I saw Keal Carlisle's name being mentioned somewhere

Would he count on our home grown quota? I'm pretty sure he came through our academy

No, it's because you reached (or possibly exceeded) your spending limit and they haven't been lifted as the club has submitted a fantasy budget for next season.

just out of curiosity how many bradford fans spend as much time on other teams pages as their fans do on ours? amuses me how many crawl out of woodwork with helpful opinions!

I think Annakin and Addy (not everyones cup of tea I know) would have been good additions for us.Im not sure whether we ever had a chance or whether the special measures ruled us out.

Mr Dog always seems to be on hand to find the cloud in any bull-shaped silver lining. He is a real bearer of joy and optimism.

Still, if it makes him feel a little better.....

I see Keegan Hirst is confirmed as a Fax player for next season.He,s another that might have gone well for us.

The thing that irks me about it all, and look we absolutely don't help ourselves and I believe we are in special measures because they genuinely do have concerns about our budget, but when fans come on here all high and mighty to throw stones at our glass house, you'd think everything is perfect their side of the fence the way some lecture us.

Fev and Leigh couldn't even field a 17 from the shield final last year without the RFL allowing special dispensation (yet only Leigh get bashed for that, people seem to forget Fev had the same issue too) Our nearest and dearest neighbours Halifax had to give a significant pay cut to their playing roster not so long a go, they change directors more often than Chalmers releases an SL bashing article and finished level on points with Swinton this year. Yet everything's fine over there.

Look we've got issues, but I think all the clubs are on a fine line and are a bad season away from being in trouble financially. Maybe it's out turn to have a bumpy off season.

Under contract but his club is open to offers........

Sometimes I wonder if there’s anything more to it than just tit for tat childishness?

Chalmers - so here’s the budget - basically it’s baded on the fact that the majority of our stadium expenditure is going to revert to the landlord - oh wait, that’s you
RFL- , laugh this one off sunshine- you’re in special measures
Chalmers - you cant do that.
RFL - meh, sue us- oh wait, you can’t, not without giving up membership of the RFL
Chalmers - ffs. Oh well, enjoy the £300k hole in next years accounts, I’m off to NZ

I think the more appropriate question to ask is what extra info has Chalmers given the rfl since we were put into special measures, which they are now in the process of reviewing.
And if he had this information available to give them, why the hell didn't he give them it at the same time as his original application so we could have stood a better chance at avoiding all this mess?

Do people really believe that the rfl have put us into special measures for no reason other than spite? Come on. Their press release was petty and poorly timed but some of the blame for this mess absolutely rests at the door of our owner I'm afraid.

There have been other clubs in special measures this year. Only 1 has the Rfl singled out and announced, in the middle of season ticket sales.
So the next question is, why would the Rfl single out one of its member clubs and deliberately try to damage their income?
I’m sure the Rfl would say it wasn’t deliberate, that was just them being transparent and they hadn’t thought of any secondary effect (bit like prorogation) but why weren’t they transparent with any other clubs?

Not spite, and I also think Chalmers being the spokesman for the chairmen that voted against the middle 8 proposals and also telling the RFL they need to stop being incompetent and start to govern won't have helped his cause....
But basically, putting us in special measures is the only lever the RFL have left to try to force Chalmers to sell (or leave). So they've used it. Fortunately for Chalmers, Bulls ST money is still coming in steadily and I think he'll be able to force the RFL to blink first. I'm sure his chairmen supporters in SL and the championship will be pressurising the RFL to follow the rules as well.

You're entitled to your opinion I guess. For what it's worth, I don't agree with it.

Want to know what I think?
Chalmers has planned for us to leave Odsal for a while because he now has a firm grasp of the running costs and knew that it wasn't sustainable. Nothing wrong with this, and agree with him and think it's the correct call.
The arrangement with Dewsbury had clearly been finalised for a while, because Chalmers had the time to sort out all our 2020 season ticket info ready for the announcement. The remaining home games were then heavily marketed as being the last ever matches at Odsal in an attempt to boost the attendances/cashflow. Again nothing wrong with this but clearly planned for a while.
We publicly announced the move to Dewsbury as being done and dusted before this had been ratified by the rfl. If anyone is forcing someone's hand here, it's us with this stunt. Our season tickets went on sale almost immediately after this announcement iirc.
I don't think this left the rfl with much choice but to approve our move, especially since other clubs have relocated in the past without much issue. I believe the rfl felt compelled to release a statement because we did something similar first. Instead of following the procedure, we tried to force their hand. That is what sets this situation apart from the other clubs in special measures.

I hope Chalmers has got his sums right and whatever he has passed to the rfl gets this mess sorted, but all these conspiracy theories about the rfl having an axe to grind with Chalmers and leverage for Odsal leases is just a load of rubbish. More than that it's embarrassing and only brings more abuse this way from fans of other clubs when they read some of this stuff.

I don't think there's an axe to grind over the lease, I think basically all his "back seat driving" in the T&A on every major decision the RFL have made (or decided not to get involved in) over the past 2 years (or at least since Wood left) have made him a pariah and they don't need it and would like to see him gone. I also think the RFL believe he has not made good on some of his promises and I think Chalmers believes the RFL haven't made good on some of their promises. There's no common ground anymore (literally...) and Chalmers must have done his sums as we've kept HMRC happy for 3years and aren't in administration.