I've been saying that the Bulls were on a downward spiral since 2004. Very few on RA&B would listen. Most Bulls fans were happy to bury their heads in the sand (which is pretty much what the club itself has done ever since it scrapped its own official message board!). They couldn't see the plain facts that the team got worse every year from 2004 onwards (statistically and aesthetically) and that the 2005 unbeaten run and GF win was merely a temporary blip in the downward trend. Even this season, you get loud-mouthed s on RA&B, shouting down any criticisms of the club.

Personally I became increasingly demoralised by the club's inability (or unwillingness?) to right the ship and infuriated by their nonsensical, short-sighted squad decisions (* see below) and irritated by the ignorance of my fellow Bulls fans. Consequently I slowly cut down the amount of supposedly [iscare-mongering, negativity[/i that I posted on RLfans. Furthermore, being unable to justify the expense of attending matches that I did not enjoy (and did not think the club had any interest in trying to win) I decided not to renew my season ticket for 2009 and only went to a handful of games. Sick of the stunning ineptitude of McNamara's regime, I haven't been to a single Bulls match this year. I might go to some matches next year now that a new coach has been appointed.

In answer to your question, "what has gone wrong?", the club has been run into the ground by morons and fans have stopped going to watch the rubbish they produce. At the end of the day, rugby league is a form of entertainment and if the standard of that entertainment is slipping year on year, fewer people will fork out to watch it.

(By the way, your comparison to Wigan's 2006 crowds is slightly flawed. Firstly, Wigan hadn't had year after year of being boring to watch. Secondly, Wigan had the cash to make big money signings, both on and off the field, which reinvigorated the club and kept the fans optimistic. Thirdly, in 2006 there was the prospect of relegation that...which is exciting in itself. Bradford's slide into mediocrity has coincided with the SL's expansion and the lack of relegation, so at Odsal there's absolutely nothing to get excited about.)


* e.g. signing Iestyn Harris to replace Leon Pryce and Chris Bridge, selling Ryan Atkins, signing Terry Newton, signing Toa Kohe-Love, swapping Brett Ferres for David Solomona, signing Marcus Bai, signing Marcus St Hilaire, signing Adam Watene, signing Chris McKenna, keeping Paul Deacon for so long, letting Ian Henderson go, signing Chris Feather, signing Tame Tupou, selling Shontayne Hape part way through a season etc etc). The list goes on...and you can see the goddamn awful rlcurrent squadrl (containing wasters such as Worrincy, Sculthorpe and Sheriffe) that has been steadily assembled (disassembled) by the respective coaches and chairmen over the last 6 years. Not only did these wasteful decisions have immediate negatative effects on the standard of the team, they made any half-decent players disgruntled and unwilling to stay at Bradford and they made any right-thinking fans wonder at the wisdom of a club that allows decent players to leave while ing away good money on overrated, overpriced, inferior replacements.

That's true. You can add Scruton and Kearney to that list. There are the pieces in place for the Bulls to rise again, at least in terms of playing staff. It's no coincidence that we were in 4th spot and still in the cup at the half way point this season. But our paper-thin squad meant that injuries to key players shattered the team and selection of players out of position did nothing to help stem the tide

Well, I reckon you've got the right man in Potter to start the rebuild. I'd also say that, even though I thought you played badly against HKR, you still scored 24 points, which shows the squad still has some abilty. I think all the bulls fans agree there's a bit of dead wood to be stripped off the playing squad, though.

I'd no idea about that to be honest but remember it being very vomit inducing at the time.

In a way it's been a shame for you longer term that your new supporter base had so much early success. I wonder if this current drop in form would have had the same effect on your support?

Vomit-inducing doesn't even come close - and we had to live with it!

I think it was cause and effect. The earlier Bullmania support base built up as the club invested the Sky money far more sensibly than most - into coaches, marketing, infrastructure, youth development (where Bulls had been dire) etc rather than joining in the player salaries arms race that absorbed so much of the early years SL money at big clubs that should have known better. Instead, the Bulls selectively picked a number of key players form other clubs who together meshed to form a team as strong as any in the competition.

So this led to success on the field backed up by a huge marketing drive and effort off it. Now wonder the crowds soared.

But even then, the signs were there that it would be hard to sustain. Look at 1998 - lots of injuries, too-high expectations, disastrous marquee signing (do they ever learn...?), the froth had already gone off Bullmania, even then.

My guess is that had the massive marketing effort off the pitch not been matched with the 1997 carry-all-before-us performances ON the pitch, then we'd not have seen crowds anything like those we did. And the whole huge gamble might not have paid off, and sponsors and everyone else might soon have decided the bubble had burst. Just my opinion, mind.

Fortunately the bubble did not burst. 1998 was a lean year, but things picked up again.

Until, for whatever reasons the money ran out...

I would say that is a fair assumption. The whole off-the-field activities of Bullmania, such as significant investment in marketing, merchandising and the 'game day experience' concept also coincided with the club's first Wembley appearance for twenty-odd years and first silverware for sixteen years.

Although I'd gone to a couple of games in previous years, I first really started going to watch Bradford regularly in the 1997 season as a 13 year old. The fact the 22 game season began with a 20 game winning streak was pretty amazing and it used to be awesome going to Odsal, watching us destroy teams with so much stuff going on around the stadium. If 1997 had been a 1998 style season and 1998 was the same, I don't think it would have been the same going to Odsal and I probably wouldn't have gone back every other week and still be here 13 years later (albeit, not necessarily going back every other week!).