Newcastle are bottom of the Premiership, with the team finishing in that position set to contest a two-legged play-off with the winners of the Championship to decide who plays in the top flight next season.

However, the situation is complicated. The team who finishes first in the Championship must meet the strict criteria to be able to play in the Premiership and the deadline for submitting applications is next week.

Coventry, the team in second, have announced that they are applying, but Ealing Trailfinders, the side 12 points above them at the top, have not said anything publicly about their intentions.

And if the criteria are not met by the Championship winners, there will be no play-off at the end of the season.

This means Newcastle must wait before things become clearer.

"Once the decision is made of who can come up and who can't, how I will gear the season, is if there are three or four clubs in the mix to come up, then I'll be working on a mindset of strengthening the squad slightly and making sure we can win two games against whichever Championship side it is," said Diamond.

"I'm an advocate of promotion and relegation. If we get ourselves in a play-off, so be it, we'll crack on."