WIMBLEDON chairman Sam Hammam last night insisted that a move to Dublin by the South London football club was still one of the options being actively considered despite his agreement to sell more than 75 per cent of the club to two Norwegian businessmen.

"This alters the situation by zero," he told The Irish Times.

am still in complete control of the decision-making process at the club and I have always thought that Dublin is a very good idea. What we need to have now is some dialogue with the people who run football in Ireland."

Earlier yesterday Hammam confirmed that he had undertaken to sell between 80 and 85 per cent of the club's shares to Kjell Inge Rokke and his close associate Bjorn Rune Gjelsten. Rokke's business interests extend from Norway to the Bahamas, the US and Britain and his fortune is believed to exceed one billion pounds.

The pair have agreed to pay Hammam around £26 million for the club and have also guaranteed considerable funds for the provision of new stadium. They already own FC Molde, a Norwegian premier division club which has produced a number of quality players over the past few years, most notably Manchester United's Ole Gunnar Solksjaer. It is believed that they will forge links between the two clubs.

While Rokke and his partner have been persuaded to part with very considerable amounts of money. Hammam will keep his place as club chairman and retain an influence on how the club is run that is completely out of Proportion to his shareholding.

This, he says, means that despite comments by the Norwegians to their local press that they intended to, seek, a suitable site for a new stadium in South London, option.

Hammam has expressed a preference for returning to a new ground in the Borough of Merton. where the club was originally based, but said yesterday: "It is like buying a house, you express a preference and then you look at everything that is available."

"At the moment Wimbledon is like an eligible bachelor who is open to offers. Personally, I think that the thought of bringing the club to Dublin is very exciting and nobody has ever convinced me of. why it would not be a great thing for the game there."

The deal between Hammam and the Norwegians will not be officially confirmed for three months. By that time, planning officials at the London Borough of Merton, should have completed a feasibility study on a proposal that Wimbledon greyhound stadium be redeveloped as a multi-purpose sports stadium which could provide the football club with a permanent home

Paul Perry, a spokesman for the council, said yesterday that its position remained unchanged. "We would love to see Wimbledon return to its proper home and we will do everything within our power to help that to happen.

If, on the other hand, the proposal was rejected by Merton councils then the club may turn its attention to Dublin and Neilstown, where the enthusiasm of the consortium based around property developer Owen O'Callaghan and entrepreneur Paul McGuinness, the wealth of the new Norwegian owners and the greatly increased cash reserves of Hammam himself would give it formidable resources to call on in any negotiations with the FAI and the National League clubs.

If, that is, any negotiations ever come to pass.