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| York Knights owner Clint Goodchild (inset) insists the club are ready for Super League. |
York’s owner Clint Goodchild has insisted the Knights’ plans have not changed following news of Super League expanding to 14 clubs and their goal remains the same – to be inside IMG’s top 12-ranked clubs by October.
The Championship leaders are one of several sides pushing for promotion to the top-flight, though it remains up for debate whether the Knights’ chances have actually increased following the decision that an independent panel will handpick the two extra teams who are invited into Super League when it expands in 2026.
Sources at numerous Super League clubs have suggested Bradford Bulls and London Broncos are considered to be much stronger bets to win through that process – meaning the Knights may well have to finish 12th or higher in the IMG gradings to stand a chance of making it among the elite for the first time.
Goodchild insists that is a scenario York have been preparing for over the summer and they intend to build a full-time squad for Mark Applegarth that will ‘compete at a high level’ in Super League.
He told Love Rugby League: “The odds of us being in Super League may have increased. In many ways it feels a half-step closer to what we’ve set out to achieve. Our immediate plans don’t change at all. We’ve made the decision to get ready for Super League and Monday’s news doesn’t change that.
“On the field we’ve taken a step to becoming a top-end Championship team this year. We need to stay at the top of that table to remove any doubt about what people may think.
“We keep our cards very close to our chest from a recruitment standpoint. A lot of our recruitment for next year is already done and we’ll continue to keep that private until the appropriate time. The recruitment has been designed towards competing at a high level in Super League, I can say that much.”
Goodchild was coy to comment too much on the specifics of the expansion plans, instead insisting they are solely focussed on getting to a position where they are automatically picked for Super League.
But he did confirm the Knights would put a proposal together for the independent panel in the eventuality they were outside the top 12: despite nobody knowing yet what criteria every club will be judged on.
He said: “Although some things have changed in the last 24 hours the outlook remains the same; focussing on cracking that top 12 and building our IMG grading. Until someone tells me otherwise, that’s our focus.
“If it is out of our hands there’s no good being nervous about it. We’ve a great deal of faith and confidence that we’re seen as a positive story in the game.
“York is ready, we’re ready. Our relationship with the majority of Super League clubs has always been positive and they see what I see in terms of what York bring to the table.
“We’ve been preparing for Super League for months now. Nothing changes.”
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