I disagree. They finished bottom. They would have fallen back into the championship regardless of the IMG format would they not?

This is a direct result of the club not being self sustainable and the owner no longer propping it up. That’s his choice but regardless of IMG the club would still be in championship. It’s very easy to point aim at IMG but clubs ultimately have to take responsibility for their own existence and operations.

IMG and the plan is in place precisely to avoid clubs hitting these situations. It’s built around making clubs increase their footprint, revenue and engagement to become a better more sustainable or business.

This is not a short term plan. But too many fans can’t see past next week and are rubbishing and attributing every little thing to IMG.

Yes London finished bottom and therefore deserved to go down. However, you could ask if whether the fact that their fate was sealed before day one, regardless of where they finished, had anything to do with how they performed on the field, and whether it affected how they were viewed off it by anyone that was thinking of putting any money into the club.

IMG are copping a lot of flak but this is RL so it was bound to happen. Those voices will get louder if they're unable to demonstrate the benefit they're supposedly bringing to the game as a whole, particularly if clubs outside the top flight wither and die now the P&R drawbridge has been pulled up due to lack of fan interest.

If there is a genuine chance of admittance to SL and not some opaque assessment behind closed doors that is skewed towards preserving the status quo then they have a chance. Having seen how licensing protected SL clubs in the past I remain sceptical. Other fans (see the Fax board) are downright dismissive of the whole thing. That's the danger, clubs with potential fall aside as their fans perceive that there's nothing to aspire to other than being a big fish in a tiny pond and never having the opportunity in the top flight.

That’s a good post. Regards London it’s all semantics. If the IMG wasn’t in would hull have fielded half an academy team most of season and would London have been further adrift? Nobody knows but it’s irrelevant as they did finish bottom. Not only bottom but by less that Trinity in 2023 in many areas. I am a touch salty that Trinity got so much grief from SL fans through 2023 despite finally making good on the off field what they’d been criticised for decades before. Then London who were giving away free tickets, no sponsor start season and just mosned most weeks in the press get sympathy votes and support from other fans that they deserve to stay up or be exempt. So much so I hope we stuff some teams next year because I will be petty on the oppositions board . Kind of went off point so I’ll return back now.

IMG do have to show results but it won’t be in year 1 of the new plan/format. It will be at 3,5,7,10 where we really get to see and review how good it will be for the sport. Fans rubbishing it and attributing every current and past failure to IMG are just resistant to change for the most part imo.

I don’t know if it will work but when you see clubs like York putting screens in, growing crowds and really buying in to it along with even Bulls making improvements too in key areas I think there has been some success in preparing for the future and self improvement of the clubs.

Take trinity for example. Should it still have been P and R, it would have been more likely Ellis would have run with a phenomenal team on the field instead of all the vast improvements towards the criteria such as LEDs, new gantry areas and other improvements like new bars, investment in social media improvements etc. That can only be positive to future proof trinity and same applies to other clubs who buy in.

Yes there is a question over closed shop but if we get more As then the league will expand. I don’t think it will become a closed shop.

However I do think it highlights that the RFL need to promote the championship as its own comp. The lack of media, coverage and investment in it is appalling imho by the RFL.

It needs its own tv deal, own media pages which link in with SL, own marketing.

There are a number of clubs in championship who get crowds around 2k and 3k. That’s mate too far away from the likes of Hudds, Salford and even Trinity. There’s a lot of potential but they need to stop treating it as a second also ran comp and really re market it as its own comp. Trinity signed two England current internationals mid season. I was absolutely appalled this wasn’t reported on the SL socials or any other socials hardly because the championship doesn’t really have them. So lazy by the RFL and frankly short sighted imho.

Why has it got anything to do with IMG?
They would have been relegated under the old rules anyway but this is purely down to managing the finances of your own business.

I would love to see a thriving club in London and I'd be happy for the RFL to invest in them if they had any money, but you can't complain after the fact.
We didn't get a parachute payment either.

In terms of nothing to play for they have rectified that.
Under IMG rules, the thing stopping championship clubs getting in to SL is money and investment.
If they win Grand Final they get a significant winners pot from now on, which if invested correctly will help them gain the IMG points.

They finished bottom because they knew that they would be relegated at the end of the season.
Even if they had won the challenge cup, topped the league and won the GF they were going to be relegated.

Yes, they could have improved their grading but, they would still have been relegated.

Their promotion surprised everyone, including them and in hindsight, they'd have been better off not being promoted.
Sorry but this is down to a lack of foresight or a heap of bad luck with the IMG format.

As for not looking at these things earlier, many people spotted the "flaw" just as soon as London gained promotion.

The bottom line here is that the only successful UK "expansion club, has gone from SL to "basket case" in the space of 12 months.
I'm not sure that those in charge of reimagining Pro RL will really want this on there resume.

They wouldn’t necessarily have been relegated anyway, had the IMG system not being in place they would almost certainly have recruited to avoid being relegated

We shall see if that actually translates into a championship club getting into the top flight. I'm all for long term planning but we're dealing with sport here and RL supporters don't think about LED screens and IMG scores - they think about scores on the field. You can't change that culture overnight and the longer it takes the more you risk losing people and clubs on the way.

IMO there are a few clubs in SL that are only in it because they were on the right side of the divide when the rules were written.

It's up to the club to take the fans on the journey.
They have to use what money they have to make the club sustainable. Those that don't will never make it to SL.

I can’t agree with your bottom line. London were never a successful uk expansion club and your exaggerating that to a massive degree to have a pole at the IMG criteria. They have always been a basket case. You’re blaming img but it’s very much a mostly flawed club for many years. Placing that at the foot of IMG is exactly what I’m talking about being in poor taste.

12 months ago they were averaging barely 1k fans. Struggling for sponsors and finishing edge of playoffs. They had no sponsor for shirt early on in pre season sorted and they have been propped up by an owners funds. They have bounced from place to place and struggled to lay foundations.

And hull wouldn’t have played half their academy most of season. You can’t surmise things like that just to try strengthen your point of view. It’s just pie in the sky lacking any substance.

There is no disagreement regarding their nomadic status or, their fanbase, which is largely due to them moving home so frequently.
Their primary strength and the main reason for them being a good option, is their development of players, from a pool that may note exist without their presence down south and from a sporting point of view, being condemned to relegation before a ball has been passed or kicked.
Maybe this is just teething troubles for the new criteria but, it doesn't sit well.
Ofc, we all have to wait for the IMC scores to be published in a couple of weeks but, there will no doubt be some surprises.

As for London, the look to be a busted flush.

Again you are right abouth their wealthy backer but, London are not on their own in this respect, not by some distance.

Leigh have signed winger AJ Towse from York. Good young winger bit of a loss for the Knights

I agree with you to a point. There is still an inherent bias toward existing SL clubs that seem to get more IMG points by virtue of which division they were in when the line was drawn.

Define sustainability. Is it the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level regardless of how it's done or is it meeting the needs of the present without compromising the future?

One could argue that having a sugar daddy is the only thing keeping the wolf from the door at almost all clubs. Is that sustainability? You could argue that if the bills are all paid then it is but it's not exactly a steady foundation. One wonders what happens to loss making clubs if their rich owners depart. For example without Ken Davy are Hudders a sustainable club?

I don't believe RL is truly sustainable, never has been. It will always rely on people prepared to lose money. I worry that clubs outside of SL may be held to higher standards than those currently in it to preserve the status quo, but we shall see.

The sustainability applies to all sports clubs, even those well down the pecking order.
The difference is that as thy climb the ladder and gain success, inevitably the stakes are higher and the fall from grace much more dramatic, unless there is someone with money to save them.