THE WAITING could almost be over and by the end of this week, Twickenham’s air of quiet panic may have subsided. Close associates of Martin Johnson believe that he is now moving towards acceptance of the role of team manager and all-powerful supremo of the misfiring England team. As we reported last week, he has been offered total control, with hire and fire powers as to his own head coach and back-up staff, the last word in selection and the freedom, should he desire, to graze his sheep on the pitch itself.

There are still problems to overcome as Johnson, returned from a break in the West Country, prepares to hammer out final details with Rob Andrew, the RFU’s director of elite rugby. He wants the chain of command involving himself, Andrew and RFU chief executive Francis Baron, to be of crystal clarity (Johnson, when team captain, and Baron have crossed swords in the past) and also wants the promise of the cleanest of clean sheets in team affairs to be confirmed – as he should. The fudging of the coaching regimes of both Brian Ashton and Andy Robinson helped to scupper both.

However, Johnson is now said to be squaring his shoulders for the challenge after some years unsure of his point of re-entry to a game he served with such power and distinction. He has never been a high-level coach or a team manager. But his rugby nous, authority and charisma should give him a head start, and it is unlikely that mixed messages will reach the England players – the team has often recently performed as if in a state of confusion.

Andrew was instructed unanimously by the RFU management board to land Johnson. Last Wednesday’s crucial meeting of the RFU management board concluded with a rather honeyed media release making no reference to the Get Johnno mission, lauding England’s recent performances (dire though many have been), and making no mention of Ashton, the current head coach. This was a studied effort, to ease the pressure on Johnson, so as not to touch off a publicity barrage. England’s greatest player and World Cup captain, probably on his way back to national acclaim as the potential Great Redeemer? Not much news value there, then.

Andrew, it is universally believed, was considering recommending the retention of Ashton and the status quo but he has been left in no doubt that the majority want a grand gesture. It remains to be seen if Andrew himself can live with this dilution of his authority. He will face sharp questions if he does not bring home the Midlands bacon.

The unhappiest aspect of the whole mess is that Ashton himself remains in limbo land, apparently still planning to lead England to New Zealand in June. Yet Andrew can tell him nothing definitive until Johnson makes up his mind, and until Johnson then decides the identity of his coaching panel. If that preferred panel includes Ashton, and our information is that it may, only then can Ashton decide if he is content with the demotion.

What if Johnson decides against? “Well, then we are stuffed,” one management board member said. This is where analysts still see a route to goal for Jake White, the South African. It is a tangled, sorry mess that bestows credit on few. The growing conviction that Shaun Edwards will sign soon to coach Wales until 2011 is no help, either.

Alarm at Twickenham has been increased by news that seedings for the 2011 World Cup will be based for the first time on the official world rugby rankings. In the draw to be made on December 1 this year, unprecedentedly early, the top four in the rankings will be allocated to different pools and will avoid each other. England stand in fifth place, with the possibility that they could find themselves with the hosts New Zealand or with South Africa, the reigning champions.

If Johnson takes charge, the task is savage. England have six Test matches to play between now and December 1, the cut-off point. The easiest of these, against the Pacific Islands, does not count in the rankings system. Of the other five games, three are against New Zealand, two away in June, and the other two are against South Africa and Australia at home. They may need to win at least four to be sure of rising to fourth place.

It is instructive now to reread the visionary booklet containing the job description for the post of elite rugby director, advertised in mid2006, and later to be awarded to Andrew. It offered Olympian powers to the successful applicant, suggested (to me and many others) that the new man would report only to Francis Baron, the chief executive, running pro rugby while Baron ran the business. It promised a dramatic end to all the poor decisions and appointments.

How tattered that vision looked last week as Andrew fumbled unimpressively through, serving various masters. Why should Andrew have to have his decisions rubber-stamped by the Club England quango, an unelected body of no discernible use, and then have to take them to the management board, should the quango give the nod? It represents emasculation.

And how low the role seems to have sunk from the power and clarity the vision appeared to convey, when powerful RFU figures supported the candidature of Sir Clive Woodward, the only man remotely qualified to fill it in all its aspects, and when others interceded against for reasons that remain a mystery. Last week, Andrew must have felt like a glorified messenger boy and poor Ashton like some pariah. The news that Johnson is close to acceptance at least offers the vision of a future free of fudges, referrals, confusion and, possibly, too many damaging defeats.