The interview you link Sep is well worth a listen. But if you ever doubted if Derek was a smart guy, then it an almost must listen. In the area of finances, he explains that he deliberately left club finances relatively unaltered for the initial trial IMG gradings, to see where things fell out. Now he knows exactly how IMG are assessing the various areas of finances (and in relative relation to other areas) he will (not may, be can/will) make the necessary changes to drastically boost our club financial score in the 3.0 range increase that Sep mentions. He also talks about another couple of other minor changes that we can make in other areas that will boost us above the magic 15.0 grade A score. A listen will tell you, this is not a maybe on his part, but a very confident “will” happen.
Another good reason to listen is to hear how committed he is to Leigh Leopards being in Leigh going forward. He talks about how we can be a club that can become a bigger draw on the big stage and garner even more supporters from outside our current perceived catchment area, and how that makes the catchment area a redundant grading criteria that he believes will disappear in 2025.
One last reason to listen is the fact ghat he mentions we have another significant signing in the works. The way he talks about it, if it happens, it will be a signing that will improve our current starting lineup, not just a squad boosting level player.
There are no guarantees in life or sport, but I am 100% confident that Derek is in this for the long haul, has zero desire to sell the club on at a profit or move it for profitable driven reasons, and will do whatever it takes to get us into not just Grade A status but make us one of the perennial top contenders moving forward.
I’ve been an active Leyther supporter for 55 years and I have never felt this bouyant about our clubs future

Correck, Tipsy, no Academy needed - at least for IMG purposes. One will be introduced regardless.

Regarding catchment areas: the English clubs are judged on Borough (and if there is another pro/semi-pro club in said Borough, halved or cut into three accordingly); the French clubs are judged on "departments" rather than "communes" (the latter the nearest equivalent to Boroughs). This gives the French clubs an advantage in catchment areas.

Could the RFL STILL be championing their inclusion of Les faux crapauds?

Derek is right to question it on that alone!

And (never start a sentence with "And"icon_wink.gif, as Vanners says, DB was not slagging off other clubs, he was careful and balanced.

As to financial shuffling: sounds promising but Bongser's not your man.

COYL!

I am no financial wizard, but I will still chuck in my penn'orth on the basis that it might help someone.

If DB has invested £1.5M in the fantastic venture that is Leigh Leopards, at the moment DB cares not if he see's that money again. In that sense it is Derek's gambling stake.

IMG on the other hand want the Club to be run on a professional basis, with a financial structure including Long term liabilities and short term liabilities. In that sense any money invested by DB can be re-packaged into long and short term loans as required in the IMG strategy.
If Derek decides one day to throw his toys out of the pram, or alternatively has a near death experience out on safari, the club can be sold or refinanced more easily. It is Derek's money and Derek's club and he can collect on his loans or not, but it futureproofs the Club in an emergency.

If you want to look at what can happen, look no further than Eddie Davies (Bolton Wanderers). Davies revoked his investment in the club. This led to published debts of almost £200m and brought the club very close to being wound up over unpaid tax bills owed to HMRC. As a gesture of his goodwill and as incentive to sell the club, Davies promised to wipe over £125m of debt owed to him when the club was sold, which wiped a significant proportion of debt the club owed.

IMG are merely trying to support better financial management in a sport famous for not being able to manage it's own finances.

Your comments may be correct.If its a question of simply kicking the debt down the road then it casts even more doubt on the IMG reimagining process.
Stains have debts to mcmanus and his mates in the city. Lenegan had to call a halt at pies.Take that tour keeping wire going.
Davies called a halt at Bolton didn't write all the debt of though did he. Bolton still not recovered haven't they recently sent cap round to the speccies.
We are likely paying some players more than anyone at Bolton is on.
I have been pessimistic about Rl for some time.They report participation is up though cant really see the evidence.
One positive I did see was the interview with Phil Gould on You Tube sorry dont know how to post link Bloke in a bar think it was called

rlBloke in a bar - Phil Gouldrl