Sounds like back to licensing in the ever rotating changes. So a team can finish bottom year on year with no fear of relegation. I wonder how bad a team and there set up would have to be to be kicked out as no one was previously. Will wait and see but sounds like more of the same protectionist nonsense.

Don't like the smell of these changes, but as always the devil is in the detail - and implementation - so I'll reserve judgement for now as this announcement is super light on detail.

"Instead, it has been suggested at the culmination of key stakeholders including clubs, broadcasters, media and a survey of almost 20,000 fans, that participation in the top tier will be based on 'a range of on and off field measures'."
For all those who though I was being picky about the Social Media offering from the Leigh Centurions, it has suddenly got very real. In Mickey O'Gara, I don't trust.
Franchise was crap last time, but can Leigh be on the other side of the fence looking down this time?

"Clubs will receive categories at the end of 2023 as an indication of where they stand, before a full introduction the following year when they will be used to determine the make-up of the elite tier from the 2025 season onwards.

The criteria used to determine a club’s category will be announced before the 2023 season starts, but IMG say that they will be “objective, easily measurable, reliable, transparent and valid”."

I remember Leigh not meeting criteria at Hilton Park, but if the criteria had been applied to existing Super League clubs, Wakefield and Castleford would have failed to meet the criteria. 20 years later they are still talking about stadium re-development. Not impressed with idea of promotion by numbers not performance. How long have Leigh got before we are ousted by development clubs in France or London?

IMG are men in suits aiming to make a lot of money for IMG. They are a Trojan Horse for licensing and mergers. The only safe teams are Saints, Wiggin, Leeds, Hull, London and Newcastle. I should expect they will try for Dublin, Glasgow/Edinburgh, Swansea/Cardiff, Manchester by the end of their 12 year contract. It's crap for us diehards. I've no doubt we will be in SL next season so let's enjoy it.

We have started upgrading the stadium. The old East Stand has been completely knocked down and is being totally rebuilt. Other Stadium work to start once the East stand rebuild is completed next year.

That's good news, but 20 years late. It doesn't really matter cos IMG won't want teams like Wakey and Leigh. By the way, I was very pleased when you stayed up ahead of Toulouse.

Yet still you took the Sky money and spaffed it up against the wall for all those years and now you are starting to get worried. Wakey never used all the salary cap, so where did all the money go? Why did Bradford repeatedly go bust having received top dollar from the Super League? Castleford draw up new plans for a stadium every year and never do anything.

"Clubs in Super League and the Championship will be graded Category A or Category B. Category A clubs are guaranteed participation in the top tier, while Category B clubs will be re-assessed annually. If there are remaining spots in Super League, the highest-ranking B clubs will occupy the remaining slots in the top division. There has been no confirmation yet from IMG on how clubs are graded, and how many clubs would comprise a top tier."

It sounds like there will be two tables - one with win/lose/draw pts for and pts against - with a second for Category B. Leigh are B74 and Fev are B53. Lose 10 pts for asking inane questions about how great the Leigh fans have been for the hundredth time.
I wonder if there will deductions for having a slopey pitch or not having a full100 metres in length, maybe even deductions for plastic pitches.

cat a or cat b they sound like prisoners

All expected. We now know definitely that IMG were brought in by the top clubs. So much for the realignment between SL & The RFL. Monopolies (or quadropolies) Commission needs to kick this out!

20,000 fans only and one of those skewed questionnaires that find the results they want.! IMG are shoite!!

So we start to rebuilt the ground and you still have a go?
Can't do right for doing wrong eh?

Think this is ultimate protectionism. Clubs only relegated if they finish bottom but have a Cat B rating and only get promoted if they finish top with a Cat A rating. So none of the big clubs never in danger of relegation no matter how badly they perform!

Apologies for anything I might have said yesterday, but my initial thoughts of Franchise Rugby left me rather cold. Memories of Huddersfield being propped up by an unfair system, Widnes being promoted when, like now they have an average Championship side.

My thoughts are now turned to how to turn this to Leigh's advantage. 2 years ago Leigh produced a report highlighting the clubs strengths, and as a result were promoted into the vacant 12 slot (ignore the fact that they did not award the full central funding, that is a separate issue). The report suggested that Leigh would a high Category B, but with a few tweaks may be able to achieve the magical Category A.

