Wakefield Trinity set for amazing IMG score boost

Wakefield Trinity may have been relegated in 2023 but they are still in a strong position especially when compared to Leigh Leopards and Castleford Tigers.

This is because they finished above both of these Super League clubs in the IMG rankings for 2023. But crucially Wakefield’s score is only going to be increased.

This is because their stadium score is going to sky rocket in 2024 as will a number of other areas due to the takeover of Matthew Ellis which has now been completed.

He also outlined a number of areas where he wants to target to improve the score as he revealed on BBC Radio Leeds.

He first identified Fandom: “Well, fandom needs to be improved. I mean, that is probably the weakest area. Obviously, John and Michael have done a lot of work with the stand. So the stand’s going mean that we go in the right direction points-wise.”

Naturally he said that the owner and investment side of things will also improve: “Obviously, the owner investment stuff is going to improve as well. So we’re looking at, maybe not grade A status within the next 12 months, but we are looking at increasing that score by another probably point, point and a half.

“That should put us in a strong position, I think put us at that level now on Salford and you know we want to be, they’re the two clubs that we’re targeting sort of getting to that sort of level. That would put you just under a grade A or cat A status as well. Yeah, so we’d be about a point less than that.”

Nonetheless, fandom is his main target: “So obviously if we can increase the fandom, I mean that’s the thing with the supporters, every supporter that comes next year is counting towards the IMG stuff as well. And everybody that joins what we’re doing on social media and stuff like that, that all counts as well.

“The fandom is the one we have to target, let’s get that up. Let’s give them a side that they want to come and see. I know Michael Carter had talked about if we get to a certain level, we could spend salary cap, 6,500 or whatever it was, 6,400.

“I want to build a team that 6,500 plus people want to see. So that’s how we’re going to attack the fandom side to it. I think the stadium’s getting there, we’ll keep improving the stadium so I’m not too worried about that. The finances side, we’ll be scoring extra points from owner investment. So all positive on IMG as well.”

He also confirmed that he is targeting an average attendance of 9,000 in the years to come which will also boost their IMG score.