In deciding to place his reputation as a player on the line by becoming involved with the management of England, Martin Johnson has a successful model to follow. Ten years ago, Leicester, his club, staged an internal revolution which carried them to domination, not only of the domestic game, but Europe, too.

Leicester, like England at last year's World Cup, had reached the final of the premier competition only to fall to Brive in the 1997 Heineken Cup. They did so under the direction of Bob Dwyer, the acerbic Australian coach, but within a year he had gone and installed in his place were Dean Richards and John Wells, both of whom had only just concluded their playing careers.

That same season, Johnson became Leicester's captain and the remarkable coincidence now is that so many of the individuals who helped the club to four successive Premiership titles, and two European crowns, could become involved on England's behalf - if Johnson believes that they are the appropriate people.

Johnson himself now fits the role taken at Welford Road by Richards; Wells, as forwards coach, is a member of the existing England panel and, having played alongside him and worked with him as coach, Johnson knows all there is to know about his qualities. The one thing to be guaranteed with Johnson, though, is that sentiment will play no part; either Wells fits the criteria or he does not.

But the other name that keeps cropping up is that of Pat Howard, who had so much to do with the development of Leicester's back play. When Richards and Wells were appointed at Leicester, they had Joel Stransky as backs coach, but when the former South Africa fly half returned home, Howard arrived to play in the midfield and prove the inspiration for a new era of Leicester back play.

That reputation was confirmed last season when, as director of rugby, Howard's Leicester won the Guinness Premiership, the EDF Energy Cup and reached the Heineken Cup final, only to lose to London Wasps. Howard returned to Australia, ostensibly to become involved in his family's pharmaceutical business, but he re-emerged as the Australian Rugby Union's head of elite performance, a role from which he has recently resigned.

The point about an England management headed by Johnson is that it changes the whole dynamic of the operation: it is abundantly clear that, whatever qualities Brian Ashton has, too many individuals within the RFU's management board do not have the requisite faith in the present head coach. That is hard on Ashton, who has been grossly mistreated by his employer.

Whether those same management-board personnel believe in Johnson is hard to determine, given his lack of experience for the role he is about to take. But the point here is that, having promoted Andy Robinson and Ashton to positions for which they were not necessarily best suited, the RFU must throw its weight behind Johnson and give him all the backing denied his two predecessors, otherwise it will lose any remaining shred of credibility.

There is a risk involved, that the RFU may have got it wrong again or that Johnson himself has overestimated what he can offer. But he tended, as a player and captain, not to make such miscalculations and before he reaches agreement with the RFU, he will want absolute clarity as to the powers he has and the personnel he requires.

Johnson was extremely angry after England folded against South Africa during the pool stage of last year's World Cup, “without firing a shot” as he put it at the time. He will have made his own judgment over who was responsible for the subsequent recovery, how much credit should go to the coaching staff and how much to the players.

Having spent seven years playing under Clive Woodward, he will have learnt a great deal about how to handle the RFU, as he demonstrated as captain of the England side who, in 2000, threatened strike action over levels of payment. He also worked alongside Ashton, of course, when the latter was backs coach for four years up to 2002 and, even if Johnson feels that there is no place for Ashton in the new panel, he will want to see him fairly dealt with. With the imminent departure of Conor O'Shea to the English Institute of Sport, the RFU has a vacancy for a national academy manager, which was Ashton's job between 2003 and 2005, though whether he would choose to continue to work for a body that had given him so little support must be in doubt.

Ashton remains convinced that he has the final say in the appointment of a team manager and that his contract with the RFU runs through to 2011. If he is right, then substantial compensation could be in order and Ashton would not be short of offers to work within the Guinness Premiership - as he did with Bath who, themselves, received compensation when the RFU decided to restore Ashton to the England coaching panel in 2006.

Were Howard to decide on a return to England (where his parents, both rugby coaches, have been based for much of this season), he would be a direct replacement for Ashton, though there will still be members of the management board who hope that Shaun Edwards, the London Wasps coach, can be lured back from Wales.

But if and when a new coaching panel is put together - and there is still the little matter of preparing a team to play the Barbarians next month and then to undertake a two-match series against New Zealand in June - there must be no overlapping of responsibilities. Mike Ford has been an effective defence coach, which is also Edwards's speciality; creative back play would rest with Howard, the preparation of the forwards with, say, Wells and Graham Rowntree, another former Leicester player.

Importantly, none of those has club commitments - unlike Edwards - from which they must be parted. What with one thing and another, next Tuesday's long-scheduled RFU briefing to the media could hold more than passing interest.