Next Season / IMG Gradings???

[Oldham Valderama]

Disappointing end to the season yesterday when mid term with the takeover / performances etc offering so much promise the season ends on very much a damp squib. Well it is what is is and I've still got faith in the legend that is Mike Ford and the new board so we'll see what transpires next season. As soon as season tickets are available I'll be there handing over my cash as the future still looks bright.

Apologies if this topic has already been discussed (I assume it has?) but I'm still not managing to get my head round all this IMG Grading malarkey and what it means for a club like Oldham? I know the club are building for the future and have stated on many an occasion that next year irrespective of what division we are in (as it turns out still in the ###### end bottom ladder division) we will have a "championship" standard team out on the pitch (Jordan Turner & Joe Wardle both cracking signings!!!).

In this case then are Oldham therefore throwing all their eggs in one basket and banking on promotion via the league table? If for whatever reason that doesn't happen (god forbid) what are the implications regarding all this IMG Grading? I remember at the Fan's Forum a few weeks back it was all to do with Stadium / Finances / Catchment area's for fans & talent and so on (which at the moment Oldham are potentially in a good place with) but is it also still dependent on results on the pitch? 

Just a bit curious if anyone can provide a guide (in layman's terms) for what these IMG Gradings mean and what is the potential impact for Oldham.

Thanks

[Jimmy DoNut]

 

Just a thought re. IMG & what is happening this time next year. Am I right in thinking there is only one more season of automatic promotion & relegation, ie 2024? In that case, assuming our new-look team wins promotion next year, we will be in the Championship in 2025 & can't be automatically relegated? 

Whereas for the 2 unfortunate teams (possibly Dewsbury and Doncaster) who are relegated next year, they will be stuck in League One in 2025 and can't be automatically promoted?

So I reckon we are better off in League One in 2024. 

Does that make sense or am I talking through my hat .

i JUST POSTED THIS ON A DIFFERENT THREAD - GREAT MINDS VALDERAMA 

[Roughyed Rats]

Traditional P&R is staying between Championship and League 1. 

[Oldham Valderama]

Cheers Mr Donut!!!!

Seems to me its all about money these days!

In a parallel universe say for arguments sake Jim Radcliffe (the bloke from Failsworth trying to buy United) turned round and said "Stuff the Glazer's faffing me about, I'm gonna take my £5billion and invest on Oldham Rugby instead" wishful thinking i know but we can all dream would that just basically buy Oldham a place in Super Duper League????? 

[Blind side johnny]

1 hour ago, Oldham Valderama said:

Cheers Mr Donut!!!!

Seems to me its all about money these days!

In a parallel universe say for arguments sake Jim Radcliffe (the bloke from Failsworth trying to buy United) turned round and said "Stuff the Glazer's faffing me about, I'm gonna take my £5billion and invest on Oldham Rugby instead" wishful thinking i know but we can all dream would that just basically buy Oldham a place in Super Duper League????? 

No.

Next question.

[OL14.yeds]

It’s not a case of “buying a place in Super League”, it’s making sure various components of said-club and it’s infrastructure are up to a minimum standard.

[saints10coach]

There are plenty of rumours circulating about the possible demise of London Skolars. If this sadly does happen, where will that leave the structure of League 1? Will there be enough teams to sustain RL at this level, or would there be the necessity to just have one division below SL?

[The Art of Hand and Foot]

1 hour ago, saints10coach said:

There are plenty of rumours circulating about the possible demise of London Skolars. If this sadly does happen, where will that leave the structure of League 1? Will there be enough teams to sustain RL at this level, or would there be the necessity to just have one division below SL?

I think they should. I know there'll be 23-4 teams but if you remember back to 89-90, the year we won against hull kr at old Trafford, we didn't play everyone home and away. The idea of the third tier is to give a pathway for expansion. Well that's worked out well hasn't it.?

Premiership play offs were introduced many many years ago to try and solve this problem. Well we still have play offs so where's the problem?

