it would turn out like rangers(football) with all contracts void and starting again from championship one.

Are you sure about Championship one? I understood from listening to Radio Leeds today that we wouldn't even exist there

that's being naive isn't it, do you not think other clubs might have something to say about or I'm I reading this wrong, you wouldn't expect to keep all your players would you

If there is no saviour in sight (and it's hard to see where any is going to come from sadly) then non-existence and a lower league Phoenix club (I think "Bradford Northern" has a certain ring to it as a suitable name) starting from scratch (maybe at VP) is the most likely consequence really. It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that SL might even bend it's rules to let the new club into SL at an accelerated route. It will be an absolute travesty not to have RL's 2nd biggest city not being represented in the top flight after all.

Hull and Leeds are both bigger

1st been London then but I thought Leeds was a bigger city than Bradford ?

Then Hull b4 Bratfut in size

Not true.

Bradford 5th largest city/metropolitan district in the country: pop - 535,300
Hull 43rd - 263,900

Dont forget to take away the people of Keighley! They have their own team!


on a more serious note:

Our biggest problem is that the bulk of, if not all, our debt liability lies with the taxman. And the Rangers FC episode tells us that they want their money, in full, or will put you out of business. a CVA simply does not look like being viable.

So in short, we need someone to pay the tax man before we can think about anythinge else!

The days of sports clubs owing millions, paying back 10 grand, then being sold for a quid are over. As a tax payer, I am thankful for this, as a bulls fan I am gutted that we missed the gravy train!

Unfortunately unless any new backer materialises that is prepared to keep HMRC happy I can only see liquidation on the cards.

A new Bradford club may be the future but if it's in NL1 or 2 then it couldn't afford to play at Odsal unless the RFL picked up the costs, nor could it afford to play at VP either. The sponsorship and potential income from gates would be too low.

As for sharing with Fax or Cougars I think that's a non starter.

As a short term measure I think both Odsal and VP are possible. The RFL aren't going to sell the lease quickly and a club paying rent appropriate to an NL2 club might be better than nothing. Similarly City would have to drastically reduce the rent for VP, but again it might be better than nothing. Many years ago they rented the ground to Bradford PA for what must have been a pittance.

Its interesting following the Rangers saga how many of their fans are now reasonably relaxed about them dropping down to Division 3 (or whatever it is). That's because they know they'll still get 40,000 gates whilst paying peanuts in wages. Even without telly money they expect to make decent profits. They're starting to see it as a new start.

I think if our fans had faith in the ownership of a Newco and could generate the same sort of backs to the wall mentality, we might still get gates of 3,000+ in NL2, rising to 4,000 in NL1. A cash injection of say £500k would be very helpful to get it off the ground, although unfortunately that ship has sailed.

I'd say Odsal is more likely a venue but would seriously depend on the RFL playing ball. They may as well considering they'll have the lease on the place I suppose.

good luck lads, hopefully something can be sorted for you,

Given that there is, and never will be, any real serious alternative to a Bradford club playing at Odsal and that if they refuse it leaves the RFL with nothing coming in, so I guess they'll come to some sort of arrangement. In any case, if we're talking about insolvency and a newco, the old lease has gone up in smoke anyway.

Actually, I think Cibaman's crowd guesstimates are probably a bit on the low side, particularly if the 'new' club does well, and a club with the crowd, and therefore income potential of Bradford is likely to be one of the front runners. For the same reason, crowd potential, I think the club would be looked at favourably for a return to SL when the time is right.