“The supporters that I’ve spoken to, that have written letters to me, that have sent messages to me, I feel that hunger.

“I don’t feel it in the changing room, and that’s a worry because it’s the changing room that gets you success.”

But that’s an area that, given the chance, Curle is confident he can renovate and refurbish.