Well, if the RFL decide to sell the lease to the ABC consortium I wonder if we’ll get to know how much for.

It took them long enough to admit to the £700k loan, then all the nonsense about ‘Iconic’ stadium status, complete with a further lump of cash.

I’m sure, whatever the financial loss to the RFL, it’ll have all been worth while.

We are family

This


You may have hit a nerve with this one.
Are the consortium really committed to RL at Odsal or, is there some other reason why they would want a huge, largely under develloped site in Bradford ?

They could have made enquiries in private before going public. They could have stated that they were interested in buying the club but would need [iclarification[/i on Bradford's SL status and the lease situation before finalising their plans. That's just off the top of my head.

I realise this is largely semantics, but these kind of things can scupper deals when badly-worded staments are made to the media.

Has the deal been agreed? No.

Not accepting a deal isn't the same as rejecting it out of hand. There are always options.


My guess would be they're discussing a way to agree a deal without appearing to accept a conditional offer.

I never said it was a deal killer, just that it's put an unnecessary hurdle in the way.

Fair enough, but as far as I know the consortium haven't made any public statements. All of the comments in the press appear to have been made by the Administrator.

Interestingly, and perhaps worryingly, he still hasn't made any comment on the nitty gritty of the offer. How much if anything they propose to pay creditors.

Really? You now actually propose that :
"We will not accept a conditional offer"
...means "We might accept a conditional offer"?

It's different, I'll give you that!

It's not difficult. They haven't accepted a conditional offer, but they might well be in a discussion that will result in an unconditional offer being made. Which they could accept.

It could well be that the details of the bid are covered under a confidentiality agreement. And there could be perfectly valid commercial reasons for doing that. Or maybe those details will depend on the outcome of the meetings currently taking place.

Someone is telling fibs here. www.superleague.co.uk/article/25 ... -for-bulls www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... -for-bulls Bradford fans must wonder what the hell is going on!

Someone is telling fibs here. www.superleague.co.uk/article/25 ... -for-bulls www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... -for-bulls Bradford fans must wonder what the hell is going on!

Quote ="Anakin Skywalker"Someone is telling fibs here. www.superleague.co.uk/article/25 ... -for-bulls www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... -for-bulls Bradford fans must wonder what the hell is going on!'" Bizarre. Mind you, Guilfoyle has previous for odd things happening during an administration of a sports club.

Quote ="Anakin Skywalker"Someone is telling fibs here. www.superleague.co.uk/article/25 ... -for-bulls www.sportinglife.com/rugby-leagu ... -for-bulls Bradford fans must wonder what the hell is going on!'" Bizarre. Mind you, Guilfoyle has previous for odd things happening during an administration of a sports club.

The articles read as if Gilfoyle is acting as the conduit for all communication between ABC and the RFL. If true that's a recipe for confusion and misunderstanding, particularly as Gilfoyle has his own agenda. They need to get all three parties in a room together.

Absolutely. In fact I can't understand why that hasn't happened already. It's all well and good following the strict protocol of everything passing through the Administrator but surely pragmatism has to be applied here?

Do we invite all the other creditors too? This is an Administration process - technically getting the best deal for the creditors who have been screwed over. Those with Rugby League close to their heart are forgetting this. The strict protocol has to remain - it's what happens in Administration unfortunately.

Maybe so but, if there is only one deal on the table, then they will automatically be getting the best deal for the creditors, regardless of how good the offer may seem.

If the RFL were just another creditor then I'd agree. But it isn't. It's the governing body of the sport that the Bulls - in whatever form they might go forward - play in and it's decisions/opinions will directly impact any buy-out. In this instance it seems to me that a small amount of flexibility would help.

Just out of interest - how does the administrator get his fees? If they liquidate, how does his firm get paid? If they're bought out do the new consortium pay the fees? They're pretty steep too I'd imagine.

The administrator get's his fee before creditors receive anything from the assets of the business.

Yep, they get the first slice of the cake, then probably the bank and there is probably no need to go any further down the list.
In some cases where a company has not already drowned, the preferential creditors will be paid up and what is left in the pot is shared, by percentage, amongst the rest.
Usually though, there is nothing left to share out.

So the administrator must be collecting fees now? If Bradford are bleeding money he's not going to wait until the liquidated end when there could be nothing left. I'll have a google at it all - fascinating stuff.

Obviously he cant work for nothing and he will make sure that whatever happens, there will be monies available to pay his fees.
If a buyer isn't found and the business is liquidated, then everything would be sold ie players and any other assetts so there is no doubt that they the administrator will be paid.

No one in their right mind would buy a player from Bradford at the moment and to be honest even the players would be better waiting to get a bigger signing on fee.

Except the creditors will need to be convinced that the best solution is for ABC to trade the club out of difficulties. I have seen administration rejected by creditors because quite simply, they want their money NOW

Thats not going to happen here.
IIRC itb was HMRC that issued the winding up order and they have agreed the extension and there is no point in any other creditors tring to wind them up.

When is an offer in fact not any offer at all?

Answer: when it's the "offer" for the Bradford Bulls.

"a spokesman for joint administrator Brendan Guilfoyle, of The P&A Partnership, said the offer from ABC was only an “indicative bid” and a “starting point for discussion” rather than a formal offer."

27th of July is a few days away.......or will there be yet another extansion on an extension with a bucket collection as well