Dowie out to buck the trend

Focus on Iain Dowie and Crystal Palace: Matt Scott gets a sense of defiance this time around in Crystal Palace's latest battle to avoid relegation

Crystal Palace go down; it is just what they do. Three previous excursions to the Premiership all ended in relegation and Iain Dowie should know that better than most.

Dowie joined Palace as a £400,000 striker in January 1995, just in time to experience the second of their three recent falls from the top flight. But the man who is aiming to lead Palace out of the bottom three and away from the May 15th guillotine, starting with Southampton's visit to Selhurst Park this afternoon, is not bowed by the weight of history.

Indeed, so dedicated is he to the art of positive thinking that, when asked for his recollections of that ill-fated campaign 10 years ago, he chooses instead to draw on other, more uplifting experiences.

"I've been at a lot of relegation-threatened sides, obviously I was relegated once with Palace but I've been involved in lots of successful campaigns," said Dowie, wearing an expression of cheerful defiance. "I played at Luton in the old First Division where in the 91st minute of the second last game we had to score. I slid in the winner. It took us to Derby away. We had to win that game and we beat them 3-2 to stay in the division, as Sheffield Wednesday got beat by Forest. So I've been in a lot darker scenarios than we've had now."

Yet for all Dowie's ebullience about his time at Luton, Palace have never found it that easy. Eddie McGoldrick was transferred to Arsenal after Palace's first Premiership relegation, in 1993, and he remembers each painful step towards the trapdoor with crystal clarity.

"Our last game at Selhurst Park was against Ipswich and I scored the third, my eighth of the season. It put us eight points clear of Oldham and we thought we were safe," recalled the former Republic of Ireland winger.

"The next day they had to go to Villa, who were going for the title that year with Manchester United. I'd been out that day and I couldn't believe it when I saw on Teletext that they'd won 1-0.

"On the last day of the season Oldham beat Southampton 4-3, we lost 3-0 at Arsenal and went down on goal difference, two goals."

When adjusted to a 20-team league Palace's points total in 1993 was 45, whereas 37 would comfortably secure Premiership survival this season. Twelve years ago it had taken a massive effort even to amass that insufficient number of points after going the first eight games without a win.

The pattern repeated itself in 1995, when a ninth-fixture trip to Highbury yielded Palace's first victory and, though two wins were recorded in the first three matches of 1997-98, it was not long before relegation was certain that season too.

"We didn't win at home until April. The writing was on the wall and we went down before the end of the season," said Neil Shipperley, who after leaving Palace following relegation returned to the club in July 2003 and scored the play-off-final winner to earn promotion again last year.

Selhurst Park was a soap opera during that 1997-8 season. Steve Coppell began it as manager but left in March, by which time the computer tycoon Mark Goldberg had finalised his ill-fated £30 million purchase of a club that did not own its ground. The landlord, Ron Noades, who remained briefly as chairman, fell into the trap of appointing Attilio Lombardo in Coppell's stead on account of his popularity as a player, overlooking the fact that the Italian could hardly speak English.

"I remember one of the team talks; it was something simple like, 'shut them down as a unit'. It took 20 minutes to say that through all the translators," Shipperley recalled. Lombardo stepped down after seven matches, to be replaced by a management team of Noades and Ray Lewington. It lasted 11 days.

"All those changes of management didn't help the players but I have fond memories of that season," added Shipperley.

Dowie would be encouraged to hear that. The Palace manager's reference to "darker scenarios" than that which his side currently faces was not intended to scare his players.

"One thing you don't need to do is panic players, be ranting and raving in training and in match meetings. It's about being calm, it's about thinking clearly, about focusing on your job, about executing your game plan.

"The thing about difficult times is that, if you take the right way out, it will help you. You mustn't be frightened by adversity, it's a good thing as long as it's treated in the right manner and you learn from it."

Dowie's management is the antithesis of those haphazard days in 1998. "That was seven seasons ago and the Premiership has changed football," said Shipperley. "It's more professional now. The training regime is very tough, and that has benefited us.

"This season we're more confident at home, we pass the ball well at home and we've had some great victories and results there. You need that to stay up and I think we'd back ourselves to. We'd be mugs to let it go now."

Then it would be to Charlton on the season's final day in an attempt to wrap up the last three of those 37 points. Going on Palace's recent form, and the fact that in each of the last three seasons Charlton have resembled vampires by packing up as soon as the sun comes out, Dowie might just buck the odds.

"Ten, 12 years ago we had a better chance but the gulf is massive now," said McGoldrick. "Iain Dowie has done a terrific job on no funds. Apart from Michael Hughes there's no real Premiership experience in his side and most of the players have come through the system. But they've taken a point off United at home and beaten Liverpool, which was a great result. They're capable of staying up."

So maybe Palace do not just go down after all.