There was a quote from Big Nige saying that this year the loan repayments kick in for the loan the club received from government/RFL during Covid... could a lot of this be linked to that?

Perhaps a business loan is useful against your own overall business taxes, shame Adey G doesn't post anymore!

Any COVID loan would have been in the balance sheet from the moment it was issued, even if repayments kicked in down the line.

Adey commented as follows:

Without knowing the details (of the liabilities), and especially any agreed but not contractual deferred payment arrangements especially for the current portion, it is impossible to tell (if the liabilities are a bad sign).

The balance sheet shows an entity that is technically insolvent, presumably reliant on creditors not seeking repayment of debts that are due. And a HUGE increase in "other creditors" (usually things like directors' loans, but who knows?) which appears to have been used to pay off nearly all the bank loans and overdrafts. On the face of it, this COULD be a pretty positive development - PROVIDED they ARE mostly loans, and from friendly parties on favourable terms. But it remains a huge amount of cash flow the club will have to generate, to repay them. Note the accounts are unaudited.

Big Nige fires up! https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... d-unhappy/

Big Nige fires up! https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... d-unhappy/

Most companies have debt. Making a loss is another thing so as Adey said it's not necessarily a cause for concern? The company I work for carries an average of 37.1bn euros of debt but it's far from insolvent.

I guess the next concern is the amount of debt we'll add buying the lease.

If nothing else, you have to say everything appears controlled and transparent.

Reading the accounts and the comments from the club, it all seems relatively positive (NB I'm no accountant).
It's also good the board are making financial challenges to the RFL in a measured and constructive manner.

I've said elsewhere before, there's got to be a grander plan ready to unveil once the Odsal lease is confirmed. I just don't see this board taking on such a huge debt purely for sentiment.

We’ve just appointed a marketing manager this week. First time we’ve had a dedicated marketing person for years. https://www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/article ... ng-manager

We’ve just appointed a marketing manager this week. First time we’ve had a dedicated marketing person for years. https://www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/article ... ng-manager

That's good news as it concerns me how low crowds are and that it just seems to be the same faces. We need to be getting a fresh audience like in 95-97.

It was schools and kids back then, which in turn got whole families hooked.

What is activity like in local schools at the moment? You feel that is always going be key to drumming up new support.

That said in 95/96, there was a air of change, an improving team playing good rugby and in the top tier of the game. Unfortunately, that just isn't there currently (granted I'm on the other side of the world, so could be wrong)
The change in the mid 90's you could almost touch and feel.

I think they could do a lot more with local amateur clubs just for a start. Where are the half-time/pre-match tournaments etc?

They seem to do bits every so often but it seems pretty irregular. Up until recently I was an occasional fan who maybe went to 4 or 5 games a year. They did a community club day early last season where my lads teams ran onto the and got to meet the players etc. Ended up going to the majority of games last season and this year all but one plus several away. Now considering a season ticket for 2025 - surely people like me are the relatively easy wins they should be going after?

The product needs to be there before you can market it. 95/95 was the SL product, this time around we have to be fairly certain of being competitive so hopefully, hiring a marketing manager is a sign of the confidence in that.

Still I am not sure you could make current Odsal attractive to anyone other than Steptoe...may be that's another hint of change coming, but I'm from Bradford so not holing my breath

We made Odsal a welcoming place in the mid 90s thanks to having stuff for the kids to do so it wasn't just about the match. That costs a bit and we don't have the budget we had back then so it's more difficult now - perhaps it's about targeting certain games in the warm summer months when Odsal is less inhospitable.

Close relationships with community clubs is a must - they're already familiar with the game so should be a no-brainer.

What we also need to do is connect with people who've no relationship with the game at all. That was the genius of Peter Deakin's approach in 95-96 and it won us an audience that was new to RL. How we do that is the challenge the new marketing manager has.

95-97 was a time of optimism for the whole country and the sport tapped into that making major changes at exactly the right time. We were one of the best at it but the whole sport was buzzing - look at the crowds London Broncos used to get.

The sport of rugby league feels like it's dying a death at the moment. I used to get excited about watching superleague matches on TV and now I think it's a bit boring.

Any marketing manager working for a club in a championship division that they can't be promoted from, even if they win it, in a sport that's on it's last legs is going to have their work cutout.

Most RL fans (especially my age) can be a but jaded so we're not the people to ask when it comes to marketing. Whenever I take anyone new to a game they absolutely love it. I think sometimes familiarity breeds contempt. It's the newbies we need as they've not got cynical in their old age like us fogies.