The criteria was not actually announced but it fairly easy to see where this going. The following is a general list that is likely to be included:
1. Performance on the field - reaching finals of the Challenge Cup or Grand Final in a set timeframe. (This is still a fairly small number of clubs)
2. Stadium - this will favour the North West teams like St Helens, Wigan, Warrington, Leigh and Salford. Yorkshire teams with good stadia include Leeds, Huddersfield and Hull. Stadium criteria will be based on capacity, lighting and facilities and pitch quality.
3. Attendance - This will favour the Super League clubs with considerably more travelling supporters boosting the average gates.
4. Community Links - Not living in Leigh I am unaware of the clubs activities but the report 2 years ago showed a high level of involvement in schools and local charities.
5. Academies and Youth setup - Derek has previous applied for one of the limited number of licences and been refused. This will need to change and all clubs will need to run youth sections.
6. Disability Rugby - Leigh are running some of the categories of disability and will probably step-up this involvement.
7. Women's Rugby - To the best of my knowledge Leigh are not currently active in this category.
8. Social Media - I might have mentioned this before, but Leigh's efforts in this area leave a lot to be desired.

Derek has stated that his goal is to make Leigh a permanent Super League club. To do this he will need to put all the correct teams in place, improve Social media and increase the attendances at the LSV. Boosting attendances is easier said than done and the 2022 has seen a superb Leigh side with only just a little over 3000 spectators. I believe that Super League figures at the LSV will be more like 6000 to 8000, which is probably better than several current Super League teams.

Category A teams
St Helens
Wigan
Warrington
Leeds
Catalans
Hull

High Category B
Salford
Huddersfield
Hull KR
Leigh

Mid Category B
Castleford
Wakefield
Toulouse

Low Category B
London
Widnes
Featherstone
York
Newcastle

Category C
Everybody else

The criteria was not actually announced.

A certain upcoming UK City of Culture may have just announced a fatwa on you, Sep!

You mentioned earlier in your post that you didn't live hereabouts and Bongser thought to enquire after your location. Now he thinks.

"Don't tell 'em, Pike!"

Have you been to Odsal?

For my sins I live amongst the Wire folk.

Yes Atomic well spotted. Do you think the criteria is going to be based on the number of boiled eggs that the clubs prop forwards can eat in one sitting?

The main goal will be to get Stadia up to a good standard, average crowds above 10,000 and success in the Grand Final and Challenge Cup. The rest is all pie filling.

So pretty much the same criteria as previous, not convinced we’d be top 12 to be honest- not getting relegated is crucial, those at the top table tend to stay there, and not beyond them to seriously consider the likes of Newcastle and London

It won't matter what you do. IMG will want franchises for big city teams through Britain. They won't want small town teams. Over the 12 year period they will have a top league of franchised teams. The heartlands will be the feeder teams. The project is being run by an Aussie and he will implement the Aussie model. IMG will target a fresh young audience of new spectators. IMG will want the game played in big cities mainly in modern stadiums before 20,000 plus crowds. Initially, IMG will tart it up so you think your club has a chance but the carrot will move farther and farther away during the 12 year period. London, Newcastle, Hull, Leeds, Saints, Wiggin are safe. Doubt anyone else will be safe unless they merge.

Found a little nugget on t'internet of Leigh's attendances (Not complete but good enough for my point)
Pre-Super League
Year Avg Finish
80-81 4,498 10/16
81-82 5,939 1/16
82-83 4,617 10/16
83-84 4,434 11/16
84-85 3,822 14/16
86-87 4,883 10/16
87-88 4,516 12/14
89-90 4,634 12/14
92-93 3,802 11/14
93-94 4,292 16/16

Pre Super League the best figures are from the superb 1981-82 Season, when Leigh finished top of the pile average gate of nearly 6,000 and all other years around the 4,000 mark.

Super League
Year Avg Finish
2005 4,736 12/12
2017 6,301 11/12
2021 ? 12/12

Leigh Championship
Year Avg
2012 1,772
2013 1,584
2014 ?
2015 3.421
2016 3,545
2017 SL
2018 3,539
2019 3,241

The 2022 figures are down on the previous years, unfortunately I do not have them to hand, and will be boosted by the Grand Final on Sunday. Some how Derek needs to find several thousand more supporters from what is effectively the old Leigh Borough of Leyth, Bent and Bongser.
Population of
Leigh - 42,500
Atherton - 7,200
Tyldesley - 25,800
Total - 75,500

By my reckoning we need between 6-8% of the population to turn up at the LSV, and at the same time compete with Wigan, Salford, St Helens and Warrington for bums on seats.

The most famous Rugby League player today is Jacques O'Neill with a reputed Million followers on Twitter. If Leigh are to grow they need to plunder areas outside of walking distance from the Bus Stop in Leigh. They need to make Super star celebs out of this team, or alternatively sign Jacques O'Neill.

