Wolverhampton Wanderers last night remained hopeful of the imminent appointment of Glenn Hoddle as manager next season.
Reports yesterday suggested that Hoddle's longer-term tenure of the Wolves hot seat would be confirmed at a Molineux press conference today.
But club officials were last night saying that no such arrangements had yet been made and that any deal with Hoddle had not been agreed.
It is merely the latest slight twist in a typically drawn-out Molineux saga that has gone on ever since Hoddle filled the hole left by the sacking of Dave Jones in early December.
Wolves raised eyebrows from the start when they granted Hoddle his wish to sign only a short-term, six-month contract.
In the light of their improved form and results under him, the club have spent the last few months stepping up their efforts to persuade the former England manager to sign on for longer.
But talks among Hoddle, his representatives and the club have progressed only slowly, , despite several meetings.
There have been no public pointers to key issues such as the future of 37-year-old skipper Paul Ince, whether to try to keep hold of star talent Joleon Lescott, plans to supplement his backroom team and the sort of transfer budget Hoddle might expect to be given to fund a proper promotion push next season.
He has already done the spadework in that respect with the team he inherited, having transported his team from 17th place in December to ninth, only seven points away from a place in the play-offs.
But Wolves' run of only one league defeat in 24 matches has also alerted the attention of other clubs and more than one observer of the
Hoddle situation has made the suggestion in recent weeks that he may well have been holding out for a better offer elsewhere.
Only this week there was speculation that he was considering a move to Arsenal, to be reunited with his old Monaco mentor, Arsene Wenger.
That was denied yesterday by Wenger, but the chance to return to France has remained a possibility. The sudden vacancy at Lyon also cannot fail to have attracted the attention of an adopted son of France who was on a three-man short-list for the national coach's job when Jacques Santini quit last summer.
Hoddle's agent, Dennis Roach, had been out of the country but the longer this scenario exists, with Hoddle not signing an extended contract and with the final Premiership placings known by Sunday teatime, the more likely it is that he will be linked with other posts .
