ALAN CURBISHLEY has moved to repair the deepening rift between Charlton and arch south London rivals Crystal Palace over their attempts to sign Jason Euell.

Palace were reported to have made a £2.5m bid for the unsettled midfielder before the January transfer window closed.

The Addicks boss was reported in the national press to be furious over the approach, which was made, chairman-to-chairman, involving Charlton plc chairman Richard Murray and his Palace opposite number Simon Jordan.

The Charlton boss was quoted as being highly critical of Mr Jordan’s approach after failing to speak to him about Euell’s availability.

Curbishley insisted: "These reports are incorrect. There was a phone call to Richard Murray about Jason - and I don’t know how serious it was. Richard Murray then contacted me and I dismissed it out of hand.

"So it never got any further than that. I never once attacked the Crystal Palace chairman. What disappointed me was the fact that this got out because conversations go on all the time about players. Some are relevant, some are not.

"I never felt for a minute that this approach was what I would describe as a full-scale bid for Jason Euell. So it was dismissed straight away and nobody followed it up. It wasn’t as if they made a phone call, got rebuffed and tried again. It was more like a courtesy call. That’s why I was disappointed that it got out.

"I did say that Simon Jordan has a little bit to say for himself and for some reason or other, this was linked to his dislike for players’ agents. What I meant by that was that it got out. I wasn’t having a go at Simon Jordan for any other reason than that."

Curbishley and his back-room staff will spend the two-week break assessing likely transfer targets and could make signings outside of the transfer window.

The club’s scheduled Premier League home game against Tottenham on Saturday has been postponed as Spurs are involved in an FA Cup, fourth round replay against West Bromwich Albion.

Curbishley added: "We’re still in a situation whereby if we see anything we like, we’ve got some money, so we’ll buy outside of the transfer window. Put them in the squad and keep them there for next season like we did with Hermann Hreidarsson."