IT MAY be fast approaching Christmas but it's a miserable time for Newport Gwent Dragons.

For a year now I've been banging the same drum in column after column about the ever declining situation, but nothing happens.

Now a new low has been reached with the home defeat by Treviso, effectively putting the Dragons out of the Heineken Cup.

Treviso may be a decent enough side, but the Dragons should never lose to an Italian side on their own ground - yet it has happened twice in the last two years and they were within a hair's breadth of suffering a similar fate on the other occasion.

It all makes you so angry that you feel like banging heads together, for if this continues the Dragons are not shaping up for a new stadium - they are heading for oblivion.

Maybe the following warning should be printed in capital letters. In fact it's a double warning.

l The failing Dragons could well be forced out of business and have the franchise taken off them by the Welsh Rugby Union and transferred back to something like Celtic Warriors or given to London or even North Wales.

l The other Welsh regions could try to force the hand of the WRU by insisting they receive a bigger share of the annual pot on the basis of consistent under-performing and failure by the Dragons so that they are downgraded to a development region like Connacht in Ireland.

This is not an idle threat because the Dragons can't sink much further. Action from the people in charge is desperately needed and I exempt chairman Martyn Hazell to some extent because without his input the Dragons really would go out of business.

The Dragons were quickly dismissed from the EDF Energy Cup, they are languishing near the foot of the Magners League table and they are out of the Heineken Cup with two pool games to go.

Yet it gets worse. The Dragons will probably even miss out on a Heineken qualifier this time because they are unlikely to finish above both the lowest Irish and Scottish teams in the Magners League, so maybe a new stadium shouldn't go ahead at all.

I was one of its strongest advocates, whether that was an out of town development or the existing plan at Rodney Parade, a ground which is a relic in this day and age.

But what's the point? A new or nearly new team is what is really needed, the squad is in dire need of an injection of quality new players, there's no purpose in a new stadium as that alone won't draw in fans and improve results.

How ironic that Llanelli Scarlets are currently scouring the globe to bring in the right players for their new ground. They recognise their shortcomings and are doing something to address the situation. But what do we get from the Dragons? Nothing.

Yet coach Paul Turner was after South African line-out ace Cornelius van Zyl. What happened? He joined Treviso and plotted the Dragons demise on Saturday.

Turner was also interested in Otago number eight Grant Webb. What was the outcome? The New Zealander joined Ulster last Friday. And so it goes on.

Yet some from within are apparently bringing out sheets comparing the Dragons wins and losses account under Turner this season with the previous two years.

Just how preposterous is that? Give the man the tools to do the job and maybe we can get somewhere and judge him then, but don't send him into battle with both hands tied behind his back.

In the case of Gareth Jenkins, for example, he was offered every possible facility and every coaching aid and assistance he could wished for yet still failed.

So getting rid of him with his record was fair enough, but you can't compare a coach who is given everything with one who is fed scraps.

I absolutely refute allegations from the board about negativity. As I also wrote recently, it's not negativity at all it's reality.

The board have got to wake up or there is a risk the Dragons will go altogether. For the umpteenth time doing nothing, just floating along aimlessly, is not an option.

The board are likely to have to borrow money, initially at least as the new stadium project goes through the planning stages. They ought to use that as a matter if urgency to bring in major new players.

Instead of that all the employees of the Dragons feel utterly frustrated. It's Christmas time, but the Dragons board are acting like Scrooges.