I understand there being a degree of paranoia about, but the IMG proposals seem to be better thought out than the previous iteration of franchising. They aren't saying they're going to hand out 14 licences and sod the rest, teams will have the carrot dangled of achieving an 'A' category rating. The key bit of information about what that entails was missing and that bit is crucial, but overall it makes sense.

Whilst everyone is guessing, it's pretty clear that not many sides will be given a category A licence. Saints, Wigan, Leeds, Warrington, possibly Catalans seem to be the only likely ones. That leaves 7 spaces open for the initial 12 club Super League. That means there are 7 Super League clubs and potentially another 4 or 5 in the pyramid with ambition who will be eyeing an 'A' category licence. So there is a massive emphasis on those clubs and fans of those clubs should be asking them to improve. If they won't improve, they need to be asking them why. The likes of Wakefield and Cas have recently got council funding for ground developments. 20 years overdue but it's happening.

Leigh are a good example of a club with good facilities and good results on the field having won the Championship. If they can go up and achieve competitive status and attract better crowds than before they have a shout. If they can initially stay up, then finish 6th, attract an 8,000 average by year 2 and not go bust in the process, they'd have a massive shout for permanent status (Depending on the criteria of course). I have my doubts as to whether it'll happen, but would welcome being proven wrong as SL would be improved.

It goes without saying that the criteria is the most important question now. I'd like to think there's a process to it. I.e Stadium, crowds, success on the field, community work, academy setup, finances being the main criteria. If you're Leigh you fail on academy setup as you don't have a scholarship system, but you score well (enough?) on all the other aspects. So that permits you to submit proposals for a full academy setup etc, which the proven success of which then provides an A licence etc.

The bit about expanding SL to 14 clubs if there are 14 A category clubs is a key bit too. If they ever manage to get SL to that point, then they'll have had a great success. If we're at 12 still in 10 years it's probably failed (Or been changed three times like usually happens). This is where the door left ajar (hopefully) for investment in either new teams or existing teams. I.e a major investment in London or York or Wales etc, none of the Super League sides need to miss out if they can get their own standards up.

One thing they didn't really mention is some form of protection for promoted sides. Leigh have just come up by spending a lot more than the other clubs on players. Half of the good ones will now have to be released to comply with the SL quota rules. Why not exempt the promoted sides so they have a chance to be competitive and stay up? They can phase it out down to the required quota eventually. Seems daft we allow a club to invest to be promoted then put barriers up which prevent them being competitive.

On the whole they seem a good idea. If I were a SL club owner that isn't going to be A rated, I'd be looking at how we can improve and how we can be creative and get outside investment in to boost the club towards that goal. Of course there will be clubs for whom it's unobtainable (Batley's owner having a rant this week about the M62 and not wanting outsiders etc) but it's unobtainable for them as it is anyway. They might fluke promotion, but it'd be a one season ride to bankruptcy.

Just making the point that Warrington finished 11th - maybe it is the principle of receiving bad service, leads to more complaints.

I was just being a little mischievous, but the fact that remains is that Social Media and Team Performance are not a direct correlation, and if there is any correlation it is based on a much longer time period than one season.

The Rhinos are often quoted as the benchmark for Social Media, but the on-field team has yo-yoed up and down the League table, and even flirts with relegation on some occasions.

Well, Septimus, if I was DB I would employ a programmer to write me a script that would add a few thousand bots (fake accounts) on Twitter every week and program them to follow Leigh Leopards. It can easily be done. We would soon be top of the social media league. We could even go the whole hog and have virtual rugby teams playing for virtual trophies in virtual stadiums lol. A successful rugby team with exciting players will get you to the top table not cryptic messages and a photo of DB holding a leopard patterned pen, no doubt wearing his favourite leopard skin budgie smugglers haha. That image has just put me off my tea haha.

i agree that we are at a point of saturating the good games, by overplaying them. As a game we need to focus on bringing up the overall quality, so that the quality / intensity of a Wigan v Saints derby is replicated week in / week out. Whilst i'll admit you cant replace the rivalry of a local derby, you do need to be able to replicate the quality, intensity etc through the weekly rounds and if you can, there is no doubt in my mind that fan numbers would increase.
We have played Saints / Wire 5 or 6 times in a season with 2 league fixtures, 1 loop fixture, 1 CC round and then play off / grand final, and it gets too much, and detracts from the spectacle that it should be. I know you can always avoid it, especially if its a measure of success by making playoff andd finals, but something that needs to be considered.

with regards to social media, i have got both my daughters watching old clips off you-tube, admittedly a lot of it is Biff related , but they love the physical contact and get excited when there is a bit of biff. I feel a good social media presence should be mix of the old and the new. I know there will be sentimental fans, who love nothing better than seeing John Woods, Des Drummond, Alex Murphy, i'll chuck Tim Street in for one of my best mates wearing the club colours, but equally, its good for the new fans to see who has graced the colours previously

another aspect to social media, which also links in with attendance at games etc is something that i attended a work presentation on a couple of years ago
The premier league are working with a 3rd party about their content, but based on real time availability of information etc

they believe that the number of fans across the board is going to fall as the attention span of GEN Z ( i think it was they recognised them as) was very short. they dont like to sit and watch a game for 90 minutes, either physically there or on TV, so the premier league is looking at ways of attracting them with short / catchy footage, that keeps that at or watching the game, but know that they wont be watching (so to speak) as they will be on their phones watching replays / if he had done this, this is the likely scenario, the chances of joe bloggs scoring that was X, but if he has passed to fred smith, it was Y

it was a really strange insight into what the premier league was looking at, and the challenges they face in terms of attracting and retaining younger fans at the games.

so from a RL perspective, pretty sure we have the same challenges, but wont have the same amount of money available to produce that sort of quality of real time analysis / coverage

When it comes to social media I realise there are many platforms, but despite all that has gone on with Twitter recently, it does seem that our page is the only one without a verified tick (of any colour), be it either an inherited legacy, or someone not wanting to pay the £8 (plus VAT) a month, it looks a bit daft when most other teams at non-SL level also have a tick.