Like most life-changing experiences relegation from the Championship tends to cause an existential crisis as entire rugby clubs are forced to examine their raison d’etre.

The most recent demotees have not only been denuded of their Premiership-pretensions they are also stripped of virtually all financial assistance from the RFU.

Clubs aren’t so much weaned off their dependence on central funding as forced to go cold turkey.

Player loyalty is tested beyond breaking point, coaches must reconcile the cost of failure and supporters have to recalibrate their expectations as Wharfedale and Tynedale replace Leeds and Cornish Pirates on the fixture list.

It is what Birmingham & Solihull Bees chief-backer Chris Loughran describes as ‘a hard landing’. It is also what Loughran has spent much of his summer figuring out how to manage.

The chairman’s main priority has been calculating exactly how much of his own money – and he’s still responsible for around 75 per cent of the club’s revenue – he has to inject to arrest the decline.

The process of finding out begins on Saturday when Bees host newly-promoted Ealing at Damson Park.

“I am quite excited,” Loughran insists. “We have been down in this division before - with a slightly different set-up at the club.

“We had some great games of rugby and visited some wonderful clubs.

“But the one thing I would be disappointed if we did do, would be a Manchester – out of no disrespect to the guys running Manchester.

“If we get our sums and recruitment wrong, I would be very disappointed indeed.

“Given the hard landing the club coming down from the Championship gets avoiding that would be a qualified success. It is about stopping the downward momentum and I think we have done that.”

Loughran’s fears are not misplaced. Of the dozen teams relegated from the second tier since 2003, eight have gone on to experience further loss of status.