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Club Coach | 9986 | No Team Selected |
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Mar 2005 | 20 years | |
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| Quote: "True. If only we had something like online banking to make payments outside of normal working hours eh?
Bloody lack of technology I tell thee.'"
Crazy idea. It will never catch on.
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Rank | Posts | Team |
International Star | 3546 | |
Joined | Service | Reputation |
Jan 2013 | 12 years | |
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May 2019 | May 2019 | LINK |
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| Quote: "Sort of debunks the "RFL have paid everyone" line doesn't it?
TBH I'm not following this with anything like the interest of the previous two meltdowns. Apathy rules. This is a sorry state of affairs. The only thing that really makes me fed up is that the work to get the Academy in such a good place could now all be for nothing.
I hope for the sake of them that it isn't.'"
That's not far off where I am too. Although throw a little bit of anger in there too that this crap is happening again.
I agree about the academy though. I don't for a minute believe the club will go under, as I'm sure there'll be someone willing to buy it. If we lose a load of first team players along with that, so be it. But if we lose the staff, players and set up we have in the academy that looks genuinely very very good, it's going to be a huge kick in the teeth.
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Rank | Posts | Team |
International Star | 1011 | No Team Selected |
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Apr 2013 | 12 years | |
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Jun 2022 | Apr 2022 | LINK |
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| Quote: "Is anyone else finding it hard to care? When the first administration came around I was truly heart broken, the second was equally hurtful but if we do go bust again I'm not sure I'd be hugely bothered. I do love the club but successive years of being poop on has left me slightly numb to all of this.'"
You are right there. I myself have supported them from being a kid which is now 40 years ago and check on the Bulls every day in the T and A. The problem is not only the two past administrations but we have been dying a slow death since 2006. 10 years of problems. I used to go to Odsal and clear snow in winter and stood on muddy ledges where the players came down the steps by the stand but have never really loved the ground. I would move out to a smaller ground today if possible. To me, Odsal is a mill stone around the clubs neck but many fans say they would never go anywhere else.
I am starting to believe our best chance of long term stability is to fold and then find a new owner who reforms the club as we did in the past. Hopefully, this could be in a nice smaller stadium shared with possibly PA or a local Union club. Call it Bradford Northern or am I dreaming?
Whatever happens this last 10 years of struggle needs to stop one way or another as it can't continue for much longer even if we do some how get through to the start of next season.
Agree with above about the juniors. I couldn't care less about losing two thirds of the first team. We must keep some of them, Smith, the junior coaches and all of the youngsters. Lose them and we are back at rock bottom again. That would be the final straw for many fans and who would then buy a ST.
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International Star | 888 | No Team Selected |
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Sep 2010 | 14 years | |
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Mar 2017 | Feb 2017 | LINK |
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| Another day in paradise.
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Moderator | 10969 | |
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Mar 2002 | 23 years | |
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Jan 2023 | Jun 2022 | LINK |
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| Quote: "The banks don't open until nine....'"
Well, no they don't but players and staff can check on line at a minute past midnight and, if due, the money should be on their balance.
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Rank | Posts | Team |
Club Coach | 1390 | No Team Selected |
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Apr 2005 | 20 years | |
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Jan 2017 | Jan 2017 | LINK |
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| Quote: "...To me, Odsal is a mill stone around the clubs neck but many fans say they would never go anywhere else...'"
I think you've hit the nail on the head there and it's probably the reason why buyers with deeper pockets than Khan and Green haven't come forward to buy the club in the past (Mandy K not withstanding but who knows how serious that bid was beyond the grandstanding). Even during the Super League years Odsal was a millstone and the club was losing money.
I reckon a lot of pain would have been saved if a bold decision had been taken during those years when there was talk of the Odsal Superbowl, an outlandish scheme if ever there was. The club and the council should have pushed for a smaller scheme instead of wasting time, energy and money on the "Wembley of the North"; something more reflective of a rugby league club trying to live within its means.
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Rank | Posts | Team |
Club Coach | 8877 | No Team Selected |
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Mar 2005 | 20 years | |
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| Bradford Bulls. The rugby league equivalent of Gazza.
Offered help from everyone but incapable of wanting to sort itself out whatsoever.
We have fallen off the wagon again.
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Rank | Posts | Team |
International Chairman | 7594 | |
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Dec 2001 | 23 years | |
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May 2021 | May 2021 | LINK |
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| It was the academy that convinced me Green was serious.
