Is the full criteria published… I would love to see the way in which criteria and criterion are articulated, and weighted … for example Leeds and Hunslet … Leeds are based in Headingley… Hunslet in South Leeds… Wigan and Leigh… do/can St Helens claim Liverpool as catchment? How does the boundary of the community foundation we (trinity) have, relate to the catchment area area of the club?

Further with regard to playing results… if the assessment is of the club … how much store is place on the cumulative results of all the teams representing the club rather than just the male first grade??

So many questions

It is all purposely vague so they can get the teams in that they want and get rid of the teams that they don't. IMG are in this to make money, they don't care about Rugby League as a sport or its heritage, to them it is a money making exercise.

I just don't see how we fit into their plans, if you take any sort of Rose Tinted Glasses off then under the criteria Cas are ahead of us and have almost twice the crowds that we do. I would bet that even teams like Bradford and potentially York as well as London would be favored over us and again you may not agree but with the vagueness of the criteria it is very easy to justify.

You also need to remember that if Toulouse are in any sort of reasonable financial state that they will be a shoe in for it as well.

Our only chance of surviving the cull is being successful on the field this season and next but it is clear that our board have no means or willingness to try and make this happen.

Isn't every single person involved in Super League earning money for what they do? It's hardly a shock IMG are getting paid.
And I can't really see why anything but a successful league will be good for them.
It's up to us to be part of it.

Well your one that they’ve won over with their talk a lot and say very little sales pitch.
Glover will be doing the next meeting at cedar court for them.
Have to say I read a lot of what you say on here pop tart and find your posts on the most very much a positive and well balanced view. However on this I don’t understand where you want us to be in this new system and don’t get how people don’t see this as anything but a bad idea for RL.
Just because we are badly run doesn’t mean that anything else has to be better.
Well that’s what I think anyway and like is said I wish the keighly guys actually ran the RL. I believe they would do a far better job.

It's a good video Adam, and yes I'm in agreement too.

I don't know if any on here have experienced the Cougars on a match day, I have on a couple of occasions, as my nephew is part of the media team, and have to say it is second to none, and hoping they go well

I think my point is about Rugby league rather than Wakefield.
The thing for me that holds rugby league back is that sub standard clubs moan there isn't enough money but then try and block things that would move everything along but leave them behind if they don't keep up with the progress.

I don't know IMG will be better, but it is potentially better and no one else has proposed anything else, apart from staying right where we are.

Wakefield is a city with a population fit for a big city club. But we aren't one.
Would we be upgrading the stadium if we didn't have to?
A lot of teams need to be dragged into the 21st century and we should try and be part of that.

Of course Leeds and Sts are going to be fine, but only because they've done the work already.
We are very unlikely to get an A based on the criteria, but we should plan to be the best B with a road map to A.

And if we do progress we can leave the likes of Cas or Salford behind. If we don't we deserve to be in the championship with a team from York or Gloucester taking our place.

I’m glad RFL and IMG have been made to respond to the concerns.

RFL Reach Out to Keighley Cougars regarding
IMG Proposals Following the latest IMG "Reimaging Rugby League" meeting in Huddersfield, the RFL have reached out to Ryan and Kaue to listen and understand the very well publicised concerns

regarding the IMG proposals. Chair of the RFL, Simon Johnson met with Ryan and Kaue in central London on Tuesday spending 4
hours in discussions.
Ryan said "The meeting was largely positive. Simon listened to our scepticism and wants to reach a unified position where all clubs can agree
to a restructure" On behalf of the RFL, Simon Johnson agreed to feedback to IMG the concerns and proposals of
the Keighley Cougars. Ryan said "Our key points are that promotion and relegation should be on a 2 up, 2 down model. We tentatively agree that only category A and category B clubs should be in Super League, but that there
should not be sub-grading within the A and B categories. We will continue to express our stance on the situation and of course update our fans in
due course".

