The 37-year-old former England flanker enjoyed two successful spells with Wasps during a 17-year professional career and was devastated by the plight of his former club, who entered administration on Monday with 167 staff, including all players and coaches, being made redundant.

It followed Worcester entering administration three weeks ago, leaving the Gallagher Premiership down to 11 teams after kicking off the 2022/23 season last month with 13, and Haskell sees those incidences as a warning to the rest of the professional game.

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"It's devastating," Haskell told Sky Sports News. "Your thoughts are with the players and staff, and it's not just the immediate people you think about, it's all the support staff.

"Some players are going to be lucky to move on to other clubs, but the nature of rugby at the moment with the salary cap is these players are going to go from earning good money - rightly so for their skills and the way they put their bodies on the line - to reduced salary and some people won't get a job.

"It's awful, but I think it's quite indicative of the way rugby is going. I don't think Worcester and Wasps are going to be the only clubs, I think some drastic change needs to happen and, unfortunately, I think rugby has been faffing around for too long and not dealing with this issue.

"I think it's a very dark day for rugby across the whole game."

Haskell is concerned Worcester and Wasps will not be the only clubs to have this fate befall them, and the likelihood is both will be relegated to the Championship as punishment for entering administration, as per RFU regulations.

There are concerns both clubs will lose their P-shares as well, which entitle them to a share of the Premiership's central income and voting rights on key issues, with ongoing talk of the top-flight potentially being reduced to 10 teams.

That was a viewpoint espoused by RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney and although Haskell hopes both the Warriors and his old club will be able to regain their Premiership status, he understands the argument for reducing the number of teams in the Premiership.

"At the moment, the RFU have stated none of the clubs in the Championship are fit to move up to the Premiership," Haskell said.

"They're never going to bring anyone else up, yet as soon as you go into administration you are relegated.

"I do think it is a bit bizarre and we should look after these teams because there isn't any replacement, but there is an argument a smaller league becomes more sustainable and makes more money.

"I just hope those two clubs aren't the fall guys to get the rest of it in line, but that's what it's looking like."

Several of Worcester's players have already secured deals with other Premiership clubs, but numerous others are still looking for employment - along with the entire Wasps squad following Monday's announcement.

There has been talk of whether England internationals should be centrally contracted by the RFU, and Haskell would also be in favour of utilising a franchise model for the elite level similar to the one he experienced when he was playing Super Rugby in New Zealand for Highlanders in the 2012/13 season.

"There are so many different political situations going on and I think having everything centrally contracted, almost like an NFL model [is the way forward]," Haskell said.

"I think the traditions of rugby are great, but at the top level, to make it sustainable, we need to make it an entertainment business, we need to build up superstars, we need a franchise model, everything has got to be centrally managed and the right people in the right places.

"At the moment, all this intermeshed, who's in charge, who's making decisions is never going to work and I think the NFL model, or a franchise model is probably the way to with a central commissioner who makes a decision and sticks to it.

"Just look at the concussion stuff; we're trying to make rugby safer, we shouldn't be doing contact training in the week, but everybody is faffing around and that's the problem with rugby - there's a lot of faffing, a lot of talking and no hard-line decisions."

Jamie George: It's shocking, and worrying times | Rugby community need to rally around

England and Saracens hooker Jamie George, speaking to Sky Sports....

"It's shocking. For me, I know a lot of those guys on a personal level.

"I'm great friends with Joe Launchbury, and I spent the evening with him on Sunday and it's really worrying times.

"We experienced a similar thing [at Saracens in 2019/20] in terms of not knowing how our futures may lie when we got relegated a couple of years ago [for salary cap breaches].

"Speaking to them [players involved], it's a really, really troubling time for those guys and I guess my hope is that the rugby community can try and rally around not just the players, but the staff, obviously they announced yesterday it's over 167 people.

"It's a huge organisation, a club as big as Wasps, and obviously Worcester previous to that. So I'm hoping the rugby community can rally around and make sure we can then take the game forward and look after the guys that are involved.

"We're a long way away from that [central contracts].

"I guess if you can look to any form of positivity, and it's a really dark time, it's that it probably enforces the RFU, PRL and RPA to start looking into different avenues as to how you can take the game forward.

"Central contracts I'm sure are a part of that, and I'm sure those discussions are ongoing.

"I know that things probably can't change until after 2024, but it will be interesting to see how they take it forward.

"But the most pressing matters are making sure we look after the people involved at Worcester and Wasps, and hope that short-term, we can sort those guys out."