Or if we get the chance to stay in SL are we prepared to provide a higher level of support to the club financially? 10000 supporters times an extra £10 a month nearly matches the RFL distributed funds. How many would or could do that?

Afaik they are only talking about reduced central funding (sky money) not removing it entirely. So to make up shortfall could be a lot less than £10 a month. If the new owners at gave people an option to pay an extra £10-20 at time of purchasing season tickets with that extra money ringfenced to sign players we wouldnt have been able to due to the shortfall then how many would be prepared to pay the extra?.

for arguments sake say owners are prepared to speculatively spend 1.2million on squad then say anything above this level of spend would have to come from moneys raised through the voluntary extra amount on season ticket. Bit like a squadbuilder type fund which I believe is quite common in at championship level.

yeah but we apparently budgeted to lose £1.2M this year and that was with all the sky money

I agree an extra contribution is probably something that could be done and if it's guaranteed for a specific purpose then it's probably easier to promote it.

The last set of selection criteria clearly failed as the Bulls soon went into meltdown. The old criteria were based on a 3 year cycle. they also gave promoted sides significant advanced warning. They also have previously selected exclusively a club from the championship. Now they have to consider a newly formed team.

Much to consider. To do it better than in 2011 it may take several weeks to establish the criteria and get the assessors in place. 3 or 4 weeks does not look too bad.

They are indeed only talking about [ireducing[/i monies coming in but it's not just the Sky money, afaik it also includes any distribution from any RFL sponsorships and money from play-offs and the like and I'd be interested to learn just how much we are going to forfeit, assuming etc etc...

For my own part the answer to the original question is yes, but I've followed Northern/Bulls since the 1950s and it will take something pretty gigantic to put an end to my habit, though we all have to accept that Bradford is far from a high wage economy and there are plenty out there who will not be able to afford vast hikes in ticket prices, though I think we all realise that they are absolutely inevitable. I hope that some good deals for families, for instance, can be made

I think that provided the fans like the look of the team we look like being able to put out, plenty will be well disposed to getting a season ticket paying same as what they paid last year. Because the fact so frequently overlooked is that for most fans, that price was [Pledge price] + [£100 Panic Pledge] - the net result was that in fact basically hardly anybody [iended up[/i having a particularly cheap season ticket, as it happened, and the point was that of course they were able to afford it, [iand[/i decided the extra £100 was a worthwhile use of their limited resources.

For the centre stand and Club members, I fully expect that the 2013 prices assuming we are in SL will actually be cheaper than the sum of what we all ended up paying last season.

Add to that the fact that, just at the moment, there is definitely a siege mentality behind the fans, who have been brilliant in supporting the team and the club, and OKB will benefit from that. I don't think the fans who have committed so stoically to keeping the club alive in 2012 are at all likely to then not get a ticket for SL 2013. That's just IMHO, but that's certainly how I feel.

Meant to add if people paid by DD or SO over say 4 monthly payments they could be charged an extra£10 to do so.

So the replacement team will then be judged and held to a higher standard than the other 13 teams? If the Bulls are to be relegated and another team comes in how is that even remotely fair to them. less time to prepare and a higher standard of compliance to be reached?

After 3 weeks it's unknown by any club involved (championship clubs who may be invited to apply, the Bulls, other clubs waiting for decisions from players) what the process is and how long this decision will take. The original licensing took months to review so any improved process isn't going to be completed by the end of the year.

Thats exactly what I am thinking and feeling at the moment aswell. Bizarrely I am more motivated about supporting the club now than at any point in the last few years and I don't think I'm alone. Bulls need to tap into that somehow and carry it through to next season.

Bullbuilder could also do with tapping into it now to get people signed up. Which reminds me...

Oh dear little man. You really do need to try and have a last word don't you?

Now you have to pretend you are getting under another posters skin. Your grasp of psychology is worse than your grasp of evidence

The delay was down to OK's advisors / third parties / bankers. But you cling to your lightweight 'many people think it' explanation re the RFL...poor lil FA .....come on now show me your desperate need to have the last word...you know you have to.

I agree that a process usually taking months should not be rushed AND great care should be taken to ensure standards are fair for all.

So we can agree that expecting the RFL to create the new standards in under 3 weeks is foolish.

so RFL are not necessarily slow on this important issue.