Rangers weren't as iconic as Bradford Bulls.

Merry Christmas everyone.

It's nice to know that satire is alive and well

As beware shadows says you can vet people all you like. But vetting doesn't tell you their future intentions. If you have a man saying they're willing to put money into a rugby league club it's difficult to turn them down. But you don't know what they're going to do in a years time. That's why it's better if rugby league clubs can sustain themselves without the need for consistent directors funds.

If Caddick walked away from Leeds it would make little difference to the club. If someone like Neil Hudgell did it's a potential disaster.

In a perfect imperfect world we could adopt Gutterfax's million pound ' deposit ' system, that would stop all this bloody nonsense, and clubs could concentrate on building themselves instead of lurching from 1 crisis to the next

I do like the concept. But what would stop a prospective owner. Loaning said million against the value if the franchise. Then refinancing against the club. That's what the glazers did to take a debt free man u into a heavily debted club. Sadly sporting clubs are treated as businesses and so all weird kind of shenanigans can be done in the name if a club.

I would still say a breakeven rule needs to be applied. Anything over this should be tied to owners not clubs.

The franchise is worthless , so unlikey any financial body would lend against it

A breakeven rule would be impossible to police , the United deal was probably a one off, only Leeds as a club have any sort of asset that has any real value to borrow against

Just to clarify the million quid deposit/bond thingy....if it had been in place, Messers, (sic) Khan, Whitcut, Moore, Calvert and Watt all have great ideas about rescuing the club and turning it around, but none of them had the courage of their convictions to actually put up some cash at the risk of them not getting it back.
IF OK had deposited £1,000,000 which would have been fed back to the club over the 2 years of the franchise/licence remaining, then you can be damn sure that the "Belinda Carlisle and Rick Astley concerts, the club shop and the coral suite Business Plan" that was written on the back of a beermat and was accepted by the RFL would not have been acceptable to him as a way to get his cash back into HIS account.

It's Ironic that the clubs outside the top 6 or 7 are now starting to realise that "living within their means" without the threat of relegation while they cut their cloth was another massive plus of franchising, just as licencing is about to be binned for the joys of overspending to avoid relegation or to gain promotion and the undoubted financial security that will bring to clubs

I doubt the fans of clubs dreaming of SL fully appreciate the amount of money that it will cost their benefactors to keep them there until they get their average gates up to 10k.....£1,000,000+a year soon adds reality and perspective to chairmen who claim they are "ready for superleague" .
7,500 average at HKR in 2013 will have cost the clubs owners £500,000 to balance the books....it's been 25 years since Fax had an average that large, 40 years since Featherstone got anything like near it.....and with the return of the wondrous P&R there'll only be one short term solution to going straight back down...£'s and lots of them!

Oh dear.

If leaving Bradford in super league means we get another 12 months laughing at what a joke they've become in 10 years since been world club champions, I can live with that

I fail to see why you could not borrow £1 million and then loan that against the club ,when clubs already borrow money loaned against them despite very few having tangible assets.

I think we all agree there needs to be some way of separating clubs from the financial debts of their owners ambitions.

I can see a conversation with the bank going something like:

Bank:'So, you want to borrow £1million? What assets do you have?'
Bulls: 'We own a stand in a ground we 'sold to pay a debt to the sport governing body'
Bank:'So you have previously defaulted on a loan?'
Bulls:'That wasn't us, that was the previous owners who needed £1million to keep going and raised a proportion of that from the fans donations'
Bank:'So you only need £1/2million?'
Bulls: a million please, that money vanished into a hole and they went into administration'
Bank:'so you've been insolvent recently?'
Bulls: 'yes, but we have a business plan now that will ensure survival'
Bank: 'let us see it please'
Bulls' Which one? The one for the RFL, the one for the coaching staff or the real one?'
Bank: 'we have come to a decision on your loan application'

So which clubs have borrowed money? , other than owners/investors putting money into them in the form of a loan?

Loaning to yourself, ie owner to club or personal guarantee of overdraft isnt borrowing with the club as the collateral