"Former Crystal Palace manager Iain Dowie was accused in court on Wednesday of telling lies when he negotiated his way out of his contract with the club and joined arch rivals Charlton a year ago. Palace chairman Simon Jordan is to give evidence in the club's £1million lawsuit against Dowie that the manager made "fraudulent misrepresentations". Dowie, 42, had a clause in his contract to the effect that if he left to join another club, his new bosses would pay Palace £1m compensation. Jordan says that, as a gesture of goodwill, he agreed to waive that clause because Dowie had stated he wanted to move nearer to his wife and family in Bolton. Within days of leaving, Dowie was appointed manager of Charlton - just a few miles from Selhurst Park, south-east London. Jordan, who admits he is "not Charlton's number one fan'', insists that he would never have reached the compromise with Dowie had he known he was planning to move to The Valley. In the event, Dowie left Charlton in November after only 12 Premiership matches and is now in charge at Coventry. But Palace are pressing ahead with its legal action by asking Mr Justice Tugendhat to rule on potentially decisive issues in a hotly contested hearing set to last eight days. Palace alleges that Dowie made "representations of fact which were knowingly false'' when he told Jordan his reason for wishing to leave was to move north and that he had had no contact with Charlton and had no present intention to move to The Valley. In his written defence statement, Dowie says the compromise agreement was a "clean break'' under which Palace dispensed with his services and avoided having to pay him substantial contractual entitlements. The case against him was "entirely without merit in fact or law and should never have been brought'', he says. Dowie, who points out that he led Palace to promotion to the Premiership for the 2004-05 season "thereby obtaining huge financial benefits for an impecunious club'', claims that his resignation was suggested by Jordan. It was "repeatedly suggested by Mr Jordan as part of a vulgar and abusive attack on him and the team'', the defence contends. The statement continues: "Unfortunately for Mr Dowie, Mr Jordan has a particular dislike of Charlton Athletic FC, their deputy chairman and director Mr Richard Murray and their fans.'' After the May 15 2005 clash between the two teams which saw Palace relegated from the Premier League, "Mr Jordan has made a number of abrasive statements about Charlton fans and Richard Murray and continues to make such statements. "In reality, Mr Jordan's dislike of Charlton and a desire to damage that club, given that Mr Dowie became their team manager, was a particular motivation for Mr Jordan and Crystal Palace bringing this action.''"
Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan has denied telling a magazine that he "hated" manager Iain Dowie, despite the club's promotion in 2004. "What I said was I couldn't stand Iain Dowie, but it was tongue in cheek and taken completely out of context," Jordan told a High Court judge on the second day of Palace's £1million compensation claim against Dowie over his departure from Selhurst Park last summer. The magazine - FHM - was "sensationalist" and failed to reflect the manner in which he made his comments, Jordan said. But he agreed with Dowie's barrister that he had told the manager he did not like working with him and did not think his attitude was correct. "I didn't think winning promotion mitigated all the things that were wrong, like lack of respect," he told Mr Justice Tugendhat.
Jordan admitted to the High Court today of his dislike for Mr Dowie despite the 42-year-old leading the team to a Premiership promotion. Giving evidence, Mr Jordan played down an interview gave to lads' mag, FHM, in which he said he "hated" Mr Dowie even though he had guided the side to an unlikely promotion when he took charge in the 2003/04 season. advertisement As well as saying he hated Mr Dowie, Mr Jordan was quoted as saying: "Listen, his manners, outlook and attitude stank. I told him so after we won the play off final. So what if he got promotion. That's what he was paid to do." He told Mr Justice Tugendhat he had used the word "hate" in a "jocular" tone of voice and had done so "tongue in cheek" but conceded that he did not get on with his manager even then. "I told him on the Sunday after the play offs that I didn't like working with him," said Mr Jordan. Palace are suing Dowie for £1million accusing him of "fraudulent misrepresentations" after leaving the side last summer and opting to join the team's bitter rivals Charlton Athletic. Mr Dowie had a clause in his contract stating if he left to join a new club his new bosses would pay Palace £1million compensation. Mr Dowie's barrister, Michael McParland, accused Jordan of having "no respect" for the legal system, an allegation he denied. Mr McParland continued by referring to other parts of the FHM article in which Mr Jordan had said it was "hilarious" a woman convicted of stalking him had spent extra time on remand in prison because he postponed a court hearing due to business commitments. Arguing he had been "misrepresented" in the article, Mr Jordan denied using the word "hilarious". Mr McParland insisted: "You thought you had pulled a stroke." Mr Jordan replied: "I was busy. I was otherwise engaged." The barrister continued: "You made her life difficult." Mr Jordan said: "That's not my concern, what the legal system does. It's not my jurisdiction." Mr McParland asked: "You misused it (the system) because you wanted to punish her. You made a big joke of it in a lads' mag." But Mr Jordan replied: "No I didn't. I may have said it is ironic. I'd had 18 months of systematic abuse." Asked why he had not launched a libel claim against the magazine or written to clarify the interview, Mr Jordan said "there are certain articles you take seriously and some you don't", adding he had "told off" his publicist, Max Clifford.
