Regardless of which party is withholding the report, the lack of transparency is the main problem.

Which has been a problem ever since the RFL secretly loaned the Bulls £700k coming up for 3yrs ago now and set the tone for all the decisions made thereafter.

A pretty accurate summation.

Derwent is basically right, but there is no "secrecy clause" as it is not an agreement, it is a detailed "judgment" or more accurately a reasoned explanation of the Independent Panel's decision.

Neither club, RFL nor IP are a public body and don't need to make it public but neither do i think the RFL could stop the Bulls doing so if they wished to release it. They couldn't for example, be told by RFL "We will only send you the written decision if you promise to keep it under your hat" - the appellant is (obviously) 100% entitled to the decision, and the IP is not a court of law. So I assume that for whatever reason the Bulls don't think it is advantageous for the decision to be in the public domain for now.

BTW the RFL have not gone back on any promise to make public. They carefully chose their words at the time, saying only that the decision would be "handed down" - which is not the same as saying it would be released to the public.

Or the Bulls shambolic mis-management that preceded the loan might have set the tone.

Not really. The Bulls secret shambolic mis-management set the tone for the Bulls lack of transparency. Interspersed with breaks for an administrator to issue public reports...

The RFL's lack of transparency started with the secret loan. They weren't tied to keeping stuff secret until someone decided to advance a huge blinking loan, irritating all the SL chairmen at the same time and putting themselves on the PR back foot from that point.

Can anybody add to the extract of Marc Greens answers to the fans questions in the matchday mag that was previewed on the bulls website?

“As we head into the final third of the season, I am all too aware of some of the underlying questions which are plaguing everyone. Why are the club spending money on this high court claim instead of investing it in the club and rebuilding? Why are we not preparing for next year in the Championship and accepting the writing on the wall? What is this big plan our new chairman wants everyone to buy into?
“The answers are as follows: To date, not a single penny of club money has been spent on the appeal process or the proposed High Court battle. A huge amount of work is being completed behind the scenes, preparing for either eventuality, and I can assure you of positive announcements in the coming weeks which will endorse this...”
To read the rest of Mr Green's views – and much, much more – grab a copy of today's official Matchday Magazine

The positive announcements should hopefully include players that are staying and some additions, preferably including four seasoned props

Well I'm glad they didn't include the whole article by email like they have in recent weeks. I'm a regular reader of the match day programme and I usually buy it to read the coaches and chairmans comments. Not particularly impressed recently to pay £3 for articles that I have already read by email.

I would expect some news on the financials too. Something like who's going to be sponsoring us.

How long does the Provident deal run? I can't imagine them pulling out just because we're no longer in SL, particularly with them being a local firm as well. That said, all the shirt advertising loses value when we are no longer on tv, so I'd guess we are more likely to see even lower profile [and value] stuff than we've been used to over the last few years. Oh for the days when we were backed by the biggest computer manufacturer in the world..

Sponsors like good news for PR purposes, and lets face it compared to this season theres going to be a bit more good news coming out of the club next season if Greens cryptic comments amount to anything of a squad. The size of the deal may be more the discussion point.

Provident deal was 1.2 million spread over 4 years. Can't see them pulling out with two years left given effort they've put in this year on social media. Guess they may want negotiate amount down although it's relatively small money to them and good publicity of keeping same level of sponsorship may negate the reduced exposure/prestige level of championship rugby.

Not got the paper yet, but seen on the online preview of today's League Express we are abandoning the appeal.

Anyone read it/got the details?

And a Scrum Half...

Surely not when he was supposedly given legal advice that the club was 100% certain to win the case ?

Do you really need to fart in with your sarky rubbish? Everyone here sees it as bleedin obvious that whatever the chances of winning, if 6 points back is totally irrelevant then the game isn't worth the candle. Green himself made almost exactly that point and it was widely reported. It's his money, and so Green can surely choose whether to waste it or not.

The thing is, you know all this, and so your post is just the sort of pointless childish, sneering drivel that sadly our situation will continue to attract, like to a bogbrush.