BY Joe Lovejoy ( The Times )

THE passion may have been lacking in the FA Cup tie between his Fulham underdogs and Manchester United yesterday, but Kevin Keegan more than made up for it afterwards. Keegan, all emotion and intensity, ended a week of denials when he conceded for the first time that he would be willing to talk to the Football Association about becoming the next England manager.

The FA, keen to do everything above board, has already spoken to Mohamed Al Fayed, the Fulham chairman, to seek permission to speak to Keegan and thrash out a compromise that will allow him to take charge of the national team for the four remaining international matches of this season and to manage Fulham simultaneously. Last night, Al Fayed said that he had agreed such a meeting could take place, while the FA confirmed that David Davies, its acting chief executive, would meet Keegan today.

The most likely scenario is that Keegan, who watched his side succumb to spirited defeat against United at Old Trafford, will be asked to coach England in the run-up to each match and then hand over control to Howard Wilkinson, in Wilkinson's projected new capacity as director of football, when each game ends and return to Craven Cottage.

The FA has singled out Keegan because it believes that his inspirational qualities could be vital in taking England beyond the challenge of Poland in the crucial European championship qualifying match at Wembley on March 27. The issue of whether to hand him the job permanently would be tackled only after further qualifying matches, against Sweden and Bulgaria, at the beginning of June.

Keegan was at pains to emphasise again his loyalty to Fulham yesterday in the aftermath of their fifth-round defeat to a goal from a deflected shot by Andy Cole. He said that he would not walk out on the club. He did admit, though, that if agreement could be reached between himself, Al Fayed and the FA, then it was possible that he could be persuaded to become the national coach.

"Despite the fact that all the media seem to know something is going to happen," Keegan said, "and all the bookies seem to know something is going to happen, the man who they are talking about is sat here and can honestly look you in the face and can say I have not had one contact with anyone at the FA.

"It's a strange situation because, as I've said all week, I deny it and people don't believe me. I say I want to stay at Fulham and people say: 'He's got to say that.' If I didn't say anything, if I said no comment, you would then say: 'He must want the job.'

Feeling the squeeze: Keegan was in playful mood despite defeat

"At this moment in time, I haven't had a phone call. Judging by what's happening - mainly through the media, which is surprising - I should be getting one. In one way, it's a very big compliment. It's just the timing of it. I like Fulham Football Club very much. I love Fulham. I have to get like that when I go into something.

"On one side, you have got all the emotion of what happened today. On the other side, you have got a pull that every English fan should have, which is if you want to be a manager and your country comes for you, then maybe you should jump at it and forget everything.

"I am not like that. I never have been. I think now people know I did not walk out on Newcastle. I am not going to walk out on Mr Fayed, or Fulham, or the supporters and these players.

"If the FA come on and want to talk to me, then I will talk to them, don't worry about that. I can see a picture building up over the last three days which is a strange situation. Somebody, somewhere, has decided not only maybe to approach me and offer me some sort of position, but they have also taken it upon themselves to tell a lot of people about it, except me.

"If I am approached and Mr Fayed gives them permission, of course I will talk to them. I think there are a lot of things then that may or may not happen, depending on what they say. For me to sit here and say: 'What if they offer it this way or that way, what would you say then?' - the answer is let's wait and see if it happens and I will sit in front of you again, as I always have done."

At least Keegan and his Nationwide League second division side have one less commitment after their Cup exit. Neither side produced the football of which they are capable. United, missing Paul Scholes and Roy Keane through suspension, lacked width and the ploy of playing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer alongside Dwight Yorke and Cole seemed to unbalance them, as it always does.

Fulham were also without Paul Peschisolido and Simon Morgan, but the conquerors of Aston Villa were never in danger of being overawed. From the moment early in the game, when Schmeichel inadvertently flattened Berg with a mis-hit goal kick, United seemed unsure of themselves, unable to rediscover the fluency that ran through them so effortlessly in their 8-1 drubbing of Nottingham Forest nine days ago. The combative Nicky Butt was their best player.

Fulham were never able to make their early superiority tell, though. The difference between them and their FA Carling Premiership opponents was in the finishing. United's first real chance fell to Cole and he promptly put them ahead in the 27th minute when his sidefooted shot bounced off Symons and beyond the grasp of Maik Taylor. A minute later, Fulham were denied the chance to strike back when Gary Neville's brilliantly timed tackle dispossessed Dirk Lehmann as he shaped to shoot.

United, who will face Chelsea at Old Trafford in the tie of the quarter-finals, could not kill the game off, but Fulham's last chance disappeared in the 68th minute, when Salako shot too close to Schmeichel after Finnan's dipping shot had rebounded to him ten yards out. Taylor saved well from Yorke four minutes from the end, but even if Fulham could not provide a sting in the tail, Keegan obliged instead.

Manchester United (4-3-3): P Schmeichel - G Neville, H Berg, J Stam, D Irwin (sub: J Greening, 46min) - D Beckham, P Neville, N Butt - A Cole (sub: R Johnsen, 87), D Yorke, O G Solskjaer (sub: J Blomqvist, 68).

Fulham (4-4-2): M Taylor - S Finnan, C Coleman, K Symons, R Brevett - S Hayward, N Smith, W Collins (sub: G Uhlenbeek, 87), J Salako (sub: P Trollope, 73) - D Lehmann (sub: K Betsy, 59), B Hayles.

Referee: J Winter.