Van Commenee and Peter Eriksson, UK Athletics Paralympics head coach, are expected to reveal their recommendations to restructure the organisation by the middle of April, and the governing body are currently in consultation with staff whose roles may be set to alter or disappear.

 

The new set-up will be led by national event coaches such as the recently-appointed endurance chief Ian Stewart and heavy throws coach Bob Weir, who will be responsible for getting the best out of those identified as medal contenders in 2012.

 

But Cram, the chairman of the English Institute of Sport, has claimed in his weekly column in The Guardian the "decision to restructure appears to have taken place and a period of hurried consultation is effectively under way".

 

He wrote: "Everyone from host training and support venues, including the likes of Loughborough University, to coaches and athletes have been taken by suprise and many are claiming to be left in limbo at the moment.

 

"The new performance director may well be right to be reassessing the set-up but it would have been better if this could have started earlier than a few weeks ago."

 

Cram was recently appointed by van Commenee to sit on a panel of Britain's former top middle and long distance runners, headed by Stewart and also including Sebastian Coe and Liz McColgan, to try to help endurance athletes prepare for London 2012.

 

But that has not stopped him criticising how van Commenee has gone by introducing the changes.

 

Cram wrote: "Many of our young and more established middle-distance stars [have been] expressing their concerns to me.

 

"Communication from UKA has evidently been poor and lots of rumours of major changes to coaching and support staff are proving to be unsettling.

 

"Young athletes are often asked to make life and career-defining decisions about where to base themselves for the next few years and at the moment some are understandably confused.

 

"UKA needs to find its way forward quickly.

 

"Just tell the athletes what is going on.

 

"That would help for a start."

 

It was Cram's criticism lat August of van Commenee's predecessor Dave Collins that effectively sealed his fate as performance director.

 

He was sacked soon after Cram's public announcement that more needed to be done to ensure Britain were successful at the London 2012 Olympics.

 

Niels de Vos, the chief executive of UK Athletics, defended the current changes being undertaken.

 

He said: "We undertook an extensive restructure of the organisation early in 2008 and the intention was always to look at the structure of the performance team post-Beijing as part of the natural review cycle.

 

"Charles van Commenee, Peter Eriksson and Kevin Tyler [UK Athletic's strategic head of coaching and development] have spent their early time here in the UKA considering what structure is necessary for us to deliver the success we all desire and expect in 2012 and we have now entered into a consultation period, as per employment law, with the performance staff to refine this."

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August 2008:	Cram's fears over London 2012 could be bad news for Collins