Castleford Tigers head coach Craig Lingard has accepted that the club’s current situation is “frustrating” but insists it’s one of necessity that IMG has “forced” the club into in a bid to retain their Super League status and build for the future.
IMG were recruited by the RFL as a long-term partner to guide the sport and make it more commercially viable which has seen the introduction of the grading criteria as a method of promotion and relegation, something that’s been labelled by many as “spreadsheet rugby league”.
In essence, the grading criteria is a system that urges clubs to prioritise long-term stability over short-term success, therefore preserving the game and its commercial viability before potentially developing further using that stability as a foundation to evolve.
For example, it’s ‘forced’ Castleford Tigers to be more proactive about their stadium redevelopment, something that was granted initially way back in 2007, with the club now closer than they have ever been to actually seeing work done at Wheldon Road.
Consequently, it has meant that Castleford are better off spending money off-field on ensuring they earn as many IMG points through their facilities and finance, two of the five pillars in grading criteria, than spending more money on the salary cap to create a better squad.
It’s left the Tigers with plenty of project players, something that Lingard noted last week when he explained that 70% of his team aren’t established Super League players.
That presser also saw him explain that due to the lack of on-field promotion or relegation his side “don’t need to panic” and “spend loads and loads of money to bring somebody in to avoid relegation”.
He’s very aware that isn’t something that fans want to hear though as he explained in this week’s presser ahead of facing Salford Red Devils.
Castleford Tigers set up for a long term project
Credit: Imago Images
Lingard explained the situation when speaking to BBC Radio Leeds, stating “We’ve just got to concentrate on us, we’re as frustrated as what the fans are. The narrative’s not going to change, I could sit here and give you loads of fluffy answers that are going to make people really happy and pleased, but they won’t be the truth.
“All I can do is give you the situation that we’re in, and that’s a truthful situation. The club, barring a couple of years, over the last 25-30 years, has been in the Super League and had all this Super League money and unfortunately we are where we are still.”
He then spoke about the lack of investment in the stadium despite the club having held Super League status for a number of years before revealing that IMG are the driving factor behind the change, adding: “The ground is still pretty much as it was at the start of the Super League. So with the introduction of IMG we’re sort of forced into the mode that we’re in now and the plan that we’ve got now, we’ve got to make sure that off the field the club are doing what they need to do.
“We’re assured that off the field the club are doing what they need to and everything will be in place at the end of this season and so it’s given us this opportunity. I know people aren’t going to be happy about it because you want to see a winning team every single year but we’ve been forced into this situation now where we’re developing players and we’ve got a long-term plan.
“I think it’s something that Castleford have lacked for a number of years, there’s been no long-term plan for a number of years and we’ve now got one and we’ve got to make sure that we can’t blink from this. There’s going to be frustration within, there’s going to be frustration outside and external as well, certainly from the supporters because they want to see a winning team every week.”
The Tigers will aim to get their first Super League win on the board when they face Salford Red Devils in a rematch of the Round Two game that saw Paul Rowley’s side edge the Tigers out.
