To put it simply, if we don't see this season out and fold now, then we will never again be in the super league.
We have been aided by the RFL more than most, so to P them off so badly with 5 games to go would be suicidal if we want to rise again.

Let's see out the season if we can. However we cannot expect volunteer labour from the staff to continue and I doubt there will be enough qualified volunteers to cover all the essential posts after this weekend. What will be the players' attitude (and actions ) at that point.
Red Hall are not to blame for this mess but their actions have certainly not helped.

Wise words.

It is always the fans who suffer & I can't blame you for being bitter but taking your bat home now would be the worst thing to do. Not that there is any chance of that happening, you will see the season out for certain.

If you fold it is still certain that a Bradford club will reform even if it has to play in a lower division. There does seem to be a feeling among some on here that life outside Super League is no life at all. That's not true. Not if you love your club and the sport of Rugby League.

My club Hull Kingston Rovers was in administration for THREE AND A HALF YEARS! During this time no one wanted to buy us and with no prospect of creditors being paid there was no point in liquidation either. The response from the rest of the Rugby League community seemed to be 'Who needs 2 clubs in Hull anyway?' We got no help whatsoever from the RFL or any other club and despite our long history nobody seemed much bothered if we died. Except us.

The club stayed alive because we had a core of diehard fans busting a gut to raise money any which way and because we had an administrator in Edward Klempka of PricewaterhouseCoopers who simply refused to entertain any 'solution' that did not have the main mpriority of the long term wellbeing of the club. He was the best chairman we never had!

Hull KR after all that time never went into liquidation, it went into CVA whereby the eventual rescue package paid an agreed amount to creditors - a small amount (most were 'club sympathetic')- except for the taxman who would only agree to staggered payments in full over several years. That's what we did and so after long years of administration we had long years of repayments, CVA and all the restrictions that imposes.

Hull KR were not allowed to simply walk away from it's debts which you might say is how it should be. Some Bulls fans would like the debts to stay with an 'oldco' whilst the 'newco' is given Odsal and a guaranteed Super League licence. But if the governing body of the sport were to simply go along with that there would be serious ramifications for the whole sport. Why bother any club paying debts at all if there is such an easy way out? And why would anyone ever want to have financial dealings with a Rugby League club ever again?

If a buyer comes along who is willing and able to take on your debts or at least agree a CVA then great stuff. If not then you have to bite the bullet and do a 'Rangers' and start again at the bottom. It's tough but the real fans among you will stay the course - and find there is plenty of enjoyable rugby outside of Super League. You'll probably become converts to a return to promotion & relegation too!

A Bulls team should be capable of starting again in C1. We would, for at least one season, be able to command crowds of several times those of the rest of our division. The salary cap would be a fraction of that in SL. If we couldnt break even its hard to see how any other club could.

The huge problem would be in managing the transition. It wouldn't be remotely comparable to say when Cas were relegated a few years back. They had to drastically cut costs but were able to retain the core of the club and build around it. We would literally have to sack everyone and start all over again. Create a completely new organisation. And do that in a couple of months. It might be doable if a few individuals with experience of running a lower league club could be pursuaded to take it on, but it would be a helluva a task.

Superb post

I'm currently away on holiday, missing the most important games of my clubs history, not able to do anything to help. I feel positively neutered and it's having a really negative effect on what should be an enjoyable and relaxing few weeks. Your post has (oddly) cheered me up a little as "it could be worse" and "not everyone's out to get us". I'm not sure that that's what you intended to say but that's what I'm taking from it

Snipped it there, great post.

Sadly I think the higher costs of running a SL squad means that there is little chance of supporters being able to raise money to keep the club going through an extended admin period, not to mention the difficulty of persuading people to contribute when the way the pledge was handled meant 500k was ed up a wall, but it is a perfect example of what a club is supposed to mean to it's supporters. Too many people on here give the impression that if Bradford Bulls aren't playing at Odsal in Superleague with a certain set of employees and players then it's not worth bothering with, and that's an attitude I struggle to comprehend.

Fair comment. To be honest, I don't think 'managing the transition' would be a problem. Mainly as there would really be no actual 'transition', more a stop and re-start. It would be like any new start business and require a certain amount of cash up front, and then with decent crowds, which as you suggest in the initial year shouldn't be a problem, there is no reason why a new club shouldn't be successful (ie get through the season) and give a solid base from which to build going forward.

Or am I over optimistic?

A good history lesson from His Bobness--"It's tough but the real fans among you will stay the course - and find there is plenty of enjoyable rugby outside of Super League." Exactly
If we fold and reform I will definitely continue to support a Bradford team in C1. However I don't think I'll be travelling to Skolars South Wales North Wales Gateshead and all the expansion teams that will be included next year. So I'll probably also continue watching a team in the Championship, in my case Batley. I will not transfer my allegiance to another SL team. In fact I will:
cancel my sky subscription
stop going to internationals
stop going to Magic weekend
stop going to the Grand Final
stop going to the Cup Final
The net saving to me and the family will be well over £1000.
I suspect other Bulls fans will take some or all of those actions. Perhaps if there's enough of us ,Red Hall might realise that not having a Super league presence in one of the biggest cities in Northern England does have some consequences for their flagship league and it's sponsors. But they can console themselves with the thought that they control a large stadium which cannot be used for any other purpose than Rugby League until 2020.

I will still see and enjoy Rugby League and will continue to support the club I started watching when it was bottom of the league in the early 60's-- before the Foster / Phillips rescue.I will also increase my involvement with a well run Championship side at Mount Pleasant.
But having lost all faith in those running Superleague, I will not support their ventures at the top level of the game--sorry business.

If we drop out of SL my Sky sports will go, if we are in the lower leagues then that will be my interest not SL. I haven't been to an international for years and only go to cup finals, play-off finals or MM if we're involved so that won't change. I'll still follow the club home and away though, it's been too long to change now..

Same here. Lose the Bulls and lose me.

I'll keep Sky sports though for other sports that I watch but I'll probably not bother with Superleague anymore.

I'll not go to any internationals anymore or anything like that either.

It's not cutting my nose off to spite my face I'll just be interested in something else.

If the Bulls folded and then a club didn't reform I doubt I'd bother with professional Rugby League full stop.

Believe .................. Being in The Championship is NOT the End of the World that some of You seem to believe !

No, it's not mate you're absolutely right, the end of the world would be not having a club. And even that is probably an exaggeration....probably. But just as many in the Championship regard SL as some sort of, holy grail which they must have, then equally when you are in SL you don't necessarily want to play in the Championship either. Particularly when it appears we are being railroaded into it.