Charlton is not being sued in the action. Dowie's counsel, Michael McParland, mentioned a newspaper article where the manager complained about lack of investment in new players and training facilities. Mr Jordan said he had put £30m of his money into the club during his first three years as chairman, after selling his mobile phone chain Pocket Phone Shop. Mr Jordan denied he had "forced Dowie to resign", because under the terms of his contract he was unable to sack him. Mr McParland said: "While Mr Dowie was trying to keep Palace n the Premiership, you were busy losing friends among other club chairmen." Mr Jordan replied: "I don't have any friends. I don't think you have friends in football. You have colleagues and people you do business with." Simon Jordan, the Crystal Palace chairman, told a high court judge how he had been “duped” by Iain Dowie, the club’s outgoing manager, when he left and then took the reins at Charlton Athletic, their South London rivals. “I said something along the lines of, ‘You can’t go to a club that was dancing on our fing graves when we got relegated,’ ” Jordan told Mr Justice Tugendhat. The furious remark was a reference to the reaction of Richard Murray, the Charlton chairman, who allegedly said “enjoy the Championship, tosser” as he left the directors’ box at the end of the last match of the 2004-05 season that sent Palace out of the Barclays Premiership. Jordan said: “To my astonishment he then said, ‘Do you want a fight?’ Of course I declined. Since then there has been personal antagonism between us. As a result I would certainly not do anything knowingly to assist Charlton.”
DOWIE `LIED OVER NEW JOB PLANS'
By Mike Taylor, PA
Former Crystal Palace manager Iain Dowie was accused in court today of telling
lies when he negotiated his way out of his contract with the club and joined
arch-rivals Charlton a year ago.
Palace chairman Simon Jordan is to give evidence in the club's #1million
lawsuit against Dowie that the manager made "fraudulent misrepresentations".
Dowie, 42, had a clause in his contract to the effect that if he left to join
another club, his new bosses would pay Palace #1million compensation.
Jordan says that, as a gesture of goodwill, he agreed to waive that clause
because Dowie had stated he wanted to move nearer to his wife and family in
Bolton.
Within days of leaving, Dowie was appointed manager of Charlton - just a few
miles from Selhurst Park, south-east London.
Jordan, who admits he is "not Charlton's number one fan", insists he would
never have reached the compromise with Dowie had he known he was planning to
move to The Valley.
In the event, Dowie left Charlton in November after only 12 Barclays
Premiership matches and is now in charge at Coca-Cola Championship Coventry.
But Palace are pressing ahead with their legal action by asking Mr Justice
Tugendhat to rule on potentially decisive issues in a hotly contested hearing
set to last eight days.
Palace allege Dowie made "representations of fact which were knowingly
false" when he told Jordan his reason for wishing to leave was to move north
and that he had had no contact with Charlton and had no present intention to
move to The Valley.
In his written defence statement, Dowie says the compromise agreement was a
"clean break" under which Palace dispensed with his services and avoided
having to pay him substantial contractual entitlements.
The case against him was "entirely without merit in fact or law and should
never have been brought", he says.
