'I didn't seek controversy. I just didn't avoid it...'

FORMER Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan has lifted the lid on his time in football in a new book published this week.

Be Careful What You Wish For documents the charismatic Jordan's ten-year spell as the Eagles chairman, including the highs of promotion to the Premier League and the low point of administration, which ultimately ended his tenure.

Jordan, whose father played for the Eagles, was a boyhood Crystal Palace fan having grown up close to Selhurst Park and became the youngest Football League club owner at the age of 32.

Having made his millions in the mobile phone industry, he became Eagles chairman in 2000, starting an outspoken and, at times, controversial spell in football.

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He says there were good and bad things about football, while he admits that he lost about £40m during his time at the helm.

But Jordan, like in his book, was frank in his admission, telling Sky Sports News last week: "It was what it was."

That's not to say there weren't some good times in his spell as chairman.

Jordan recalls the promotion-winning season of 2003-04 as a highlight of his tenure, while he said a "particularly poignant" moment was the Eagles' last match of the 2007-08 league season against Burnley, which Palace won 5-0 to help them reach the end-of-season play-offs.

He told Sky Sports News: "We needed to win and we did win it 5-0. It was perhaps the only time the whole club was really together, from the players and management to staff and supporters."

Jordan did, however, have several low points during his tenure and a number of confrontations with the football authorities, players and managers, none more infamous than with Iain Dowie.

In his book, he recalls the trials and tribulations of their working relationship and the subsequent court case that followed Dowie's departure, while Jordan also lists several anecdotes from behind the scenes of his time in charge.

Some may be considered controversial, others perhaps humorous, but Jordan told Sky Sports News last week that he was simply "to the point" amid questions of his perceived role as a pantomime villain.

He said: "I didn't seek confrontation or controversy, I just didn't avoid it."

Meanwhile, Marbella-based Jordan admitted he has no desire to get back to football, despite the "masochist" in him suggesting he has "unfinished business."

He said: "The reason I would not go back is that it is the same business, with the same frustrations that exist. I regret the way it finished and some of the things that may have gone on, but it is a life worth living. How many wouldn't take the chance?"