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, rla bit of bedtime reading for night owls.rl.

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.