Did you know that enterprising boss Ian Dowie turned to salsa for a miracle cure for his underachieving players at Crystal Palace when he took over as manager in December 2003.
When Dowie moved into the Selhurst Park hot-seat he inherited a squad with low morale and occupying 19th place in what is now the Championship. One of the first things he did was to introduce salsa dancing into the players' training routine.
Amazingly the club went on an impressive run of 17 wins from 23 games after he took over to soar into the End of Season Play-Offs! Palace followed that up by beating Sunderland in the semi-final in a penalty shoot-out and then triumphedl 1-0 against West Ham United in the Final to win a place in the Premier League.
If salsa was the only answer a lot more managers would be taking their players down to their local Latin clubs. But I am sure it helped the players build up their confidence and improved their posture.
I have always believed that one of the reasons the Brazilians are so brilliant on the ball is that dancing is something they grow up with. That and playing football barefoot on the beach. When you can swivel your hips and move gracefully it is a wonderful asset that so many British players simply do not possess.
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