(FORTUNE Magazine) – All the talk that the directors pushed him out has former Allied-Signal CEO Edward L. Hennessy Jr. huffing. His denials that he was ousted have been so vehement, in fact, that he has fomented a flap with the high-powered headhunter who recruited his successor. The imperial Hennessy has been spreading the story that he personally began courting his replacement, Lawrence A. Bossidy, vice chairman and No. 2 at General Electric to CEO Jack Welch, before the board even commissioned Heidrick & Struggles's Gerard Roche to do a search. Says Hennessy: ''I interviewed Larry over Labor Day weekend last year on my boat in Nantucket,'' noting that Allied hired Roche weeks later in October. Counters Roche: ''Ed Hennessy is trying to establish that Bossidy was his idea all along. I have documentation to prove that I recommended Larry Bossidy's name to him in a conversation in July, when I was on retainer.'' Bossidy, 56, insisted that he would accept the CEO job only if he could take charge immediately, so Hennessy, 63, stepped down July 1, 18 months before his scheduled retirement. Can Allied's 105,000 employees expect any change in management style at the diversified company? Says Hennessy: ''He's impatient, and I'm impatient.''