WOLVES’ head of rugby operations Karl Fitzpatrick sent out a bullish message following the departure of Chris Sandow – “no-one disrespects our club.”

Sandow walked out on The Wire on Monday in what Fitzpatrick called at the time “a clear breach of contract”.

The mercurial scrum-half has since told Australian television that family reasons were behind his decision.

Fitzpatrick, who will take over as the club’s new chief executive in January when Roger Draper departs, says Sandow’s reasons were valid but adds his methods were “totally disrespectful”.

“Chris is predictably unpredictable in the way he behaves so I wasn’t surprised with what happened,” he said.

“We are a reasonable club. If he had come to us with his concerns we would have resolved the matter properly and come to some sort of agreement.

“That didn’t happen and I think the way he has gone about this is totally disrespectful to us as a club.”

The club’s non-international players reported back to the club’s Padgate training centre for pre-season on Monday but Fitzpatrick says he already had an idea Sandow would not be joining them.

Media reports in Australia say Sandow is set to be involved in a charity boxing bout against former Catalans playmaker Todd Carney on December 9 in Sydney.

Fitzpatrick says the situation had been brewing since the late stages of last week after a phone call between Sandow’s agent, Isaac Moses, and head of coaching and rugby Tony Smith.

He went on to say the departure hurts all the more given how the club had gone “above and beyond” to accommodate his needs.

“I got word before the weekend that his manager had told Tony that Chris would not be coming back,” he said.

“Isaac Moses had a phone call with Tony to say Chris had sent him a text asking him to pass the message onto the club.

“We have a good relationship with Isaac and he said he felt embarrassed that he had to do this. He doesn’t agree with the way Chris has gone about this at all and we sympathise with him.

“It is a kick in the teeth for us because, as a club, we’ve looked after Chris very well during his time here.

“We provided babysitters for his children and helped to get them into schools. We helped with a visa for his girlfriend as well as bringing his mother over for the Challenge Cup Final.

“We really did go above and beyond for Chris so for him to do this is just complete disrespect and no-one disrespects our club.”

During his time with the club, Sandow spoke of the special bond he had built with his Wolves teammates and often referred to them as “brothers.”

Fitzpatrick says both players and fans had “every right” to feel let down by Sandow’s actions.

“The lads feel let down by Chris but, at the same time, they weren’t shocked by the news,” he said.

“They’ve been getting on with pre-season and are focussed on getting by without him which we will do.

“The fans have every right to feel angry as well. They took him to their hearts and he became a real favourite with them.

“He cannot expect to just get away with what he’s done.”