Claudio Ranieri's future was engulfed in uncertainty once again last night after Sir Alex Ferguson claimed that Chelsea had tried to prise him away from Manchester United.
Roman Abramovich's advisers immediately sought to play down the Ferguson link but the revelation threatens to undermine Ranieri's position just as it seemed he had ridden out the storm surrounding the Russian's clandestine meeting with Sven-Goran Eriksson that made it clear the billionaire might want a new manager to go with his new-look team.
Ranieri's side are unbeaten in their first three Premiership games and have qualified for the Champions League group stage but inevitably there will now be more questions about how long the Italian has at Stamford Bridge.
The revelation came two days after Chelsea head-hunted United's chief executive Peter Kenyon and mindful of the damage it could cause, Pini Zahavi, the agent who brokered Abramovich's £140m takeover, denied the story, saying there had been no approach. If Ferguson was sounded out, Zahavi would have been involved, not least because of his close links with the United manager.
According to a report in the Manchester Evening News, Ferguson was approached shortly after Abramovich took over at Chelsea on July 1. The United manager, it reported, rebuffed the move.
"I am manager of Manchester United and it would be something absolutely catastrophic for me to leave the club," he said. "My whole life is Manchester United. When you become manager of this club you get woven into the fabric of the place."
If Ranieri hoped Chelsea would immediately quash the story, the Italian will have been sorely disappointed. Instead the London club declined to make any official comment.
A multi-millionaire already, Ferguson hardly needs the money after 17 years at Old Trafford during which he became the most successful manager in the club's history.
In fact Kenyon's successor David Gill is to continue with plans to offer Ferguson a new contract. "I know Alex and we have worked together over the years but it would be wrong to say I have had the close working relationship with him that Peter had. That is something we will work on. He will get to know my style and I will get to know his and we'll work closely together.
"We are very pleased to have Alex as manager and we want it to continue. It is early days regarding the manager's contract. All I will say, as Peter had said and he was speaking on behalf of the board, we are positive about it and we won't get into a situation like last time. That will move ahead soon."
Privately Chelsea are questioning Ferguson's motives in going public on such a sensitive issue. Ferguson will have been acutely aware of the headlines it would produce and there are people, at Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford, who see it as a calculated attempt to undermine Chelsea.
Conscious that the London club now have the credentials to challenge United's dominance, Ferguson will also know that Ranieri's job will be significantly harder if there is speculation about his future to add to all the other pressures surrounding his job.
Yet, as an influential member of the League Managers' Association, it is surprising that Ferguson appears to have broken one of its unwritten rules - talking on or off the record about someone else's job.
Ranieri is certainly entitled to be aggrieved by the impression it gives that he is living on borrowed time. Another newspaper reported yesterday that Abramovich was lining up Blackburn's Graeme Souness.
Nevertheless the most likely scenario remains that Eriksson will replace Ranieri at the end of next summer's European Championship or even by November if England lose their qualifier in Turkey next month and the subsequent two-legged play-off.
Indeed, the only achievement that might save Ranieri is if he can win either the Premiership title or the Champions League. Eriksson, whose England contract runs until the 2006 World Cup, has made no secret of his desire to return to club management and there are few more exciting places to be than Chelsea right now.
The Football Association will float the idea of a new contract to the Swede should England qualify for Euro 2004 but it is also fair to say that Eriksson's head has been turned.
For all his protestations that his rendezvous with Abramovich two months ago was innocent, Eriksson's claim that they are just old friends is likely to be put to the test.
