I'd join you in that hope, but my faith in the club and it's board is rapidly waining.

There's an old saying about how when life gives you lemons you should make lemonade. However it seems to me that for the bulls, when life gives you lemons put them in the team

The trouble is, the longer the Clubs lets things go without making any announcements the the worse things will look. We really do need to get some serious media management going. Positive news, positive stories. No news, rumours building and the odd sarcastic comments from Hood "we won't be bullied" don't add to the Clubs credibility. Come on Bulls sort yourselves out and give us some hope for next year!.......

PMSL......

Wow talk about a 'prepare for the worst' statement.

No wonder people think we are having huge financial difficulties.

Im not sure everybody is wanting a star signing (as im not sure that would do any good), what we need is 4/5 solid SL/NRL proven players at a high standard to complement Halley, Langley, Donaldson etc and the players promoted from the academy.

It is true, for any sports club, that as Bullseye says there is a clear vicious circle in terms of fans/gates/signings/performance/fans/and so on.

The trouble is that many fans expect - nay demand - that someone -anyone - comes in on a white stallion carrying unfeasibly large pots of money to pour into the club and "make things right" - yet while at the same time many hundreds or thousands of stayaways are NOT prepared to continue to make their own small investment into the club to help make things better.

A clear case of double standards by some.

BTW I should immediately make it clear that (a) I am NOT one who believes [ianyone[/i has any obligation to spend their money at Odsal nor should be criticised if they choose not to, and (b) those who hope for an Abramovich or even a Whelan are pie in the sky dreamers.

Agreed. However you'll always get thoe who say "speculate to accumulate" as if that makes any sense.

What I think is needed is a more positive line from the club that acknowledges concerns of fans, provides re-assurance and explains clearly that the fortunes of the club are in their hands.

Money is tight for everyone at the moment and I know quite a few who aren't getting season tickets in 2010. I just think that it wouldn't take much from the club in terms of PR to get more to buy them. The current PR isn't going anyway to help the situation, if anything it's making matters worse.

But that doesn't seem how the board want to play it. No, much better to put your fingers in your ears and go lalalalalalalalala and hope the complaining fans go away.

And it's a strategy that's working given our drop in gates.

I mean, this press release says everything the club shouldn't be saying after selling a player who is considered to have the rugby world at his feet. It was a perfect oppotunity to say something like "Yes, we have sold Sam Burgess, but we are in talks with exciting replacements and we hope to be able to announce these players very soon"

I know Hood and the board have steadied the ship as far as finances go. But saving pennies at the cost of losing the club is not what we want to see and sticking your head above the parapit just to shout down the fans who don't want another season of poor performances and disapointement is not the message the club should be sending out. Especially as it's season ticket renewal time.

It just doesn't make sense to me. How can you ask people to fork over their hard earned cash for season tickets and yet not guaratee them entertainment or at least the chance of more home wins than fingers on a blind butchers hand.

I don't want a gaurantee just to see what the squad for next season is and make my own judgement as to how I think it will perform. From last years squad I actually think we performed worse that most thought we would and a lot worse than the club told us they thought they would perform. I trust my own judgement more than what I am told I should/could expect. We might not be experts but most of us aren't stupid. Get the fans back on board Bulls, we are part of the Club after all.......

Well back from a week away to Burgess leaving, no new signings and no news on the OSV (bearing in mind we were told Sept would bring an update).

How depressing.....

Look closely at the article... the only direct quotes from Hood is a load of guff about pressure. The controversial bit is all in the paragraph



This does not contain any quote marks so, therefore, is an interpretation of what was actually said. Given that...

suggests that, as you'd expect, the club is talking to a number players

suggests that, whatever happens, it isn't being done as a knee-jerk reaction to over anxious fans. (An optimistic interpretation being that the club is talking to someone who might fit the 'marquee' description and has been since prior to all the calamity).

We shouldn't have to be looking closely at articles for crumbs of comfort. The club's PR should be coming out with positive PR that doesn't require so much reading between the lines.

It's not [ithat[/i hard is it?

Thats just the feeling i get too.

Not what I was suggesting at all...

a) Hood did not write the article, someone called Simon Parker did [it was the commonly held view that when DC was writing for the T&A that everything was given a negative spin by him. I don't know this guy so can't comment on his attitude/motives]

and b) many on here have chosen to read it as being extremely negative

BUt we keep getting told that finances aren't a problem.

Simon Parker is the T&A's main football reporter mainly for Bradford City.