WASPS captain James Haskell admits he can understand the heartache of young fans who don’t understand why their team is walking away from them.

However, he insists the alternative was going out of business or sinking down the leagues with a weak squad.

He said: “I’m a Wasps fan from the age of 12 and I followed them around the country.

“Now I’m the longest serving Wasps player and I’ve got intimate knowledge of where this club has been, how close we’ve been to disappearing, how many owners we’ve had and how long we’ve strived to find a home.

“We’ve left no stone unturned to trying to find that place but I don’t think the fans know how close it got a number of times and how much of a struggle it’s been. Fans have been shielded from that but it was very close.”

It’s understood that players and staff went unpaid more than once and at the lowest ebb even the most basic equipment had to be self-funded.

Haskell said: “It’s obviously a massive change. But we were an hour away from going bankrupt, we’re losing £3m a year, Derek [Richardson, owner] has come in and absorbed £10m worth of debt.

“If you’re losing that amount of money you make cut backs and end up with a squad that can’t compete.

“But we’ve done everything we can to keep Wasps where it should be.

“There was no other option. I know it’s difficult to understand in the short-term and as a young fan it’s difficult to explain the business side of it because it’s the emotion.

“But we aren’t a million miles away. This will only make the club better and we will do everything it can to take as many supporters with us as we can.”