In an attempt to explain his comments following his side's Worthington Cup quarter-final victory against Chelsea on Tuesday evening, Kinnear said:

"It's an absolute joke and it's very sad indeed.

"When I said the lads had a few quid on us I was talking about friends of mine - not the players.

"I also said we took 66-1 about finding Lord Lucan but I see that did not appear in any papers."

Earlier, the FA had demanded an urgent explanation from Wimbledon with players facing misconduct charges, fines and even suspensions if any evidence of betting is discovered.

Misguided comments

After the game, Kinnear, had said: "We were 66-1 (to win the cup) at the start of the season and I think a few of the lads had a few quid on."

The tightened regulations followed a report by Sir John Smith in the wake of the collapse of the match-fixing case in which Bruce Grobbelaar, John Fashanu and Hans Segers were all cleared, which declared that no betting of any kind would be allowed.

An FA spokesman earlier said: "We are writing to Wimbledon for a full explanation.

"The rules state that it shall be deemed to be misconduct to bet on any football match, other than those registered for the football pools."