NICOLAI Klindt admitted to being "very surprised and shocked" at Poole Pirates' decision to apply to drop into the SGB Championship and now expects to leave the club.

Pirates announced this week their intention to join the Championship next term, dropping out of the top tier for the first time since 1990.

Danish charger Klindt played a key role in Poole winning the SGB Premiership play-offs in 2018 before topping the league table in the 2019 campaign.

But he revealed in a series of posts on Twitter that he does not expect to remain at Pirates again next year.

He said: "As many of you have seen, read or heard, it looks like Poole is going down a league for 2020. I was very surprised and shocked when I first heard the news and (it) was hard to believe, especially after winning just a year ago and topping the league table this year.

"I had hoped to be back in the side for 2020 and was working on getting sponsors and other things in place already, but unfortunately, that won't happen now.

"I've really enjoyed the last three years as a Pirate, which is one of the reasons I've been able to improve in the time.

"We will obviously have to wait and see what will happen. One thing is for sure, I've truly loved being involved with the club and with Matt (Ford) and hopefully that will happen again in the future."