Relegated Sheffield Wednesday have set Joe Kinnear a deadline to decide if he will take over as their manager. Kinnear is stalling on making a definitive decision until he sees whether Martin O'Neill takes over at Celtic or not. He feels that if O'Neill leaves Leicester that he would be the perfect replacement as he dealt well at Wimbledon with limited resources.

Wednesday chairman Howard Culley offered the former Wimbledon manager the manager's job last week and is running out of patience. He said: "If another club wants Joe Kinnear that is out of my hands. We have set him a short deadline for a decision because if he is not coming we have other directions to follow.

"His reason for requesting more time is sorting out things with his family. I see no reason not to take that at face value."

Kinnear was forced to stand down as Dons' boss after suffering a heart attack in March 1999 and was replaced by Norwegian chief Egil Olsen.

Now back in full health, he is desperate to return to management, but has been waiting for the right opportunity to present itself. Celtic and Atletico Madrid are all said to be interested.

Wednesday are looking for a new manager after the sacking of Danny Wilson in March following a series of poor results. Peter Shreeves took over as caretaker boss but has not been offered the job on a full-time basis.

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