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Moderator | 10969 | |
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Mar 2002 | 23 years | |
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| Quote: "I think you've hit the nail on the head there and it's probably the reason why buyers with deeper pockets than Khan and Green haven't come forward to buy the club in the past (Mandy K not withstanding but who knows how serious that bid was beyond the grandstanding). Even during the Super League years Odsal was a millstone and the club was losing money.
I reckon a lot of pain would have been saved if a bold decision had been taken during those years when there was talk of the Odsal Superbowl, an outlandish scheme if ever there was. The club and the council should have pushed for a smaller scheme instead of wasting time, energy and money on the "Wembley of the North"; something more reflective of a rugby league club trying to live within its means.'"
With Mandy's bid it's hard to know in truth.
At the time, her [their] bid was the lowest of the four on the table as I understand it, though whether that was because it was merely a publicity stunt or that they just totally misjudged it is the big question.
I think you've hit the nail on the head with the national stadium bid. The idea "they" were ever going to build a national stadium anywhere but Wembley was [and is] so daft as to be beyond comprehension, imo. As far as the council was concerned though, they never were going to put any money into it - the land itself was to be their contribution, whilst the build and running of the stadium was always intended to be a private matter and the costs for the relevant companies to find. Mr Byers ended all that anyway.
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Rank | Posts | Team |
International Star | 543 | No Team Selected |
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Mar 2012 | 13 years | |
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Aug 2023 | May 2023 | LINK |
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| Going back in time, wasn't Green's involvement dictated by the fact he had been persuaded to give the club a loan by Whitcut(?? think that was his name), which would have been swallowed up by a liquidation or other buyer coming forward. Him buying the club was his best chance, as he saw it, of getting his cash back.
I have no doubt his financial exposure has been increased from his 2 years owning this great club, and I genuinely feel sorry for the guy for that. He does deserve great credit for the junior set up, we have the most promising crop of youngsters since the Burgess boys, Whitehead, Ferres (Brett, not Steve!!) et al, but as people have commented, the cost structure/overheads needed to keep this club operating at a sustainable level seem to be a bridge too far.
I think the thing that Green has misjudged is the passions and emotions involved in running a company such as the Bulls or any other sports club. There are 100's of opinions out there, and these days lots of ways of expressing them which can quickly turn issues into feeding frenzies. Coming from primairily a B2B business background, must have been a big shock.
Final point, lots of people talking about starting again away from Odsal. I've been going to that stadium for nearly 50 years, but if it meant we could have a secure competitive future, then bring it on, BUT 2 things:-
1. How would our landlord (the RFL) feel about any application for a new team playing somewhere else, thus leaving them with a reduction in revenue caused by receiving no rent for Odsal, can't imagine that would go down well.
2. There has been comments regarding using the ground for other things, notably landfill, but I thought there was a covenant on the land that it needed to be used for sport/recreational use, how would that be changed??
In common with others, apathy rules with me as well, whatever happens, let it be quick, so we can make whatever adjustments to our lives and move on
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Moderator | 31984 | |
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Dec 2001 | 23 years | |
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Dec 2024 | Dec 2024 | LINK |
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| There have been so many missed opportunities, bad decisions and bad luck.
We had the chance to move in at Park Avenue which would’ve got us a ground almost exactly like Headingley with county cricket on one side and RL and football on the other. Jack Bates turned down the opportunity. I think that was a bad decision. Odsal had already had many false dawns in terms of regeneration at that point. To stay put has effectively handicapped the club ever since.
The failure of the 2002 development of Odsal due to the intervention of the bloody government and supermarkets protecting their interests was the final nail in the coffin for Odsal. It also signalled the end of the Council propping up the ground and the club. After 2003 we had to shoulder the upkeep and that has bled the club white since. Perhaps we should’ve stayed at VP? I know many fans didn’t like it (myself included) but maybe if the club had explained why Odsal was no longer suitable we could’ve got used to the idea. I campaigned to get back to Odsal. I don’t mind admitting I was wrong. Had we stayed I think we’d have been better off than we are now.
Add to that the decision to sign Iestyn Harris which led to us alienating Jamie Peacock and incurring a massive legal bill, appointing Steve McNamara too early and on too long a contract and you have the perfect ingredients for meltdown on the pitch too. The brief rebirth under Omar Khan was doomed from the start due to the huge financial handicap put on him and his own inability to run a business. Same applies to Green.
If anyone takes on the club they ought to know by now it will cost them a fortune to run while it remains at Odsal in its undeveloped state. The chances of Odsal getting developed are slim to nought. The Council isn’t going to do any deal that looks like it’s helping a professional sports club in the current climate unless someone else pays for it which is unlikely. Can you really see the RFL buying the Council out and redeveloping it as a RFL asset? The rest of the game would go crazy as the Bulls would be seen as beneficiaries.
