Yes they were, but why? Hence the position they are in, that’s why Wakefield ended where we’ve been in the past, easy to overspend. Come back to bite you in the end.

Yeah London lost their backer I think but the RFL can't have looked too closely at salford's finances.
I like Salford and admire their coach and onfield performances but it was all done on the back of money
That wasn't there- how come that wasn't picked up on?

You can’t penalise a team in advance and just guess though can you?

The score for Salford on finance will have been very low and that’s exactly why they’ll be 12th and at risk even before the financial issues got even worse.

So long as the figures are true then I see no issue Salford being in SL.

London are no where near SL level and weren’t last season either. Even a team that parked up mid season playing half a team of academy lads finished above them.

As it stands there are a few clubs in the championship who are better run and more deserving than London. The pity parade for London can remain in 2024.

At the moment it’s all speculation but if it came to pass and they lose 6-7 of their top players and end up with loaners and youngsters they will finish bottom and if they don’t get a backer possibly go bust - will sl be any the stronger if they are replaced with Toulouse fev or Bradford - probably not

Good question, and my answer is a massive Yes. Toulouse yes, York maybe, Bradford no, Fev definitely not. That’s what the gradings are good for - you don’t have to guess at which clubs would make the comp stronger, you can actually see it.

I don’t want Salford to go bust, but I don’t mind if they drop into the Championship and rebuild sustainably or attract a new owner in the meantime. Especially if that means Toulouse or even York get a shot without the threat of relegation looming over them.

Well I agree they are more deserving than London but if they get out of this mess, a lot of it self inflicted by ignoring their responsibilities, then they can count themselves very lucky.

Surely this has been comprehensively debunked by what we are seeing with Salford - if you could actually judge a club's status by their grading, there's no way they would have been just a point away from a Grade A.
The fact that London were able to soar from a basement grade of 8.07 in 2024 to a grade of 12.65 simply on the back of a year in SL with all its IMG-point benefits highlights that the grades hide as much as they show.

I don’t think it would be weaker either though.

You missed imo one of the most likely team to come up next season in York. Wouldn’t be surprised to see them in SL 2026.

They finished 4th, and have some decent league positions to fall back on, yet they were a grand final win for Toulouse away from losing their spot. They're artificially boosted by the population of Salford, but the gradings have suitably placed the club despite its on field, relative, successes.

I think it`s pretty subjective on which clubs would make the competition `stronger` so I`m not sure it`s as simple as saying just look the IMG scores, although in practice I know that is how the system works, but this Salford situation just shows the system up really... York might have a screen to the right pixels, have some LED boards around the perimeter of there pitch but do they have the potential to average 15k fans with a decent team like Bradford could?