IMG, it might be working?

[JohnM]

53 minutes ago, Angelic Cynic said:

This thread appears to be a meeting place for IMG supporters to reassure themselves that IMG 'MIGHT' be working.

Losing confidence,all? Just unsure.

Seems IMG sway with the wind;change things after hearing the words of others - like club owners.

Two CEO's from 'elite' clubs have questioned them and now the owner of Castleford,after pointing out the requirement of 'benefactors' requests the IMG talents to address the issues of  branding,marketing and promotion.( But not relegation and promotion:Perish the thought.

Back to you followers of benefactor run clubs and self interested people.Nice to know original thoughts and actions don't trouble the people reimagining the sport.

Gosh! is it April 1st already? 

[Snowys Backside]

7 hours ago, Snowys Backside said:

IMG had a really good opportunity to consolidate London and keep a huge benefactor in the game. 
 

They didn’t. 
 

That was a big loss for me. Should have gone to 13 this year then 14 teams next year

It looks like all the expansionists have disappeared. 
 

Who would have thought it ? 
 

London could have made a go of it in my opinion but c’est la vie

[gingerjon]

1 hour ago, Snowys Backside said:

It looks like all the expansionists have disappeared. 
 

Who would have thought it ? 
 

London could have made a go of it in my opinion but c’est la vie

London were a shell, as can be seen by this off season.

[Snowys Backside]

12 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

London were a shell, as can be seen by this off season.

Of course they are. David Hughes has gone. 

[gingerjon]

2 hours ago, Snowys Backside said:

Of course they are. David Hughes has gone. 

They were a shell when he was there. That's the point.

[Trojan Horse]

9 hours ago, Archie Gordon said:

I don't see the link, I'm afraid.

London no longer having an academy has had no bearing on the quality of other clubs' academies.

When you said it was a tragedy. I had assumed you meant the loss of academy and scholarship to the professional game/superleague that London are no longer part of. 
 

I was merely saying that had been replaced by a stronger youth set up so it’s more of a tragedy for London as a club and area yes, but not for the superleague competition or even championship. 
 

I do hope this doesn’t spell the end of London’s youth investment though. That would be a shame. 

[Click]

38 minutes ago, Trojan Horse said:

When you said it was a tragedy. I had assumed you meant the loss of academy and scholarship to the professional game/superleague that London are no longer part of. 
 

I was merely saying that had been replaced by a stronger youth set up so it’s more of a tragedy for London as a club and area yes, but not for the superleague competition or even championship. 
 

I do hope this doesn’t spell the end of London’s youth investment though. That would be a shame. 

What an awful take to have.

[The Future is League]

19 hours ago, gingerjon said:

Did they go into administration or liquidation?

Do you think they should keep their Super League place and get away with cheating like they did?

 

[gingerjon]

9 minutes ago, The Future is League said:

Do you think they should keep their Super League place and get away with cheating like they did?

 

How did they cheat?

[Eddie]

I’ll put my head above the parapet and say I haven’t seen any tangible benefit from IMG’s involvement yet. I don’t think you can say Wakey’s reversal of decline or Leigh’s good form have anything to do with it. And on the flip side we now don’t have promotion / relegation to/from SL settled on the pitch, which to me is against the ethos of sport. 

[gingerjon]

10 minutes ago, Eddie said:

I’ll put my head above the parapet and say I haven’t seen any tangible benefit from IMG’s involvement yet. I don’t think you can say Wakey’s reversal of decline or Leigh’s good form have anything to do with it. And on the flip side we now don’t have promotion / relegation to/from SL settled on the pitch, which to me is against the ethos of sport. 

I can't remember a period before - not Framing the Future, nor licencing, nor any other time - when so many clubs were making off the field improvements whether that is to their ground, their set up or how they present themselves. You can probably point to each of them and say that IMG didn't make them do it, and that they could each have, individually, decided to go that way anyway. But the sheer coincidence of so many deciding to do exactly what is required of them from a recently put together framework is quite remarkable.

It's all fairly modest at the minute. And IMG/RL Commercial now need to deliver on sponsors and other revenue(*). But our starting level was on the floor and it is rising.

(* = and the RFL need to deliver on grassroots, community and on ensuring the bottom end of the pyramid doesn't see any further departures)

[JohnM]

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

I’ll put my head above the parapet and say I haven’t seen any tangible benefit from IMG’s involvement yet. I don’t think you can say Wakey’s reversal of decline or Leigh’s good form have anything to do with it. And on the flip side we now don’t have promotion / relegation to/from SL settled on the pitch, which to me is against the ethos of sport. 

I understand that position, so early on in the life of the Project and as the feedback loop gets activated, I'm sure there will be evolutionary developments, though I can't find promotion or relegation mentioned in this seminal work on the Ethos of Sport.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00948705.2000.9714590

I do admire the calm and patient way that GJ and others on here are discussing  the various  criticisms - plus and minus- of the Project and it's partners - RFL, IMG, clubs, structure, implementation, strengths and areas for improvement and timescales.

I'm not so well-tempered. I'm old and  tetchy, desperately keen to be still around to see the outcome of the project after 12 years. So my contribution is more direct. As I've said once already, quite a lot of the criticism is like a bunch of back-seat kids shouting "are we there yet, dad" and "ha-ha..you've gone the wrong way already" ....whilst the car is still on the drive.

Merry Christmas one and all - we're all on the same side, really.

Edited December 24, 2024 by JohnM

[Archie Gordon]

7 hours ago, Trojan Horse said:

When you said it was a tragedy. I had assumed you meant the loss of academy and scholarship to the professional game/superleague that London are no longer part of. 
 

...

I did mean that.

If I were an evil mastermind planning the sport's domination - wanting the best set of players available for SL and England RL - I'd want a London academy rather than yet another one where I have half a dozen already. 

