Kevin Keegan enhanced his reputation for the unpredictable yesterday when he refused to offer himself as long-term successor to Glenn Hoddle as England coach. Instead the man who has been found himself at the epicentre of a frenzied week of claim and counter-claim agreed only to take temporary stay in charge until June.

Keegan has been appointed England coach for the next four games. The unexpected part was not that he would do the job part-time but that he then plans to walk away from it and leave the English Football Association to find somebody else.

The news that Keegan refuses to stay in the post beyond June was met with amazement inside football after three days of front and back pages had declared Fulham's chief operating officer a shoe-in for the job. Speculation had glibly assumed that he would be in the job at least until the 2002 World Cup finals.

Now the next three Euro 2000 qualifiers, plus a friendly, are the extent of his commitment as he seeks to see out the remaining 18 months of his contract at Craven Cottage.

No doubt the FA will be hoping that, given a run of good results, Keegan will be bitten enough by the England bug, and come under so much pressure from a grateful nation, to agree to take the job full-time after all.

"Over almost three days of discussions with the FA, Kevin indicated he didn't wish to be considered for the England job beyond June," said the FA's acting chief executive, David Davies.

"He is committed to complete his contract with Fulham, which runs until the summer of the year 2000."

In fact, this was the first point Keegan made when discussions with the FA began on Monday. And he refused to budge from that position. The offer to stay part-time until 2000 was never made.

Davies continued: "We're thrilled Kevin is joining the FA even if it's only until June. We respect his wish to complete his existing contract. We have been determined to do everything possible to give the players the best chance to qualify for the Euro 2000 finals. I believe that's what we've done today."

Keegan will explain more at a press conference today. Yesterday he merely said: "I am absolutely delighted. I am committed to Fulham, but I believe I can do a successful job for England as well."

On the face of it the whole situation looks a mess. But given the circumstances it is probably the best compromise the FA could come up with. Had the FA taken umbrage at Keegan's attitude and told him to forget even his interim involvement, England would have been left without a leading coach for these four games after Howard Wilkinson, who stepped into the breach following after Glenn Hoddle's sacking, had turned down the chance to continue alone. He prefers to remain as the FA's technical director, though he will work alongside Keegan, who will also bring in one or two coaches of his own.

By agreeing to accept Keegan for the short term, the FA can at least console themselves that they have landed the man at the top of their shortlist - even if it is for only four matches - and that Keegan does possess the credentials to motivate an England team which looked worryingly short of that quality against France recently.

So Keegan will take charge for the European Championship qualifiers at home to Poland on March 27th - on which so much of England's chances of qualifying depend - then at home to Sweden on June 5th and away to Bulgaria four days later, plus the friendly at home to Hungary on April 28th.

After June, the FA will either have persuaded Keegan to stay on full-time or be seeking to appoint their fourth England coach in five months for the remaining qualifiers at home to Luxembourg on September 5th and away to Poland four days later.

This is not the first time Keegan has shocked the footballing world. He walked out on Liverpool at the height of his powers as an England midfielder to join Hamburg. When he returned to England, he turned down bigger clubs to sign for Southampton, and later he famously walked out as manager of Newcastle to re-emerge at Fulham, of all places.

And now it is Keegan's allegiance to the second division club, their owner, Mohamed Al Fayed, their fans and the players pushing for promotion to the first division under his manager-ship, which came ahead of the chance to lead England the national team full-time.

When the speculation linking Keegan with England began last week he always insisted that he would not walk out on Fulham, and, much to everyone's surprise in this cynical world, he has kept to his word.

"If Kevin Keegan does as good a job for his country as he's done for Fulham so far," said Mohamed Al Fayed, "he'll make everyone proud of the England team."

And there lies the FA's best bet. Yesterday they stated they will "seek a full-time successor to Glenn Hoddle over the coming weeks. That process of finding a successor to Hoddle "starts immediately". And nobody is ruling out Keegan.