Quote: Mild Rover ". However, I’m sceptical about the likely scale of the pay-off without pretty dramatic parallel improvements in the performance of the first-team..'"
This is why I'm against relegation/promotion in its traditional guise.
If a club like Hull KR is making genuine efforts to build it's academy for the good of the future of its senior side, then it naturally needs time to come to fruition - A relegation/promotion system works against that and so sides have to cut corners and bring in short term signings, who drain the wage budgets, in order to simply survive.
Giving 5 or ideally 10 year licences to clubs who are making the effort to develop young players, has got to be better than having those clubs constantly living on the edge?