LET'S get a few things straight just for starters -- Newport Gwent Dragons are NOT going bust, they are NOT in dire financial straits and they'll be around for some time to come.

So mischief makers like Eddie Butler can stop taking a perverse delight saying the Dragons are the latest Welsh region to hit problems and that there is some doubt about their future.

If that was the case why only last week did they announce that Wales number eight Michael Owen had just signed a new three-year contract, that ex-Wales prop Chris Anthony had signed on for two more years and that they are in discussions with Wales lock Ian Gough and Nathan Brew?

That's hardly the action of a company in deep financial trouble is it?

But in fairness to such a grand stirrer like Butler, some Newport diehards, others in Gwent and WRU knockers in general who would like to see the Dragons in difficulties - they can at least be excused to a degree for getting the wrong impression.

For the announcement of Dragons coach Chris Anderson's imminent departure was not handled in the best possible way.

Sure, the board should have made an announcement and as quickly as they did with Welsh rugby like a sieve - rather than bow to pressure from some quarters that it should have been held over because of the Dragons' game against Ulster and Rod Snow's testimonial dinner on Saturday.

Both went ahead - the Dragons won and the dinner was a big success, so nothing was affected on that front. But I am talking about the manner of the announcement. It would have been far better to say the Dragons were not taking up the option of the second year on Anderson's contract because it hadn't worked out.

That would still have softened the blow a bit, but instead they chose to say it was solely because of money, that they couldn't afford him.

Anderson himself seized on that as the reason for his impending departure because it clearly represented a get-out, and that was what he was informed anyway.

But it sent out the wrong message.

There is an element of truth that financial difficulties are behind the decision, but it is only a small percentage as there are other reasons which have been fairly well documented now.

Everyone knows the season has been a comparative disappointment, that the Dragons should be in the last eight of Europe with the squad they've got and at the top of the Celtic League, not fourth.

Anderson has struggled to adapt from the league code, his appointment hasn't been a success and that should have been given as the reason for his departure, not money.

As it is, punters, sceptics, doubters, newspapers, radio and television programmes have all jumped to the false conclusion that the Dragons are facing dire trouble or financial ruin.

They form that conclusion because of the forthcoming departure of financial backer Tony Brown as well, fearing that without his considerable support things will go belly up.

But they won't.

For the members of the board are fairly substantial men, successful in business and in some cases pretty wealthy, too, and while the halcyon days of Brown may have gone the Dragons won't be in the doldrums. And Brown won't go completely either.

He is still the majority shareholder at Rodney Parade, he effectively owns the ground, so he's going to retain an interest if not a hands on approach or close involvement any more.

There's no need to panic, therefore, on the field, or off, even if Percy Montgomery stays or goes. For what on earth is wrong with a back division of Kevin Morgan, Gareth Wyatt, Hal Luscombe, Sione Tuipulotu, Nathan Brew, Ceri Sweeney and Gareth Cooper?

That's about the best in Wales, and while a front row forward or two could be needed there's Ian Gough, Luke Charteris, Peter Sidoli, Michael Owen, Richard Bryan, Jamie Ringer and Jason Forster, among others, contesting the back five places. Not much wrong there either.

So speculation that the Dragons are about to implode is completely wide of the mark. And so are the other regions who opposed the Dragons and their criticism of the failure to release Wales squad players last week.

Llanelli Scarlets said the Dragons were wrong, yet they were missing just two players in Connacht while the Ospreys, also critical, were playing none other than chopping blocks Borders.

They could afford to adopt a holier-than-thou attitude. How would they have reacted if, like the Dragons, they were without six regulars against a side with a smattering of Irish internationals?

We all know the answer to that one.