England rugby manager Martin Johnson is expected to reveal his coaching plans early next week.Johnson, 41, has kept a low profile since returning from New Zealand following England's poor World Cup.

He received a welcome boost at a meeting of the England RFU management board at Twickenham on Wednesday where acting chief executive Martyn Thomas announced he would be stepping down.

The meeting also heard that a review by former England prop forward Fran Cotton, one of Johnson's harshest critics, had been scrapped.

Johnson's contract expires at the end of the year and it now seems possible that he will continue in the position, with the RFU offering him a lesser role if he agrees to an overhaul of his backroom coaching staff.

The former World Cup-winning captain has always been hugely loyal to his coaches and being backed into a corner is only likely to make him more so.

"The word 'comfortable' is a word you should never use in elite sport," Johnson said before the World Cup.

"You should never get comfortable. You should always keep striving."

"If we have to have those tough conversations we will. My whole concern is for the England rugby team and for the team to be successful. I'm not here for Martin Johnson's ego trip."

Johnson said then that walking away from the job in the face of criticism was an 'easy option' - and he has never been one for those.