Who told you that, someone from the RFL.

Crusaders were in the mire and neither thr RFL or Cru could cover it up any longer. Wakey put in a solid bid based on a new owner and an injection of money.

Its not hard to work out.

It did, the RFL came out afterwards and said that the financial Business plan was "speculative" which is why so many fax fans are peed of with whats happening at bradford as their business plan was clearly doomed from the start and speculative yet KPMG didn't want to or didnt realise this.

It is all one big smelly mess. No wonder Richard Lewis saw the open door and Bolted

Wasn't it the RFL who told Crusaders to withdraw their bid? Not the other way round.

But it seems to me that you're confusing facts with your own opinion. Unless you've actually got both bids in front of you (and that seems unlikely) then you're in no position to comment on who's bid was stronger

i reckon bradford should be handed the same treatment rangers have just been given and be dropped down two tiers so they can re build if they are as big a club they can re build stronger and hopefully get a good backer in the l;ong run

Crusaders and Super League licensing – club statement

Crusaders Rl Tuesday 26 Jul 2011 11:42am

The Board of Directors at Crusaders have today confirmed that the club has not sought to renew its Super League licence for the seasons 2012 to 2014.

It is with regret that Crusaders have had to withdraw their application to the Rugby Football League for a three-year extension to their licence.

The club’s directors will now meet with Rugby Football League officials to discuss the future of rugby league in Wrexham and North Wales following the end of this season.

Crusaders Chief Executive, Rod Findlay, said: “This has not been an easy decision but after a lengthy and exhaustive examination of the club’s finances, our view is that Crusaders is not sustainable as a Super League club at this stage. Every other aspect of the application was strong and we now need to work to ensure that we retain those elements, particularly the community and player pathway programmes in North Walesd, an area where no rugby league was played 2 years ago.



Seems not to me.

It matters not that Cru withdrew the application it was weaker than another clubs, of course thats just my opinion and Cassandra disagrees.


The point is that just because they bailed out does not mean they would have been in.

No offence the Cru but the RFL got this one right.

So they were skint and had very few fans then, that stacks up against Wakeys bid just how.

Jeez they walked before being pushed, and i for one hope they become strong again.

Thats part of the problem though isnt it, they were never strong to begin with, revenue and attendances were never aligned or sustainable, getting people through the door is not the same as having full paying customers.
Its why people find it frustrating that the RFL prefer clubs to have benefactors rather than realistic sustainable business models. Bradfords problems are highlighted more than others because the profile is bigger and so are the numbers, but there is a wider issue for the RFL to try and grasp. They seem to skim over questionable business plans as long as someone picks up the tab each year.

________________________________________________________________________________________________


Every other aspect of the application was strong and we now need to work to ensure that we retain those elements, particularly the community and player pathway programmes
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The BoD seemed to think they had a good chance of getting a licence IMO.
It's good to know they were going to be pushed before they told the RFL they were not going to re-apply . London was skint Bradford are skint they will stay. The Crusaders did the right thing and got demoted two divisions.

Sadly Wakey have been skint far too often but at the time of the last franchise Wakey presented a strong case, it would have been a nightmare for the RFL if they refused us entry only for Cru to fold in a matter of months, they already gambled with London and Bradford and possibly a few others.

Anyway its been a pleasure to discuss this with you and i think i'm guilty of de-railing a Bradford thread