Johnson still not for sale - Dowie

Iain Dowie has re-assured Crystal Palace fans he has no intention of selling prized striker Andrew Johnson during the transfer window.

The 23-year-old took his tally into double figures for the season with the equaliser in yesterday’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham at White Hart Lane.

The point lifted Palace out of the bottom three of the Barclays Premiership, albeit only on goal difference, boosting the Eagles‘ hopes of staving off the drop going into 2005.

And Dowie insists the club are not about to cash in on Johnson, who joined them from Birmingham in a £750,000 (€1.05m) deal during the summer of 2002.

“This season is a vital season – we need all of our top players,” insisted the Palace boss.

“It is non-negotiable with Andy Johnson for me. It is not right for everyone around the club.

“If you sold Andy Johnson, what would the fans think? We would have packed up and gone home.

“It is not where we are. This is a big-enough club to sustain Andy Johnson - what we have got to do is develop a club which allows Andy Johnson to achieve what he can, because he can achieve lots in the game.”

Dowie added: “For me Andy Johnson, along with a few others, they are the future of the club.”

Despite Palace not having the resources of other clubs in the top flight, Dowie maintains there will be no pressure from chairman Simon Jordan to improve the Selhurst Park coffers by a couple of million when the transfer window re-opens next week.

“The chairman has been very good,” declared the Eagles boss. “The football decisions are mine, the financial decisions are his.

“Any bid which he had would come through to me and we would have a discussion about it.”

Dowie maintained: “I don‘t know what is in other manager’s mind, what they want – all I am saying is they would get a short shrift as regards Andy.”

England assistant coach Tord Grip has indicated Johnson’s performances this season could see the striker called up into the national squad for the forthcoming friendly against Holland at Villa Park on February 9.

And Dowie believes it would be just rewards for the player’s effort and all-round approach to the game.

“I hope it happens for him, I really do,” said Dowie. “He is a good kid and deserves everything he gets because he is a proper player.

“Whether that happens or not, we will wait and see but it won‘t affect Andrew - he is a down-to-earth lad who works his socks off.

“He wants to be the best he can every day. He is bubbly, always smiling and never gets down, he just gets on with it.

“If you ask him to go and mark [Patrick] Vieira as a midfield player, he goes and does it for you.

“He is professional about his business. At eight o’clock on a Friday night, he will be at home with his family, maybe watching a video.”

The Eagles manager feels Johnson has the talent and temperament to become one of the English game’s best forwards – and wants to make sure Palace see the best of him.

Dowie added: “If Andy can do this consistently over seasons, which I think he can, then he will become a great and we hope he will become a great at Crystal Palace, that is the key.”

Palace head to Fulham on New Year’s Day, where a victory could see them leapfrog Chris Coleman’s struggling side.

And Dowie believes the performance at White Hart Lane has given his squad the perfect platform on which to build a successful assault on retaining their top-flight status.

“Spurs did not cut us apart, and we had opportunities in the box which we should have maybe punished them with,” he recalled.

“We feel we should have got three points, but we got one. That has, though, got us out of the bottom three, and it is important.

“What we must do now is use that display to push on.”