I am not sure if it has been discussed previously, but I have been running an idea around in my head for a while now and wanted to get other people’s thoughts on it. At the last members Monday, I believe it was mentioned that there were 3 ideas for how both the Championship and League one will be made up from next year.
Option 1: Was one league made up of teams from both championship and league one. If I remember correctly the majority of championship teams where against while the majority of league 1 teams where in favour.
Option 2: This was the one leaked to the press, about bringing an 8’s style system back. I am assuming this will be the top 8 in the championship will form a league, the bottom 4 in the championship and the top 4 in league 1 will form a league, and the remaining teams in league 1 will form a league.
Option 3: As far as I am aware this hasn’t been mentioned, but the idea that has been running around my head is that all 3 of the leagues will be determined by the IMG scores. So that will mean; positions 1-12 will be Super League, 13 – 24 will be in the Championship, and the remaining teams will form League one.
My view is that the club believe Option 3 is the idea that will win out in the end and as such have essentially written this season off as evidenced by the lack of sufficient recruitment. The club know that regardless of what happens this season we are not going to finish above 12th in the IMG Rankings but at the same time we are not going to finish bellow 24th As a result if option 3 is the idea that wins, we will be in the championship regardless of results on the field.
Sorry for the long, rambling post, I just wanted to get other peoples thoughts on what has been annoying me for a few weeks now.
IMG have very little interest in Championship/League 1, so it's very unlikely that the positions will be determined in that manner.
I would expect Option 2 to be as close to what happens; it certainly makes a lot of sense.
You may be right, like I said it was just and idea I had been running around in my head to try and make sense why the club would sign so poorly in the off season.
Although like I said i still see option 3 as the most likely, because otherwise what is the point in giving clubs from the lower leagues ratings? it just seems to me to be a waste of time and effort!
Part of the problem with rugby (both codes) is it's dominated by big (historical) names rather than forward-thinking. A SL of 10 teams and a Championship of 10 teams would work best. Closing the gap between the top and second division has got to be an aim otherwise it becomes a closed shop and everyone other than supporters of the SL teams will lose interest.
Football is the same. There are too many teams in the PL, what's the point of Burnley, Luton and Sheff Utd? They bring nothing to the Prem, will get relegated but then will probably prove too strong for teams in the Championship and end up coming back up. Pointless. Better to concentrate the quality.
Even the 6 Nations would benefit from a 6N1 and a 6N2 with promotion and relegation. So that Georgia, Portugal etc. could get a crack instead of Italy who have been largely stagnant for 20 years. The reason they don't is, in case like this year, someone like Wales might end up with the wooden spoon and be relegated.
SL - 10 teams (1 down, bottom of the League; if they insist on play-offs, top 4 only)
Championship - 10 teams (1 up, top of the League. 1 down bottom of the League)
League 1 - 15 teams (1 up, top of the League)
,,
- See it’s going to be 13 in the championship next season then 3 divisions of 12 from 2026
Yep 2 down deffo and a play off for another place ?
So three clubs could go down as Oldham are still working towards promotion according to NW news tonight.