I think we have to take this on the chin and move on.

As supporters we'll always know that we tried to do the right thing and raise £500k but unfortunately the calamity which befell us and for which none of us are responsible, was too great.

The T and A says Wakefield have petitioned the RFL and this is no surprise but I think Michael Carter needs to look closer to home. There've been more posts from WTW fans on Rlfans than there were fans in the ground on Thursday night. This episode shames them even more than their refusal to put their hands in their pockets and shoulder some of the club debts.

My consistent view has been, and remains:

1 - Settle with all third-party creditors - nil point deduction

2 - Settle with, at best maybe 5-10% of creditors (a la Wakefield)- 4 point deduction

3 - Settle with none of creditors - 6 point deduction

All in line with existing precedent. I continue to maintain points deuctions are totally counterproductive, and absolutely ZERO deterrent to anyone else, since invariably it is the NEXT owner who suffers, not you. But precedent is set and has to be followed.

The big gap there is what happens if you settle with a more substantial part of the creditors? Especially HMRC? In that case, logically you would have a 2-point deduction. or maybe a sliding scale 1-3 points?

It seems to me that settleing with maybe £100k max of creditors (if that) can earn you 2 points. That MIGHT eb worth it for a new owner. But if shelling out many times that earns you NO extra points, the why the fekk do it? Instead, do just the bare minimum to earn those 2 points, and fekk the rest of the creditors. Spend all the dosh you saved on strengthening the team instead.

Surely that is not what the RFL, or anyone esle for that matter, want? Including the likes of Wakefield? It sure as hell makes no sense to me. So I cannot for the life of me understand those people who insist minimum 4-point penalty regardless of what creditors you attempt to settle with?

The RFL have already worked out the bottom of the table standings & London & Wakey are going down. You will get 4 points deduction but the officials are reffing the games to ensure Bradford are safe & Wakey go down. They are even paying Agar to stay to be doubly sure. Or so the Wakey fans believe.
I'm now on a final warning on their board as well for pointing out their hypocrisy.

Are you still banned from the Wigan board too? Naughty!

A ban on the Wigan board is for life, not just for Christmas.
A good friend of mine occasionally goes on to correct the error of their ways however...

I agree that a four point deduction is the likely sanction on the Bulls (as I predicted in post a few weeks ago).

The deduction of half the Sky money will also still apply for this second and final year I believe.

(That is because the RFL {whilst getting the indication from OK Bulls Ltd that such a proposal would be accepted after the previous Administration in return for remaining in Super League} imposed the sanction on the Bradford Bulls CLUB (not on either the new or old owners of the Club).

Extract from today's T&A article" The Bulls’ punishment for entering administration could be announced by the Rugby Football League today.

The threat of a points deduction has been looming since OK Bulls Ltd, the club’s former holding company, was placed into administration on July 31.

The current board of directors met RFL officials at Red Hall yesterday as they seek ratification of Bradford Bulls 2014 Ltd being approved as the new owners.

It is understood they were told of the sanctions the club faces and a four-point penalty seems the most likely outcome.

Bradford Bulls 2014 had their bid for the club accepted by administrator David Wilson last Thursday and have spoken of their willingness to work with creditors. "

The disciplinary panel is also part of the great anti-Wakey conspiracy as demonstrated by citing Dean Collis.

Ok not has bad has a 6 point deduction but still a set back IMO

Agreed, but with the big win last weekend, if we follow that up with a win against London, and Wigan take out their disappointment on Wakey then come Sunday evening we'll still be ahead of both London and Wakey, which is where we need to be. All is not lost yet.

So we went to Admin on the 31st of July good old T&A spot on as ever.

Although you get to the point, you also miss it. We might be the first club to not get a points deduction but if we do get one, we will be the first club to whom it potentially makes a hugely significant difference.

A 4 point penalty last time, which was of the same importance as anyone else's previous points penalty, meant we lost out in one away game in the playoffs and that's about as bad as it ever got for anyone, the others just finished a bit worse off in league table pojnts than they otherwise would have and that was it. Big deal.

However this year a points deduction COULD be a million pound fine, if it results in relegation. I well understand, of course, that tere are many enemies that want us to be disbanded, or failing that, to start in the Pennine League, but even they would have to concede that this particular sanction's teeth have gone from maximum slap -on-the-wrist to possible death sentence.

A points penalty this year, then, is a very different beast to anything any other club has faced. Comparing 4 points this year with any previous year is thus like comparing a community service order with 25 years in jail. If we got 4 points, it is thus an incomparably greater sanction, potentially, than anyone else ever faced. A reasonable RFL would bear that in mind. Of course, the trolls also know this, but deliberately choose to ignore the obvious point - calling for "equal treatment, which is the most risible twisting of all.

But if that doesn't kill us off, maybe another million quid in withheld distribution money will do the job.


That's the other problem. The fans and the true club, that is the one that plays rugby league in Bradford while we watch, doesn't exist and so the RFL can only sanction what does exist and is under their control, which is the new ownership. If the new club had risen out of the old by way of a management buyout prepack or was otherwise directly connected to the people who ruined it then you could see the fairness but in this case that's not so. The effect is to potentially punish all Bradford's fans by penalising the team they watch but we have to accept that practically there is no other way of sanctioning anyone and that although there is no point in punishing someone who has done nothing wrong, there is an element also I'm sure of the RFL having to "be seen" to be doing something eg by Sport England, HMRC etc.

But what is particularly unsavoury is a small number of trolls baying loudly for blood just because the club went into administration, as if that in itself was a heinous crime, and even if nobody lost money they would be just as strident.

I am really surprised that you are struggling with the concept that the new ownership has an advantage over other clubs by buying from administration. It is a plain and simple fact that the new owners are financially better off by becoming new owners when they did than if they had bought the OK Bulls liabilities lock, stock and barrel. Every other club goes into the season with last years balance sheet. The new ownership doesn't. So it is entirely right that they are penalised for this, the actual penalty being determined by the extent of their advantage. If they are able to meet all the liabilities from last year, then it is very arguable that no sanction applies. If they cannot meet the old liabilities in full, then a sanction should apply.

Yes, the sanction may have a greater effect than last year, but equally the sanction of other clubs still owing all liabilities from previous seasons has an impact on them and their ability to recruit. And it's nit just Wakey. Cas, Widnes and London have their squad dictated by their liabilities.

FWI, I think you'll be alright. You're a better team on the park than we are, as you have shown over the last few years. But you are looking at this concept through very tight blinkers.

I am concerned about the comment in the T&A.

" It is understood they were told of the sanctions the club faces and a four-point penalty seems the most likely outcome"

What sanctions are they on about could somebody enlighten me please

Sentence is to be announced 10.30am tomorrow, according to Ross' Twitter.

So the combined punishment will be:

1 - £2/3m fine for this season

2 - Points deduction - size tba - when impact is potentially far far more severe than in recent years. (No issue with a deduction if there is loss to third-party creditors. Totally wrong if there is not).

3 - Drawn against Hudds at Tragic Weekend, in the most unbalanced tie of the round by far based on last season's finishing positions.

Can anyone tell me how the hell ANY club without a sugar daddy is supposed to have any chance faced with all that lot?

roll on 1st june. Let the players do the talking in the first £1m match