Dowie, who points out that he led Palace to promotion to the Premiership for
the 2004-05 season "thereby obtaining huge financial benefits for an
impecunious club", claims his resignation was suggested by Jordan.
It was "repeatedly suggested by Mr Jordan as part of a vulgar and abusive
attack on him and the team", the defence contend.
The statement continued: "Unfortunately for Mr Dowie, Mr Jordan has a
particular dislike of Charlton Athletic FC, their deputy chairman and director
Mr Richard Murray and their fans."
After the May 15 2005 clash between the two teams which saw Palace relegated
from the Premier League, "Mr Jordan has made a number of abrasive statements
about Charlton fans and Richard Murray and continues to make such statements.
"In reality, Mr Jordan's dislike of Charlton and a desire to damage that
club, given that Mr Dowie became their team manager, was a particular motivation
for Mr Jordan and Crystal Palace bringing this action."
Dowie's legal team argue that the financial rights which he gave up when he
left Palace, such as salary and bonuses, exceeded the #1million claimed against
him.
The #1million compensation clause in his contract was "inherently defective"
because it made no provision as to where the money would come from. It merely
stated that Palace would "receive" it.
In any event, the clause was unenforceable as "an unlawful restraint of trade
or a penalty clause".
The truth was that Jordan and his club wanted to use the legal action as "an
enormous publicity stunt".
In evidence, former mobile phone company boss Simon Jordan said Dowie's salary
rose to #750,000 after Palace's promotion to the Premiership and he was
guaranteed at least #500,000 thereafter, even if the club were relegated.
It became clear that "Iain and I did not get on on a personal level", but
this did not matter so long as he did his job well.
Mr Jordan said the personal antagonism between him and Charlton stemmed from
Richard Murray's comments "enjoy the Championship, tosser" and "do you want a
fight" after Palace's relegation.
"As a result, I would not do anything knowingly to assist Charlton," he
said.
He "vehemently" denied allegations that he deliberately set out in an
"abusive, aggressive, vulgar and demeaning manner" to attack Dowie's
achievements.
And he denied setting out to encourage him to resign.
As far as swearing was concerned, "it was common for both of us to use swear
words frequently. I accept I used the words f*** and s*** fairly frequently."
He was not alone in the football world in this respect. Swear words were used
"without intending to cause any particular hostility or aggression".
Jordan told the judge: "I was angry and felt let down and duped when I
learned Iain was joining Charlton.
"I assure the court that I commenced this litigation intending to pursue it
for proper purposes to recover compensation."
The hearing was adjourned until tomorrow.
Heh. I won't get to any of this stuff until Tuesday now, but I'm hoping to nip along to the court tomorrow to see some of this for myself. Could be the best free show in London!
Royal Courts of Justice, just where the Strand meets Fleet Street. You can walk straight in, more or less, and take a seat in the public gallery. It's a fine old building inside, worth a look anyway.
Only catch is, it may be full up. But it's worth a shot. Just don't make any rude gestures towards the witness box.
It is simply amazing how much we are hated by Palace & their poxy orange chairman. I think we need to start pointing out to them that we don't see them as rivals - it's becoming increasingly uncomfortable being obsessively stalked by the few thousand weirdo Nigels & an orange man.
Controversial Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan told a court he was bored of giving evidence during cross-examination today. But barrister Michael McParland blamed Mr Jordan for the sluggish pace of proceedings, arguing the mobile phone tycoon "talked almost incessantly" rather than answer questions. During the grilling Mr Jordan also admitted criticising the Eagles squad, referring to the team as a "shambles" and lacking "b*****s", labelling individual players "cowards", a "waste of money", "insecure" and "not a winner". Mr McParland put it to Mr Jordan that he had delivered his former manager a "slap in the face" when he scrapped his free flights back to the north of England during the telephone conversation. He also told him he was not prepared to invest £250,000 in a new gym that Mr Dowie wanted at the club's training ground. However, Mr Jordan said funding the gym was a business decision and he had withdrawn the flights because Mr Dowie did not "appreciate" the privilege. Although he admitted the timing was "slightly clumsy", he said it was not a "punishment". Mr Jordan also denied dabbling in team affairs, and said he saw nothing wrong with his request that he watch videos of matches with Mr Dowie. He said: "In my seven years (as chairman) I have never told the manager what team he should pick." He explained that he had asked to watch the videos so he could "understand" how Mr Dowie saw games, and believed it a reasonable request as he was paying his wages.
