My sadness over Ashton: Baron regrets coach's 'nightmare'

Despite the imminent confirmation of Martin Johnson's appointment in command of a new regime, the kingmakers at Twickenham performed the rare feat of fielding questions on the subject without once mentioning their World Cup-winning captain by name.

The biggest question of all at least left them in no doubt as to the identity of the man with most to lose.

Asked whether Ashton was still England's head coach, chief executive Francis Baron said: 'Brian has a contract with the RFU for the position of head coach and that is his position as we sit here today.'

That rather begged another question: would he still be in the same position tomorrow or the next day?

'It must be a nightmare for Brian with everything that's being reported,' Baron said.

'I am concerned about the extent of the coverage. Some of it has been unpleasant.

'We're a caring organisation and we are concerned about the way individuals are being portrayed. You can put your arm around them but, at the end of the day, it's there in black and white and it hurts.'

An issue which has dragged on since the end of the Six Nations is due to be resolved next week when Rob Andrew, the RFU's director of elite rugby, puts the final recommendations to the management board for ratification.

Baron, adamant that the RFU's new Mr Big would be a team manager despite the expectation of Johnson taking charge as head coach, made it clear that Ashton and his assistants, John Wells and Mike Ford, would know their fate next week.

'They all have to be happy with the new structure,' Baron said. 'Someone might say: "I don't want to work with that new bloke you've brought in".'

What if, as appears increasingly likely, the 'new bloke' doesn't want to work with some or all of the current coaches? 'We want them to work as a team,' Baron said.

'We hope Rob comes up with something we all buy into.'

Andrew, who appointed Ashton after Andy Robinson's dismissal in December 2006 and reappointed him 12 months later, missed yesterday's briefing.

He was, as Baron explained, engaged in the pressing matter of 'a very important meeting over the team manager's position which, if successful, will put the final piece of the jigsaw in place.'

Meanwhile, Ashton waited and wondered, understandably demoralised according to friends, who say he has been kept in the dark about what's been going on.

Baron denied that had been the case and said: 'I saw Brian last week and he intimated to me that he knew what Rob was doing and he had regular conversations with him. He hasn't been left in limbo. Brian is going to have an input into the new structure.'

There will be precious little input should Johnson decide against working with Ashton. At best, the current head coach's position will have been undermined, given that the RFU had agreed that Ashton could appoint a manager of his own choice.

Now he is about to have one foisted upon him.

'I want to make sure we have the best management structure in place,' Baron said. 'If Rob says he wants Fred Smith, and Fred Smith wants to get rid of everybody, that would colour the board's view of Fred. I believe Rob will present a very carefully thought-out proposal to the board.'

Baron defended Andrew from criticism fired at him by Sir Clive Woodward, whom Andrew beat to the £300,000- a-year job as director of elite rugby.

'I feel sorry for Brian in the way things have been reported and poor old Rob seems to be the butt of a number of people's anger,'

Baron said. 'He's got a lot of flak but he's done a pretty good job.'

While Baron shrugged off Woodward's description of the RFU as 'parasites and termites', RFU chairman Martyn Thomas reaffirmed that England's ambition demanded something higher than second place in the Six Nations, a long way behind Wales.

'This is not about sacking people or disposing of them,' he said. 'Brian has done incredibly well because none of us thought England would make the World Cup Final. There are, however, no prizes in life for coming second.'