Martin Johnson says that if he felt his departure from being England manager would help the team he would walk away from the job.
After yet another dissapointing Six Nations campaign for England there has been much speculation surrounding the future of England's coaching staff with a call for a return for World cup winning coach Clive Woodward.
The RFU's director of elite rugby Rob Andrew has come under particular fire and critics have called for Woodward who is currently the British Olympic Association director of elite performance to replace Andrew.
Johnson however believes that bringing in the coach that led him to world cup glory seven years ago would not solve England's problems.
"There's always speculation when results don't come, and that's why there's talk now of Clive taking over Rob's job," the England manager told the Mail on Sunday.
"Clive's got an important job to do at the BOA. He was heavily criticised after the Lions were heavily beaten on the 2005 tour to New Zealand. No-one was calling for him to come back to England then.
"Is it too simplistic to bring Clive Woodward back and think everything will be OK? Yes, of course it is. What will improve the team is continuity and trust in the players and management."
Johnson has a contract to lead England to the Rugby World cup in 2011 but the 40-year-old insists he would walk away if he felt he was not up to the challenge.
"Look, my record's clearly not good enough and England should be more successful than that," Johnson added.
"International sport is brutal. If players don't play well they get dropped. If coaches or managers are perceived to be not doing a good job then someone else will come in and do it.
"Am I lucky to be still in the job? It's difficult to answer that. I report to Rob Andrew and he understands where the team were in terms of the lack of a core, or of leadership, and where it is now.
"He understands that injuries forced us to make 11 changes for the autumn internationals last year. And he knows the squad and leadership development that has been made.
"Of course, I wanted our progress to be quicker than it has been and we're all extremely frustrated by it.
"If I felt it would be the best thing for England then I'd walk, for sure." he said.
"If it's the right call to make a change, whether it be a coach or the manager, then I'd make it."
England won just three of their eight matches this season but in their last match there were signs of improvement in the final test against Six Nations Grand Slam champions France.
Overall Johnson's record stands at eight wins from 19 Tests which makes his winning record just 38 per cent compared to Woodward's of 71 per cent.
He is confident that he will continue to improve as a manager, he admits he has often questioned whether he is up to the job.
"I was inexperienced and it's been a steep learning curve," he said.
"I'm a much better manager now than I was 18 months ago.
"I look back and realise there were a number of things I could have handled better and, yes, I ask myself if I'm good enough to manage England.
"It's fair to say there have been some very black days and more than a few moments when I've doubted the wisdom of taking on this job."
"I’m finding it much tougher to deal with as a manager than when I played."
However Johnson believes that England are on the right track and that they will improve.
"I believe we’d be competitive if the World Cup was staged this September, let alone next year," he said.
"But if you want to be seen as one of the big boys, which we do, then you’ve got to make the semi-finals, minimum."
.jpg)
