Ron Jones has been involved at the cutting edge of Welsh rugby for over 20 years.
Brought in as part of a consortium to save the Scarlets from going bust back in 1997 he has been with the club ever since both as a chairman and a director.
As owner of Tinopolis, a TV production and distribution group based in Llanelli, Jones has transformed it into one of the largest independent television suppliers in the UK.
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The former partner at chartered accountant Arthur Anderson and treasurer of Glamorgan county cricket club may not be a name familiar with the average rugby fan but he is one of the most respected figures in the Welsh game.
There is not much Jones hasn't experienced since being involved with the Scarlets, but the 74-year-old has never been less optimistic about the future of the sport in Wales than he is now. He fears it is staring into the abyss at all levels.
"I've seen the financial forecasts of all four professional clubs and there is no club at the moment who could sustain itself for more than a limited period without benefactor support," says Jones.
"I think Welsh rugby needs to be concerned about these issues. Where do you find another Rob Davies or Mike James for the Ospreys and where do you find another Huw Evans for the Scarlets?
"There is no benefactor at the Dragons at the moment. David Buttress and his team would have to put together a group of benefactors to make it work.
"These are challenging issues yet for me the union are prepared to push for a business model which enshrines that uncertainty.
"At some stage I fear one or more of the clubs will go into insolvency."
While Warren Gatland has returned as Wales head coach in what is a major coup for the Welsh Rugby Union, the situation at regional level is dire.
Cardiff, Dragons RFC, the Ospreys, and the Scarlets recently verbally agreed a new six-year financial framework with the WRU with a heads of agreement likely to be signed by the weekend.
However, there is a freeze on recruitment and retention at all four professional sides, meaning players have been left in limbo. This has led to the likes of Wales lock Will Rowlands and young Cardiff centre Max Llewellyn signing contracts with clubs outside of Wales. More are set to follow.
While the WRU have finally decided to tap into a portion of the monies received from CVC in order to release funds to the regions, the new financial package comes with a significant caveat. The professional clubs will have to pay back a substantial chunk of this money, with the WRU also calling for the former backers to return and act as guarantors to limit the risk they are taking.
Four years ago, former WRU CEO Martyn Phillips set out what was dubbed ‘Project Reset’ with a requirement to remove the benefactors such as Nigel Short (Scarlets), Peter Thomas (Cardiff), Martyn Hazell (Dragons), and Rob Davies (Ospreys) to one side.
But the WRU have made a U-turn with current CEO Steve Phillips pushing for Welsh rugby’s benefactors, who have supplied £70m of their own money to Welsh rugby since the game went professional in 1996, to potentially dip into their own pockets once again.
Jones believes this is a disaster for the game in Wales and didn't hold back in his criticism.
"In my view it's an economic madhouse," claimed Jones. "Not even a corner shop would be run in that way. In essence it means the existing professional rugby agreement is designed to ensure that the revenues coming into Welsh rugby are shared in terms of need across the whole professional game both team Wales, and the four regions.
"The PRA is to be amended so that the clubs still carry the commitments to the union to provide these players, to provide the development pipelines, and to provide the facilities and the training, along with meeting the requirements of broadcasters."
He continued: "Now the union effectively top slices the revenues coming into the game," going on to claim that "doesn't give the clubs enough to sustain themselves.
"I fear the clubs either accept that and the benefactors come back into the game on a massive scale, or they have to go into insolvency.
"You are taking a chance as the union that there are enough people out there who care enough about their community, who care enough about their clubs, who care enough about Welsh rugby, to stump up vast sums of money.
"The idea that we now design a business model for Welsh rugby which involves ensuring the supply of quality players to the national team whilst making benefactors pay for that is the equivalent of a company in any business which claims to be successful and profitable only because it receives charitable donations from external people on a regular basis."
With the regions already struggling for results things could get even worse over the coming years. A £5million salary cap, player wages getting aggressively cut down and a general lack of investment into the game in Wales makes it hard to see how the four can compete on the field of play.
The WRU believe they have a responsibility for the whole game in Wales, not just the professional arm, and want to create what they believe to be a sustainable financial framework for the future.
So what will professional rugby look like in Wales over the next few years?
"Inevitably, because the risk on the regions is even greater than previously they will run on smaller squads," said Jones.
"They are going to run on cheaper squads and the impact of that on players is huge because many of them would lose their jobs, many will have to take a lower salary or look elsewhere for a salary which could match their expectations.
"I read somewhere that Toby Booth was talking about 37 of his (Ospreys) players being out of contract at the end of the season, whereas we have something like 19 out of contract.
"With the commitment of the players to Wales being extensive, especially with the fourth autumn international and the longer preparation period, while Warren Gatland is a demander of more player time, you can't expect any of the clubs to be successful at URC, let alone European level, during that period."
What's as much of a concern for Jones is the effect this policy could have on the national side with Gatland and future Wales coaches having a smaller and less prepared player pool as a result.
"The issue for Warren will be does this provide the player pipeline he needs?," he said. "Potentially for the World Cup he can do something but there has to be life after Gatland, and we have to ensure that our players are in the pipeline for the next 10 years.
"We concentrate on the players just coming into academy level, looking at them because they are going to be more severely disadvantaged than any other age group.
"Typically by the age of 25 you know whether a player is international quality or not, but by the age of 18-20 you don't.
"The clubs are taking them under their wing developing them as rugby players, but where are they going to be in 10 years time? Potentially playing outside of Wales, or even not playing at all.
"There will be less professional players available to us."
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