i think the bulls will survive outside of super league , lets face it we have more chance of getting to the championship grand final than the super league one at the moment . if we invest in a better players who knows we might get a trip to blackpool for the northern rail cup aswell ,as for a new ground ,we are in this position becouse we couldnt pay the bills ,wheres the money coming from for a new stadium the council ? get real

Thank you Rach. Haven't seen one of these for a few years, especially RL related. Really made me smile as I'm sure it has a few other people. I think you're onto something - how about a new one when/if someone takes the poison chalice that is the coaches role

Indeed he did. And there's an example of my problem, right there. I read the words, and the words alone. I don't add anything.

It may be true that he has no intention of us ever leaving Odsal, and it may be true that he will spend whatever money is necessary to achieve that. It may be. But he hasn't said that. Maybe you were intended to take it that he meant "we won't ever move: over my dead body". Or maybe that's what he means. But it isn't what he said.

He has said he has "no plans" to move away. But that would be true in my more specific scenario; and it would be also true if he knew damn well that we will not be able to stay at Odsal in the Championship for whatever reason. As long as the actual plans for physically moving don't yet exist, then he "has no plans".

It tells me nothing. Or, as a maximum, that if he did see our future elsewhere, then the specifics haven't yet been decided upon.

As at today, I have no plans to go on holiday next year. Will I go on holiday next year? Well, almost certainly, yes.

I strongly suggest the huge costs at Darlington are probably more to do with the 'management company', no doubt set up to run the stadium at a profit, than for any actual maintenance costs. It is a fair point to bear in mind though, as a management company would probably be involved in any re-build of Odsal.

To be honest, I can't remember Caisley [iever[/i holding anything remotely like a 'fans' forum', unless that was, perhaps, his term for board meetings. Maybe the £10m was a figure he quoted in the articles in the T&A where he berated fans for not turning up in sufficient numbers? In truth, I wouldn't like to say how much has been spent on the ground, probably the minimum which kept its licence, but the problem with Odsal has always been its sheer size and the fact is you could spend an awful lot, though maybe not £10m, and hardly notice when glancing round.

I wondered, at the time of the RFL buying the lease, if there was some longer term plan to relocate their headquarters to Odsal and look at developing the stadium as a venue for cup semi-finals, championship and amateur finals etc whilst allowing Bradford to continue playing there on a weekly basis. "The RFL Stadium" sort of thing...a bit like Twickenham but obviously ter.

To me it now looks more like fire fighting to ensure superleague fixtures were fullfilled.

A master class in irony if ever there was. Do you not read this board?

He held a couple circa 2001/01. I got the impression that they were really Abi Ekoku's idea, Caisley looked as if he would rather have been anywhere else and was seriously ed off when any criticisms were made. Ekoku clearly saw them as a means of getting the fans to lobby MPs for the stadium redevelopment. Told us we should follow the example of Arsenal fans who had raised 40,000 signatures for a petition for their new stadium. The first one was held about the time that Ekoku appeared on Question Time.

Caisley reeled off a list of urgent repairs which he said would cost £10m. The main item was £2m for a new roof for the main stand as the existing roof was about to collapse. He made the claim as part of his justification for moving to VP.

It did seem to me that "Odsal's excessive maintenance costs" was really part of the strategy to obtain support for the new stadium and perhaps has just become accepted wisdom. The terraces aren't crumbling, there rarely seems to be any work going on at the ground.

If we can re-negotiate the rent when we are relegated I hope we can stay at Odsal. Its a huge ground for a Championship club but if the terraces could be mothballed and we just used the main stand would it be that much more expensive than the alternatives?

I think we might be able to survive relegation and we might be able to survive leaving Odsal, but not both.

According to your coach you can see 90% of the pitch from the car wash next to the ground. So at least we wont have to pay.

Might get wet though

top 3 .......4 v 5 play off for the last place in SL in 2016

Unfortunately I have to AJ.

I don't lump you in with many of your fellow Cougar fans so please don't confuse me with all my fellow Bulls fans.

I'm surprised my post got a response from you tbh. I was aiming it at others.

Iirc the work to the main stand roof was done before we moved back from Valley parade. Not sure if it was paid for by council as part of odsal settlement or we paid for it out of money we received for odsal settlement. Stand was going to be condemned if roof wasnt fixed.

Afaik under new system no one plays for the championship grand final. Its awarded to the team that loses the 4th v 5th playoff. They are ranked no1 in the following years tier2 for purposes of central funding allocation, which is staggered dependent on previous seasons finishing position. If i recall provisional figures correctly central funding drops about 50k for each position as you drop down the table.

Bottom eight are playing to avoid relegation to championship 1. I think its a staight relegation and team finishing bottom don't have a playoff game against team finishing top of Championship 1 but not 100% sure.

that's ditto mate, how many of us do understand what's going on !!