Michael Vaughan has lifted the lid on a seemingly private players and coaches discussion that became public on the eve of the Hobart Test.

According to the English cricket great, Pat Cummins and a selection of senior teammates and support staff caught up after the team touched down from Sydney.

The following day, Ali Martin from Guardian Sport and Nick Hoult from The Telegraph simultaneously published stories declaring Trevor Bayliss as the players’ preferred option to replace Langer.

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According to Vaughan, Martin and Hoult were sitting on the next table as Australia’s cricketing heavyweights chatted.

At this point, Australia was 3-0 up in the Ashes and though Langer’s position was not safe, nobody could have predicted the mess of the following weeks before the coach resigned.

Speaking on Fox Cricket’s Follow-On podcast, Vaughan - who classified Cummins’ press conference last week as “a masterclass” - was asked if he had any advice for Cummins as a leader.

“The one piece of advice I’d give him is that when you’re an Australian cricket captain, you’re always under watch,” the 2005 Ashes winning skipper said on the podcast.

“I know from close contacts in the England journalistic world that Pat Cummins ... and Andrew McDonald were caught having conversations in a pub in Hobart. That conversation was heard by two or three British journalists.

“My advice to Pat Cummins would be, if you’re going to have strong conversations about the potential removal of your Australian cricket coach, who was in position at the time, don’t do it at a pub. Do not do it in a public domain where you may get heard.

“That’s how all these stories started. It was quite clear that they wanted Justin Langer out, and evident they were talking about the likes of Trevor Bayliss, Michael Di Venuto and Andrew McDonald, who was in that conversation as well.

He added: “They can deny it as much as they want, but the two or three journalists that I know of who were there were in the pub listening. When you’re an international captain, just be careful where you have that conversation.”

Twenty-four hours after the dinner, foxsports.com.au confirmed key Australian players were keen on Bayliss “if and when the position became available.”

Speaking more broadly about the role of a cricket coach in the modern game, Vaughan compared Langer’s plight to an English Premier League manager.

“It’s a worrying time if you’re a coach,” he said.

“It’s a bit like the Premier League football where if players don’t like you, your methods or the way you’re talking and creating that culture inside the group, player power can take over. Unfortunately, cricket might be going through that era where player power can get rid of a coach.”

“On the back of ‘sandpaper-gate’, just go back and the players that have probably manoeuvred him out of the system now, are actually the players he helped get back into the side, helped get trust back around the world.

“Yes, he clearly has a management style that isn’t there for everybody, but I’d just be weary of throwing him under the bus too much... Cricket’s going quite close to the football game, which is a little bit of a concern.”

In the podcast, Vaughan also discussed the possibility of Langer coaching England during the 2023 Ashes, how the International Cricket Council messed up the upcoming Women’s ODI World Cup, and whether we’ve seen the end of Stuart Broad and James Anderson.

You can listen HERE