They said in November they had to cut £400k to balance the books from the totally unrealistic budgets they inherited. I believe the real number proved to be rather more than that too.

They HAVE got rid of a lot of people - they left on 12/1 - and cut the hours of others. At all levels too, and flesh not fat. The effect on the coaching and football staff has been prety severe. Go up there mid-evening and you will see the impact on thjpose who are left. I have been to evening meetings there recently, and I can assure you there are folk working above and beyond to keep the place going.

They have done everything to save cutting the first team playing squad, but the cuts - and including ones they will still have to make if they cannot resolve issues - may do very real damage to the future of the club. The one that worries more than a few of us the most is that they may have to close the Tong training centre, which is one of the few jewels in the crown that helps the club compete against clubs with nore money and resources. If that goes, I think the club's future is fekked, tbh. As do quite a few more of us. Unlike so many others, some of us are actually trying to do something about that.

Fear not. The Championship clubs are here to the rescue - to bail out the ailing "Super"League competition. The elite league my ar5e.

i see general bull is posting more moronic cr@p about hull fc and de-railing a thread! an embarrasment to decent kr supporters!


as for the bulls, feel sorry for their fans,rumoured reports stated the players wouldnt take a pay cut so staff bit the bullet!

many complain about london, but how many chances are bradford going to get!?

Well, yes, Bradford have basically gone bust twice in two years, you can wax lyrically about the players that have been let go, but fail to mention those that have come in.

Regarding the proposals from the new administration, well they would say that, wouldn’t they, same as poor Omar did.

They’re hardly going to admit it’s going to be a tough year, what with the reduced sponsorship monies & probable reduced income at the gate, but hey-ho we could have Northern 2015 coming soon to a ground near you.

Ruthless cuts, was that a Freudian slip?

The only thing i cannot understand is the situation re OK.

If he put money into the club when it was in crisis he was in a position to sell all it's assets to get some money back from players to the bulbs in the floodlights.

He agreed to give it all to the new owners in exchange for some money . They reneged on the agreement so the Adminstrator lets the club be sold to a newco.

Surely OK must be able to get some of his money back or alternatively he will be suing the new owners for the money they reneged On ?

400k was the figure I was aware of, though today's figure seems to be 600k+ which raises questions.

I think this is where the angst comes form imo. I find it hard to imagine Bradford would be silly enough to make backroom cuts that would actually eat into the long term competitiveness of the club - though that appears to be the case - which is why the cuts seem superficial and squad cuts come up. I dont know the specifics so either could be true.

Why not cut the squad for the sake of long term running???

Cut squad. Perform crap on the park. Income falls away. Vicious circle. Get relegated. Oblivion. I would guess. Sadler opined on just this point earlier this week.

Have you anyway seen how small the squad is?

Although the Bulls squad will anyway be costing a lot less than those of many other clubs.

And I believe the £400k was before they discovered the £180k loan that Whitcu*t had taken out with the moneylender. Having to repay that means £180k - plus crazy usurious interest - less to spend elsewhere.

none of this is going to get supporters back through the gates (they were around 25% lower then the previous season in 2013). they must improve on the field and get increased crowds as another drop similar to the above could finish them off. lots of pressure on the coaching staff and players then. very much a make or break year with or without a points deduction.
how have season ticket sales gone?

Cut the backroom staff - players can't perform to the standards they are capable of - - fans get frustrated at players not living up to their billing - players get frustrated at being unable to live up to their own standards - crowds drop - players less willing to sign - oblivion.

Works both ways - and it's a hell of a lot easier to bring one or two backroom staff back at a time then playing staff!

Smaller maybe but probably higher median pay - I'd put good money on the highest paid player at Bradford being on more than the highest paid player in Wakefield (for example!)

I thought the whitcut loans had already been discovered and factored into the 400k as it's what made Moore and co walk away on Christmas Eve? Want that the "concert profits"?

Pretty crap, by historical standards.

OK and his merry men made a bollox of it all, despite some good initiatives. And too many fans have not bought season tickets because...well a whole shedload of reasons. Go ask some of them? I have lost count of the number of previous season ticket holders who have not renewed this year but will instead pay on the day.

Which is relevant to the earlier poster who wondered why the club had not slashed the playing staff.

I only bought my season ticket at 4pm on early bird deadline day. What does THAT tell you? And the reason was I had zero confidence in OK and his merry men.

And a couple of hours later, they announced Bateman had been sold...totally unconnected, of course. Pull the other one guys, its got bells on.

So long Omar. And thanks for all the fish.

The GOOD news is that there should be a far bigger walk-in this season. Which means should be better gate receipts for the current administration. Big silver lining there.

The £400k shortfall was announced in November, at a fans forum.

I gather they either did not know about this loan then, or DID but did not include it.

And as for your point re backroom staff cuts...preaching to the choir there mate.

Moor et al walked away in December because they could not get an agreement with OK.

Bradford will still have one or two high-earners under previous contracts. You can't just sack them.

It WAS reported that they asked players and other senior staff to take a10% pay cut, deferred not permanent, to avoid reducndancies. Seems the players declined.

The paradox here, which IMO has no real satisfactory resolution, is the conflict between the need to 'punish' by way of deterrent, and the obvious problem of 'kicking a club while its down'. The RFL would no doubt like to see Bradford recover, but points deduction doesn't help that process. (That said, if there's rules in place they ought to be stuck to). Likewise, if we're being honest, does OK now particularly give a monkey's whether or not the 'new' Bradford loses points? Unlikely, what does it matter to him now? Therefore a points deduction doesn't 'punish' him.

