As Kevin Keegan, chastened and contrite, packed his bags and headed for the plane out of Belgium on Wednesday, he might have consoled himself with the thought that things could only get better.

It was bad enough that all the deficiencies in his managerial ethos had been laid bare with England's dreadful Euro 2000 performance. But at least Keegan was reassured to hear that he would be allowed to remain his own man.

Yet, within a day of Keegan's return, that remaining comfort was shaken to its core.

Understated as it was, and though it was couched in terms of his admiration for the coach, Football Association chairman Geoff Thompson's suggestion that Keegan 'may need a little bit of help' could hardly have been more candid.

Behind the sedate portals of Lancaster Gate, the message will have reverberated like a gong. It was the clearest possible sign that the men at the top are less than impressed.

But in the pointer to Keegan that he should call on technical director Howard Wilkinson to be his new sounding board and chamberlain, Thompson has immutably altered the dynamics of the relationship between the England coach and the former Leeds manager.

The question now is how Keegan will react to being told that he must do better - and that he should consider asking Wilkinson to help him find the solutions to the questions that were beyond him in the European Championship.

Keegan's natural instincts suggest he will opt for confrontation. He has always maintained he should live or die by his own actions, not have them foisted upon him.

The problem for Keegan, however, is that he has spent much of the past seven months going out of his way to tell the world just how fantastically well he gets on with Wilkinson. It will be hard for him now to say he does not want any interference.

But Thompson has called for precisely that, further bolstering Wilkinson to the extent that he appears impregnable.

That Thompson should have accepted the need for Keegan to take wiser counsel is a belated recognition of the frailties within the man he personally appointed 15 months ago.

Even though the FA hierarchy does not want to lose Keegan, delighted with his public relations skills and his ability to restore lost spirit to the England squad, there have always been those in the upper echelons who felt he should be persuaded to look outside his inner circle for tactical insight.

As Soccernet revealed, the feeling intensified in the wake of the stumbling play-off victory over Scotland in November into a clear belief that Keegan had to seek a new chief lieutenant.

Keegan, furious at what he perceived as potential interference in his job from the FA, sought out leading officials to demand they back him at a meeting of the international committee.

It was the first major line in the sand he had drawn as England coach. Keegan made it clear he was not prepared to be dictated to and that he needed the authority to act as he saw fit - including making all his own coaching appointments.

Fearing the consequences of taking the issue to the brink, the FA buckled. Keegan had won the power-play, retaining his comitatus of Arthur Cox, Derek Fazackerley, Les Reed and Ray Clemence.

Now, his pride dented by the blows of the past two weeks, Keegan is far more vulnerable - and Wilkinson even more powerful.

The painful and embarrassing extent of England's decline was made abundantly clear by the mocking tone adopted by their opponents.

Portugal's Paulo Sousa, forced to watch the game in Eindhoven from the bench with a knee problem, added insult to injury. 'England have Paul Scholes and David Beckham but the rest of them are clumsy, slow and easy to go past,' said the Inter Milan midfielder.

'I was laughing at them when I saw the defenders heading back towards their own penalty box rather than trying to get the ball off Luis Figo.'

Such comments have not been ignored by the FA mandarins. While Keegan has been in the line of fire, Wilkinson has been going around the tournament, compiling a dossier he plans to present for Lancaster Gate consumption.

Hence, despite the evidence of his one match as caretaker manager - a 2-0 defeat against France at Wembley - Wilkinson is as strong as any FA employee has ever been.

Last summer, aware of the perception that he was too influential among Keegan's hand-picked coaching staff, Wilkinson made a conscious effort not to remain involved with the senior team.

By accident, not design, it ensured he has no responsibility for what happened in Euro 2000. What he says, the FA accepts 100 per cent. Now he has the chance to say what he thinks about Keegan's England and help dictate the future - aware that he will not be the one to carry the can if it goes wrong again.

Wilkinson's relationship with Keegan has long been a subject of debate, even though he was part of the three-man delegation - alongside international committee chairman Noel White and executive director David Davies - who went to Keegan's home to ask him to accept the challenge.

The two do not seem natural soul-mates and Keegan admitted in February that he would have preferred to see Wilkinson pick West Ham's Joe Cole in the starting side rather than among the substitutes for the Under 21 game against Argentina at Fulham.

But whenever the question has been raised, Keegan has reiterated how close they are. Four months ago, he said: 'Howard's always there, putting some of the nuts and bolts together.'

A month later he added: 'I knew what the set-up was. Howard's been very helpful to me. We've always been honest with each other. I don't want you to think we don't discuss things. I can't possibly tell him how to play tactically.

'He's a proven manager in his own right and we're both aiming to make England as successful as we can, even if we're approaching it from a slightly different angle.'

But if those angles are diametrically opposed, it seems that Wilkinson will win the argument. And if Keegan is being urged to seek his advice, then what happens if that advice runs contrary to the coach's own beliefs?

Yesterday, Thompson took pains to stress that Keegan retained his support, adding: 'You've got to give anyone a fair opportunity to do the job their way.'

The trouble is that Keegan could view any attempt to force him to ask Wilkinson for advice as preventing him from making his own decisions about the way forward.

Still reeling from the pummelling his self-confidence received at the hands of Romania in Charleroi, the last thing Keegan wanted to hear was a public questioning of his abilities by the chairman of the FA.

Now we await his response. It would be interesting to know whether it will be Wilkinson knocking on Keegan's office door, or vice-versa. The first exchange might be entertaining to eavesdrop on as well.

If there is one certainty, it is that Wilkinson will be the one with the smile on his face and Keegan wearing the frown.

Soon after returning to Newcastle as manager, Keegan briefly walked out, declaring: 'It wasn't like it said in the brochure.'

Last night he might have been flicking through the pages again.