A delay doesn't appear to be in anyone's best interests, but of course I'm not privy to what's going on in the background. But to hear that club has plans for improvement is very encouraging and even if the decision is delayed we appear to be taking account of different potential outcomes rather than relying on obtaining the lease, which given our history sounds refreshingly level headed.

Looks like we've got the lease. https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/od ... e-revealed

Looks like we've got the lease. https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/od ... e-revealed

I would love to see a breakdown of how the £190k per annum is spent.

The council tax is £100k I believe. Whether that’s included or not, I don’t know. I would hope so

Don't know whether to be pleased or petrified by this?

That's a large outgoing to hang around our necks, but at least we have an asset again even if its one that few people want?

It's still a bloody millstone.

Any development we want to do now only needs council approval

Unless there is some grand plan we haven't been told about this seems a weird move by the club.

Unless there is some grand plan we haven't been told about this seems a weird move by the club.

Well they obviously have some sort of plan for Odsal if the club are willing to pay that amount for a lease that would have protected the Bulls future in Bradford regardless of Odsal ownership.

I'm no engineer / architect, but isn't there something that can be done to improve things on the current footprint and do that bit part? I know previously anchoring any roof structure was an issue due to the fact we're in a ditch.

This was (insert your number) years ago....given some of the weird and wonderful feats we see in the building world, I struggle to see why we couldn't do something (with funding, obviously).

Previously it's all felt a bit poop or bust - Wembley of the North or nowt

How long are we tied in with the stock cars for?

If you brought pitch level to the top of the track, we could get a playing surface that was fit for purpose and the correct size, then develop the seating and terracing from there.

Squaring off the Rooley Lane end to bring it nearer the pitch would seem a sensible start....

Robin Hood quoted a figure of around 4.5m in 2008ish to put a roof over the popular side. This was excessively high due to the land the ground sits on.

On the one hand us getting the leasehold gives us some more security since after this season we weren’t clear where we’d play. There were no clear options with VP being unaffordable, Horsfall not being big enough and Dewsbury being outside the city.

On the other it raises a lot of questions.

Can we afford to buy the leasehold?
Can we afford the upkeep?
Can we afford to develop the ground to gain IMG points?

The ground was always cited by Hood as being a big reason why we got into the financial mess in the first place (not withstanding the Harris compensation and poor decisions on recruitment that affected performances). Nothing has changed since then in terms of us being able to afford stadium upkeep and we now play in the second tier with the fraction of the income we had.

It seems as though Odsal is the only option – I just hope it doesn’t drag us down again.

There was an interview with Hirst where he said the Bulls could only make Odsal work if the Council were a bit more flexible with alternative incomes & events