Simon Jordan - what's that all about?

He's appeared on Match of the Day 2 on the BBC2 as a pundit. He has his own column in the Observer. IT is pretty safe to say that Simon Jordan is not your ordinary Football Club Chairman.

After the debacle of a "fan at the helm" - The Mark Goldberg Experience, Palace fans could have been forgiven for feeling bit like a hitch hiker been offered a lift home by Ted Kennedy, when Simon Jordan took the reins back in the early noughties. He had money which all glory seeking fickle fans love the look and feel of. But was he just going to roll over throw it all away like his unfortunate predecessor.

What has emerged is a veritable swan from ugly duckling beginnings. He is very media savvy, but avoids all the banality and superficial nature that has to persist in football, because if the truth came out about it's snide and unwholesome nature, there's a danger none of us would want to bank roll it to the level we currently do.

Each month his column in the Observer sends me reaching for an email to applaud and eulogise about the skilful way he exposes and deconstructs. This month he goes for David Sullivan - a persistent thorn in Jordan's (the chairman, not the model) side over the years. In having a go at a fairly easy target he manages to expose the crazy conundrum that is club ownership.

Given the money would you buy your club and expose yourself to grotesque life that passes for ownership of a football club. The abuse, the despair of seeing defeat as an extension of your personality and public standing, it must take a unique individual to be able to contend with such adversity. When you succeed you can only be a hairbreadth away from the return of the abuse and brickbats.

I would commend the artful Mr Jordan to you. His savaging of Mr Sullivan and Mr Gold is here