Comments
Palace chairman Simon Jordan is to give evidence in the club's £1million lawsuit against Dowie that the manager made "fraudulent misrepresentations".
Dowie, 42, had a clause in his contract to the effect that if he left to join another club, his new bosses would pay Palace £1m compensation.
Jordan says that, as a gesture of goodwill, he agreed to waive that clause because Dowie had stated he wanted to move nearer to his wife and family in Bolton.
Within days of leaving, Dowie was appointed manager of Charlton - just a few miles from Selhurst Park, south-east London.
Jordan, who admits he is "not Charlton's number one fan'', insists that he would never have reached the compromise with Dowie had he known he was planning to move to The Valley.
In the event, Dowie left Charlton in November after only 12 Premiership matches and is now in charge at Coventry.
But Palace are pressing ahead with its legal action by asking Mr Justice Tugendhat to rule on potentially decisive issues in a hotly contested hearing set to last eight days.
Palace alleges that Dowie made "representations of fact which were knowingly false'' when he told Jordan his reason for wishing to leave was to move north and that he had had no contact with Charlton and had no present intention to move to The Valley.
In his written defence statement, Dowie says the compromise agreement was a "clean break'' under which Palace dispensed with his services and avoided having to pay him substantial contractual entitlements.
The case against him was "entirely without merit in fact or law and should never have been brought'', he says.
Dowie, who points out that he led Palace to promotion to the Premiership for the 2004-05 season "thereby obtaining huge financial benefits for an impecunious club'', claims that his resignation was suggested by Jordan.
It was "repeatedly suggested by Mr Jordan as part of a vulgar and abusive attack on him and the team'', the defence contends.
The statement continues: "Unfortunately for Mr Dowie, Mr Jordan has a particular dislike of Charlton Athletic FC, their deputy chairman and director Mr Richard Murray and their fans.''
After the May 15 2005 clash between the two teams which saw Palace relegated from the Premier League, "Mr Jordan has made a number of abrasive statements about Charlton fans and Richard Murray and continues to make such statements.
"In reality, Mr Jordan's dislike of Charlton and a desire to damage that club, given that Mr Dowie became their team manager, was a particular motivation for Mr Jordan and Crystal Palace bringing this action.''"
there's a circus in the town....
"What I said was I couldn't stand Iain Dowie, but it was tongue in cheek and taken completely out of context," Jordan told a High Court judge on the second day of Palace's £1million compensation claim against Dowie over his departure from Selhurst Park last summer.
The magazine - FHM - was "sensationalist" and failed to reflect the manner in which he made his comments, Jordan said.
But he agreed with Dowie's barrister that he had told the manager he did not like working with him and did not think his attitude was correct.
"I didn't think winning promotion mitigated all the things that were wrong, like lack of respect," he told Mr Justice Tugendhat.
keep it coming.
spot on, a great analogy man
Giving evidence, Mr Jordan played down an interview gave to lads' mag, FHM, in which he said he "hated" Mr Dowie even though he had guided the side to an unlikely promotion when he took charge in the 2003/04 season.
advertisement
As well as saying he hated Mr Dowie, Mr Jordan was quoted as saying: "Listen, his manners, outlook and attitude stank. I told him so after we won the play off final. So what if he got promotion. That's what he was paid to do."
He told Mr Justice Tugendhat he had used the word "hate" in a "jocular" tone of voice and had done so "tongue in cheek" but conceded that he did not get on with his manager even then.
"I told him on the Sunday after the play offs that I didn't like working with him," said Mr Jordan.
Palace are suing Dowie for £1million accusing him of "fraudulent misrepresentations" after leaving the side last summer and opting to join the team's bitter rivals Charlton Athletic.
