Don't think IMG are going to be the saviours some of the loud mouths on social media think they'll be.

All the issues we had during the licensing years haven't been resolved in their proposals IMO although there's at least a bit of transparency this time.

Clubs coasting along as theres zero chance of them being replaced, fans getting bored of meaningless games (remember we had the ridiculous situation of the RFL having to expand the the play-offs to Eight teams to try create more meaningless games) those issues are still there.

Then in 4 years time we'll have another critical meeting for the sport wondering why crowds are dwindling after we've changed the format for the millionth time.

Say we somehow made the criteria for SL (stay with me here).. who then puts the necessary money into the club to be competitive?

We'd just become a Wakefield, making up the numbers and getting a hiding each week.

Agreed. We're miles off SL. It's not happening. Even if they weren't raising the drawbridge we're still miles off. I find it difficult to get exercised about the whole IMG thing as a result. The club needs a huge transformation to get back to elite level. Particularly in the areas of ownership and stadium

An owner with funds & genuine business acumen.
A professional CEO with RL experience
And a SL quality coach would be a start
Rake out the rotten culture that's existed for years & start again with a 95 style rebuild.

That's the only way we will get there.

As it stands now we are a ghost ship,
Ticking boxes to get a place at the table but no clue as to what to do when we get there.

Bulls and the foundation are running 7 teams and the staff required for that on 3k ticket sales, sponsors and is it £200k central funding?
If we get an additional £1.6m central funding with promotion, I would think we could finance a team.
Finding the players in October is the problem. Leigh got round that by funding an SL team the year before they went up, which no one else can do.

You could if you had a decent owner..

Don't doubt they could finance 'a team' it just wouldn't be a very good one.

I’m not saying we are anywhere near SL. I also think we are miles off (not even a top 3 Champ side atm). However at the moment we do have this criteria that certainly helps towards the grade. If we aren't doing our best to at least try meet as much of it as we can then what’s the point?

I think Wakefield left it too late to upgrade their facilities (as they are going for a betting grade on facilities, probably so they rank higher than Cas) and now money is tied up in the new stand hence the lack of quality or depth in their squad this season.

I’m not interested in what we do if we get to SL. Because again, there’s things we need to do to even be in contention for SL. One of those things is securing a place in the 1895 final. Which means beating Fax.

I have no doubt we’ll probably get an SL side in the next round of the CC cup. So hopefully we get a decent side. Get some money in from the tie (which helps us now). Go out of the Cup and focus on the semis of the 1895 Cup and the league. But first we need to beat a strong Fax side.

If anything, I could actually see the IMG grading system leading to a lot of deflation and stagnation, especially in the lower leagues.
Once the provisional and final gradings come out, clubs will know how close - and more importantly how far away - they are from a potential spot in the top division. This could either be a motivating factor or a stark realisation of what is required to make the grade.
I have a feeling that for a lot of clubs the improvement will just be unobtainable. IMG talk about clubs needing to grow but unless I've missed it, I haven't seen any talk of their plans for how the central funding is to be distributed going forward and how much the lower leagues are going to get.

The huge elephant in the room when it comes to our sport is that the only clubs who ever achieve anything at all, including growth, are those funded by benefactors.

But isn't that the issue right there? Hull and Huddersfield went bang and two clubs were sacrificed for them (but we're the RFL pets still ) and at that point I was sure rules were put int to ensure that clubs were not expected to make a loss yet here we are with clubs in SL owners masking the games issues by pouring millions into clubs and them taking the losses.

Hudds would be dead in a breath again as would others. Until that situation is taken away you've no hope of rescuing the game. You could say that the much despised (by me) Ken Morrison displayed his vast business acumen by staying well and truly out of RL despite calling the club his 'beloved Bulls' the spiffing chap.