March 14 2005

Iain Dowie

At the beginning of the season, Iain Dowie coined the phrases Bouncebackablilty and Meritocracy, writes Simon Pophale.

By September the word was appearing on Soccer AM and by Christmas, T-Shirts had appeared and an online petition to get the word in the Dictionary. However in the last 8 weeks, a new word has become the "motif du jour". That word - desperate.

Not so much of it has to do with football. The launch of the ABC Series "Desperate Housewives" on Channel 4 has seen the rise and rise of the popularity of the word in TV and Celeb publications, all clamouring to get on the bandwagon that Teri Hatcher, Marcia Cross, Eva Longoria and my personal favourite, Felicity Huffman have brought to life on our screens on Wednesday nights.

However, with the Football season reaching its sharp end, we have seen that desperate times, are increasingly calling for desperate measures.

Thankfully, none of these acts have reached the hallowed turf and halls of Selhurst Park. We need to be realistic in as much as we are fighting relegation, the media from the start of the season condemning us to obliviion before a ball was even kicked and generally, no one giving us a chance.

Yet against all the odds, we are still above the drop zone. Dowie and the team are nothing but upbeat and the performances on the field have generally gotten plaudits from even Alan Hansen, who has been forced to eat the words he uttered back in August that we were going to be the worst team in Premiership history.

Yet the pressure of relegation of the threat of it, has clearly got to some of the teams. First of all, we had Delia Smith on the pitch at Carrow Road after a few cooking sherries too many, to try to rouse the home support.

Her monologue of "Let's be having you"and "Where are you?" in the half-time break against Manchester City, showed that more than ever before, Norwich were showing signs of pressure and with good reason, from being 2-0 up, Manchester City got a last minute winner which keeps Norwich, in the drop zone.

West Bromwich Albion have also began to show signs of strain, with Chairman Jeremy Peace shortly after Delias' outburst proclaiming that there will not be wholesale fire sales "should the worst happen".

Talk of this is clearly showing nervousness about falling through the Premiership trapdoor. Indeed, while Brian Robson even attempted to warn off prospective buyers for Zoltan Gera by stating that the player was not for sale "whatever division we find ourselves in", Peace on March 6th confirmed that "we have planned for it" and that Kanu, their big name signing in the close season will leave.

These are not the kind of things that the fans will want to hear, as it smacks of a side that is already accepting their fate.

Another side that could be considered to be in a desperate situation is Southampton, but under Redknapp they have become an organise effective outfit and a the time of writing, lie only 2 points behind us. However, it is Redknapps' former employers Portsmouth.

Still reeling from the loss of their boss and their failure to replace him, the temporary management team of Joe Jordan and Velimir Zajec has presided over the clubs worst run in a long while, getting only 4 points in the last 10 games. The rumblings behind the scenes seem to smack of the desperation that is threatening to engulf the South coast club.

From stating on February 12th that Zajec would be manager until the Summer, when a new face would be appointed, to him being replaced within weeks on March 3rd. Portsmouths' loss of form must be an alarming concern for owner Milan Mandaric and with the results not coming, it appears that the "desperate" tag, could be next to fall at Pompey.

But no sign of desperation down here at Selhurst. In fact, United Boss Alex Ferguson showed clearly that during the last match at Selhurst, he is a man increasingly on the edge in trying to keep up with the Rich Russian down at the Bridge. United complained, harangued and acted like petulant children in the 0-0 draw against us.

No team other than United behave so consistently in this way and Ferguson leads the brigade of bad behaviour by gesticulating to his watch when United clearly get rmore time than they merit, accosting the fourth official for nearly every decision that goes against them and generally acting like a 4 year old who has thrown his toys out of the pram.

With Dowie and the team remaining clear of this behaviour, this will be the reason why we will stay up. Teams like Norwich and West Brom are close to imploding, conceding late goals and dropping points like Saint Nick does on Christmas Eve, there will be no panic down at Palace.

Something that we should all be very grateful for. As the issues come more and more down to the wire, it will be those with the stronger minds that will prevail.

Iain Dowie, has become a master in getting the most out of what he has got, which is more than some of our counterparts around us have done. Mark Hughes, Zajec, Worthington and Robson would do well to look at how quiet are the mumurings at Selhurst Park and take note.

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