RICHARD MURRAY, the Charlton Athletic chairman, warned his staff during the summer that they could not afford to make any mistakes in the coming campaign, bearing in mind the size of the television contracts that come into force next season.

Yesterday, Charlton admitted that they had made one themselves in appointing Iain Dowie as manager, but it remains to be seen whether they have compounded the error by giving his job to an untried successor.

Les Reed, previously the club’s assistant head coach and a former FA technical director, takes over after Dowie was dismissed on Monday evening, but although he is widely respected in the game, Saturday’s Barclays Premiership match away to Reading will be Reed’s first in charge of a League club.

Peter Varney, the Charlton chief executive, acknowledged yesterday that promoting Reed was “a little bit of a gamble”, but he claimed that action had to be taken after an internal review of the coaching structure — although the fact that the club are bottom of the Premiership was hardly irrelevant.

“If you look at the league table, 12 games and eight points is a big factor in a decision like this, but I also have to say it is not just results,” Varney said. “With Iain’s full knowledge over the past two weeks we have conducted a review into every single aspect of what goes on in the football management side. We came to a conclusion that things would not improve on the pitch and therefore we had to take the decision we did.”

Dowie’s reputation as a coach, already high, had rocketed when he took Crystal Palace into the Premiership at the end of his first season in charge at Selhurst Park in 2004. However, it is fast plummeting and perhaps Charlton should have spotted the warning signs, especially some poor signings. Nevertheless, he was appointed as Charlton manager in May, 12 days after resigning as manager of Palace, who are suing him for breach of contract.

“People will look at it as a mistake, but we interviewed who we thought was the best candidate for the job and backed him with £11.2 million,” Varney said. “This club has the highest wage bill in its history and there is an element of what Iain said in his interview which didn’t happen in reality. We think we have gone beyond the call of duty to back Iain.”

Varney played down suggestions of player dissatisfaction — “You hear things internally,” he said — but admitted that dismissing Dowie after 15 matches in charge looked hasty after Alan Curbishley, his predecessor, had managed Charlton for 15 years.

“It is not our style, but you have to think what is most important for the club,” Varney said. “This is a massive year in terms of the revenues that will change probably the way the Premiership operates in the future.”

Mark Robson, on the club’s coaching staff, will assist Reed, who insisted yesterday that he had not gone behind Dowie’s back to get the job.

“Anyone who knows me would tell you I wouldn’t knife someone in the back. I’d never do that,” he said. “Opportunities in football usually occur following the demise of someone else. I was out of work for two years after being sacked by the FA. Football’s cruel in that respect.”

Worse news for Dowie came when Varney admitted that Charlton would no longer be giving financial backing to their former manager in the court case brought by Simon Jordan, the Palace chairman, who is pursuing a £1 million compensation claim after Dowie left Selhurst Park for The Valley. “The case is now being funded by Iain,” Varney said.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

LES REED will step out the backroom into the considerable and unfamiliar glare of the Barclays Premiership spotlight. Reed, 53, who has never managed above non-League level, was an FA regional coach before his first spell with Charlton Athletic, where he helped Alan Curbishley to win promotion to the Premiership in 1998. He returned to the FA, becoming acting technical director in 2002. He introduced the use of modern technology into the preparation of the England team and helped a number of managers to qualify for the Uefa Pro Licence, including Iain Dowie, to whom he was assistant head coach until Monday.