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• London Irish suspended as takeover deal collapses

  London Irish have been suspended from rugby union’s entire league structure after becoming the third Gallagher Premiership club to collapse this season.

  The Rugby Football Union has confirmed that neither Irish’s owner Mick Crossan nor the American consortium planning to buy the club were able to prove they had the finances to compete in the top flight for the 2023-24 campaign.

  Furthermore, the outstanding 50 per cent of May’s payroll owed to staff and players has not been paid before the final deadline set by the RFU of 4pm on Tuesday.

  It means that Irish join Wasps and Worcester in becoming a casualty of the financial crisis gripping the Premiership, which will now become a 10-team competition.

• London Irish’s highs and lows as the club face suspension

  London Irish have been suspended from the Gallagher Premiership following a failure to provide financial guarantees for next season.

  Founded 125 years ago, the Exiles’ future is grim as their demise follows former Premiership rivals Wasps and Worcester entering administration earlier this term.

  Here, the PA news agency looks at some of Irish’s highs and lows.

  Highs

  History-making cup of joy

  Irish won the first major trophy in their history when they lifted English rugby’s knockout cup by crushing Northampton 38-7 at Twickenham in 2002. The Saints fielded 14 internationals, headed by the likes of Matt Dawson, Paul Grayson and Ben Cohen, but they had no answer to Irish’s brilliance as wing Justin Bishop and centre Geoff Appleford claimed try doubles. It was the second-biggest winning margin in a final during the competition’s 34-year existence as the Exiles followed previous winners Gloucester, Coventry, Bedford, Gosforth, Leicester, Bristol, Bath, Harlequins, Saracens, Wasps and Newcastle.

  Making a mark in Europe

  Although they did not win silverware, Irish certainly made their presence felt in European rugby union’s premier club competition – the Heineken Cup – in 2008. Irish had never previously reached the tournament’s knockout phase, but they cruised through the pool stage by winning five of their six games and scoring 25 tries. French challengers Perpignan were defeated in the quarter-finals, which secured a last-four clash against tournament heavyweights Toulouse at Twickenham. Irish went down 21-15 but a 30,000 crowd looked on, with the Exiles confirming a place at Europe’s top table.

  State-of-the-art training facility

  Irish moved into a new £12million training complex – the Hazelwood Centre in Sunbury-on-Thames – on July 1, 2014. The 63-acre site was converted from a nine-hole golf course and was four times the size of Irish’s previous training facility. Comprising 17 pitches, including five full-size ones that also featured an artificial surface, it soon attracted widespread interest. Hazelwood was used as a training base by Wales and Fiji during the 2015 Rugby World Cup, while its facilities have also attracted teams like the New York Jets and Leeds Rhinos.

  Lows

  Relegation from the Premiership

  Irish lost their status as a club in English rugby’s top flight when they were relegated at the end of the 2015-16 campaign. The Exiles won only four of their 22 league games, finishing seven points behind 11th-placed Newcastle. It was the first time since the Premiership began in 1997 that they had been demoted. Chief executive Bob Casey told Irish’s official website: “This is a sad day in the history of this great club. Relegation was not part of our plans but we have to be honest, as hard as the players and management have worked, we haven’t been good enough this season.”

  The darkest day of all

  Burdened by debts of around £30million, Irish failed to meet an extended Rugby Football Union deadline of Tuesday for either a proposed takeover by an American consortium to be completed or for owner Mick Crossan to prove he could finance Irish for the entire 2023-24 season. All staff must also have been paid the outstanding 50 per cent of wages owed for May, while the club faced an additional hit of an HM Revenue and Customs winding-up petition for unpaid tax. Nine months after the Premiership season started with 13 teams, three have now been lost.

  Star names to depart?

  A seemingly inevitable accompaniment to Irish’s Premiership suspension will be key players heading through the exit door. Irish have previously flourished by developing one of the most impressive and prolific academies in English rugby, nurturing internationals like Anthony Watson, Alex Corbisiero and Topsy Ojo. That trend has continued through players such as 20-year-old England Test players Henry Arundell and Will Joseph, with Cardiff Met product Tom Pearson, who was last month named Premiership breakthrough player of the season, another richly-talented performer. A significant squad break-up looms.

• London Irish face suspension from Premiership as deadline looms

  London Irish are expected to be suspended from the Gallagher Premiership on Tuesday when the deadline to prove they have the finances needed to operate next season expires.

  Irish have until 4pm to either complete a proposed takeover by an American consortium or for owner Mick Crossan to commit to the club for the entirety of the 2023-24 campaign.

  As of Monday, the buyout was no closer to being finalised with key documentation including proof of funds yet to be supplied to the Rugby Football Union, while Crossan is intent on severing ties.

  Only 50 per cent of the staff payroll for May was paid and the outstanding wages must also be settled if Irish are to take their place in next season’s Premiership.

  It was Crossan’s failure to pay the salaries in full last week that persuaded the RFU to extend the deadline by six days in the hope that staff and players would get the money owed to them.

  Irish’s outlook deteriorated further on Friday when they were issued with a winding-up petition by HM Revenue and Customs over an unpaid tax bill.

  Petitions have been filed against London Irish Holdings Limited and London Irish Rugby Football Ground Limited.

  The demise of the Exiles, who finished the Premiership in fifth place, would conclude the darkest season in the history of the English club game after Wasps and Worcester folded because of their own financial difficulties.

  Wasps have been demoted to the foot of the rugby pyramid after their new owners failed to secure the funding needed to relaunch in the Championship, while Worcester have gone quiet on their plan of rebuilding from the fifth tier.

  Irish have debts in the region of £30million and do not own their own stadium, instead playing at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium after a 20-year spell at Reading’s Madejski Stadium.

  Bill Sweeney and Simon Massie-Taylor, chief executives of the RFU and Premiership Rugby respectively, were accused by MPs of presiding over a “failure on an epic scale” following the collapse of Wasps and Worcester, but Irish have been given every opportunity to secure their future.

  The governing bodies have been forced to weigh the desire to see the Exiles survive with the need to put plans in place for next season, with the reduction of clubs from 13 to 10 requiring a different league structure.

  If a third club is lost, the bleak financial climate of the Premiership in the post-Covid era will be highlighted once again with teams able to operate through the funding of benefactors.