Castleford Tigers received significant investment from Martin Jepson with the native becoming the club’s director and he’s addressed fan concerns regarding their Super League status.
Jepson invested in his hometown club last year and has been front and centre in overseeing development at Wheldon Road, something that could be crucial to Castleford Tigers earning the required IMG points to retain their place in Super League for 2025.
When the initial indicative gradings were released in October, Castleford were actually outside the top 12 teams meaning they were outside of the Super League spots. The club immediately published a statement explaining that there had been a miscalculation, instead ranking higher and within the top 12.
Despite an appeal, their grading wasn’t reassessed meaning that current knowledge states that Castleford Tigers have 12.15 points on the IMG grading. The club have been working to improve that and it’s believed that Jepson’s investment, described as “significant” at the time, will help boost the club’s finances.
Jepson has now penned a letter to the Castleford Tigers fans explaining how he expects the club to fare when the grades are confirmed in October.
Castleford Tigers Director “confident” club will score max points for stadium
Wheldon Road is an atmospheric stadium but fans of rival clubs will have plenty of other things to describe it. Castleford Tigers know this themselves and have been keen to fix up their home, a process that has been ongoing this season.
Jepson has now spoken to the fans via a letter shared on the club’s website explaining how he views the club’s scoring for the IMG pillar of facilities.
After praising the fans, Craig Lingard and the players for efforts so far, he stated: “As we are now halfway through the season, the board and I would like to provide an update to fans on how we are progressing towards increasing our IMG scores and the essential part that you all continue to play in this.
“Our stadium developments are well underway, with the Princess Street seats now in place, extra corporate seats and upcoming plans to improve the director’s seats and walkway.
“Our broadcast parking area is now complete and the remaining works to the media suite, TV Studio and press area will be completed in the next 2 months, well ahead of the grading.
“We now have our new big screen in place and are in the final stages of costing up LED systems for 3 sides of the pitch.
“With all of the above being completed, we are on track and confident that we should receive maximum stadium points.
“Our commitment to you as fans is clear and we are doing everything within our control to gain the IMG points needed to maintain Super League status.”
Jepson clearly seems confident that the work done at The Jungle will help bring the club’s score up to the maximum, something that could prove vital to their Super League survival given the advances that Wakefield Trinity have made in the Championship.
His final address called onf and to continue supporting and ensure that the club keep an average attendance of over 7,500, the threshold for maximum points.
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