Cape Town - Lions coach John Mitchell's job could be on the line after a group of players expressed personal grievances about the way he's been treating them.

According to Beeld, some of the players expressed their unhappiness to Golden Lions Rugby Union president Kevin de Klerk earlier this week. The players are apparently unhappy about the "unreasonable" manner in which Mitchell is treating them.

The Lions management is trying hard to restore order but the question now remains whether the disunity between Mitchell and the players can be resurrected after a lack of trust developed during a disastrous 2012 Super Rugby campaign.

Mitchell is well known as a hard, no-nonsense type of coach.

A similar scenario played itself out in 2008 when he coached the Western Force when most of the players became fed up of his strict coaching methods. He was also unpopular as All Blacks coach and was sacked after they lost the 2003 World Cup semi-final to Australia.

The Lions are currently second last on the overall Super Rugby log, with only two wins from 13 matches.

They are assured of finishing last in the South African Conference, which will in all likelihood see them be replaced by the Southern Kings for next year's event.

Their remaining Super Rugby matches are against the Stormers in Cape Town (30 June), Rebels at home (7 July) and Bulls in Pretoria (14 July).