Leigh Leopards owner Derek Beaumont has exposed the ‘completely wrong’ element of the IMG system in spite of his club earning Grade A status.
In fact Beaumont, who has spoken out against the IMG system in recent weeks, would pick out the biggest flaw with the system as the one that he and his team had been able to utilise to ensure their Super League status.
Leigh Leopards went from a provisional score of 12.45 to their current score of 15.13, a jump of over 2.5 points. When explaining how his side were able to achieve that, Beaumont pointed to the club’s huge increase within the ‘Finance’ pillar.
The club would earn an extra 2.5 points on their finance due to the fact that Beaumont, the club’s wealthy benefactor, was able to invest that money and also write some of it off as a tax expense.
Had he chosen not to offer such financial support, he argued Leigh would have scored 12.63 and ranked 14th, outside of Super League.
What has Leigh Leopards’ Derek Beaumont argued about the IMG system?
He’s now argued that the system itself is “completely wrong” with access to Super League becoming more and more about having a benefactor than anything else.
After earlier outlining issues with IMG in the statement released by the club, he would then begin to state why he felt such a way.
The Leigh Leopards owner said: “If you look at our transparent, published, individually broken-down pillars of our score, something I think all clubs should have to do, and how the information should be presented to gather increased trust in it from all clubs and the stakeholders in the game, its fans, then you will see our dramatic rise is down to an increase of 2.5 points on finance.
“If we remove that shift, we would be on 12.63 and placed 14th. This is, in my opinion, completely wrong and exposes a system that just isn’t right. Call me biased or looking through rose-tinted glasses but had I not been privileged enough to not only write off funds as sponsorship and make a further significant seven-figure sponsorship investment then we would not have been able to remain in Super League.”
Do the IMG pillars and points need changing?
Had Beaumont not pumped in so much money and Leigh were lost to the Championship based on purely off-field matters, it would have been a poor representation of Super League argued Beaumont.
“I don’t think that would give Super League its best representation, losing a club that got promoted off the back of a treble in 2022, then finished fifth in the play-offs in 2023, producing five members of the Dream Team and winning the Challenge Cup. Then in 2024, rising to making the semi-final in front of record crowds in a modern, quality facility with a great atmosphere and entertainment, providing a great experience for home and away fans and a good outlook to the broadcaster.
“How sad would today be for our club and the game that all the hard work and success of the rebrand would be cast away into the Championship and potentially leave an investor in the game fed up with trying and facing goals, giving up on the sport, leaving the game, something we have seen at London Broncos. In London, the sad loss of David Hughes to the game hasn’t been correctly acknowledged in my opinion, given his commitment and significant investment over decades.”
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He would then highlight the differences in how points are scored, noting: “Of our 15.13 points only 3.2 points count on Performance after the three successful years referred to, yet Finance counts for 3.8 points and Fandom 4.2 points.
“Whilst the finance amendment has ultimately secured our Super League status it was the efforts of the players and fans that got us the magical grade A. The players achieved fourth place in Super League, improving our Performance score, while the fans achieved our highest average league attendance for 69 years, thus boosting our utilisation score.”
What would the Leigh Leopards’ owner change?
Petionining for change, he would state: “Many Grade B clubs bring so much value, as do other clubs, which is why I believe over time we need 2 x 10s to keep scores close and accommodate the depth of clubs with a Championship operating below it.
“In my opinion, we have got out of a pickle this year with it turning out how it would have. Had Toulouse won the Championship grand final then the winning team wouldn’t have been promoted and the losing team (Wakefield) would still have been promoted.
“We need to use the space that is provided to get a grip as council members collectively across all facets of the game and grasp the mantle to ensure we don’t continue in this guise.
“For now, I will celebrate with our deserved staff, sponsors, players and fans alike that we get to compete at the highest level again next year and have another chance to achieve our dreams.”
rushy64
October 23, 2024 at 1:46 pm
Well I agree with him then. If there was a way for Beaumont to “manipulate” their score to keep Leigh in SL it should be stopped. I have absolutely nothing against Leigh but it would give me great pleasure to see Beaumont and his mouth “relegated” to the championship.