Curbishley had taken Charlton up and he had taken Charlton down. He had been there when the club were homeless and he was there when they were challenging for a Champions League place three years ago, but through it all he knew that he could depend on the support of the board.

After all, the last man to lose his job at the club was Steve Gritt in 1995 after sharing the duties with Curbishley. Lennie Lawrence, who was renowned for performing miracles on a shoestring budget during his 8½ years in charge, preceded them.

They all had the backing of the board and Dowie probably felt the same. He certainly would not have envisaged leaving after only 12 league matches. But he found out last night, for the first time in his managerial career, that he had lost his job.

Charlton may be bottom of the Barclays Premiership, but Dowie was the man who had coined the phrase “bouncebackability” when he was manager of Crystal Palace in 2004 and there was seemingly nothing that he could not fix on the training ground.

Other managers would rant and rave at their players, but playing for Dowie has always meant expecting the unexpected. Players, who were accustomed to Curbishley’s tried and trusted methods, had to get used to playing cricket to sharpen their reflexes and reading the self-help manuals that their new manager swore by.

When things are going well, no one questions such methods, but, as Dowie discovered, when results start going against you, the innovative can all too easily become the slapstick.

Curbishley frequently had run-ins with his players — Danny Murphy among them — but rumours have been circulating for some time that all has not been well at the club’s training ground in New Eltham.

Who, for instance, could blame the players for scratching their heads after reading Dowie’s reaction to their 3-2 defeat away to Wigan Athletic on Saturday? “If you want to do well, you try to make sure you don’t concede more than 1.2 goals per game and make sure you are scoring 1.5,” Dowie said. “We are conceding an average of 1.8 and that is far too many.”

Asking defenders to conceded 0.6 fewer goals a game may make sense to someone who worked for British Aerospace and has a degree in engineering, but is unlikely to have gone done well with the modern footballer.

With their team bottom of the league and not having won away all season, Charlton fans could not be criticised for not going to the JJB Stadium on Saturday, but the supporters who did travel north probably saw the goal that cost Dowie his job. A routine wind-assisted clearance by Chris Kirkland flummoxed the Charlton defence and Lee McCulloch had all the time in the world to break the deadlock. The verdict of the Charlton fans was clear — the goal owed more to Sunday League than top-flight defending.

However, demanding the head of your manager has never been the Charlton way. Sure, there have been calls for Dowie to be dismissed, but even Curbishley had to put up with a vocal minority who thought that he had taken the club as far as he could.

“I am absolutely stunned,” one Charlton supporter said. “The fans who wanted Iain Dowie out were few and far between and nearly every fan I spoke to was full of praise for the way he was trying to do things. The board will have a difficult task in trying to pacify the fans now.”

Meanwhile, Dowie will be back in work soon — probably in the Coca-Cola Championship — and Curbishley is ready to return to the dugout. There are plenty of Charlton fans who would welcome him back with open arms.

RISE AND FALL

May 31, 2002: Dowie replaces Mick Wadsworth as Oldham Athletic manager and leads the club to the second divison play-offs in his first season

Dec 22, 2003: Appointed manager of Crystal Palace and transforms the fortunes of the second-tier club by taking them from nineteenth place to the Premiership via the play-offs in less than six months

May 22, 2006: The dream turns sour and Palace are back in the Championship as Dowie’s relationship with Simon Jordan, the chairman, disintegrates, and Dowie leaves Selhurst Park “by mutual consent”

May 31, 2006: Much to Jordan’s displeasure, Dowie is appointed manager of Charlton Athletic

Nov 13, 2006: Dismissed by Charlton after winning only two league matches