SOCCER: The English Football Association were last night formulating an exit strategy for Sven-Goran Eriksson to leave his position as England manager after the World Cup.
A day of hard bargaining at Soho Square ended with the terms of a multimillion-pound severance deal being all but finalised and the search for his successor officially under way.
All that is left is for the paperwork and formalities to be concluded before the FA confirm the news in an official statement.
There is an element of bad feeling on both sides and all parties will be glad that Eriksson's five years in office is now in its final stretch and that the job of finding a replacement can begin in earnest.
Eriksson plans to return to club football and is open-minded about the idea of staying in England.
Even if England win the World Cup, the decision will not be reversed. Although the talks were described as amicable it will not be lost on Eriksson that the FA's chief executive, Brian Barwick, instigated the negotiations and that there was never any concerted attempt to persuade him to see out the remaining two years on his £4.5 million-a-year contract.
On the contrary, the FA had accelerated the talks in light of the News of the World's revelations about clandestine negotiations to take over at Aston Villa, the tabloid sting convincing Barwick and his colleagues that it was time to get some clarification about the future of his most high-profile employee.
It has been a costly exercise and it now looks like a hugely expensive mistake on the part of Barwick's predecessor, Mark Palios, to have offered the Swede a contract extension that took him to 2008 in the first place.
The FA's belief is that Eriksson always planned to leave after this summer's tournament and after one controversy too many some high-ranking officials at Soho Square will be relieved that he will soon be off the payroll.
Barwick has had to balance that with not wanting to alienate Eriksson so close to the World Cup but it is a vote of no-confidence, at the very least, that the authorities were apparently so determined to bring his reign to a close, irrespective of how England fare in Germany this summer.
Eriksson is effectively being sacked with six months' notice, although his golden handshake should go a long way to easing any bitterness on his part.
His agent, Athole Still, had made it clear early in the day that he would be driving a hard bargain, pointing out that Eriksson had two years of his contract to be paid up and describing it as a "huge protection in itself".
The FA were suggesting a £3 million payment but Eriksson wanted twice that.
Still struck the deal, along with Eriksson's lawyer, Richard des Voeux, during a full day of negotiations with Barwick and the FA's director of corporate affairs, Simon Johnson.
Eriksson attended the first part of the meeting to confirm that he was happy to negotiate an early departure but he left the financial bargaining to his representatives.
The Swede is acutely aware that the English public has fallen out of love with him and though he hopes to rekindle that affair in Germany he believes his time in charge will have run its course by the end of his third major tournament in charge.
He and Barwick agree that it should not undermine England's chances of a successful World Cup, with the FA desperate to avoid any allegations that they are damaging the chances of their own team.
Parallels have been drawn to Bobby Robson's reign when the decision not to award him a new contract did not prevent England reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup in 1990.
His next official engagement will be in Switzerland on Friday for the draw for the 2008 European Championship, a competition in which it is clear he will play no part.
The contenders to replace him will include Martin O'Neill, Guus Hiddink, Sam Allardyce and Alan Curbishley, but there is no outstanding candidate.
Barwick has let it be known in the past that he would like to appoint an English manager but there is also bound to be clamour for Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho.