Even if that did happen it would take years and we haven’t got that long. We need a white knight with deep pockets and we need him/her now!
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Rank | Posts | Team |
International Star | 543 | No Team Selected |
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Mar 2012 | 13 years | |
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Aug 2023 | May 2023 | LINK |
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| Quote: "It was the academy that convinced me Green was serious.'"
Totally agree, I think he's had the best interests of the club at heart, if only to try and protect his cash, but was out of his depth in running a b2c business and didn't have deep enough pockets to plough cash in a la Mr. Beaumont to try and get to a 'promised land' where he might have been able to sell the club and recover his 'investment'
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Rank | Posts | Team |
International Star | 7174 | No Team Selected |
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May 2011 | 14 years | |
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Dec 2024 | Dec 2024 | LINK |
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| Quote: "Sort of debunks the "RFL have paid everyone" line doesn't it?
TBH I'm not following this with anything like the interest of the previous two meltdowns. Apathy rules. This is a sorry state of affairs. The only thing that really makes me fed up is that the work to get the Academy in such a good place could now all be for nothing.
I hope for the sake of them that it isn't.'"
My thoughts exactly. If we lose most of the professionals who couldn't even get us in the top 4 in a mainly part time league, meh. There's a handful i'd be very disappointed in losing. O'brien, Chisholm, Moss, Clare, Ryan and Sidlow.
We have some of the most exciting juniors in the game (although according to the media only Saints and Leeds develop juniors. Remind me who they have developed in the last 5 years?)
If we lost the juniors that would be a step too far for me. I couldn't bare to see it when we've spent time and money and effort developing our own, and other clubs reaping the benefit of our hard work because of mismanagement. Again
Only hope is that Greens statement last week was very strong and he really went on the attack. He's not one to throw rash statements about like certain other chairman. If he really didn't have the money, then i don''t see why he would have released last weeks statement.
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Rank | Posts | Team |
International Star | 543 | No Team Selected |
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Mar 2012 | 13 years | |
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Aug 2023 | May 2023 | LINK |
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| Quote: "There have been so many missed opportunities, bad decisions and bad luck.
We had the chance to move in at Park Avenue which would’ve got us a ground almost exactly like Headingley with county cricket on one side and RL and football on the other. Jack Bates turned down the opportunity. I think that was a bad decision. Odsal had already had many false dawns in terms of regeneration at that point. To stay put has effectively handicapped the club ever since.
The failure of the 2002 development of Odsal due to the intervention of the bloody government and supermarkets protecting their interests was the final nail in the coffin for Odsal. It also signalled the end of the Council propping up the ground and the club. After 2003 we had to shoulder the upkeep and that has bled the club white since. Perhaps we should’ve stayed at VP? I know many fans didn’t like it (myself included) but maybe if the club had explained why Odsal was no longer suitable we could’ve got used to the idea. I campaigned to get back to Odsal. I don’t mind admitting I was wrong. Had we stayed I think we’d have been better off than we are now.
Add to that the decision to sign Iestyn Harris which led to us alienating Jamie Peacock and incurring a massive legal bill, appointing Steve McNamara too early and on too long a contract and you have the perfect ingredients for meltdown on the pitch too. The brief rebirth under Omar Khan was doomed from the start due to the huge financial handicap put on him and his own inability to run a business. Same applies to Green.
If anyone takes on the club they ought to know by now it will cost them a fortune to run while it remains at Odsal in its undeveloped state. The chances of Odsal getting developed are slim to nought. The Council isn’t going to do any deal that looks like it’s helping a professional sports club in the current climate unless someone else pays for it which is unlikely. Can you really see the RFL buying the Council out and redeveloping it as a RFL asset? The rest of the game would go crazy as the Bulls would be seen as beneficiaries.
Even if that did happen it would take years and we haven’t got that long. We need a white knight with deep pockets and we need him/her now!'"
I think when we were getting regular crowds of 15,000+, Odsal was my preferred option, but I remember some memorable matches at VP and thought the atmosphere was amongst the best I'd ever seen. I remember the first game in the snow v Saints, the Wigan game where Deacon won it with the last kick, the 2nd game v Saints in 2001, great memories.
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Rank | Posts | Team |
International Chairman | 7594 | |
Joined | Service | Reputation |
Dec 2001 | 23 years | |
Online | Last Post | Last Page |
May 2021 | May 2021 | LINK |
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| I remember carrying my niece on my shoulders, ignoring her warnings and cracking her head on something steel.
She's still banging on about it now.
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