Dowie New Charlton Manager

The former Palace and Oldham boss was given the job at a press conference this afternoon, and will be part of a four-man management team. The team consists of Dowie, Les Reed, Mark Robson and Andrew Mills.

This has not gone down well with Palace chairman Simon Jordan though, who sent a man into the press conference with a writ to give to Dowie which accused him of ''fraudulent statements about his reasons for leaving the club".

This had led to an afternoon of drama at The Valley which is normally seen in a television soap opera rather than at a football club. But this saga will now continue into the High Court...