Quins facing up to doomsday scenario

Wholesale redundancies and a possible £3million loss of revenue are the real dangers facing Harlequins as they battle to avoid relegation from the Zurich Premiership.

Quins, second from bottom, play basement team Leeds at Headingley and complete their league programme at home to Sale on Saturday.

Unless Quins can find a way of turning their frustrating season around in the final week, they could go down. The relegated club will be given a £1.5m "parachute payment" from central funding to soften the blow and that would be enough to keep the first-team squad together in the hope they can come straight back up.

If a relegated club doesn't make an immediate return, they then face a massive drop in funding, producing the kind of dire problems that nearly saw Bristol disappear. Bristol, however, have won promotion to the Premiership next season to prove that you can come back from the dead, but no club want that kind of nightmare.

Quins' position is complicated by the extra financial burden of the new £9m West Stand that will be ready for next season. It is funded by the sale of club land worth £3m plus a £6m loan based on income as a Premiership side.

While the Quins first-team squad has been spared a 'worst-case scenario' meeting, the back-room staff were called together last week and warned about the real consequences of relegation. Half the staff could be laid off as a result of that drop in income from sponsors and corporate activity.

"We employ 100 people. We wouldn't be doing that if we were in the first division," said Mark Evans, the chief executive who is also head coach until Dean Richards arrives in the summer.

"There are four points separating the bottom five clubs and everyone is feeling pressure. I am sleeping okay, even though there is a lot at stake and this is a pressure job. All five clubs at the bottom know they have to be committed to coming straight back up. But, you cannot say who that will be."

Quins staff are aware of the ramifications and it's a situation that many of the Premiership club owners have argued against since the introduction of professional rugby in England in 1996. Led by Nigel Wray, the Saracens owner who has spent £12m of his own money on the club, the campaign for a ring-fenced top flight has been constantly urging Rugby Football Union officials to back them.

There have been reports of another attempt to kill off relegation to be introduced in two years but that seems certain to fail as the RFU have pledged to stand against an untouchable elite.

Wray's argument is that why should investors back professional rugby in England if their franchise can be devalued so easily. The owners of England's 12-strong Premiership pumped in more than £100m to fund the game and help create the basis for the 2003 Rugby World Cup triumph and the loss of a high profile club like Harlequins would be a shock to the English rugby system.

While many would take delight in seeing such a club forced to ply their trade in the First Division, it would remove a successful franchise from the top flight, one that is breaking even this season for the first time - thanks to the outstanding work of those back room employees. Season-ticket sales are high and the new stand will ensure the ground complies with the new minimum capacity of 12,000 for Premiership teams.

Quins' season was shaped by their awful start which yielded five points from the first eight games, but they still boast a team at Leeds featuring 10 internationals. Leeds won the Powergen Cup two weeks ago against Bath, but they will not be given the Heineken Cup place they earned next season unless they are still in the top flight. That will ensure a torrid match against Leeds, one neither side can afford to lose.