Similarily to Mr Haggerty and despite what many think of me and my opinions on here , if this is a loan from the RFL to protect the demise of Bradford [ possibly due to the image rights issue then fine , the RFL have covered themselves by taking the lease as callateral to ensure it shouldn't end up being a total loss

But once again it is the pathetic attempt to cover it up , using the ' Historic Odsal ' disguise

Odsal isn't historic , the name is , the stadium isn't , we no longer have the historic Wmbley , it is just the name ,

So why try to hide the truth , it took all of a few hours for it to surface

So Bradford were in the brown smelly stuff , the sports governing body has helped them out , there are implications to it , both for other clubs and the licencing process

Does it affect my club ? , no , am I allowed an opinion on it ? , yes , was it ultimatley the right thing to do ? , yes

But stop trying to hide everything , we are plainly not as stupid as you think we are , and assuming that just makes you look more stupid than you actually are

Your a pompous git at times

but you're not wrong on this.

I wish Bradford all the best, most clubs have found themselves in this state ay one time or another or near permanently in my own clubs case and it's not nice. No idea what London have to do with this and I'm sure as hell not a friend of the great experiment.

In this case the RFL is doing it's job in a sound manner - so why the need for the ludicrous spin I really don't get other than maybe they can't admit that even in the modern age of SL a flagship club can falter badly. Now that's a bit sad.

My only reference to London (inter alia) was in pointing out that this is hardly the first time the RFL have helped a club, and that the help can be far wider than just direct financial.

Incidentally, this looks increasingly like a commercial deal - RFL pay Bulls a capital sum up-front, in exchange for the right to future annual rentals - off ANY tenant, of course. It may well meet the Bulls' immediate needs, but at the expense of the future. Looks and walks and quacks to me very much like a normal commercial "sale and lease back" . Sell it for cash up front and pay rent in future.

hardly a "bail-out" there, then? Just a win-win for all parties (except the likes of those who seemingly wanted us out of Odsal so they could get hold of the Odsal site from the council and redevelop it). And as long as RL is played at Odsal, the RFL are guaranteed a future income stream.

So, basically the RFL have bailed Bradford out, I don’t have a problem with that, jeez, they did the same with Crusaders, which to the more realistic of us, was just suicidal.

However, by purchasing the lease, they have made a precedent and also the club are now gold-plated regarding future licensing. I would have been more at ease if they (The RFL) had just loaned Bradford the money.

Er...if it is a reasonably commercial sale-and leaseback, it can't be a "bailout".

As for precedents, I could argue that the situation regarding Odsal is pretty unique, lending itself to a pretty solution. Others would doubtless disagree.

That's only true if the RFL have taken over the upkeep of the stadium. All the information released so far doesn't seem to support that idea.

The timing and apparent rushing through of this deal makes me wonder if Bradford are the first of the big SL clubs to have the HMRC image rights payment demand drop on the mat ?

But Pearson at Hull would likley contend for that one.

As I said about 800 posts back, Bulls are PROBABLY the only club with a: big bill and b: no rich owner/funds in bank to pay it. That likely makes the Bulls' situation fairly unique, and therefore the solution (if such it indeed is) equally so?

Oh come on Adey, it’s just a dog by any other name, if Bradford weren’t cash-strapped why else would the RFL intervene?

By the sound of it they’ve only acquiring the lease, it’s hardly going to be a cash-cow.

I agree though, Odsal is unique, but not in a good way

.

Pearson made a smart move by breaking ranks and making a voluntary disclosure which effectively enabled him to negotiate a smaller settlement and time to pay it, rather than sitting back and waiting for the inevitable.

With regard to the Bulls, I would not be at all surprised if the 'predatory' moves against the stadium were in fact from HMRC if it became clear that they had no means or future likelihood of paying the bill. It was recently announced that HMRC asset seizures have risen by over 400% in the last few months, so it is not beyond the realms of possibility.

There's a lot of explaining that needs to be done by the RFL, and a lot of questions to be answered. Here's just a few:

What was the purchase price?
What is the rent payable?
What obligations have the RFL taken on to maintain or redevelop the ground?
What are the RFL's plans and aspirations for Odsal in the medium/long term?
Why haven't the RFL intervened to save other SL grounds from being lost to developers? (If that was the purpose of this).
If any financial subsidy, direct or indirect, is being given to Bradford, why ahs that not available to other SL clubs in the past and will it now be available to the likes of Wakefield and Castleford.

And just a couple of corporate governance points (though it's hard to imagine anyone at HQ will even have heard of the concept

):

How did the RFL deal with conflict of interest issues when approving this deal?
How will the RFL deal with conflict of interest issues in relation to Bradford going forward? In particular, will it hand over the licensing system to an entirely separate body? If not, how will it ensure that it is seen to be independent?

The lack of transparency from the RFL would be astonishing, if it weren't for the track record of those in charge of the game in this country.

This is the only issue for consideration , everything else should remain between the RFL and Bradford