I'm sure we're all pretty pleased that we have apparently reached the £500,000 pledge target. I expect this will be announced imminently and we can surely expect to be contacted by the club in coming days to make good on our pledges.

However, now that we have averted the most immediate danger, there are questions that need to be answered. So I thought it would be good to have a thread to lay these out.

Here are mine:

1. What plans will now be put in place for raising the second £500,000 that has been widely mentioned?

2. Can we be assured that the second £500,000 will not involve selling our most valuable remaining assets, i.e our most promising and talented players?

3. Is there any realistic prospect of inward investment, and specifically, what is the stance of the current board towards overtures made by Chris Caisley?

4. Will there be an extraordinary shareholders meeting, and if so, when? What are the prospects of resolving or untangling the current complex shareholding situation?

5. What can we be now told about the business plan for creating a sustainable and viable Bradford Bulls as we move forward beyond the current crisis?

That will do for starters. Have I missed anything?

6. Have you really not paid the VAT on season tickets for the last 2 years?

Something that seems not possible really doesn't it - needs to be answered now that the question / doubt is out there.

The answer to 2 is No. Now that the fans are being asked to pay up, it has to remain an option.

Cannot answer as the the truth of the VAT quesrtion, but a quick calculation: last 2 years 20000 pledges ( I know it depends who you believe!) at an average of £100 a go - the VAT whould have been about £360k. This does not sound like one of the amounts being touted as outstanding - so you would assume it was paid.

Also while I would conceed some employees of HMRC could be sufficiently financially challenged to serve on the BoD - I think even they would have noticed this long ago.


Anyway I have paid my pledge, and will be swelling the crowd on Sunday - so lets get behind the lads who are playing their hearts out despite the circumstances!

another thing that casts doubt on this VAT thing is that at time of the first pledge IIRC club stated one of reasons for the ppledge payment deadline being as early as it was, was to avoid the VAT increase from 17.5% to 20% and hence maximise amount club got from the season ticket money.

The main one imo is the medium/long term plans.

Hood/Bennett/Duckett - the info they have put out is that there is a medium/long term business plan which is financially stable. No further details.
Fans - there is a vague possibility of changes to the board, more fan input. Bigging up the pledge .

Caisley & co - they don't have a plan at the moment but will get Tasker/Nobby & an actor in (who is a Bulls fan)to review things & create a plan.
Fans - no mention of fans in his T& A announcement - apart from acknowledging the generosity with the pledge.

7. Is the club really losing £100,000 per month as per the T&A article.

The biggest risk to the pledge isn't claims like that, it's the fact the club are not willing (or able?) to deny them or just provide an full detail of the liabilities that need covering.

Asim, if it's worth anything, Hood strongly denied the T&A claim yesterday.

He needs to deny it in public, not to certain people - there's one poster on here who has admitted to have being made a fool of by repeating Hood's assurances before.

Unfortunately the BOD have put themselves in the position that they are no longer believable so there is no real point in denying anything,

I lose a grand a week according to my bank statement. But guess what, hey ho, I get paid every month. So far, anyway.

Totally cr@p misreporting of what happens by totally incompetent people backed up by a totally useless MP.

8. Why everyone looks to focus on the negatives when the clubs just managed to raise half a million in just over 2 weeks, won two good games and had extensive support throughout.

Read that then think how much more of a prospective investment the club becomes to individuals and businesses looking for advertisement.

There are questions to be answered just not yet, firefighters don't look to point the blame while their putting out the fire.

Atki

The club (as constituted) hasn't raised it, the supporters of the club have raised the money and supporters from other clubs. That is amazing, and a huge achievement, but means little if the owners of the club, as opposed to the supporters, aren't going to use it appropriately and to ensure we can continue to enjoy success on the field - i.e. by selling our best young players to raise the next £500k (as reported by a well respected journalist after speaking to the present Chairman.

To extend your metaphor a firefighter wouldn't put out a fire and then hand a can of petrol and matches back to the arsonist who had just torched the place.

If we were losing that £100K per month it would be £1.2 million over a year and whilst I'm not one of the accounts watchers I don't think they show that kind of loss.