You know as well as I that the clock is ticking on Odsal Stadium's financial viability and is in the 11th hour. We know that the council will never commit money to the OSV other than a pay off to get rid of their £1m losses per year on the Richard Dunn abortion. You will remember that under our lease/purchase council agreement we must play at Odsal for a fixed number of future years othewise there needs to some serious payback. So all looks Black But:-
I think Hood has performed well over two difficult financial years and will need to perform even better over the next two.He's proving himself a good negotiator
If the Bulls have to go to VP then we will follow them. If they have to go ANYWHERE we will follow them & bo**ocks to the namby pambies who say "Its too far", "Can't park outside the door"

I'd love to stay at Odsal and even without a roof. On a nice summer day it's fantastic place and one of the best sporting grounds (certainly for character) around.

But we have to face facts. The OSV would be great but is it really that realistic? There have been plans a foot since I started supporting Bradford in 1991. The council don't have any money as they have a mound of earth to support in the City centre. Unless a benefactor comes along with a large lump of cash I can't see the Bulls doing anything other than leave Odsal. Whether it be to Valley Parade or a brand new site.

I never missed a game at VP and of course I would go. I spoke to a lot of people about their preferences though and a lot of them made it clear that if it became permanent they would not continue going to home games.

I'd love to be able to say that the Bulls could count on a good sized core support at VP but it won't happen.

Moving back to the topic, I believe there is some political will for OSV to happen. However, there are a number of very serious obstacles to overcome;

1. Horsfall Playing Fields - Must be sold against strong public will to do so
2. Funding Gaps - Still very real, though closing all the time thanks to the College's input and sporting grants
3. Build Costs - Are rocketing thanks to the current construction boom in the UK which is set to continue with 2012 Olympics etc. so fixing a budget is proving difficlult
4. Bradford City, Keighley Cougars, Bradford Park Avenue - It's tricky politically for the council to support one professional club over others - Hence the comments in my original post, the Council's Executive must at least appear to be looking at options for supporting both or all, even if they aren't seriously considering a groundhare. Mark Lawn is actively trying to buy back VP from the Gibb family who aren't playing ball, and is less interested in a groundshare than either the Bulls or the Council in truth.
5. Bradford Council - Seem to be the only public authority capable of turning silk purses into sows ears - They really haven't got a clue how to pull this thing off, and to his credit our Chairman is the real driving force behind the whole thing, and he's proving himself to be a rather skillfull negotiator behind the scenes - Hat's off the Hood if it does happen he'll be the only reason it does!

You miss the point.

City fans didn't have an issue with car parking, bouncy castles, stewarding ( officious - yes ) and the "local residents". You'll notice that I refer to them politely unlike many comments from Bulls fans at the time.

City fans have an affinity to their ground through history and events. The "local residents" opened up their doors to hundreds of City fans and looked after them after the fire as well as driving many fans to hospital but they were universally derided by Bulls fans.

Why would City fans need to counter "the points" - when most of the points were utter cr*p ?

...... your point above would be very valid if it weren't for the fact that the VAST majority of monies promised to fund the OSV is proposed to come from Council capital receipts. You know the sale of Horsfall and Richard Dunn land and advanced cash in recognition of Dunn's losing money.

The Bulls by comparison have promised to furnish and decorate any areas that are built exclusively for their use.

It's an interesting comparison purely provided for balance.

The Richard Dunn centre loses a lot of money as it stands. It's badly designed and doesn't really serve the purpose it was supposedly designed for.
The amount of land it takes up is huge and that land is very valuable, being in a reasonably good area and right at the top of the M606.

A new modern sports centre would save the council a lot of money and that has been taken into consideration as part of the plan.

I agree to an extent BUT considering your very valid points in 1 & 4 how do you propose the Council address them ?

Make no mistake, I've said it before, if they could get it to work they would. They probably thought they had the monkey off their back with the £5m payout and handing responsibility to the Bulls but that worked well didn't it, £5m spent and now desperately seeking more money for the running of Odsal.

I suppose the Council could give the Bulls £45m, City £50m and proportionately less to BPA, Cougars, Eccleshill and Thackley.

Can you see Council Tax payers voting for that little lot ?

Since time immemorial, all the Council have ever done about Odsal is use ratepayers' cash to line the very deep and well-tailored pockets of a long and distinguished line of consultants. Nothing ever came of any of them, it was all a monumental waste of cash, nothing ever will, nothing has changed.

We don't have anyone in the city with either the strategic vision, or with the head-knocking-together clout, to put together a "new Odsal".

With regard to the OSV, here we have references to a key date in March, only 3 months away, and yet here for the first time some bozo says, "Wait a minute, did you know, there's another pro club in Bradford. Shouldn't we maybe speak to them, and look into whether we could do something else?"

IF City were/are ever to have anything whatsoever to do with OSV discussions/alternatives, then why these past few long years have the Council not mentioned it to them? Are we really to believe that at 11.59 they have just realized that City and VP exist, and they and their fans are a factor?

Or why if remotely interested in some collaboration, have City not been in touch with the council?

Can it [ireally [/ibe that our well-paid consultants either omitted, or were not briefed, to consider these wider issues?

I can sum up what has been achieved with all the wasted millions on the back of a fag packet:-

"The Bulls can go to VP, or go hang. The OSV is dead in the water."

Alas your standpoint isn't proving particularly balanced is it. You're still steadfast in the inaccurate opinion that Bulls fans didn't like VP purely because it was further away.

Say something positive about Bulls fans; call it a challenge to see whether you're just a City Agent Provocateur or not.

In accepting that NOWHERE would have been good enough for the Bulls, because Odsal means too much to the fans, it is unfortunate that people deride the grievances of Bulls fans as being entirely groundless (so to speak).

The comments that were made about local residents (I'm not familiar with them) were made for what reason would you say? Mischief? Snobbery? I'm not making a point here I genuinely want to know.