Welsh provided seven players for the 1971 Lions who remain the only side to have won in New Zealand and last month new chairman Gareth Hawkins told the Daily Telegraph that: “London Welsh are one of the most important clubs in the world. In a Lions year when we are going to New Zealand, it would be such a crying shame if we lost London Welsh. It has got to survive.”

Whether it does survive will depend on whether the club enters administration, where a buyer can be sought, or liquidation, which involves the company being completely closed down. The club’s most recent set of accounts for the last financial year showed losses of almost £2 million while it holds very few fixed assets with its Old Deer Park ground being owned by an independent trust.