Now that we know a bit more about the plans of the proposed consortium, it got me thinking about the question of 'expectations'.

It seems self-evident that a significant section of the fanbase are living with the expectations that our return to Super League and the glory days of winning trophies are some sort of minimum requirement. I don't think that's necessarily true for this forum, but you only have to head over to Facebook to see a VERY different approach!

In a way, I think that did for Andrew Chalmers. When he came in, I think he really did intend to run the club along sensible business-like lines. But I think he got carried away with the expectations and the constant reminders of our relatively recent glory days. It's easy to get caught up with it! It's not so many weeks since he was optimistically talking about us getting into the Top 5 and having a real shot at promotion to SL. Was it all bluster? I'm not so sure - I think he genuinely got 'carried away' with things.

You could make the same argument about Mark Green - remember that meeting at Odsal with all that Power Point Presentation guff, with figures about how he was going to make the business viable whilst 'getting the club back to where it belongs'.

Now, of course, there were clearly other issues and shortcomings of the various owners, not to mention some dodgy morals lurking around. BUT I still think this constant mantra of 'we belong in Super League' really hasn't helped.

So, my question is whether this Chris Brereton guy really can manage those expectations better - his T&A piece today does seem to suggest he can. But we did hear similar things from previous owners, didn't we?

And is it now incumbent on the fan base (us!) to stop harping on about 'getting back to where we belong' and 'pushing for Super League' and just accept that we need to concentrate on being a sustainable Championship club, at least for the next 5 years or so? And just forget about SL for the foreseeable...

My preference would be that the club does whatever it needs to do to cut costs. Run on a reduced playing budget but preferably with John Kear still there. On the understanding that for the first couple of years, it's all about surviving in the Championship whilst clearing these debts. No grand plans, no "back where we belong", just we need to get this mess sorted. If they can achieve that, then they can start slowly building up again to a better playing budget when the debts are cleared and the club is spending what it makes rather than what it can't afford.

That would be my preference. I don't care about being back in Super League. If they were to run something like that, I think I'd be turning up when I can even if it did mean a relegation battle. I currently value honesty and sorting out the mess more than I value winning every week and making playoffs.

The issue with that is that I don't feel many will share my preference. If you pretty much admit from the start that you're not looking to challenge for promotion and you're going to spend a lot less on the team, a lot of fans will see that as we're gonna lose most weeks and not want to turn up. Then your attendances drop and you're getting less income.

It's not a position I'd want to be in. I still don't really understand why anyone would want to be in it.


Oh and if they do use the term "back where the club belongs", I'll be out immediately. That term is worse than the C word to me.

Do Championship clubs have to run reserve and academy teams and the rest?

Maybe they should go if we are cutting our cloth accordingly?

I certainly think it should be considered

I seem to recall that we have to have Reserves if we continue to receive Academy Funding.

Maybe we should just forgo the Academy for now? Especially since we just usually end up developing players for other clubs anyway.

I realise that this view will be tantamount to heresy for some, but some tough decisions maybe need to be made?

Probably should if survival is the only aim.

Agreed with that. From what our friends at Wakey have posted I think CB really will look solely at the cold hard numbers and then worry about the rugby side of things after the numbers stack up. There will inevitably be people whinging about that. Even this week Mick Gledhill had the cheek to say that "asset stripping wouldn't wash with bulls fans" stirring the pot. But I think most fans will accept the position we're in. I certainly do. Pay the bills and try remain a Championship side next year

A very big ask next season if we have already spent our allocated funding and also have to finance the Club's debt. Some challenge that.

I've never expected miracles. A half decent championship side, getting their wages and paying the bills and I'm happy.

I've never felt that SL is truly achievable without some 'fairy godfather' with lots of cash to waste/burn and the way the cookie seems to be crumbling, with ever more very well funded clubs like Toronto seemingly on the horizon, it's certainly not looking any easier going forward. Talk of SL is just a distraction to what we should be thinking about - as above; paying the wages and bills. I'm not sure just what some fans are on, tbh.

Nobody WANTS to lose the homegrown players. We all want to see Matty Storton and Rowan Milnes in the first team for the next 10 years and helping the side do well. But it's about priorities. And if selling those players in order to get the debts cleared and get back to a level playing field where the club can start paying bills properly, then frankly I'm OK with that. As long as they're up front and honest about the reasons.
Those who it "won't wash" with, are presumably the ones that would rather we keep their favourite players and end up in financial oblivion again.

I completely agree.

If I needed to have a leg amputated to save my life, I wouldn’t want to lose a leg but it would be necessary.

No one wants to lose our best players or our homegrown products, but if we can’t afford to keep them then that’s preferable to admin / liquidation.

Selling off the assets just to pay the poor creditors is a short-term, sticking-plaster palliative that does nothing but for a short time stave off the evil day. If we're down to that, we may as well pack in now. If the new boys are serious then they need to pay off the debts and leave us broadly where we were, squads-wise. Anything less is no good.

If the Bulls ever become a club with no ambition and settle for being a part time also-ran, just to survive, that may be fine for some, but not for me. I would much rather they went extinct, leaving me with the memories, than became another Park Avenue (with all due respect for the people who run that organisation in the backwaters they occupy).

And I am resigned to the seeming fact that without the hackneyed sugar daddy or mummy (where's Mandy?) there is no way of being a contender, and our recent experience is the blueprint for serial bust.

And I am also resigned to the fact that for whatever reason, no people with serious money fancy being the Bulls supremo. So that's probably that, unless my Euromillions comes up. For which I'd need to buy a ticket.

It's difficult to suit everyone, to be fair.

In terms of the youngsters leaving, I think we may have to bite the bullet. For sure, I'd prefer them to be playing for the Bulls but the reality is that, at the end of their contracts, the better ones will leave for SL and then we'll get nothing. If getting some cash in now means the academy can carry on, so bringing the lads on then I'll live with it - not with any enthusiasm but if needs must then so be it.

Short term we need to balance the books, stay afloat, stay out of admin and avoid relegation. Then CB should have a handle on affairs and we can slowly start to build. Sounds simple, problem is last 4 owners all said this but we have to hope at some point we get someone capable. at least this fella seems to have a trackrecord of achieving this

its kind of sad to see that you think that way but I can only dream of the success of what Bradford has had in the past but I wouldn't my club just to disappear that's not supporting your club is all about, so if you survive and go part time and then manage to get back into super league are you going to leave then come back when things are fine and dandy

This was one of the things that p!ssed me off with the AC era. We had "fans" from other clubs saying we had to cut our cloth at the same time as we were told by the RFL that we had to play at Odsal and run an Academy.

With regards to managing expectations that is very difficult. You have to offer people more than just survival if they are expected to trail to Dewsbury every other week.