Mr Dowie had a clause in his contract stating if he left to join a new club his new bosses would pay Palace £1million compensation.
Mr Dowie's barrister, Michael McParland, accused Jordan of having "no respect" for the legal system, an allegation he denied.
Mr McParland continued by referring to other parts of the FHM article in which Mr Jordan had said it was "hilarious" a woman convicted of stalking him had spent extra time on remand in prison because he postponed a court hearing due to business
commitments.
Arguing he had been "misrepresented" in the article, Mr Jordan denied using the word "hilarious".
Mr McParland insisted: "You thought you had pulled a stroke."
Mr Jordan replied: "I was busy. I was otherwise engaged."
The barrister continued: "You made her life difficult."
Mr Jordan said: "That's not my concern, what the legal system does. It's not my jurisdiction."
Mr McParland asked: "You misused it (the system) because you wanted to punish her. You made a big joke of it in a lads' mag."
But Mr Jordan replied: "No I didn't. I may have said it is ironic. I'd had 18 months of systematic abuse."
Asked why he had not launched a libel claim against the magazine or written to clarify the interview, Mr Jordan said "there are certain articles you take seriously and some you don't", adding he had "told off" his publicist, Max Clifford.
Mr Jordan said he had put £30m of his money into the club during his first three years as chairman, after selling his mobile phone chain Pocket Phone Shop.
Mr Jordan denied he had "forced Dowie to resign", because under the terms of his contract he was unable to sack him.
Mr McParland said: "While Mr Dowie was trying to keep Palace n the Premiership, you were busy losing friends among other club chairmen."
Mr Jordan replied: "I don't have any friends. I don't think you have friends in football. You have colleagues and people you do business with."
Simon Jordan, the Crystal Palace chairman, told a high court judge how he had been “duped” by Iain Dowie, the club’s outgoing manager, when he left and then took the reins at Charlton Athletic, their South London rivals.
“I said something along the lines of, ‘You can’t go to a club that was dancing on our fing graves when we got relegated,’ ” Jordan told Mr Justice Tugendhat.
The furious remark was a reference to the reaction of Richard Murray, the Charlton chairman, who allegedly said “enjoy the Championship, tosser” as he left the directors’ box at the end of the last match of the 2004-05 season that sent Palace out of the Barclays Premiership.
Jordan said: “To my astonishment he then said, ‘Do you want a fight?’ Of course I declined. Since then there has been personal antagonism between us. As a result I would certainly not do anything knowingly to assist Charlton.”
DOWIE `LIED OVER NEW JOB PLANS'
By Mike Taylor, PA
Former Crystal Palace manager Iain Dowie was accused in court today of telling
lies when he negotiated his way out of his contract with the club and joined
arch-rivals Charlton a year ago.
Palace chairman Simon Jordan is to give evidence in the club's #1million
lawsuit against Dowie that the manager made "fraudulent misrepresentations".
Dowie, 42, had a clause in his contract to the effect that if he left to join
another club, his new bosses would pay Palace #1million compensation.
Jordan says that, as a gesture of goodwill, he agreed to waive that clause
because Dowie had stated he wanted to move nearer to his wife and family in
Bolton.
Within days of leaving, Dowie was appointed manager of Charlton - just a few
miles from Selhurst Park, south-east London.
Jordan, who admits he is "not Charlton's number one fan", insists he would
never have reached the compromise with Dowie had he known he was planning to
move to The Valley.
In the event, Dowie left Charlton in November after only 12 Barclays
Premiership matches and is now in charge at Coca-Cola Championship Coventry.
But Palace are pressing ahead with their legal action by asking Mr Justice
Tugendhat to rule on potentially decisive issues in a hotly contested hearing
set to last eight days.
Palace allege Dowie made "representations of fact which were knowingly
false" when he told Jordan his reason for wishing to leave was to move north
and that he had had no contact with Charlton and had no present intention to
move to The Valley.
In his written defence statement, Dowie says the compromise agreement was a
"clean break" under which Palace dispensed with his services and avoided
having to pay him substantial contractual entitlements.
The case against him was "entirely without merit in fact or law and should
never have been brought", he says.
