Exiles fall from grace, but what next for London Irish?

Too big to fail.

Just like Wasps and Worcester, London Irish were just too big to fail.

A few months shy of their 125th anniversary, after a fifth-place finish in the Premiership, Irish entered administration.

At one stage unthinkable, the clouds closed in quickly in the past week.

But the rumblings sounded three months ago with reports suggesting there was concern about the ability to pay wages.

That issue was sorted at the time but, in the wake of both Wasps and Worcester going under, the prospect of a third club in serious trouble, became increasingly viable.

Owner Mick Crossan was open to selling up the club, which even back in March was feared to be running with a low turnover and a high debt but a rumoured takeover by an American consortium never materialised.

Amidst the uncertainly came the death spiral: a winding-up petition from the revenue, an RFU deadline for wage payment missed, suspension and finally administration.

Speaking after Irish secured fifth spot in the table with victory over Exeter at the start of May, Declan Kidney, director of rugby, sounded positive.

"I'm delighted for everybody in the organisation, we said we would control what we can control and that’s what we did today," said the former Munster and Ireland head coach.

"There’s a rich future for this club on the pitch and I’m sure the people off the pitch will do the business, they just need a bit of time to see it through.

"You see the measure of people in adversity. Our leadership have been magnificent, it never interfered with training or team meetings. The players have been brilliant, but so have coaches and the off-field team because it affected everybody."

To go from that optimistic outlook to administration in the space of a month is jarring.

Conor