Many Blues supporters will find Kirwan's idea staggering in its audaciousness - that he could feel suitably qualified to mentor someone and then have a direct input into his successor a year down the track despite his track record.
One of the first rules of coaching is never to promise a player game time at least a week in advance because a change in team fortunes could force you to go back on your word and therefore undermine you. Kirwan wants his board to rubber-stamp a plan which would see Matson, a former Canterbury and Crusaders player and currently assistant to Todd Blackadder, cemented as head coach two years in advance.
The supporters have had to watch too many substandard performances from their team over the past three years. Now they are getting obfuscation from the board too. Well, the news is out and someone at the franchise needs to show that they are in control of the situation and that there is a clear plan. Common sense would dictate that Kirwan's role is advertised on the open market.
Back to the players. They don't know who their coach will be next year and that information vacuum can breed insecurity. One player revealed to the Herald about three weeks ago that a tweet from a former All Black which suggested Robbie Deans would take over from Kirwan had generated mixed feelings. Players talk about these things.
The other aspect to this which probably deserves discussion is where New Zealand Rugby fits into it all. Matson is on a New Zealand Rugby contract rather than a Crusaders one, so there are few impediments to his moving to Auckland, despite having another year on his contract.
The promise of a head coaching role at the Blues is a big prize for Matson, and New Zealand Rugby might decide keeping him happy is more important than keeping the Crusaders happy - just as they did with Mark Hammett and his move to the Hurricanes. It's a juggling act for New Zealand Rugbyand the process of trying to keep everyone happy is not without its perils.
Chris Rattue has a lighthearted look at John Kirwan and the Blues by the numbers
0: The succession plans you'll find to match JK's reported whiz-bang survival idea. So let's get this straight ... you fail dismally but want to pick when you leave your successor and what your next job in the same organisation is. Wow. Or make that bow-wow, as in the tail trying to wag the dog.
Thousands: People who wanted Kirwan to succeed. He's got a lot of fans who hate to see a legend of the game so publicly out of his depth. But the goodwill will only last so long. Any sympathy will turn to outright antipathy if this is allowed to go on.
15: The Blues' potential ranking position in a field of 15 if they lose to the equally hopeless Force this evening. Tell us it can't be true.
5: The number of points the Blues must take away from this game. Anything else will be unacceptable.
10,000-1: What should be the odds of the Blues facing a potential wooden spoon scrap with a team from Perth. Many West Australians hardly know what rugby is.
Lost count: First five-eighths JK has used or thought about using.
1: Former All Black coach John Hart is the one high-profile supporter of Kirwan but they go way back so this comes across as a loyalty thing.
4: Looking on the bright side ... the Blues finish with four straight home games this season.
0: The number of Eden Park traffic management plans that will be needed for those games the way things are going. Then again, there could be a nuclear holocaust in Auckland and someone would still be putting out those orange cones.
A few, which is a few too many: Players not rated highly enough by the Blues over the years who succeed and even become world beaters elsewhere.
50-1: The odds of Kirwan surviving past this year under normal professional sporting circumstances.
4-1: The actual odds of Kirwan surviving, reading between the lines.
Lots: Assistant coaches who have departed during Kirwan's nearly three-year tenure.
12: The worst finish under Pat Lam in 2012. People said it couldn't get any worse.
0: Blues seasons more disappointing than this one so far.
8: Jerome Kaino's number. The hard-hitting captain has been magnificent in the chaos. Why can't the Blues find more Kaino types?
The mid 1990s: Memories, light the corners of my mind ... to quote Barbra Streisand.
Lots: Those who could do a better job than Kirwan. Come on troops, the world is full of rugby coaches and leading the Blues is still a plum professional opportunity. Don't even try to tell us you can't find anybody.