Dowie, who points out that he led Palace to promotion to the Premiership for
the 2004-05 season "thereby obtaining huge financial benefits for an
impecunious club", claims his resignation was suggested by Jordan.
It was "repeatedly suggested by Mr Jordan as part of a vulgar and abusive
attack on him and the team", the defence contend.
The statement continued: "Unfortunately for Mr Dowie, Mr Jordan has a
particular dislike of Charlton Athletic FC, their deputy chairman and director
Mr Richard Murray and their fans."
After the May 15 2005 clash between the two teams which saw Palace relegated
from the Premier League, "Mr Jordan has made a number of abrasive statements
about Charlton fans and Richard Murray and continues to make such statements.
"In reality, Mr Jordan's dislike of Charlton and a desire to damage that
club, given that Mr Dowie became their team manager, was a particular motivation
for Mr Jordan and Crystal Palace bringing this action."
Dowie's legal team argue that the financial rights which he gave up when he
left Palace, such as salary and bonuses, exceeded the #1million claimed against
him.
The #1million compensation clause in his contract was "inherently defective"
because it made no provision as to where the money would come from. It merely
stated that Palace would "receive" it.
In any event, the clause was unenforceable as "an unlawful restraint of trade
or a penalty clause".
The truth was that Jordan and his club wanted to use the legal action as "an
enormous publicity stunt".
In evidence, former mobile phone company boss Simon Jordan said Dowie's salary
rose to #750,000 after Palace's promotion to the Premiership and he was
guaranteed at least #500,000 thereafter, even if the club were relegated.
It became clear that "Iain and I did not get on on a personal level", but
this did not matter so long as he did his job well.
Mr Jordan said the personal antagonism between him and Charlton stemmed from
Richard Murray's comments "enjoy the Championship, tosser" and "do you want a
fight" after Palace's relegation.
"As a result, I would not do anything knowingly to assist Charlton," he
said.
He "vehemently" denied allegations that he deliberately set out in an
"abusive, aggressive, vulgar and demeaning manner" to attack Dowie's
achievements.
And he denied setting out to encourage him to resign.
As far as swearing was concerned, "it was common for both of us to use swear
words frequently. I accept I used the words f*** and s*** fairly frequently."
He was not alone in the football world in this respect. Swear words were used
"without intending to cause any particular hostility or aggression".
Jordan told the judge: "I was angry and felt let down and duped when I
learned Iain was joining Charlton.
"I assure the court that I commenced this litigation intending to pursue it
for proper purposes to recover compensation."
The hearing was adjourned until tomorrow.
crack on lads.
yeah, but you'd probably have to pay Crystal Palace TV to see it...
Only catch is, it may be full up. But it's worth a shot. Just don't make any rude gestures towards the witness box.
Don't worry - I'll restrain myself ;-)
I wonder if you get to watch Simon Jordan going for his morning pony with a copy of the Sun?
Ha ha that made me laugh :)
But barrister Michael McParland blamed Mr Jordan for the sluggish pace of proceedings, arguing the mobile phone tycoon "talked almost incessantly" rather than answer questions.
During the grilling Mr Jordan also admitted criticising the Eagles squad, referring to the team as a "shambles" and lacking "b*****s", labelling individual players "cowards", a "waste of money", "insecure" and "not a winner".
Mr McParland put it to Mr Jordan that he had delivered his former manager a "slap in the face" when he scrapped his free flights back to the north of England during the telephone conversation.
He also told him he was not prepared to invest £250,000 in a new gym that Mr Dowie wanted at the club's training ground.
However, Mr Jordan said funding the gym was a business decision and he had withdrawn the flights because Mr Dowie did not "appreciate" the privilege. Although he admitted the timing was "slightly clumsy", he said it was not a "punishment".
Mr Jordan also denied dabbling in team affairs, and said he saw nothing wrong with his request that he watch videos of matches with Mr Dowie.
He said: "In my seven years (as chairman) I have never told the manager what team he should pick."
He explained that he had asked to watch the videos so he could "understand" how Mr Dowie saw games, and believed it a reasonable request as he was paying his wages.