I've worked in commercial/corporate banking for the last few years and the longer this week has gone on, the more it looks like there's been some crash courses being given by the Dicky Wright School of Spin!

I'm sure the Bradford Bulls will survive, but have grave doubts about the limited company running it being around for much longer.

And I've been dealing with commercial and corporate bankers for the last 30 years, and I have seen any number of examples of umbrellas being demanded back once the sky darkens.

And, in amongst some shining exceptions, I've seen any number of commercial and corporate bankers who know so little about how businesses actually work, and how to assess risk (other than let their credit department punch some numbers into Moodys or whatever and rely on what falls out) that it is embarrassing.

Big banks are greedy capitalist scum who should be put up against a wall & shot. Why does it therefore surprise anyone when they simply do what they are here to do?

So who the hell do we owe money to?

The RFL
The Bank
The Taxman

Or all three?

By the sound of it we owe the taxman and possibly the RFL and we have no cash to pay upcoming bills.

Adey, I'm not saying that the banks are always right. I think that Hood & co AND the bank are spinning their respective views as much as possible. As you & I both know, the only way people can get a true understanding is that if people are told the plain facts of what the key debts actually are, how long they've been outstanding and how Hood & co will make sure this won't happen again.

If that clarity doesn't come out, how on earth can anyone be reasonably be expected to contribute towards a £1m pot that could actually be "good money going after bad".

Wrong Adey. They are the greatest intellectual corporate minds that we have & woe betide anyone criticising or daring to fairly tax them. They will take their great minds abroad & our economy will collapse.

OK, I'll go along with that. And respect for not allowing yourself to be provoked by my aggressive response.

None of the bankers I was referring to worked for your bank. (which bank do you work for, did you say...?)

That is "investment bankers". The corporate equivilent of the hyena, but of rather less value.

Your run-of-the-mill commercial banker is as pìssed off with those Masters of the Universe as the rest of us, cos they get tarred with the same brush and tens of thousands of them have lost their jobs as as result.

Do you think we have paid the RFL back?

Couldn't agree more Adey. If I'd had the salary of the "Bankers" that I'm accused of being one of over the last few years I'd be able to bail out the Buulls on my own with change to spare!!!



I didn't take it as being aggressive. I used to work in Yorkshire for the other bailed out bank but am now with a smaller bank based in London.

If the RFL got wind of the image rights issue and didn't think we could deal with it, surely they wouldn't be doing their job if they didn't take the oportunity to get their money back? Rest of SL would rightly be angry if we went to the wall owing the RFL £700K after they'd just given us £1.2m. Not good for us but not a poor decision by the RFL in those circumstances.

Maybe the RFL and Bulls assumed the other £500K would cover the image rights but then the bank got wind of the image rights, gets all nervous and takes the oportunity to get their money back. We are left with nothing to pay HMRC.

Hypothesising over dinner...