Wimbledon manager Joe Kinnear was last night given the full backing of Sam Hammam, who insisted there had never been any plans to instal Norway chief Egil Olsen at Selhurst Park. Hammam, who is in his native Lebanon on business, moved quickly to dispel rumours after Kinnear threatened to walk away if his position was not clarified.
Kinnear's future was thrown into doubt by suggestions from Norway that multi-millionaire backers Bjorn Rune Gjelsten and Kjell Inge Rokke wanted Olsen in charge by the start of next season. Hammam, a coowner with the Norwegian duo, stressed he had the sole power to hire and fire Kinnear.
"The matter has never been raised with my partners and I doubt it ever will," said Hammam. "The answer if they did would be an absolute `no' and I have absolute sole control over who is appointed. Joe Kinnear is the only man I want to manage Wimbledon. I am proud to have him at the club and proud of everything he has done for us. Joe has just signed a five-year contract with the club. In fact it's so new the ink is hardly dry."
The rumours of a change of personnel grew after Olsen attended Selhurst Park for Wimbledon's match against Manchester United on Saturday. "He was there for one reason only," said Hamman, "to watch the four Norwegians who were involved in the game."
Kinnear was clearly troubled by the speculation, saying earlier yesterday: "Why don't they come clean about it? If that is the way they carry on behind your back, then I don't want to work for them."
Kinnear also revealed that he had recently rejected a move for Olsen to work alongside him. "Perhaps it didn't go down too well when I told them what to do with that idea - I appoint who I work with and I appointed Lawrie Sanchez and David Kemp as my assistants.
"God knows how much money I have brought into the club, but if they want me out so be it, and I can carry on with the rest of my life. I have heard the rumours, but it's out of my hands. It appears that two Cup semi-finals and coming close to European qualification is not good enough."
Olsen, who denied yesterday he had been offered the post, will leave his job after next summer's World Cup finals in France to return to club football. He has already held talks with Marseille, Sporting Lisbon are rumoured to want him, and there is also an offer to take over the Swiss national side.
He has extensive knowledge of the English game and has often upheld Wimbledon as his main source of inspiration. More than Manchester United and other glamour clubs, he argues, Wimbledon have come closest to achieving the maximum from their slender resources.
The 54-year-old, who has steered his country to successive World Cup finals, said he would be seeking a lower profile next summer. "If I got an offer to come to England I would consider it, but I'm not thinking about that just now. My ambition is to live a quieter life and become a bit more anonymous than I am now, but I will stay in football."
Fulham are on the verge of breaking their transfer record with a bid for Blackburn's out-of-favour defender Chris Coleman. The deal now rests on the 27-year-old agreeing personal terms with Kevin Keegan and Ray Wilkins. Fulham only broke their previous record buy a few weeks ago when they snapped up Canadian striker Paul Peschisolido from West Brom for £1.2million.
Ron Atkinson said yesterday that the lure of a second spell at Sheffield Wednesday was too strong to resist despite the chance of taking over as manager of Northern Ireland. "I actually got a long way down the line with the Irish FA about taking over the national team of (Northern) Ireland," Atkinson told Radio 5 Live.
