Hadden has stressed there have been no major problems in agreeing terms - despite the fact there has been a lengthy negotiation process.

His previous contract came to an end after the World Cup in October, and he has carried on as head coach on a month-to-month basis since then. He is now close to agreeing a more permanent deal, although it is unlikely to be for the full four years up to the next World Cup.

Hadden said: “I’m hoping something will be resolved fairly soon and there will be an announcement then. There are no issues, it’s just red tape. There are quite a lot of pages to read.

“Nobody is holding out for anything, it’s not as if I don’t want to do it because of something in the contract or they are refusing to accept my terms, it’s nothing like that.  The length of the contract is not an issue.

“These things don’t happen overnight and I hope it will all be resolved very soon. I read about (Aberdeen football manager) Jimmy Calderwood saying the same thing: that he has never heard of a contract negotiation being resolved in two meetings.

“If you had two days that you could sit down for 24 hours with all the people involved you could do it, but that’s not the real world. You have a little chat and then the next week you have another chat.

“Gordon (McKie, the chief executive of the SRU) doesn’t work independently, he has people he has to consult, and I have people I have to consult, and the whole thing just takes time.”

Hadden hinted that Alan Tait and George Graham will be kept on as assistant coaches on a full-time basis.

The pair were initially seconded to the national team from the Border Reivers as the build-up to the World Cup intensified at the start of the summer, but the regional team has now been closed down and Hadden says there is still plenty of work for them to do at Murrayfield.

He said: “If you look at the management teams of England, Ireland and Wales you will see that they are about 14 or 15-strong, and two years ago there were just three of us in Scotland.

“Before the World Cup that number went up to six, with George, Alan and (fitness coach) Mark Bitcon, and 19 of us went to the World Cup.

“Obviously there are times when you need more than others, and it would be inappropriate for us to do what these other countries do and have that operating full-time - financially that is a non-starter - but we have to get as close to that set-up as we possibly can if we are to have a realistic chance of beating these teams.

“I hate to say it but it looks as if we might be entering into a period of stability, and continuity is important. It is not like a club where you are working with the same guys every day, so you are looking have some consistency, and there is no doubt that the quality of work George and Alan have done over the last two years has been very impressive.”