NEWPORT RFC chairman Will Godfrey insists the board have explored all options but a deal with the Welsh Rugby Union is the only way to protect their future at Rodney Parade.

A proposed agreement will see the governing body pay £3.75million to take over the Dragons and the Black and Ambers' historic ground.

Newport RFC will receive £600,000 and assurances from the WRU that they can play at Rodney Parade while it is home to a professional side, with that right being free of rent or other fees for the first 10 years.

The club will retain the right to train and use the gym facilities for next season, plus have use of Rodney Hall on match days.

The deal hinges on getting the green light from 75 per cent of the votes at an EGM on the evening of Tuesday, May 9 and the board yesterday sent out documents to shareholders emphasising the perilous state of the finances at Rodney Parade.

Godfrey has committed to forego the £175,000 that he is owed but there are loans outstanding to Handelsbanken (£750,000), the WRU (£900,000), Tony Brown (around £3million) and Martyn Hazell (around £1.5million).

Directors Brown and Hazell have agreed to write off the majority of their loans if the proposal is supported but have indicated that the want payment in full if the vote is no.

"I am relatively comfortable that people will look at what the alternative actually is, but I am worried," admitted Godfrey.

"If there's a no vote then the Dragons have to go into administration the following morning and Newport would probably limp on for a while, perhaps for a season and perhaps not even that long."

"If we can explain fully to everyone just what the scenario is, the reasons that we are doing what we are doing, the issues that we are trying to address and give people the opportunity to bring forward their concerns, we should be in a position that we can persuade people that this is the best alternative," he continued.

"The message we are trying to get out is that to protect the memories we have to move things forward and ensure there is rugby here at Rodney Parade.

"We have spent a number of years looking at what the alternative solutions actually are and you can come up with all sorts of different thoughts and ideas.

"But the climax of all those proposals put on the table has quietly come back to this as being the best possible scenario.

"There are property developers that see this is a six-acre site in the middle of the city and the appeal of that is enormous.

"We could sell this as a development site, in which case the funds that come in would be greater, in which case Martyn and Tony would want a bigger chunk of their money back, because their thinking has been about the preservation of rugby here."

Godfrey has been addressing Newport supporters and shareholders throughout the process and the Black and Ambers chairman will be at another summit ahead of the EGM on Monday, April 24.

"I really hope that they don't think that I am letting them down," said Godfrey. "There is a lot of effort gone in to get this far and if I didn't think it was the right decision then I wouldn't be going there.

"We've put a whole raft of facts out and we have tried to be as open as we possibly can and the amount of stuff that has gone out could even be considered information overkill.

"What is there in the public domain is for people to make their judgements on and we will have another meeting in April. We will continue to work hard over the next four weeks.

"When people actually see what we have presented to them and they actually look at the facts that will help them to come to a measured judgement."