June 12 2005

Bob Dowie

Crystal Palace director of football Bob DOWIE has revealed that the club's recent spending spree is not over and it is targeting three more signings this month, by Stuart Pink.

With Darren Ward, Jobi McAnuff and last Friday's signing Jon Macken already on board, Bob DOWIE revealed to the Croydon Guardian that he is hoping to tie up further deals before the players report back for pre-season training.

He said: "Our spending is not over. We have some other targets we are working on and we hope to get in three more players before pre-season."

But DOWIE did confirm that Arsenal youngster Ryan Smith was not one of the Palace management team's targets, after the 18-year-old striker was linked with a season-long loan move to the Eagles.

DOWIE said: "No there is nothing there with Smith, we haven't moved on that at all. He's a good young player but there is no truth in the link with us."

The Palace director of football also boosted Palace fans' optimism by revealing that £1.1million buy Jon Macken was bought to play alongside Andrew Johnson, not replace him, and is tipping the duo to form a potent strike partnership in the Championship next term.

"AJ is not for sale. We've got to get back in the Premiership and we don't want to lose our best players. But we bought Macken because we are conscious we need someone to lead the line. He's a good target man, he was a prolific scorer in Division One, he's 26 and we see him as an ideal partner for AJ."

The purchase of Millwall defender Darren Ward was also another coup for the club according to DOWIE, as the Eagles beat off a number of clubs to seal the Lions' player of the year's signature.

DOWIE feels Ward's addition to the squad will give his brother IAIN plenty of options at the back, despite the absence of Gonzalo Sorondo.

DOWIE said: "We wanted to bring in what we thought was the best centre back in the Championship, which he Ward has been for the last two seasons.

"But we also have Tony Popovic in there, who formed a good partnership with Fitz at the end of last season and Mark Hudson will have a role, so we think we are well prepared in that area to go through 44 games in the Championship."

The signing of Jamaican international Jobi McAnuff is seen as a straight replacement for Spurs-bound Wayne Routledge, but DOWIE feels he may contribute more goals than Routledge.

"Jobi will be a straight replacement for Wayne, we would have loved to have kept Wayne, but he's out of contract.

"Jobi is a more direct player than Wayne and will hopefully weigh in with a few more goals."