I completely get what you’re saying PT. Unfortunately as this is the only option on the table as of now, I know we as a club have to do whatever we can to be there or their abouts.
My concern is fundamentally what you said. Small minded club/owners(and we have been guilty of this too like it or not) looking after number one.
But I personally really do feel this is the system that at the start will look and feel good but then once it’s a closed shop that is when RL will then die as a sport. Because what’s the point if you can’t advance and once the lower leagues go then who’s going to feed the big clubs as grass roots will die too I’d think.
We all want rugby league to be here for longer than us and I do believe the fans have the good of the sport at our hearts but I’m not sure clubs look any further than their own books.
When this starts to happen, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s another new RFL mark 2 breakaway. We have form for this don’t we? and then we weaken again because of people in glass houses just like Union was all those years ago.
Maybe lol but it could…

I don't see the lower leagues declining because of lack of promotion. It was only ever available to 2 maybe 3 at the most.
Having stability gives teams a much stronger base to build on.
I would vote for money being diverted to support that division too. It shouldn't just be about Super League.

But as always, it doesn't matter how good the idea is, it's the execution that counts.

As much as I disagree with your views on it PT. One thing I completely agree on is that it’s all about execution or lack of.

Doubt it, it's shut.

It seems more club’s beginning to question IMG proposals, it would appear currently they would favour the current 12 SL clubs, even if Trinity were relegated This season.

The statement below is taken from The Featherstone Rovers Chief in today’s total RL.

THE latest IMG proposals in order to ‘re-imagine’ rugby league have created some heavy debate.

In order to achieve Grade A, B and C clubs, IMG set out a number of criteria that were sent out to the 36 professional clubs at a meeting a number of weeks ago at Huddersfield Giants’ John Smith’s Stadium.

In that criteria, five main areas were outlined: fandom (25%), performance (25%), finances (25%), stadium (15%) and catchment (10%) with different weightings in each.

For Featherstone Rovers chief executive, Martin Vickers, the plans were a ‘disappointment’ after what he feels was a change in the rules.

“We were disappointed with the latest iteration of the model. We had some clear messages previously that whilst B category teams were in Super League, B clubs in the Championship could get promoted,” Vickers told League Express.

“It is now that you have to be a B plus a score. That means it is all skewed towards a a current top 12 club so there is no way you can beat the bottom end of Super League on performance even if they are bottom of the league because they will be 12th out of 36 as opposed to our 13th.

“So we were disappointed. We felt there was a tweak in the rules that seemed to be skewed in favour of the bottom end of Super League who in every way have had their chance.”

For Vickers, he believes there is a “ceiling” for Championship clubs that should be done away with.

“We have such a strong model here for continuous improvement so this is not anything of us being fearful of improvement. We have aspirations and goals to be a category A.

“We do feel, though, that we have to have a level playing field and have a chance because the same four or five teams dwindling at the bottom of Super League have had their chance already.

“I feel there is a ceiling of a B Championship club on reaching the same score as those clubs, this is our chance.

“We know we can hold our own against those clubs but we know we have to have improve. We know we are not a category A club which you see against the benchmark of Leeds, St Helens and Wigan but you don’t necessarily get it with some other clubs.

“It’s obvious why some clubs are A star clubs, they have the crowd, stadium and have invested in their teams and academy teams. It’s those kind of fine lines as you get past those six or seven clubs.”

Among Championship and League One clubs, there have been a number of conversations in order to establish the opinions of various officials with dialogue ongoing.

“We have been in lots of consultation with other clubs because there definitely seems to be a strength of feeling on some of these issues and that was gathered after the last council meeting.

“We need to be clear that some of these standards are creating an accessible kind of game for the future. And that’s all we want.

“The consultations haven’t been massive in terms of detail but there was a big talk at the start of this that the game has got overly focused on structure in the past and I agree with that.

“But now we are all talking about a scoring system. Where do you have an exam system where someone is a B16 or a B12? What we are doing is creating another monster in my view that could be far more simplistic.

“There is certainly lots of dialogue in a constructive way. Clearly everyone wants the game to flourish and everyone knows it can’t go on as it is. It’s just good collaboration and making sure some of these voiced are heard.”