For me; it’s the lack of detail that is most concerning. All IMG have done is create an environment of uncertainty & fear, which will undoubtedly turn nasty among fans - it’s already starting with club comparisons - I really hoped we’d left the off field stuff behind us, but here we go again.
Now you could argue that this is intentional; to force clubs like my own (Cas) to get their house in order - we already had a warning shot across the bough will the academy initially failing to get a licence, whether we’ve taken this in board remains to be seen.
What I would have loved to have read about is how IMG & the RFL are going to support category B clubs attain A status - something I communicated in the survey. Both Cas & Wakey have been so unlucky in ground development terms; literally everything that could go against us has - even now with your own development, the misfortune of outside influences (these absolute disaster capitalists in gov’t for one) is hampering you. Where’s the support from the RFL been? I’m talking historical here. Instead they regularly fined both our clubs for the state of our grounds, fan behaviour - tell me with a straight face you haven’t seen/heard fans from other clubs do the things we’ve been fined for - Now how the hell has any of that helped us improve our situation? The truth is it keeps us right where other certain clubs want us. They sport should be helping clubs up, not keeping them down & I fear it’s going to be more of the same from IMG after reading that statement. They’ll keep us around until the “expansion” clubs are ready - London, Toulouse, York & Newcastle are the first to spring to mind, with an outside chance for Bradford if they could get their act together, then we’re toast.

The problem with RL as I see it is that a lot of supporters think that RL outside SL is not worth watching and is a slow death for a club. Complete rubbish, of course, there's some excellent rugby played at lower level and in better grounds than ours was.
There should be more importance placed on the Championship and better support provided from the RL.
As for us, as has been said, the only way to break up the likes of Saint Helens and Leeds etc is to get smart and join them.
Quite frankly Saints, Wigan, Leeds and in the past Bradford have had much more than their share of glory because they have done things better than us, oh and of course they have money - blast I forgot that!

Good post steady .
How can anyone give credibility or trust a report that can have such a huge influence on our future that lacks so much detail. For instance, so much talk of cat A or cat B. The report mentions these catagories at length and also states how they will influence league status. Yet ! not a single word or explanation of their respective definitions. Here we all are saying this club will be Cat A because it has this,that or the other. This club will be CatB because it lacks this, that and the other. Truth is no one has a clue, everyone is guessing , so ask yourself why has the report failed to give the slightest detail about these rankings ? What are they hiding ?

PB there is loads of detail, just go back 15 years and read Framing the Future, it's almost identical just different buzz words

I certainly agree regarding breakaways, which would be even less helpful than the IMG proposal.
For me, it was the inference that off field issues will be more important than what takes place on the field of play.

They seem to have forgotten that RL is a sport and not some sort of corporate "ladder".

Many of us remember how Huddersfield were "saved" every season, primarily because of their stadium. Even their own fans thought that it was wrong, and we seem to be back in that mindset?

Ever since SL began the off-field v on-field debate has been at the core of the problem.

I'm actually not against off-field being the priority. However it has to be scrupulously fair and brilliantly implemented to actually work. In that regard SL has been an utter failure, and from what I see IMG are just time and motion men with a bunch of buzz words and will be no better, window dressers. God knows what this will be costing the game.

Unfortunately, you can't have transparency of the process and also know all the derails at the first press conference.

IMG have put together a structure they feel the can run with to improve the game.
There has to be a vote of all clubs to ratify that. If a majority says yes then they can move forward.
If tge vote says no, any low level detail was wasted. Its just a stepped approach.

I would think they will add more detail as they go but they haven't start somewhere.
The alternative was to keep it all a secret until after the vote.
It would have created less noise but no one would have had chance to put their opinion forward.

I was joking!

Framing the future was full of vague nonsense and so is this - i did put a laughing emoji at the end

We should start with 2500 of the shiniest seats in SL and a pristine new pitch !

This is a return to franchising but with an element of promotion and relegation. Presumably, if category B clubs can improve themselves to category A, the top flight will increase.

The problem with franchising, and the struggle to recruit for clubs like Wakey, is that it was based on exclusion, not inclusion. What I mean is that it was about twelve places being up for grabs, and more than that applied, meaning someone was going out.

If the new model is based upon security for category A, the emphasis is different, as it is based on fitting the criteria, and if more clubs do, then the league grows. It's closer to the NRL model, where a team is added but no one is booted out. Provided there is no cap on the number of category A clubs, it has some merit.

I can see what they are trying to do. The problem with rugby league is that it's biggest strength, strong ties to strong local communities, is also its biggest weakness, in that it makes a small sport in the north. Imagine a league where fourteen clubs were as vibrant as Saints or Warrington (I quote those two as they are small towns in the north, as opposed to Leeds). That should always be the aim.

I give it a cautious welcome. It puts the ball in our court. Bumbling along cannot be good enough, either for us or the sport. As a club, we are a better than that. As a sport, it is the best in the world. People deserve to see it at its best.

Your right, the RFL will treat all clubs equally.
So the only thing to do is break in to the top 4 or 6 clubs on a regular basis.
Unfortunatly at the moment Trinity fans seem more than happy to watch the grass grow and seem to have little interest in supporting the club in building a squad.

Further updates e.leeds-live.co.uk/_act/link.php ... Id=7447519

Further updates e.leeds-live.co.uk/_act/link.php ... Id=7447519

Give it a chuffin rest or stump up the cash. I keep asking you where the money will come from but you never answer.