Kevin Keegan came out fighting last night in a bid to defend his reputation in the wake of the recent free-for-all criticism of his reign as England coach.

The former England boss has assiduously kept his silence in the wake of his resignation from the national team after the defeat by Germany a month ago.

However, Keegan has now decided to start legal proceedings after one of the latest in a long line of recent articles alleging that gambling was rife within an internally-split England camp.

He is seeking a full retraction and apology from the News of the World after an article last weekend headlined 'Keegan's £40,000 bet shame', in which specific claims were made about his alleged role in players' gambling.

If the matter ever ended up in court it would seem likely that Keegan, who denies the accusations, would call England players to give evidence to back him up.

The development came as Football Association chief executive Adam Crozier attempted to call a halt to the slights being made on Keegan's reign by declaring that his support for him had never wavered.

He insisted that any suggestions he had been ''bad-mouthing'' the former Newcastle boss were ''preposterous''.

Keegan welcomed Crozier's comments in a statement released by his firm of solicitors, Peter Carter-Ruck and partners, in the light of the newspaper article.

The statement said: ''Mr Keegan utterly refutes the allegations and is determined to take whatever action may be necessary to defend his reputation.

''A letter has been sent to the News of the World by Peter Carter-Ruck and partners today in advance of legal action against the newspaper.''

It added: ''Mr Keegan would like to record his thanks to Adam Crozier and everyone at the Football Association for their wholehearted support of him at all times.''

Crozier, as well as executive director David Davies and other FA figures, had earlier become concerned that the governing body had been accused in some quarters of starting the recent inquest into Keegan's reign.

Crozier admitted last week that the players ''could be closer'', and has since been blamed by players' chief Gordon Taylor and Keegan's former strike partner Mick Channon for attempting to discredit the former England coach.

But while the FA chief executive should surely have been more careful with his comments, he is adamant that he was not directly, or deliberately, critical of Keegan.

Crozier declared himself to be as supportive of Keegan now as he had been when he consistently backed him in the past and then tried to persuade him to stay on as England coach after last month's defeat against Germany.

He said: ''There has been a lot of exaggeration of events over the past few days and we wish Kevin nothing but the best at this difficult time.

''The idea that I would now go round bad-mouthing him is preposterous.''

When asked if there were factions in the England camp, Crozier replied at last week's briefing that the players ''could be closer together''.

Asked later whether he had heard this from sources inside the squad, he added: ''Yes, from people who were in the camp itself.

''I wouldn't want to over-egg that but if you're looking for areas of improvement, it's got to be the job of the new coach to really put all of that together.''

Crozier did not mention Keegan by name, use the word ''divisions'' or discuss gambling by players.

And while the phrase ''could be closer'' was ill-judged if he did not want to be seen as criticising a coach whose strongest asset was said to be generating squad spirit, it was not a case of him launching an attack on Keegan.

An FA statement added: ''Following recent reports regarding Kevin Keegan's reign as England coach, the FA wishes to make its position clear.

"At the time of Kevin's departure, Adam Crozier, the FA chief executive, stated very clearly his admiration for Kevin.

''The FA could not have been more supportive of Kevin during his time, as was well known by all of his staff and his players. We remain supportive of him and any suggestion otherwise is very unfair.''

While Keegan was in charge the England squad was reported to be the happiest it had been for some time under an expert in motivation.

Now the players are alleged to have been divided into factions, with many of them gambling thousands of pounds on even short coach journeys and supposedly even tired out for their Euro 2000 games.

The truth, as ever, would seem to lie somewhere in the middle, with gambling evidently having taken place and Sunderland's Kevin Phillips, for one, admitting he had often felt left out