PONTYPOOL owner Bob Jude has been isolated by the men who brought the club the Welsh National League First Division title last season.

Coach Steve Jones has said that he, his staff and most of the team will never again work with the club's backer.

Jones has called on all parties - the players, Jude and the Welsh Rugby Union - to get together and thrash out the problems the club is facing. He added that nobody wanted to leave.

Some players 'are already getting itchy feet', with other clubs looking to get them on board. But for the moment, they are sticking together.

Jones said: "Bob Jude's company has not paid any of us - me included. The entire coaching staff - myself, Dave Smith and Nigel Callard - cannot work in these circumstances. The entire coaching staff have taken that stand. And the players have indicated they cannot play for him. What I've tried to do is get a meeting between Bob Jude, the Union and the players to thrash this out, but to no avail.

"We have got to sit in a room and get this sorted out and find out whose fault it is that we haven't been paid for three months."

Jones, the coaches and the players are planning a meeting this weekend to discuss what is going on.

Jones added: "Hopefully, we will have a representative of the WRU there."

Meanwhile, the Union have denied they owe Jude any cash after the Pooler backer claimed on Monday that he was seeking to get money from them.

Jude reckons the WRU owe his company, Pontypool Premier Rugby Club Ltd, £110,000 of funding for the three-month period of April, May and June this year, plus £75,000 of cash which, he claims, they are owed after staging three televised Principality Cup games.

However, a WRU spokesman said: "We don't know where he has got these figures from.

But we have checked this out and, as far as we are concerned, Pontypool had £90,000 for playing in the First Division last year plus something for winning the title.

"As for the Cup payments, they get nothing for that because it has been agreed that any television money is put back into helping grassroots rugby."