Whats that got to do with the price of cheese?

Something seriously does not add up here.

If the club is insolvent then the sale of the lease to the RFL may be challenged, unless it was at market value.

If the RFL paid market value (presumably a reasonably substantial amount given that RBS were apparently relying on it for security) then what happened to the cash?

If the proceeds went to pay down the overdraft RBS could hardly complain (if they did they'd be admitting they overvalued the lease for security purposes).

I suspect there is more going on here than we yet know about, further details may emerge of this latest bit of wheeling and dealing in the RL world.

Yet one of the press reports say that the long term liabilities of club are covered, also saying Peter Hood is throwing out mixed messages saying they are at deaths door or not

Still maintain the RBS are forcing them into admin by demanding there money back which in my own experience will be in an unreasnable time scale therefore looking more likely more tax payers money will be wrote off were as with a little bit of clver business thinking the could recoup there money long term

Surely if they were in so much financial trouble then the cheap season tickets over the past 2 years werent the best idea? They obviously wouldn't have shipped as many but less tickets at full price would likely result in more cash than lots of tickets at 60/80 quid?

Over on the other Yorkshire forums, there is little sympathy for Bradford's plight and a more narrow minded "serves them right" and "who can we get on the cheap from this" attitude. I find this almost more horrifying than the prospect of losing one of the best supported teams in a league where only 5 clubs out of 14 managed to average more than 10,000 per game.

The RFL need to be better informed and better prepared to deal with this type of situation as it devalues the game as a whole and puts a risk future sponsorship and investment. Whoever has been running Bradford has some questions to answer regarding how much of a surprise this is. Also, if the RFL took ownership of Odsal when it was considered by RBS as an asset, then it's not surprising the overdraft has been cut.

I just can't see how it has been allowed to happen with the franchising system etc. I get the feeling there was a monty pythonesque sketch when licences were applied for.

I do know that last season 90% of the salary cap's across Super League were used with the bottom 4 clubs spending up to 79% on average.

Since 2003 the top 4 clubs in Super League have been spending around 98% 99% and 100% of the cap each season.

If the ground was used as collateral, RBS would have had a lien on it. The money from any sale would have gone direct to them.

RBS, along with most of the other banks carried out a strategic review of their liabilities. Anyone, personal customers, businesses, governments, whatever, the risk of default was calculated and lending facilities adjusted accordingly. The bad thing about this was that companies, individuals didn't get any notice and real draconian rules were brought in. If sufficient guarantees weren't forthcoming then overdraft facility's were severely limited or withdrawn altogether. A shed load of businesses went bust with full order books, merely because their cash flow position went ar*e up. Not saying this is the whole case surrounding Bradford but things that look pretty bad at the moment can turn rosy in a few months time.

It's looking increasingly likely that an HMRC liability is about to hit the fan, hence the sudden urgency. If this is the case and the club is liquidated, no way should a New Co. be allowed to continue in Super League as this is tantamount to financial doping, with state aid to run a club. Any New Co. should be made to start in Championship 1.

103k raised so far apprently....

They've got a way to go, but they're doing pretty well.

Hope I'm wrong, but I can see it tailing off a bit after such an amazing start. It would have been nice to see the 'rugby league family' rally round Crusaders when their financial problems were made public.

or they want their money back first, the RFL loaned the dulls some money last year, bradford turned round and said they cant keep up with payments so the RLF took odsal clearing the loan but not giving enough money to sort problems.

and lets face odsal would of been the security on any business with RBS so as soon as bradford sold they have come in for their money

Interesting. If true then an administrator or liquidator might seek to challenge the sale of the lease as a preference. This could get quite messy for the RFL.

£103k so far is excellent but they still have to find a further £397 in the next 8 days. This also leaves them needing a further £897k by the end of April, quite a staggering sum really.
An HMRC bill gives the impression that they have been taking PAYE from their emplyees and not paying the Revenue but using it to run the club. If that's the case then the BOD don't deserve to stay in charge at the Bulls.
The RFL/SL need to put in place stringent financial controls to ensure clubs have to maintain a viable business. Whatever is in place now needs to be replaced by something that will stop this state of affairs happeneing again.
Wakey and Cru last year, Bradford now.
That's just not good enough!