As others have said, the only fair place to apply sanctions is on the individuals responsible. I'd like to see all Directors and Senior Managers of clubs put into administration face a minimum 5 year ban from involvement in the game, with extended bans for aggravating circumstances. No doubt this will prove a little too blunt on occassion, perhaps unfairly punishing the odd person who, say, didn't do much wrong, but it's a reasonable course of action IMO for a situation which has no perfect solution.

I thought they walked away because "new debts were discover which they weren't informed about by the previous administration" - I guess it's all a bit academic in that regardless of when it came to light it all still needs paying!

As for sacking the , I'm sure if you really looked hard you'd find those willing to take on the contracts, but further than that, I would say that carvell is definitely going to be in your top 5 earners next year, in all likelihood, and that contract didn't need to be taken on.

As regard the above post about punishing an administration that no longer contains the perpetrators: all clubs have accepted responsibilities of their players coaches and fans, as well as their directors and owners (it's in the rfl operational rules) - the club could of ceased trading and reopened in the amateur leagues to be rebuilt, instead it took on liability of those who saved it. Unfortunate for the fans, but when you look at the alternates, you take that risk!

As for banning ok from the sport ... I doubt very much he'd get anywhere near another club. Even if he tried, I'd be surprised if he passed the fit and proper persons test again. And ultimately, I'm not convinced he'd care any more than a points reduction if he were banned.

Rights chaps, [url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbulls/10980461.New_Bradford_Bulls_owners_to_seek_approval_of_deal_from_RFL/a bit of bedtime reading for night owls.[/url.

May start to answer a few of your questions.

Note in particular, it was not the directors put the club into administration. It was the moneylender. And that the laon was taken ouyt in teh period when Whitcu*t was the sole director, after OK and the other four stood down and before Moore et al were appointed.

[url www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/s ... _from_RFL/ [/url Quote “The transfer of both the Super League and RFL membership from OK Bulls to the new company is subject to RFL approval. “The points deduction is more difficult because until we see the proposals from the directors, we won’t know if a points deduction is appropriate and how many points that might be.”'" So, much yet to be decided... The final straw for me would be if after winning their first 3 fixtures with the current squad, which completely coincidentally are against their 3 main relegation rivals, Castleford, Wakefield and London, they decide that actually they do need to cut the players budget and sell off a few stars. Compound that with no points deduction from the RFL and they're well on their way to SL survival.

[url www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/s ... _from_RFL/ [/url Quote “The transfer of both the Super League and RFL membership from OK Bulls to the new company is subject to RFL approval. “The points deduction is more difficult because until we see the proposals from the directors, we won’t know if a points deduction is appropriate and how many points that might be.”'" So, much yet to be decided... The final straw for me would be if after winning their first 3 fixtures with the current squad, which completely coincidentally are against their 3 main relegation rivals, Castleford, Wakefield and London, they decide that actually they do need to cut the players budget and sell off a few stars. Compound that with no points deduction from the RFL and they're well on their way to SL survival.

The T&A article makes it clear in my mind that the loan to the security firm was not being repaid. Otherwise, why would they push the Ltd co into Admin?

I also find it hard to believe that the new directors were 'unaware' of this loan. It included a debenture and was registered with companies house on 30th September. But more blatantly obvious would be the money entering the Bulls account on their bank statement and the question every new owner would have: 'How did we pay the wages last month?'

To say is no continuity within the directors during that time is wrong. When Robbie Hunter Paul was appointed CEO on 26th September, Moore and Whitcut were already running the club. This was before the debenture was taken out. If they have chosen not to mention this at the Fans Forum then that's their choice.

The Bulls board have failed to pay HMRC and keep to the terms of the loan from this security company, they have attempted to hide this from their fans by failing to be upfront about it when clearly this loan was for wages, they have broken operational rules of the RFL by not paying and so should suffer the same fate as everyone else - the rule is there to prevent teams gaining an unfair advantage by reneging on debts and dragging the name of the sport down.

All that is without thinking about Omar Khan and his loans/shares etc. He will chase the new company for payment as the asset (the rugby club) has transferred over therefore his argument will be that his charge transferred with it. I can foresee that he will take it to the courts as he appears to be is only in it for himself.

The situation at the Bulls is getting messier and it's going to be messy for some time. They need to get out of the other side of this agreement OK made to take a 50% reduction in Sky money as that will help. But will they be out of Superleague I by then?

I can't wait for the Fax v Bulls derby games to be a regular fixture! It's gonna be sooner rather than later.

Relegation seems to be looming for the Dulls

The statement put on and then subsequently taken off the Bulls website which states that they won't get a points deduction seems to suggest that it surely is a done deal. Conspiracy theorists will have a field day that Bradford simply jumped the gun, and didn't stick to their part of the script that has been concocted with the RFL by announcing this early?

I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if all of this was decided with the RFL's help simply to save face, and this is all be acted out as a way to give the whole thing credibility. Unfortunately, it seems the Bulls press department is as inept as their accounts.

I feel for the Bradford fans who've had to tolerate this circus for the past few years.

"All the world's a stage..."

Absolutely spot on.

It certainly is, and RL comes under which ' genre ' ?

If this turns out to be a 'no choice option' to resolve the ownership and all debts are paid off ( other than OK as we all accept he is trying it on with his investment suddenly becoming a loan) and has been done with the cooperation of the RFL then there should be no sanction.

But if that's the case the OKBulls would have put themselves into admin not the security firm as reported.

For me the scenario I think that would keep most fans satisfied, not letting a club off scot free but not kicking them while they are down would be 6 points deduction, but full allocation of sky money THIS season. A transfer embargo on the bulls so it goes on paying debts rather than playing squad. Thoughts?

The Cougars are ready and able to take over the "Bradford Licence"

Thats a far too sensible idea.
I never understood the logic of financially penalising a club that is already struggling financially?!