Edited September 13, 2023 by The Art of Hand and Foot

[Blind side johnny]

On 13/09/2023 at 10:39, The Art of Hand and Foot said:

I think they should. I know there'll be 23-4 teams but if you remember back to 89-90, the year we won against hull kr at old Trafford, we didn't play everyone home and away. The idea of the third tier is to give a pathway for expansion. Well that's worked out well hasn't it.?

Premiership play offs were introduced many many years ago to try and solve this problem. Well we still have play offs so where's the problem?

How did your last match go?

Just asking.

[The Art of Hand and Foot]

29 minutes ago, Blind side johnny said:

How did your last match go?

Just asking.

Tbh, the promotion playoffs, as they currently stand, are a nonsense given that every team plays each other home and away. Hunslet are second and should go straight up. Also, as I've said previously, what a nonsense if we went up after Doncaster beating us twice in the league 

Edited September 14, 2023 by The Art of Hand and Foot

[sheddingswasus]

I really agree on this. Hunslet deservedly got second place by achieving over a full season. It makes a nonsense that Doncaster bring in 3 or 4 short term international / SL signings to try to sneak promotion. These are likely to be released after the final  

Before anyone says we have done the same, we haven’t. Our signings are all two year contracts building for the future. 

Edited September 14, 2023 by sheddingswasus

[herbie]

2 hours ago, Blind side johnny said:

How did your last match go?

Just asking.

We lost just saying

[Blind side johnny]

19 minutes ago, herbie said:

We lost just saying

So expansion isn't working then?

[shaw llewellyn]

Paris, Toronto, Kent, Scarborough, South Wales to name a few. 

[Roughyed Rats]

14 hours ago, shaw llewellyn said:

Paris, Toronto, Kent, Scarborough, South Wales to name a few. 

Add West Wales and London Skolars in the last 12 months to that as well

[Anita Bath]

Southend, Mansfield, Carlisle, Gloucester, Oxford, Bristol. Hemel, Ottawa Northampton…….

[Blind side johnny]

On 15/09/2023 at 12:48, Anita Bath said:

Southend, Mansfield, Carlisle, Gloucester, Oxford, Bristol. Hemel, Ottawa Northampton…….

Huyton, Nottingham, London Highfield, Tooting and Mitcham........

how stupid these folk were trying to succeed whilst the heartland clubs can teach then so much about failure.

[Rob95]

First re IMG gradings , I tried reading the criteria again and while somethings seem relatively straight forward to understand other areas I can't seem to get my head round . Thankfully it does look very transparent and so someone at the club will have a good idea . As best I can see we will score the minimum for crowd attendance as we average less than 1500 , we can guess where we will sit on the performance score . Boundary Park and the clearing of the debt will be very useful to us , as will the increased engagement with the community clubs . 
I can't in all honesty se us being grade A , but hope we will be grade B rather C . 
Supposedly clubs have an idea where they sit but we won't know until later in the year . Once we know how many grade A clubs there are we then know how many of the 12 places remain , but we need to know where we stand against other grade B clubs . it isn't just clubs like Salford and Cas etc , we need to know about York , Halifax , Bradford etc . 

Re next season hopefully Newcastle are OK too . I don't know what the league will do , I can't see them effectively relegating extra clubs to balance the leagues . I hope I'm wrong but I can see a 9 team league playing each other 3 times to get 24 fixtures , as we know Superleague love their loop fixtures 

[sheddingswasus]

There are some really odd (yet understandable) things that gain points. Reading another article earlier, t’s all about things like…whether there’s at least 50m x 50m space for broadcasting trucks, whether you can get at least 50 people in the press box, whether the directors’ box has at least 40 seats and is positioned near the halfway line, whether the corporate lounge has at least 200 capacity etc. This makes the move to boundary park even more relevant. 

Another thing mentioned was initially there is no requirement or points for running a women’s team wheelchair team , or an academy initially so that may be the reason the club chose not run them women’s team for the immediate future. 

Community plays a big part, both in terms of local population plus the community clubs in your area. 

Interesting times. 

Sadly the whole ting is Super League centric, clearly a move to appease the existing SL clubs who needed to be onside with the proposals to move forward. 