Thought your figure for the population of Bent to be low, Sep, so consulted Wiki that has it as 22,000 as of 2014. Sadly Bongser sees all too many Wiggin shirts around the place - they are the real glory-hunters and probably participants in the Wiggin Walk; it's a fair way home.

When alighting the 582 after matches, Bongser does get asked how Leigh got on. These are the people that need engaging as they, some of them at least, are latent Leyth fans.

Anyway, it's about time to set off for the extensive pre-match warm up (circuit training) in the Witch, Burke's and then Legends.

See you boys when Leigh is a Super League side! 60-8 to the C&W!!

Ultimately York, Newcastle, London and Cornwall are potential areas of growth. For now the Super League has lost a French Derby and gained 8 North West Derbies (pending todays result). The point I am making is that Super League regulars like Wakefield and Castleford have sub-standard Stadiums and the in the case of the slopey, postage stamp Jungle, will need to invest considerable sums to bring themselves to the required standard. Leigh by contrast can gain considerable number of points by creating a few more teams and an Academy - Yearly cost £250-350K. New Stadia cost £ Millions.

Derek forecasts average gates at the LSV at 7000 - 8000 for the 2023 if in Super League. That puts Leigh above Salford, Wakefield, Huddersfield. Grading systems are about putting ticks in boxes and it is possible that Leigh may be able to invest enough to tick the relevant boxes. Castleford, Wakefield and Bradford will be left with huge mountains to climb. The current Odsal proposal is about £50 Million, good luck raising that and paying off the RFL loan.

I understand there being a degree of paranoia about, but the IMG proposals seem to be better thought out than the previous iteration of franchising. They aren't saying they're going to hand out 14 licences and sod the rest, teams will have the carrot dangled of achieving an 'A' category rating. The key bit of information about what that entails was missing and that bit is crucial, but overall it makes sense.

Whilst everyone is guessing, it's pretty clear that not many sides will be given a category A licence. Saints, Wigan, Leeds, Warrington, possibly Catalans seem to be the only likely ones. That leaves 7 spaces open for the initial 12 club Super League. That means there are 7 Super League clubs and potentially another 4 or 5 in the pyramid with ambition who will be eyeing an 'A' category licence. So there is a massive emphasis on those clubs and fans of those clubs should be asking them to improve. If they won't improve, they need to be asking them why. The likes of Wakefield and Cas have recently got council funding for ground developments. 20 years overdue but it's happening.

Leigh are a good example of a club with good facilities and good results on the field having won the Championship. If they can go up and achieve competitive status and attract better crowds than before they have a shout. If they can initially stay up, then finish 6th, attract an 8,000 average by year 2 and not go bust in the process, they'd have a massive shout for permanent status (Depending on the criteria of course). I have my doubts as to whether it'll happen, but would welcome being proven wrong as SL would be improved.

It goes without saying that the criteria is the most important question now. I'd like to think there's a process to it. I.e Stadium, crowds, success on the field, community work, academy setup, finances being the main criteria. If you're Leigh you fail on academy setup as you don't have a scholarship system, but you score well (enough?) on all the other aspects. So that permits you to submit proposals for a full academy setup etc, which the proven success of which then provides an A licence etc.

The bit about expanding SL to 14 clubs if there are 14 A category clubs is a key bit too. If they ever manage to get SL to that point, then they'll have had a great success. If we're at 12 still in 10 years it's probably failed (Or been changed three times like usually happens). This is where the door left ajar (hopefully) for investment in either new teams or existing teams. I.e a major investment in London or York or Wales etc, none of the Super League sides need to miss out if they can get their own standards up.

One thing they didn't really mention is some form of protection for promoted sides. Leigh have just come up by spending a lot more than the other clubs on players. Half of the good ones will now have to be released to comply with the SL quota rules. Why not exempt the promoted sides so they have a chance to be competitive and stay up? They can phase it out down to the required quota eventually. Seems daft we allow a club to invest to be promoted then put barriers up which prevent them being competitive.

On the whole they seem a good idea. If I were a SL club owner that isn't going to be A rated, I'd be looking at how we can improve and how we can be creative and get outside investment in to boost the club towards that goal. Of course there will be clubs for whom it's unobtainable (Batley's owner having a rant this week about the M62 and not wanting outsiders etc) but it's unobtainable for them as it is anyway. They might fluke promotion, but it'd be a one season ride to bankruptcy.