March 2 2005

Wayne Routledge

Iain Dowie has played down Wayne Routledge's show of frustration after he was substituted towards the end of the Eagles clash with Birmingham on Saturday, by Stuart Pink.

The wantaway Eagles winger removed his shirt as he crossed the touchline, walking towards the dug-out and dropped it on the turf, before he sat down with the rest of the Palace playing and coaching staff.

Dowie said: "He was fine with me and he was fine with me since. It's an issue that I haven't had the chance to speak to him about, I don't know quite what happened, someone said he threw his shirt off after the game.

"I didn't see that.

"But he's a young boy and he's going to do things which are not perceived the right way, but he's a shy lad and sometimes people perceive that as arrogance, but he's not, there's a very fine line, he's not arrogant in the slightest."

Dowie admitted he brought the 20-year-old winger off because he wanted his replacement Gary Borrowdale to shore up the Palace left wing to counter the threat of Jermaine Pennant in the final few minutes.

But the Palace boss is adamant that he does not care about players' feelings when they are substituted, just as long as the team gets the right result.

Dowie said: "He Routledge didn't want to come off, but I took him off.

"It's nothing to do with it. I couldn't give a monkey's whether he wants to come off or not. I'll take him off because I think it's right for the team.

"It was three minutes to go, Gary was just going to sit in there and deal with whatever came down that side and be nice and solid. So that's the way it was, just like when I took TOM SOARES off."

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