[The Art of Hand and Foot]

43 minutes ago, sheddingswasus said:

There are some really odd (yet understandable) things that gain points. Reading another article earlier, t’s all about things like…whether there’s at least 50m x 50m space for broadcasting trucks, whether you can get at least 50 people in the press box, whether the directors’ box has at least 40 seats and is positioned near the halfway line, whether the corporate lounge has at least 200 capacity etc. This makes the move to boundary park even more relevant. 

Another thing mentioned was initially there is no requirement or points for running a women’s team wheelchair team , or an academy initially so that may be the reason the club chose not run them women’s team for the immediate future. 

Community plays a big part, both in terms of local population plus the community clubs in your area. 

Interesting times. 

Sadly the whole ting is Super League centric, clearly a move to appease the existing SL clubs who needed to be onside with the proposals to move forward. 

I thought we'd started a women's team?

[sheddingswasus]

And finished it about 2/3 weeks ago  

it was at the end of the article on 2nd Sept regarding volunteers it read

In other news, the Club / Trust have made the decision to temporarily put its Oldham Women’s Team on hold and have parted ways with Coach Ste Fitzmartin by mutual agreement.

Club and Trust Director Simon Winnard's said,

‘In the last couple of months, it’s become clear that the infrastructure we inherited wasn’t adequate to best support the Women’s team. As with every professional club, the Trust runs the Women’s team. Therefore, as part of its restructure, it will fully address this in preparation for a relaunch in the coming months. We wish to place on record our thanks for all the efforts of the coaches and players over the last few months.

 

[glemiln]

9 minutes ago, sheddingswasus said:

Interesting times.   ???

“At the end of the 2024 season, the club finishing bottom of Super League could retain its place if it scores higher in the 20-point system than either a top-flight side or the top team in the second-tier Championship.” (ie., no longer wholly determined by on-field performance, which constitutes only 25% of a club’s grade under the Grading Criteria).

“Teams are ranked from 1-36 based on league positions (where they finish after the play-offs), and that these numbers are compiled over three seasons”.

For now, with the loss of Skolars, we have to await if the few remains of League 1 are merged into one Championship (or perhaps two ‘regional’ ones?).

After 12 years (or perhaps less) IMG may improve clubs generally, with interest mainly to those hopefully young enough to wait….and like spreadsheets!

The 60’s onwards, despite its ups, downs and occasionally mud, were not too bad!

 

 

[sheddingswasus]

1 hour ago, glemiln said:

“Teams are ranked from 1-36 based on league positions (where they finish after the play-offs), and that these numbers are compiled over three seasons”.

If I understand it correctly, if there are 35 teams then say Wigan finish top average over the three years they get 35x 0.1111 points, so 3.89. Whereas say Oldham average Say 28th over 3 years, so would get 7x 0.1111, so 0.78 points 

Complicated or what?

[sheddingswasus]

But this system seems to rewards teams who may be in decline now such as say Barrow and Newcastle, where they would be rewarded for a higher placing last season 

[Rob95]

On 22/09/2023 at 16:40, sheddingswasus said:

But this system seems to rewards teams who may be in decline now such as say Barrow and Newcastle, where they would be rewarded for a higher placing last season 

Agreed .
I really do hope we get to see a list of how each club is rated , for arguments sake say we get awarded grade B 10 points (no I have no idea how many points we'll get !!) , we won't know how good that is unless we know how many teams are higher than 10 points . 
Also whilst I'm not asking or expecting the club to produce a full forensic analysis of how our score was made up , it would be good to know aside from more money and higher league places , what areas we could realistically improve our scores . As fans we can do little to improve the score apart from attend games , follow and post on social media unless I'm missing something . But for example Boundary Park has LED advertising boards which is a plus but unless my eyes have really gone there is no big screen which is a minus , are the club in a position to address this as one example , or can we just find a HD projector and a big white sheet from somewhere  . 

To next season will IMG have any input or say on how the Championship and League 1 are arranged . Current and past players and coaches I've spoken with all seem to agree a change was needed , but I do fear that if we are not careful the recent rejoining of Super League to the RFL will again end in a split , but this time with a group of non Super League teams breaking away .