Twickenham's search for the chief executive it desperately needs after the most torrid period in the Rugby Football Union's 140-year history has been hit by the fallout from the leak last week of three reviews into the World Cup campaign in New Zealand.
The RFU has drawn up a shortlist of three candidates to interview for the post, which carries a salary of more than £300,000 a year but two of the candidates are having second thoughts after the blaze of negative publicity from the leaking of the reviews compiled by the union, Premiership Rugby and, most damning of all, the Rugby Players' Association, which was based on statements or interviews with 90% of the 30-strong squad.
The pair have expressed their revulsion at the unauthorised release of information that was supplied on the strict understanding it would not be released into the public domain. They are asking themselves whether they want to be part of an organisation that seems to have such a systemic leaking culture that it cannot even keep secret documents so explosive that the reputation of the union would be grievously damaged by their publication. The RFU wants to make the appointment on 16 December, more than six months after John Steele was sacked after a dispute with some of his non-executive directors about the process for appointing a performance director who would oversee the senior England team.
Even though the new chief executive, and the RFU has been focusing on the business world, would not be able to start until well into the new year, the hope has been that he would have an input into key appointments and decisions that have to be made, not least who will succeed Martin Johnson as the England team manager on a permanent basis and a review of all the departments at Twickenham.
"You have to ask whether there is a sport in this country that is run more badly," said the politician and former England wing Derek Wyatt. "The need for a chief executive is great, yet even if they found one tomorrow he would not be able to start work for between three and six months. Sponsors are making threats and I cannot see why the RFU has not asked Francis Baron [the chief executive who left Twickenham last year] to come back and steady things."
Following the revelation in the Observer on Sunday that the RFU was considering paying its executive directors bonuses after a record financial year, Wyatt said: "It would be scandalous after all that has happened. No one should be given bonuses and if they were I am sure clubs would be demanding resignations."
The RFU has two key meetings this week. The board of directors meets on Wednesday to discuss recommendations from the professional game board about Johnson's successor as England team manager and whether an interim management should be installed because the start of the Six Nations Championship is little more than two months away.
Two days later the union's council will consider a report from the legal firm Slaughter and May which recommends a radical overhaul of the way the RFU is run. The outcome will be of particular interest to the candidates for the chief executive position with the report calling for a reduction in the influence of amateurs on the board of directors and a far more leak‑proof administration.
Fran Cotton, the former deputy chairman of the union, said the need for a chief executive was paramount. "The RFU is in a mess, and reading the reports about the senior England team that appears to be in the same state. It can only be dealt with by appointing a chief executive with the right skill-set to take us forward. It is a hell of a tough job, one that commands thousands more column inches than a company with a turnover of billions of pounds. We need the right person who would get ahead and appoint a performance director and an England team manager. Real leadership is needed and this can be sorted out quite quickly if they get the right people."
Cotton believes the former South Africa and Italy coach Nick Mallett would be the ideal replacement for Johnson, working with the Northampton coaches Jim Mallinder and Dorian West. Mallett has ruled himself out but the RFU has been trying to get him to change his mind. Another former South Africa coach, the World Cup winner Jake White, has expressed an interest in the role. "I'm sure that if an opportunity came about, it's something I'd like to do again," he said. "I don't know how I'd react if I was called by the RFU, one never knows until you are in that situation. All coaches want to test themselves against the best and when you've won one World Cup, you'd like to win a second."
The former England centre Mike Tindall, who was thrown out of the elite squad this month and fined £25,000 for misconduct at the World Cup, is likely to learn the outcome of his appeal on Monday. After the leaks last week, anything more than a token reduction in his fine is unlikely.