[Worzel]

15 hours ago, Snowys Backside said:

Of course they are. David Hughes has gone. 

If there's nothing left when one bloke leaves, you were a shell before he left, not just afterwards

But then all reasonable observers know that already. Of course one side of this debate doesn't have any reasonable observers 

[Worzel]

2 hours ago, Eddie said:

I’ll put my head above the parapet and say I haven’t seen any tangible benefit from IMG’s involvement yet. I don’t think you can say Wakey’s reversal of decline or Leigh’s good form have anything to do with it. And on the flip side we now don’t have promotion / relegation to/from SL settled on the pitch, which to me is against the ethos of sport. 

The primary objective of the grading system was to progressively provide greater security for clubs, making some - and eventually all - safe from the random, unpredictable event of one bad season meaning you're relegated. This was in the hope of attracting inward investment which would help improve standards off the pitch, and on the pitch in a long-term manner rather than "spend £1m for one glorious season leaving nothing of permanance behind" (which is how the 'incentives' in the old model worked). 

In the last 3 years the sport has attracted more inward investment than at any other period in my lifetime. That money has been spent on improving facilities for the long-term, and attracting and building new audiences.

But of course it's all just one huge coincidence eh...  

[The Future is League]

2 hours ago, gingerjon said:

How did they cheat?

Call in lying then as regards their finances, or lack of them, or overvaluing their worth?

[Archie Gordon]

I love the way these fairly minor improvements to facilities are seen as something peculiar to the IMG era. Of course, the Boulevard, Knowsley Road, Parks Naughton, Central and Hilton, not to mention Wilderspool, all need a bit of TLC too. Possibly the Willows. I presume that they're next.

[RP London]

16 hours ago, Snowys Backside said:

It looks like all the expansionists have disappeared. 
 

Who would have thought it ? 
 

London could have made a go of it in my opinion but c’est la vie

How???

I want London to succeed as much as the next but broncos need a massive reset. The game in the capital needs a whole new funding structure, one man desperately attempting to keep them in, or get them into, super league is not a long term club making (as Yoda said many moons ago).. 

Investment in the way IMG is asking is a good start but we all know this needs millions invested, it needs grass roots investment, it needs schools support etc etc.. 

I hope IMG have a plan as a London club would still IMHO be beneficial but equally the London club we saw last year (off the field more so than on it as on it is relatively easy to fix) is not something that is beneficial and is arguably harmful to the game's image. 

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, Worzel said:

The primary objective of the grading system was to progressively provide greater security for clubs, making some - and eventually all - safe from the random, unpredictable event of one bad season meaning you're relegated. This was in the hope of attracting inward investment which would help improve standards off the pitch, and on the pitch in a long-term manner rather than "spend £1m for one glorious season leaving nothing of permanance behind" (which is how the 'incentives' in the old model worked). 

In the last 3 years the sport has attracted more inward investment than at any other period in my lifetime. That money has been spent on improving facilities for the long-term, and attracting and building new audiences.

But of course it's all just one huge coincidence eh...  

That’s fine for the small group of clubs who may have a bad season and go down, but how about clubs who might have investment if there was P&R but now won’t because there’s no chance of them getting into the SL closed shop?   

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, Archie Gordon said:

I love the way these fairly minor improvements to facilities are seen as something peculiar to the IMG era. Of course, the Boulevard, Knowsley Road, Parks Naughton, Central and Hilton, not to mention Wilderspool, all need a bit of TLC too. Possibly the Willows. I presume that they're next.

Wakey’s new stand seems to be the proof that IMG is working. 

[The Phantom Horseman]

3 hours ago, Eddie said:

Wakey’s new stand seems to be the proof that IMG is working. 

The one that planning permission was granted for in December 2021, around 6 months before the RFL & SLE announced their partnership with IMG?

Edited December 24, 2024 by The Phantom Horseman

[Worzel]

27 minutes ago, Eddie said:

That’s fine for the small group of clubs who may have a bad season and go down, but how about clubs who might have investment if there was P&R but now won’t because there’s no chance of them getting into the SL closed shop?   

It's not a closed shop. Clubs that attract investors still have the ability to get into Super League, and now they know what they need to do - which is more things than just "blow a fortune on players one year and distort the competition". That model was hardly one of uniquely sporting endeavour either was it?

Clubs that attracted investors in the past also had the ability to not get into Super League under the old model too. Look at Featherstone for example. 

We can't decide the entire strategic direction of the sport, and hold us back collectively, because some clubs currently outside Super League have hopes and prayers that some person is going to come along one day and write a big cheque. If it didn't happen in the 3 decades since Super League started, why would it happen now?

[Eddie]

18 minutes ago, The Phantom Horseman said:

The one that planning permission was granted for in December 2021, around 6 months before the RFL & SLE annoucned their partnership with IMG?

Yes that one

[Worzel]

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

That’s fine for the small group of clubs who may have a bad season and go down, but how about clubs who might have investment if there was P&R but now won’t because there’s no chance of them getting into the SL closed shop?   

"Might"

It's 2024. Super League started almost 30 years ago. The sport has been professional for 130 years. Why would something suddenly happen now? Who are these mythical clubs outside of Super League who are now being held back from the destiny they'd otherwise have? We are where we are, and can only make plans based on where we are today. If we wait for everyone's perfect moment we'd be waiting forever. 

[Harry Stottle]

20 hours ago, Angelic Cynic said:

Back to you followers of benefactor run clubs and self interested people.Nice to know original thoughts and actions don't trouble the people reimagining the sport.

I hope you don't put me in that bracket, I was never in agreement with the owner of my club when he initially thought it to be a good idea, but then he gave it good dose of looking at and saw through it.