Unless Chalmers can do some kind of deal that will keep us at Odsal and get the RFL and council to spend some money on it which seems highly unlikely then Horsfall seems the most likely alternative. Having never been before I went for a look after the Toronto game - it took a bit of finding! It looked pretty tidy and in nice surroundings but with only one terrace and small stand I can't see more than 1500 - 2000 turning up there regularly. I fear we'd be settling for remaining in the championship or worse for the foreseeable future. It does appear to have potential for development but that would need investment, permission and support from the council to get planning approval. Living in Haworth I might have to settle for watching the Cougars though it would break my heart having followed Northern/Bulls for half a century.

I'm surprised that nobody I've seen so far picked up on the following, in Chalmers' T&A article. He said this:-



This makes sense, but also no sense. If he refused to sign the lease, then on what basis are we occupying the ground? I suppose the RFL may have had little choice but to suck it up if we are "paying" the rent equivalent etc. as practically, (i.e. they are as normal helping themselves from "our" money) what would their alternative have been? But it seems strange, to say the least, and why hasn't that come out at any earlier stage?

Then there is the Sept. 30 date. What if we do NOT leave by then? Will that have any consequences going forward? Have we e.g. given notice that we will or may Bullxit by then?

Can't help but think the council would be loathe to give planning permission so that we could move from their site thus losing them rent. Can't really see a solution to this. We have no money, council have no money, RFL have no money. Sounds like a job for BoJo to renegotiate our withdrawal.

Council only get a peppercorn rent (£1 I think) for odsal. Its the RFL who get the benefit of the 72k rent. Although council probably wont want to miss out on the 100k rates we allegedly pay.

Very interesting stuff. That 30 September date stands out. I wonder if that’s the reason we’re in this position now. So many more questions than answers. It looks to me like AC is doing some rather public negotiation.



Important point that. It’s the RFL that want the rent. The Council aren’t making anything out of Odsal. According to RFL accounts seen by Adeybull Odsal was valued at £750k. They’ve had approx. £500k of rent out of us since 2013.

Running costs for Odsal including maintenance and staffing were £275k per year when the Council last did it in 2000. They had the benefit of getting work done more cheaply then due to economies of scale.

In short if we stay it's going to cost a fortune. I suspect we've spent hardly anything on maintenance since 2017, it certainly looks that way. It all looks to me like a move out has been on the cards from the beginning.

If you all want some nostalgia, there was, once, one (just the one) deal to sort out Odsal which looked very close to pen and paper, but then the planning application got called in, and the only chance there ever was of redeveloping Odsal died.

Nowadays, we don't even get the £100,000 annual artist's impression of the new Superduperdome, complete with stick families shopping and curly little trees. I miss those.

With a round of applause to Ken 'I can't wait to retire and watch my beloved Bulls cos I love Bradford me' Morrison and John 'I hate Bradford cos I'm a reeerver me' Prescott.

I've not been to Morriscum's since...

I believe they was a lease signed in 2014 for 5 years with the RFL when Marc Green took over which runs out on 30th September this year.RFL wanted Chalmers to extend the lease but he has so far refused.

Let's also not forget that this happened a couple of years ago [urlhttps://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/rfl-reveals-it-lost-more-than-2m-last-year-1-9246106[/url

Does a rent reduction help us that much anyway? Can't see £72k making much of a dent in the supposed £5000k it costs annually run the ground.

Ls have sworn that I read that was the amount somewhere.

Yes, I agree. But there is a difference in time, that "can be put off" way beyond the couple of weeks that the chairman has stated, though before anyone says so, yes, I do know that there is far more than just maintenance involved. My post about reducing capacity was a response to a particular post about the ground falling foul of the authorities and perhaps losing its licence. It wasn't my idea of a best way forward, though that said, it's a better way than some I've read...