After an involvement with the Lions that began in 1974, Ian McGeechan intends that next year's tour to South Africa will be his last. The archetypal Lion will, therefore, seek to go out on the highest note, not for the promotion of the brand or to offset past Lions failures, but to leave as his legacy the conviction that a Lions tour must be the height, in Britain and Ireland, of any player's ambition.

“There's nothing I would like better than to win the series,” McGeechan, who toured twice as a player and will be making his fifth tour as a coach, said yesterday after unveiling his coaching panel and section heads. “I know how difficult that is but it's still probably the most important thing for a player from the home unions, even in this professional era, to pull on a Lions jersey. I'll get the most satisfaction from seeing a group of winning players because I know how much it means to them.”

The Scot will give himself the best start by having alongside him individuals with whom he has already formed a considerable bond through London Wasps, five of whom also toured South Africa with Wales this summer. McGeechan succeeded Warren Gatland as director of rugby at Wasps and now Gatland, who won a grand slam in his first year as Wales's head coach, will be his forwards coach. Shaun Edwards (defence), Rob Howley (attack), Craig White (conditioning) and Rhys Long (analysis) have worked at Wasps and are employed by the Welsh Rugby Union.

“If people say this is 'Club Wasps', that won't irritate me,” McGeechan, 62 next Thursday, said, although the struggling Guinness Premiership champions have hired an additional coach, Tony Hanks, from Waikato, to help when McGeechan and Edwards are under pressure on Wales or Lions duties. “There's a uniformity of thinking, that trust and honesty that you need. If we think something is wrong, it will be out in the open like a shot and that's quite invigorating.”

By naming the coaching panel now, the Lions hope to provide extra focus during next month's internationals, the Heineken Cup and next year's RBS Six Nations Championship. Another specialist coach - goalkicking or scrummaging - is still to be added, together with additional medical and physiotherapy staff to help James Robson, the Scotland doctor, who will also be making his fifth Lions tour.

Gatland, who follows in a subordinate role where his compatriot from New Zealand, Graham Henry, led in Australia in 2001, has started weighing up potential playing candidates and McGeechan has enlisted the help of all the national coaches as talent spotters, together with his former Scotland ally, Jim Telfer. An initial squad of about 65 players will be announced in mid-January and the dust will be allowed to settle on the Six Nations before the final party of 35 or 36 is named in mid-April for the ten-match tour, which opens on May 30 and ends with the third international against the world champions on July 4. “Everyone has to feel ownership for the tour - coaches and players,” Gatland said, leaving no doubt of his passion for the Lions concept.

There will be no division between the Saturday and midweek XVs, as was the case in 2001 and in New Zealand in 2005, when the Lions lost the series 3-0 to the All Blacks and Sir Clive Woodward, the head coach, was subjected to enormous criticism for taking a bloated party of players and support staff. That this will be a more compact tour will not decrease the overall cost and John Feehan, chief executive to the home unions, acknowledges that the Lions need a positive tour after two losing series. “Sooner or later you have to win to keep yourself competitive,” Feehan said, knowing that some 50,000 Lions supporters are expected to follow the team.

McGeechan poured cold water on the idea that Jake White, who coached the Springboks to last year's World Cup win, would be involved. He and his panel see 1997, when the Lions won in South Africa, as a reference point, in terms of success and player fulfilment. “It's important to recapture the feel of that tour,” Howley, who broke his arm against Natal when he was certain to play scrum half for the Lions, said. “We will train hard, play hard and enjoy ourselves off the field.”

Challenged on the kind of disciplinary issues that arose in 2001 and on England's tour to New Zealand last summer, Gerald Davies, the manager, said that Richard Smith, the QC who has acted for England over the past seven years, will join them as legal adviser. “But the players must buy into the disciplinary procedure,” Davies said. “It doesn't have to come from the top, from players being told what to do. They can draw the line.”