Joe Kinnear's eight-year reign as Wimbledon manager came to an abrupt end last night when he was replaced by the former Norway coach Egil Olsen. The unexpected move follows speculation that the club's Norwegian owners were growing increasingly restless at the return on their £19m Stg investment.
Wimbledon said Kinnear wanted to leave to manage a bigger club after recovering from the heart attack in March which prevented him working for the rest the season.
Their patron Sam Hammam said he was "devastated" by news he described as a "bombshell", but added that the 52-year-old had agreed to help Olsen - five year his senior - settle in until he finds a post elsewhere.
Olsen's arrival from the Norwegian club Valerenga is expected to be confirmed today after compensation is agreed for the remaining 2 1/2 years of his contract.
Kinnear's options appear to be limited. Celtic refuted suggestions that he will head north, and his job prospects will not be helped by his lengthy absence from work. The decision is even more surprising given his repeated claims that he planned to return to Selhurst Park at the first opportunity.
In the closing weeks of last season he met his coaches to compile a lengthy list of the players they intended to buy and sell over the summer. The two points gleaned from 10 matches in his absence told of his influence at the club.
But yesterday he explained: "It was an immensely difficult decision for me to make but it has always been in my blood one day to test myself at the highest level of the game and I realised that if ever I was going to do it now was the time.
"Quite genuinely I don't have another club in mind but felt I owed it to Sam and Wimbledon to be up front about my decision rather than spring something on them only when I had sorted myself out."
Yet suspicions will remain that he was pushed. The multi-millionaire Norwegian businessmen, Kjell Inge Rokke and Bjoern Rune Gjelsten, were rumoured last week to be considering selling the 80 per cent stake they bought in Wimbledon two years ago.
They said in 1997 that they wanted to turn Wimbledon into one of Europe's best teams. But Kinnear's health, coupled with the club's appalling form after his heart attack, may have prompted them to turn to their own vastly successful and experienced man.
"It was a common decision between Sam Hamman and us," explained Jan Petter Stortvedt, managing director of Windmore, the company which is Wimbledon majority owner. He said Olsen was targeted late last week.
Olsen has a tough act to follow. Since replacing Peter Withe in January 1991, Kinnear has enjoyed remarkable success on relatively meagre resources, although the £7m signing of John Hartson spoke of a new financial clout.
Meanwhile, Mark Bosnich was reported to be in talks with Manchester United's chairman Martin Edwards about a return to the club.
It is a turn of events, for the 27-year-old Aston Villa goalkeeper must have felt the Old Trafford door had been slammed firmly in his face after he snubbed United seven years ago.
But time, and the realisation that Bosnich may be the best man to replace Schmeichel has clearly healed the rift as he travelled to Old Trafford yesterday to continue talks which began last Friday.
