Personally, I still think people need to give IMG time. The sport has been badly mismanaged for years. IMG were always coming in for a long term strategy. Whether that works or not is something that we won't know for some time to come. It's the same with the club, both are going to take time to fix. Expecting a magic wand from IMG for the sport and Myler for the club is unrealistic.

I do, however, agree that things like the quota and salary cap need looking at. There's that many dispensations and allowances now (and more upcoming) that it's pretty clear that there's plenty of clubs that want more overseas players than the quota allows and want to spend more than the cap allows. Which says to me that the existing rules don't work anymore.

Quote ="Mrs Barista"Some wild LinkedIn comments by AP on a failed investment have been shared on Facebook. Some questioning whether it's a fake account but the account is 10 years old and connected with the likes of Tony Sutton. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/A8zeuq6wg7fpWdcs/'" Anyone on LinkedIn that can actually verify it's real or fake as some are suggesting? That Karl Brooks has been ranting on pretty much a daily basis for weeks now about AP and seems to have a vendetta against him. Wouldn't be surprised to see him making a fake account like that up to suit his agenda to be honest.

Quote ="Mrs Barista"Some wild LinkedIn comments by AP on a failed investment have been shared on Facebook. Some questioning whether it's a fake account but the account is 10 years old and connected with the likes of Tony Sutton. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/A8zeuq6wg7fpWdcs/'" Anyone on LinkedIn that can actually verify it's real or fake as some are suggesting? That Karl Brooks has been ranting on pretty much a daily basis for weeks now about AP and seems to have a vendetta against him. Wouldn't be surprised to see him making a fake account like that up to suit his agenda to be honest.

As already said, the account is over 10 years old with 500+ connections including Tony Sutton, James Clark, Mike Rush. Also tagged in last year by Hudgell Solicitors. A very elaborate ruse if that's what it is.

with IMG revealing their results on weds, the league position results have been shown on social media outlets, we are as expected 12th, Wakey 9th as they got bouns points for winning the championship GF.

Worringly Toulouse are 13th, now another terrible season for us next year may be disastrous for the club, can see Toulouse going all out to win the Championship next season and more than likely will replace any lower end grade B clu....unless the RFL finally get the b@lls to go to 14 teams!

its real, hes had endorsements by mike rush, and a very long history of activity with clubs, getting tagged etc 500+ connections



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Plus the media picked up on it either Thursday or Friday last week, if it was fake you’d have thought he’d have come out and said so by now.

The comments in the screen shot do not show in AP's comments only one comment that says 'Con man'. There is another from someone else that says 'Go on Adam' which I assume means if those comments were indeed made they've been deleted along with a number of comments from other seemingly disgruntled investors who have said similar.
Seems AP along with many others have invested and looks like they've all been taken for a ride, hence why there are other comments such as scammers, con man etc people other than AP.
Don't see what the fuss is with it to be honest and seem that person posting it really has a vendetta against AP.

Asiata interview has been released. Just by the way he talks, we haven't had a leader like that since 2016

I completely disagree. Regardless of personal financial loss, using language with sexual violence metaphors and swearing on a public business platform is unprofessional, arrogant and offensive.

I think the problem is the comments were like something you’d expect to see over a dispute about a second hand sofa on Facebook marketplace rather then a social media post from an owner of a sports club and supposed successful businessman.

Like I said when it was first doing the rounds, seemed amateurish for a man in his position to rant on social media like that but it’s hardly a big deal. He’s obviously deleted it now on second thoughts. Just hope any money he’s lost doesn’t affect the club.

Add in the irony of him complaining about destroying a legacy!

Not saying it's right or wrong if those comments have come from AP or that I agree with the alleged comments , I do agree it's unprofessional and a poor choice of wording used, I just don't see the fuss and hysteria that a certain person is creating over it.

It’s almost as if Pearson & company are getting rid of his mates out of the club. Understandable why he’d be upset, loses the inside connection.

Wakefield who finished last in 2023 and were rigghly relegated have scored more performance points than Hull, Hudds and Cas for the 2024 season. Full time, superleague salaried squad playing against part time teams and they get rewarded more than super league teams.

So it was better to get relegated, this system is so flawed.

Yeah that is frigging ridiculous. Even all the bluster about Max Jowitt breaking the points record, against part timers for the most part.

For reference as bad as our performances have been, we have finished above Wakefield the last 5 seasons or so.

I don't see how a team in a lower league can score more performance points than a team in SL no matter how bad they have been. How can a promoted team get anything more than say a maximum of 1 to 2 performance pts in terms of the grading as the 2 leagues are poles apart. As you say Dave they were a full time full on pro team playing in a lower league against part time teams.
This for me shows once again the IMG grading system offers very little in terms of importance and to actually devalues the whole ideology. .

Clearly a totally nonsense system where it pays to be relegated or play in small stadium.

Rugby League really is a joke sport sometimes. We've got a two match test series coming up which was rescheduled due to a player getting married. Can you imagine any other professional sport doing that?

I agree.

Wakefield will have a lower league performance than Hull, however will have scored additional points for winning the 1895 Cup and the Championship Grand Final. They can not win those points next season (unless they will the Challenge Cup and SL Grand Final), so will lose those points next season.

I think their new owner is doing a good job at Wakefield and their new stand is long over due. However, one major flaw with the IMG points is that clubs like Wakefield, Cas and Rovers get rewarded for having a poorer, smaller ground, as it is better utilised (ave crowd v capacity).

Any team averaging 7,500* gets the same crowd score. No bonuses if you can attract 20,000, or if all your ground is under cover.

It’s mad, but Hull would score more points if we owned our own 8,000 stadium and sold out every week, as opposed to having the best ground in SL and accommodating in comfort, every home and away fan who wants to go to the game.

The deal with IMG seems to be getting more ridiculous with every passing month . And the RFL are paying nearly half a million for the privilege .

Paying IMG nearly £500,000 per year for 10 years to do what exactly?
You are correct the sport has been mismanaged but this deal with IMG will go down in history as the biggest blunder the RFL have ever made.

Think I might retract my earlier comment about IMG...

Surely that was the Stobart lorries?

Thats up there for incompetence but it didnt cost money like £500000 per year..
Mind you i wouldnt be surprised if Stobart got the RFL to pay for the paint jobs on the trailers

Stobart deal
Papa John's sponsorship with clubs only getting paid in pizza
Not making the most of opportunities in London, Toronto and Toulouse
Buying the lease to a big hole in the ground in Bradford
Continuing with loop fixtures
Not capitalising on the success of the 2013 world cup
Worldwide talent search for a new CEO that led to someone from inside the organisation getting the role

There's lots of mistakes from the rfl that meant they had to get IMG involved, if IMG weren't involved, you wouldn't have seen clubs like Cas and Wakey making long overdue improvements, the playoffs and grand final seemed to have more media coverage than previous years....I think the stadium capacity is a fair point, our games would have a far better atmosphere if we had a 10k crowd in a 12k stadium rather than 10k in a 25k stadium