Maguire, who guided Britain to a record-equalling 10 medals at the recent World Athletics Championships in Budapest, was unexpectedly relieved of his position in a meeting yesterday with the UK Athletics chief executive Jack Buckner.

UK Athletics are not commenting on either the departure or the arrival, but Buckner told insidethegames:  "The situation is difficult and disappointing but I am also positive about the future and where we will get to in the next couple of years."

News of Maguire's departure was conveyed via a terse statement: "UK Athletics have announced that Stephen Maguire will leave his role as Technical Director with immediate effect.

"An interim Head Coach will be announced in due course; until then, no further comment will be made."

Now, that announcement has been made by an organisation that has been under severe financial pressure in recent months.

This year it had to make 10 staff redundant after reporting losses of £1.8 million ($2.1 million/€2 million) and more recently, The Times reported that the hugely successful 50,000 sell-out Diamond League meeting in London still made a six-figure loss due to the lack of a title sponsor, further diminishing the reported £430,000 ($523,617/€496,028) of reserves UK Athletics has left.

More recently, it has become apparent that the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix - the final of the indoor series - scheduled for February 24 next year will not take place.

There has been no announcement to that effect but it is no longer included in the World Athletics schedule of the Indoor Series.

Amidst all these difficult circumstances, the task of preparing British athletes for the impending Olympics and Paralympics, one that looks increasingly fraught given the parlous financial circumstances of the domestic organisation, has now been given over to a safe pair of hands.

Dunn, 58, a former international sprinter who won 4x100 metres gold at the 1986 Commonwealth Games with the English women’s team, is a warm and popular figure within the sport who will now lead the performance programme "through the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games."

Having left her role as UK Athletics Paralympic head coach at the start of 2022, Dunn has been recalled for a huge new challenge by Buckner, the 1986 European 5,000m champion who took up his position with UK Athletics in March last year having done the same job with British Swimming, whom he guided to a medal haul of eight at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

"Paula has a huge amount of experience in leading athletics and her track record in performance means she is the best person to oversee the performance programme towards Paris," said Buckner.

"2024 is a very important year for the sport with a home World Indoor Championships, a Para World Championships, European Championships as well as the Olympics and Paralympics.

"She is coming in at a critical time for the performance team, but her knowledge and experience will make a huge impact."

Dunn commented: "I’m looking forward to working with the performance staff and athletes once more at this incredibly important time for the GB & NI team.

"The results from Paris and Budapest this summer were excellent, and I want to ensure we keep providing world class support in the approach to Paris and help every athlete perform at their very best.

"There isn’t a moment to lose, and I am excited to rejoin UK Athletics and help the team to succeed."

Meanwhile shock waves are still going through British athletics over the removal of a coach whose controversially stringent selection policy for this summer’s World Championships in Budapest nevertheless yielded impressive results.

In the wake of the bald initial UK Athletics statement, there was reaction from two of Britain’s best known performers - Dina Asher-Smith, the 2019 world 200m champion, and the Birmingham 2022 10,000m champion Eilish McColgan.

Asher-Smith, posting on Instagram, asked for a "full explanation" for the "disappointing decision", adding:

"Stephen has been phenomenal, so dedicated and has an excellent understanding of what it takes to be successful in the sport of track and field.

"Such a snap decision as athletes begin to prepare for an Olympic Games cannot have been done with any consideration for the performance needs of the athletes."

McColgan commented on X: "No explanation is a bit of a rogue move…".

It is understood that the hard word from Buckner, with whom there had been longstanding tensions over budgets heading into next year’s Paris Olympics, had come as a complete surprise to Maguire, who had been expecting their meeting at the Loughborough University High Performance Centre to be about the ongoing financial challenges.

There have been reports of discussions about the difficulties of sending staff to support British teams at events such as the World Relays in the Bahamas.

Maguire was in charge of sprints, hurdles, and relays at UK Athletics for six years, and was director of performance and coaching of Scottish Athletics for two and a half years.

He was seen as a leading candidate for the post of head coach at UK Athletics in 2020 before that appointment went to former international sprinter Christian Malcolm.

Maguire was head of high-performance coaching for Sport Ireland - covering all sports - for two years before being appointed technical director at UK Athletics just over a year ago.