Have you heard he could be quite ill, too?

I think most of the posts on here have the same concerns. If we’re chosen as the 12th club, lose most of our games, lose most of our money maintaining Odsal, get relegated and the likes of Doyle, Scurr etc get picked by SL clubs - then that’s it. We wouldn’t survive in any recognisable form.

But Wood & Sawyer are smart people, with good RL knowledge and RL political capital. They must know that the above scenario is very possible. So if they’re going ahead, they must be confident that it won’t happen.

There’s only 2 ways it won’t happen - John “Harry Rednapp” Kear wheels & deals to a team capable of finishing 11th.
Or there’s no relegation.
The only way I can think of no relegation is that the rumours of a venture capital firm are true, they inject cash and request the league be expanded to 14 clubs again.
Interesting times

Who is paying for the refurb though?
IF we still had a sub-lease it would be our responsibility (under the terms of the last lease, anyway) but we don't have the money to do anything beyond the 'lick of paint' option - and even that would depend on fans buying the paint and bringing our own brushes (and turps).

Just to throw another 'undefined' into the equation, to the best of my knowledge the RFL haven't sanctioned our use of the Tetley's Stadium for next season. Though, technically, they did say for one season and no-one can seriously suggest we've actually had that yet but I'd assume the RFL would class it as a season.

It’s just what I’ve been told by a friend at the club mate and to be fair theres a lot of articles all seem to be corroborating that it’s more than a lick of paint... as for the money no idea wood, sawyer, Fogarty and the east of the Cabal I suppose?

Only way I can see any money being put into Odsal is if stock cars really do come back. Think they were talking about £500k being put in to make Odsal usable and it being essential both sports work together. There does seem to be more weight regarding stock cars returning than the usual rumour mill.

Anyways I'll believe it all when it happens. Remember reading on here we were definitely going to get new toilets, Martyn Sadler saying there was going to be a photo shoot outside Odsal with our new owners in hours time, only for us to be liquidated days later.

Also Just regarding rent. The rent was never the issue at odsal. Wasn't it £70k per year we paid. While it would be nice if it was reduced, it wasn't that. That was breaking the bank, it was the upkeep.

Do you get refused a safety cert for lack of paint? I don't know. Or only because areas of the ground are unsafe or failing to meet health and safety, environmental health etc. Be that stairs, terracing, toilets. Surely the whole stand and the whole of the terracing didn't fall below the standard all at the same time. Could it be possible to refurbish some toilets and get a safety certificate for 8k capacity? Is our stand worse than plenty of others? Is the ground really worse than Derwent Park in Workington (which I love) and is similar in some ways? It seems to have gone from safe for 23K to unsafe for anyone in the time it took to discover Chalmers hadn't a sixpence.

I'm not suggesting that the stadium is fine or a long term option. I don't. But we do need to be in Bradford if at all possible.
Isn't this about what is unsafe with the ground rather than what is simply 'wrong' with ground when judged against a modern stadium. The latter would be a long list, the former maybe considerably less so

You mean the Toronto that were 0 from 6 and looking likely to get relegated?

I agree with this but to be fair they hardly had any players either which deffo didn’t help

That agent on Proper sport - Craig Harrison - he estimated that there would be about 20 players with SL experience available for the 12th club to look at - either through loans or signings. He also thought Leigh had the most SL ready squad currently but Kear had the ability to put together a competitive squad in a short space of time - Called him the Harry Redknapp of rugby league....

Someone also said clubs would be looking at offloading some contracted players to reduce wage bills to support following COVID

That's the plan. Always was.

I know this 'bid' is supposedly based on returning to Odsal and that in its self seems as though it needs involvement from the Stock Cars.

Surely there is an option to stay at Dewsbury tho.
Whilst 5100 capacity might meet the 5k requirement, realistically that wont be big enough for all the games.

There is plenty of room behind the sticks at the far end. We could surely put a temporary golf type stand at that end, similar to what Hull KR had in the past before their new stand was built. That could easily add another 2k to the capacity.

I'm pretty sure the deal with Dewsbury was for two years, but the RFL only agreed to us playing there for one year, so not sure where that leaves us to be honest.

To be fair, if the financials of staying at Odsal didn't stack up 18 months ago I'm not sure how they would now. The whole covid business is an aberration which blows all long term plans (?) out of the water. There was talk of speedway coming back, though I've not heard of stock cars being mentioned. I quite like speedway and used to watch at both Halifax and Odsal in years gone by but, judging by televised big meetings, which seem to attract fewer than a couple of thousand fans, I can't see any way out of financial problems from that direction.

Its a misconception regarding speedway. Its always been the stock cars that have been keen to get to get back. Its been recently covered in the t and a and representatives from the stock cars have been in talks with Mark Sawyer.

Some sort of up date is in fact due today im led to believe.

Update as promised regarding stock cars.



It is almost 12 months since we commenced again our aspiration to return Stock Cars to Odsal, the fourth attempt since 2001, having come very,very close in 2013 only to fail when OK Bulls went into administration.
Therefore this has been a lot of hard work, and for a few months in my own mind may have been again, speculative. However, we have continually negotiated with integrity from RFL COO Mr Tony Sutton who we cannot thank enough for his investment and interest and, yesterday, we have concluded a secure long term arrangement commercially that could see the sport secure at Odsal for 12 years. The agreement reached will require ratification by the RFL board early next month of which we are very positive. We held further discussions yesterday 'pm' with the new Bulls shareholders who, currently have a huge workload commitment in bidding for the Bulls to return in the Super League. From the beginning of this journey, we sought a commitment that both us and the Bulls approached Odsal 'jointly'and together and what came across very clearly from the Bulls stakeholders [ again to whom we thank them for heir time ] is a shared vision to 'save' Odsal' and see it return to it's former glory. That really is positive fundamentally to us as it is about the commitment of our sports to regenerate Odsal for the city of Bradford.
Our next stage will be opening discussions with Bradford Council who are aware of the plans, to secure the necessary permissions we require and clarification of what was established in 2013 in terms of planning consent etc. We plan to move things along rapidly and are working to be able to offer more clarity on Sunday 6th December as, if we manage to tick all the boxes, it is our ambition to open the doors on Saturday 3rd April 2021. We are 'almost' there! Whilst discussion has been detailed and taken some 12 months, reality is dawning that this has been the 'easy bit!'
The dedication and work required to re-open it, refurbishment is massive and planning for that is 'underway' however 'just' to open the doors for sport will require joint investment of at least £500,000. When we get to this stage, hopefully early next month, we will be asking the whole sport to play it's part - in a similar way to the outpouring of support offered to help restore Coventry and will be seeking volunteers to help with the project from tradespeople and the community to assist with this huge task with work anticipated to commence late January 21. Hopefully on 6th we will be able to complete the vision and make Odsal a reality after 23 years.