Johnson quits England

[Tim&Bingo]

Why so long to quit?

Just a few more to get rid of now - who to take over?
Dean Richards will be free soon, with or without his bags of party tricks!

 

[Schadenfreude]

Graham Henry

 

[daz]

Graham Henry

Henry has said he would like to "help out" the Poms. Whether that means as a consultant or as manager is anyones guess. The timing of MJ's departure seems to indicate the RFU may have already secured Henry, especially as the prep for the 6N is well underway.

Last week, MJ was ok until a thorough review towards the end of the year. This week, he "stands down". Coach speak for "pushed".

If Henry put his hand up though, he would have to be one of the shortest-odds-on bookies favourites going around since Phar Lap at the '33 Melbourne Cup, or Bradman scoring a ton in almost any test.

 

[Larno]

Got to feel sorry for Johnno. I wouldn't have wanted to be in his shoes at any point during his tenure. 'Twas the media what done for him.

 

[daz]

Got to feel sorry for Johnno.

Do we? Nah, I think not. He reigned over a disjointed and mostly ordinary Pom side. I liked that just fine....

Having a strong and successful England is good for no-one in this hemisphere.

'Twas the media what done for him.

No. It was the results and the lack of control over the off-field drama what done for him. The media were the messenger. Johnson created the message.

 

[Bardon]

Given how badly Brian Ashton was treated after the last RWC in order to make way for MJ I'm not surprised by this. If getting a very poor England side to a RWC final wasn't good enough, then crashing out in the QF wasn't going to be good enough.

In fairness to MJ it was probably the wrong time to take the job, he probably should have coached a club level for a few years. But then again it's not like he was pressured into it, I don't think anyone pressured he into anything ever.

The off-field antics of the players were pure MJ and he was probably reticent to punish any of them for it. That's why having a team manager to handle dicipline is a good idea as they are slightly removed from the players compared to the head coach.

 

[dobduff11]

Yeh the off field antics were ridiculous.

I know its trivial but during the 6 nations apparently MJ told Ashton that if he did another swan dive he would drop him. Ashton did one straight away and didn't get dropped. I've seen coaches drop players at club level for stuff like that and although its difficult to do it to someone who scores 6 tries in two games but it would definitely have sent out a message.

Would quite like to see Graham Henry take charge, or possibly Jim Mallinder. Hopefully we get a youthful team out that play decent rugby. No more plodders please

 

[Dan54]

Well to be honest picking someone with no coaching experience ,especially someone who had played along side some of the team, was always doomed to failure wasn't it?? I wonder if Nick Mallet might get job.

 

[dobduff11]

Mallet's ruled himself out apparently

 

[Bardon]

Mallinder as head coach with Henry in some kind of Manager/Director of Rugby/Elite Performance (or whatever title is flavour of the month with the RFU) would probably be the dream ticket from those who have expressed an interest.

But the England job is probably a bit of a poison challice at the moment. Whoever is appointed will be seen as Rob Andrews man. With the amount of political infighting still going on at the RFU I wouldn't be surprised to see Andrew ousted sometime next year. This would leave whoever was appointed in a precarious position.

 

[en_force_er]

Johnson could have been a good coach but he's effectively fecked his career up by doing it backwards. I suspect he will disappear for a few years then become a successful club coach.

I doubt he'll coach a genuine WC contending nation again, wouldn't surprise me if he eventually ends up in the Italian and Japanese set-up though.

 

[Tim&Bingo]

"I doubt he'll coach a genuine WC contending nation again, wouldn't surprise me if he eventually ends up in the Italian and Japanese set-up though."

Indeed, Water bottles and the half time oranges are about his limit! You can't even trust the effer to field the ball correctly!

 

[Bardon]

Wouldn't be surprised if he's touted for the USA head coach job. Eddie O'Sullivan has just vacated the role and from a PR perspective MJ would be a good fit. However I don't think that it would be right for either party.

MJ kinda shot himself in the foot by taking the England job as his first coaching role. Now to save face whatever job he goes for has to be as head coach. Where as it's pretty apparent he suffered from not having the experience of serving his time and working his way up to head coach at a club. It's hard to see where a club job, in England, will come up for him now.

 

[Blob]

The timing of MJ's departure seems to indicate the RFU may have already secured Henry, especially as the prep for the 6N is well underway.

I really don't think it indicates that at all. The timing of his resignation really only indicates the time that he tendered his resignation.

 

[SaderCheif]

Lock it in Eddie?

http://tvnz.co.nz/rugby-news/eddie-jones-interested-in-england-role-4548277

 

[en_force_er]

I think the blame rests with whoever picks the English coaches rather than Johnson himself.

If someone came to me tomorrow and says "do you want to coach England?" I'm not not going to say yes.

 

[Lee Grant]

Mallinder as head coach with Henry in some kind of Manager/Director of Rugby/Elite Performance (or whatever title is flavour of the month with the RFU) would probably be the dream ticket from those who have expressed an interest.

As one has written before: from purely a coaching point of view and not a management/director point of view, Mallinder is the prime English candidate, D.Light is 2nd, A.Nother 3rd, and the others behind them.

 

[Toby Lerone]

Great programme tonight by Sky Sports here hosted be Alex Payne, and guests Ieuan Evans, Stuart Barnes, Dean Ryan and Sir Clive Woodward.

Clive basically said that Johnno rang him before accepting the job, and Clive tried to talk him out of taking it. Taking a job on at Leicester and being successful would almost certainly have led to him taking the job now if England had a bad tournament and the boss left.

The problem with the set-up is that Johnno has been prevalent for the whole time he's been in charge - Johnno is fine for a player, but as a boss he needed to be Martin Johnson. To be fair to him though, at the press conference he came across as such a great bloke even if he's not the right bloke to lead the country. Rob Andrew on the other hand, is no doubt doing some sort of inquiry that will end up with him justifying his ridiculous wage, even if no-one really knows what he does at the RFU.

Main Contenders: Jim Mallinder (promising coach, but not won anything yet with Northampton)
Graham Henry (possibly not manager but with some input)
Eddie Jones

It's a great shame that Dean Richards is banned because of the 'Bloodgate' scandal, if he wasn't it's more than likely that he would be the best man for the job.

 

[pete88]

Heh, I was going to somewhat sarcastically suggest Dean Richards.

I think the month the new boss has not had as a result of Johnson quitting this late is going to hurt them a bit. There's that much political and contractual wrangling to be done, at the very least I don't know if the new guy will get his own coaches by the 6N start. Read an article to that effect anyway, can't remember where.

 

[Tim&Bingo]

Looks like MJ's old muckers really shafted him