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The survival of Newcastle Falcons as a professional team will require more than just a one-off £4m bailout from the remaining nine Premiership clubs, according to Steve Diamond, their director of rugby. He has confirmed Newcastle may have to negotiate a potential short-term loan to participate in the Premiership next season, raising fresh doubts about the club's longer-term viability.

Diamond has already been forced to put a freeze on player recruitment for next season after confirmation the Falcons have been discussing a possible central loan if they fail to secure fresh investment between now and mid-June. Their longtime backer Semore Kurdi has been seeking a buyer for the club since last year.

Despite some tentative interest there has been no deal. Diamond insists there is "no panic" at Kingston Park, but he acknowledges the situation is "not ideal". He said: "It's public record that we are looking for new investment and I'm pretty sure that this is a fallback position to maintain our status in the league if investment doesn't come."

Newcastle, however, will need to have appropriate funding in place in order to meet the tests applied by the league's financial monitoring panel. Decisions are due to be finalised after the conclusion of the campaign.

The bottom-placed Falcons did receive one slice of positive news yesterday with confirmation that Ealing Trailfinders, and Coventry, have failed to satisfy the minimum stadium criteria for promotion.

Ealing are top of the Championship, and Coventry are third. It means the Premiership's basement dwellers can, for now, live to fight another day without prospect of a playoff, but Diamond acknowledges Newcastle's operating model is not sustainable.