RUGBY:BRIAN ASHTON was yesterday taking legal advice after being sacked as England's head coach less than six months after leading the side to a World Cup final and four months after being told that he was secure in the post until the end of 2011.

His removal came after the English Rugby Football Union's management board appointed the former England captain Martin Johnson as the national team manager, whose first act was to remove Ashton.

Some on the 13-strong management board, who had agreed that Johnson, the 2003 World Cup-winning captain, should have total control over the national side and the management team, were uncomfortable about the treatment meted out to Ashton and insisted that the blow be softened by giving the 61-year old a pay-off on top of an offer to take charge of England's national academy, a position he held between 2002 and 2005, before he returned to Bath.

Ashton was keeping his silence yesterday, but under Britain's employment laws it seems he has a case for suing the English RFU for constructive dismissal.

When Ashton was retained as the England head coach last December after an exhaustive review of that autumn's World Cup campaign, the RFU's director of elite rugby, Rob Andrew, said he envisaged him remaining in the post until at least the 2011 World Cup.

He added: "One of the appointments Brian wants to make is a team manager. We have said he can have a manager of his choosing. It is not a team manager who will be above Brian: he will fill certain roles and responsibilities that Brian feels he needs help with."

Less than four months later, a team manager was recruited, but not only was Johnson not Ashton's choice, the head coach had no input into the appointment and learned about what was going on mostly through the media. No one in the English RFU is willing to explain when and why the role of team manager turned from factotum into supremo, nor at whose behest.

"What has happened to Ashton is illegal and it is a disgrace," said the former England hooker, Brian Moore, a solicitor, on BBC Radio 5 yesterday.

"It is the clearest case of constructive dismissal that I have ever seen. The courts can award that a successful litigant be reinstated in their job: now that would be very interesting."

Ashton's departure - his two assistants, John Wells and Mike Ford, have been retained by Johnson - means that England, who are less than two months away from their first Test against the All Blacks, do not have a specialist backs coach. As the former Lions outhalf Stuart Barnes said yesterday, it sends out the wrong message to emerging backs like Danny Cipriani, Shane Geraghty, Toby Flood and Dominic Waldouck.

The management board said Johnson would be making an appointment "in due course": the Northampton director of rugby, Jim Mallinder, has been linked with the post, as have two former colleagues of Johnson and Wells at Leicester, Austin Healey and Pat Howard.

Johnson will start work on July 1st on a £275,000 (¬340,600) annual salary, leaving Andrew to act as caretaker team manager for England's June 1st match against the Barbarians and the New Zealand tour, a role he was unwilling to fulfil during the Six Nations.

"I will be working closely with Rob and the England coaching team on selection for the Barbarians match and the New Zealand tour, as well as selecting the first senior elite player squad of 32 under the new agreement between the RFU and Premier Rugby," said Johnson.

Andrew had a loaded parting shot for Ashton, saying: "Martin will bring a new and fresh approach to team development. I would like to thank Brian for the job he has done in difficult circumstances. He is an outstanding coach and I believe the new post we have offered him is ideally suited to his special talents and expertise."

Johnson, armed with a contract until the end of the next World Cup, will not be subjected to the regular performance reviews which undermined Ashton.

Friends who saw at first hand how Johnson, now 38, operated as a captain suspect he will take to the management game with aplomb. Jonny Wilkinson recently used the words "uncompromising" and "ruthless" to describe his former skipper, while insisting that Johnson's "man-management skills are second to none".

His playing CV - the 2003 World Cup title, eight Lions Test appearances (including an unprecedented two tours as captain), two Five Nations crowns, two Six Nations trophies, five domestic league titles and two knockout cup victories, plus Heineken Cup successes in 2001 and 2002 - is even better.

If there has been an element of cosiness about the England set-up lately it will not be returning any time soon.