International
Johnson appointment hailed, as Ashton ponders future
SCOTT Gibbs has hailed his former
Lions team-mate Martin
Johnson's high-profile England
appointment as a great coup.''
Ex-Wales centre Gibbs played a
major part in the 1997 Test series
triumph against South Africa,
when Johnson was Lions captain.
And Gibbs believes 2003 World
Cup-winning skipper Johnson
will make a success of the England
team manager's job he officially
landed on Wednesday.
He explained: This will give
English rugby a huge tonic.
Martin has been the most successful
northern hemisphere
player since rugby has gone professional.
I think it's a great appointment.
He knows how to win
Heineken Cups, he knows how to
win a Lions series and he knows
how to win a World Cup.
While Clive Woodward took
most of the plaudits for that
World Cup success, don't underestimate
the role of the captain
in taking the team to the finishing
line.
I think he is definitely the
right man for the job. It's a great
coup for English rugby and
British rugby.''
Johnson won't officially take
charge until July 1, but his early
tasks include identifying an addition
to England's coaching
staff and assessing selection options
for a June 1 game against
the Barbarians, which is followed
by a two-Test New Zealand tour.
It follows the Rugby Football
Union management board's decision,
relieving Brian Ashton of
England head coaching duties
and offering him a national academy
post instead.
Ashton is furious about the
way events unfolded.
He has yet to make any public
comment, maintaining a dignified
silence despite the RFU's
public courting of Johnson, but
Ashton would be on firm ground
if he now opted to take a legal
route.
Richard Linskell, employment
partner at Dawsons Solicitors in
London, said: Ashton can certainly
feel hard done by the treatment
he received from the RFU.
In terms of his legal rights, if
as some media reports are saying,
Ashton found out that his
employer was courting a replacement
without his knowledge,
there would be a clear case
of constructive dismissal.
All employers - including
sporting bodies - must be careful
not to breach the duty of mutual
trust and confidence by
words or acts that they know, or
should know, are likely to undermine
the employment relationship.''
9:02am Friday 18th April 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
