NEW Charlton manager Iain Dowie's former club Crystal Palace are taking legal action against him.

Palace have served their ex-boss with a writ for "fraudulent statements about his reasons for leaving the club".

A court representative tried to issue it at Tuesday's press conference confirming Dowie's appointment at The Valley but was stopped from doing so.

Jordan told Sky Sports News: "If he's under the impression he can leg me over in the way he has done, then he's sadly mistaken.

"My football club waived compensation because he wanted to go back to the north. I released him from a £1m compensation clause because he said he wasn't going to do what he's done.

"I'll prove it to the High Court. Iain Dowie had a £1m compensation clause in his contract and there is no reason why I would take that out unless it was as a gesture of goodwill.

"My repayment for that is for Iain to do exactly what he said he was not going to do."

Dowie said he wanted to leave Selhurst Park for a "new challenge" and claimed that, before leaving Palace, he had not held discussions with Charlton.

"The first conversation I had with Charlton was two days after," he added.

Dowie told Sky Sports News he was not going to let the writ sour a good day for him, saying: "If that is what he feels then that is what he feels but it totally misrepresents the conversation I had with Simon and, to be fair, my wife witnessed two hours of it.

"I know I've got an agreement at home which says it was by mutual consent and I can live with myself, I can look him in the eye so that is all I can do."

* Keep up to date with all the news from The Valley every week in the Bexley Extra.