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Former England coach Sir Clive Woodward is "unconvinced" by Rob Andrew's ability to lead the national side out of the doldrums.

Woodward, who believes believes former South Africa coach Nick Mallett is the best man to lead England next year, has launched a scathing attack on the hierarchy running the English game and has also called for Rugby Football Union chief executive Francis Baron to step aside in favour of an experienced former player.

Andrew, the RFU's elite rugby director, has been charged with identifying a replacement for Andy Robinson, who was sacked as head coach after a disastrous run of 13 defeats in 22 Tests since taking over from Woodward in 2004.

The former fly-half will have a key role to play in attempts to get England back to the summit of world rugby, but Woodward believes his presence may hinder, rather than help the national side.

"I have heard so much drivel spoken about what needs to be done to improve the preparation for this England team and remain unconvinced by Andrew's vision, based on his lack of experience as an international coach," he told The Sunday Times.

"Interfering with the England team and selection makes the role of elite rugby director untenable.

"What is needed is for the England head coach, alone, to be given complete control over every member of the England squad.

"England's head coach must be a man of massive stature to do an all-encompassing job.

"But which coach worth his salt, unless he was desperate for work, would take the England post at present with Andrew hovering, having a say in what is in effect a selection committee and with no control of the players?"

Woodward believes former South Africa coach Nick Mallett is the best man to lead England, but he is not confident the RFU will make the right choice.

"Nick Mallett, the South African, is far, far ahead as the best candidate as new head coach. But he would not dream of becoming enmeshed at present," Woodward said.

"Only one thing is for certain - it will be yet another fudge - again, so much nonsense is spoken," he said.

Winning the World Cup in Australia three years ago was "the worst thing that ever happened to the England team" according to Woodward, due to the fact it glossed over the failings of the English system.

And the 50-year-old claims it is time Baron stepped aside to aid a restructuring of the game which would give the national side priority.

"Baron, who has successfully managed the finances, should now step aside for the good of the game, perhaps in favour of someone with knowledge across all areas of the sport, such as Simon Halliday," he said.

Woodward believes the saddest indictment of the RFU's failings has been their inability to build on 2003's success, and is adamant that there should still have been the talent in the English game to mount a realistic challenge at next year's World Cup in France.

However, he feels that chance is long gone due to the mismanagement of the country's elite players, such as Danny Grewcock, Mike Tindall, Steve Thompson and Ben Cohen.

"Whatever happened to the men who won the World Cup?" he asked.

"Only [Martin] Johnson and [Neil] Back were not going to make the 2007 World Cup.

"What happened to the others, who were all young enough to make massive improvements in time for 2007?

"Is there one player still around who is better than in 2003? They don't even look like they did in 2003.

"Nobody has looked after them, helped them. They have been battered all over the place with no concern for their welfare.

"A generation of players has missed out because they have not been given the opportunity to play for England to the best of their ability."

Woodward, who was interviewed for the elite director's job but lost out to Andrew, pointed his finger in two directions.

"There are two people fundementally responsible for the complete mess we are in. One is Francis Baron and the other is Rob Andrew.

"I find it absolutely staggering that he was given that [elite director's] job and was sitting behind Andy Robinson at Twickenham in recent weeks when he has never coached an international team and has no credibility at all.

"My beef with Rob is not that he pursued the clubs' agenda when he was with Newcastle. I've no problems with that. But to then swap sides and say that we have to change things after slagging people off is not on. I just couldn't live with myself."

Woodward is also adamant that top coaches will not agree to become Robinson's successor unless they have complete control over selection.

"When I applied for the elite director's job I went into the interview and said I would not take the job unless I was on the management board.

"I said I wouldn't sit on the selection panel because that's ridiculous and showed that they didn't have a clue what elite sport is all about.

"I told them there wasn't a decent coach in the world who would accept the England job reporting to the elite director with that job description."

Woodward said England need to develop elite athletes, dismissing as "nonsense" a suggestion from RFU chairman Martyn Thomas that top players should play a maximum of 28 games a season.

"The whole issue is very simple," said Woodward, who led England to World Cup success in 2003.

"If England want to become the number one ranked team in the world and win the World Cup you have to start with the player.

"You have to put him at the forefront of all the debate.

"We have to create superstar elite rugby players, who become the best player in their position.

"New Zealand coach Graham Henry has complete and utter control of the player in everything he does - and I mean everything.

"We have got to get this system in place, it is so obvious to me.

"It is not about how many games we are playing. That is a complete smokescreen for people who are panicking and trying to find a magic solution.

"Martyn is saying 28 games as a maximum for top players. That is nonsense. Some players can play 35 games, others 12.

"You have got to have one person individually managing the player programme and good people working with him. If you don't do that, everything else comes unstuck."

England have struggled badly this year and are looking for a new coach following Andy Robinson's departure.

Thomas said: "The radical plan has to be that the coach gains total control over the players and the playing time.

"Below that comes the issue of the number of games we play internationally, the number of games we play club-wise, the number of competitions we enter.

"It is a crazy system. We want to get the top players down to playing around 28 games a year."

Woodward dismissed claims by Premier Rugby chief executive Mark McCafferty that there was no forward-thinking in place for a strong defence of their world title.

"There was a clear plan but it was not taken up by various people," said Woodward.

"We have gone from world champions to where everyone is laughing at us.

"But England can recover quickly. We have the players but someone has to sit down and show real leadership and real authority."

McCafferty added: "We put plans to the RFU in March which we thought were necessary. Among them was the players to be more involved with the England set up. Those were not taken forward.

"The clubs have done quite a lot over the last 12 months to try to help the situation. We cannot make it a one-way street."