Castleford Tigers Managing Director Mark Grattan has spoken about about the club’s IMG score.
The Tigers finished 13th in the 2023 rankings which is of course cause for concern because if the same thing happens in 2024 they will lose their Super League status.
However, this came with a huge amount of controversy. This is because the Tigers made a mistake as part of their application process as did the RFL. Whilst one mistake was corrected, the other wasn’t resulting in the Tigers finishing 13th behind the likes of Leigh Leopards, Toulouse Olympique and Wakefield Trinity.
They appealed this decision but were unsuccessful but were told that their score would improve next year when these mistakes are corrected.
Now Managing Director Mark Grattan has explained this on The COYF Podcast. He revealed that their score is set to shoot up which is bad news for their rivals like Leigh.
He said: “We are officially at 12.91 points, the owner investment points and some other finance points that we will go for will get us into the mid-13s.
“If we were a mile down the road we could put out feet up and say we are a Grade A but because of catchment we can’t.”
This is of course a reference to the catchment rules which work against Grattan and the Tigers.
He further explained: “I brought it up at the RFL meeting along with other people, there will be some slight changes but we don’t believe there will be changes to catchment.
“What could make people at IMG or the RFL take more notice is if we get to a point where a difference between us and another club who is a Grade A is simply the postcode.
“If you swap a postcode with a club and they become a Grade B and you become a Grade A it certainly needs looking at then at that point.”
The Tigers are gearing up towards a bigger and better campaign in 2024 under new boss Craig Lingard and his assistant Super League legend Danny McGuire.
They have also drafted in a number of signings such as Luke Hooley from Leeds Rhinos, Sam Wood from Hull KR and former St Helens and Hull FC centre Josh Simm from Australia.
