IF THE current coaches are not to the liking of Martin Johnson (presuming he accepts the terms of the RFU) the question should not be who will be installed but why anyone would want to work for employers who are eclipsing British Airways in the management ineptitude stakes.

Brian Ashton has spent the best part of the week wondering whether he is still in a job and – if he is – what sort of redefinition has occurred. His main source of news has been the newspapers; according to close friends, communications have mysteriously broken down between him and Twickenham. Suddenly the head coach is persona non grata.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of Ashton’s era in charge of England, his recent treatment has been shameful. His tenure as head coach is daily reported as a process that is unravelling at such an uncontrollable speed that the only course of action left for him is a proud resignation.

Loyalty for taking a job when England were on their knees and playing a part in taking them to the World Cup final? Forget it, this is business, not sport. The more humiliation the better, if it forces his hand. This is the business for which Johnson and future coaches will be working.

To some extent Ashton has himself to blame. He has not been as strong as he could have been in selection and the result has been a delay in the redevelopment of England. Additionally he was too weak with Andrew when he accepted the initial terms. Instead of getting the carte blanche of his likely successor and the choice of his own management, he was left with a team that was not his ideal blend; the mixed messages have never stopped transmitting themselves and affecting the team.

Nor should he have allowed the contract to be described as a one-year rolling contract. True, terms take him to 2011 but the perception of immediate pressure and the desire to secure any sort of win to ease his way through what he expected to be a decision after 12, rather than an indecently hasty 4 months, stripped him of much of his radicalism.

Ashton at this point should have asked for his own management team and time to make his mark. Maybe he is guilty of wanting the position too much. Compared to what others in the RFU are guilty of, it amounts to the smallest of indiscretions.

Appointed by Andrew after such an extensive period (and after Andrew had let Shaun Edwards cross the River Severn) he had the right to expect support after just five of the year’s 11 internationals. And indeed, it appears that was initially the case, but the management board, spearheaded by Martyn Thomas, had taken the infantile route of populism. They want Martin Johnson, England’s World Cup-winning captain and the panacea for all the nation’s problems on the field. And they told Andrew as much.

The RFU director of elite rugby should have stood his ground and his decision to stand by Ashton. Instead he wavered and betrayed the head coach, allowing himself to be compromised rather than asking the board on what grounds Johnson is such a guaranteed banker. Ashton has long taken the director at his words only to find silence when support was needed.

In the process of this shabby business Andrew has been wounded, and the management board has revived itself. It has worked for Baron with all the flak, both for the reappointment of Ashton and the handling of recent events, being targeted in the direction of Andrew and the management board. Yet has Ashton not the right to question whether Baron himself should have played a more supportive role for Andrew – if he was not prepared to stand up to the board? Obviously not, the further one is from this stink, the better for the reputation. Throughout the year Ashton has done his level best for the RFU. Of course he has made mistakes, but to be treated as a pariah is a disgrace which will not be forgotten for a very long time to come.

Ashton probably feels as if he should walk away from the RFU; in principle he should but he will hang on and hope, it is all he can do. It may be scant consolation but whatever happens he has at least retained his dignity, something the RFU sacrificed for self-interest some time ago.