So Mr Chalmers has raised the possibility of the Bulls leaving Odsal before next season if discussions between the RFL and Bradford Council don’t go as planned.. Bluffing or a serious move? So where would be the most likely destination if it were to happen? Given the RFL seem happy enough for some other clubs to play out of facilities barely resembling a stadium I would guess Horsfall would satisfy requirements with some minor adjustments? Google suggests it current capacity at 3.5k which is already close to our average crowds, is there space to increase that to closer to 5k without too much in the way of work to be done. Other options would likely be Dewsbury groundshare given our good relations with their board or perhaps the least popular with many fans a return to VP... https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... xt-season/

So Mr Chalmers has raised the possibility of the Bulls leaving Odsal before next season if discussions between the RFL and Bradford Council don’t go as planned.. Bluffing or a serious move? So where would be the most likely destination if it were to happen? Given the RFL seem happy enough for some other clubs to play out of facilities barely resembling a stadium I would guess Horsfall would satisfy requirements with some minor adjustments? Google suggests it current capacity at 3.5k which is already close to our average crowds, is there space to increase that to closer to 5k without too much in the way of work to be done. Other options would likely be Dewsbury groundshare given our good relations with their board or perhaps the least popular with many fans a return to VP... https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... xt-season/

Best get it sorted out before the season ticket offer is released. Best make sure its in Bradford as well if they want to sell more than 2000.

Wonder if they’ll consult with the supporter base? I’m not against leaving Odsal if it needs to happen but I must admit I am in the anti VP camp. Although it was a long time ago, I didn’t enjoy our stint there last time. And that was in the days when we at least had a decent crowd to give it some atmosphere. Personally speaking it’s quite a bit further to travel and the location isn’t somewhere I choose to venture to if I can avoid it.
I know Odsal is a big mostly empty old stadium but it’s our home so it’s easier to overlook it’s obvious shortcomings.

I’m also not overly familiar with the layout of Horsfall, is there enough space to erect some semi temporary seating, similar to what they had at Hull KR a few years back?

I have no problem playing at VP. Simply because it's an improvement over Odsal in terms of the actual state of the facilities. And IF franchising comes back into play, the only negatives that Bradford would face would be the financial issues in our recent past and the state of Odsal.
But I think this is more a case of Chalmers doing what the City board have done a few times with regards to VP. He's gambling that he can get a better deal.

Horsfall is as good as Toronto’s ground.

suspect theres a bit more to it than trying to get a better deal this time. There was a report came out of RFL a few weeks back with a list of their objectives for the year. one of them was selling red hall and odsal. Was discussed a bit on totalrl forum but never picked up on here. That combined with statement from RFL about talks with bradford council and Bulls re odsal a few months back suggest there's likely to be some movement. Don't think its a coincidence that Richard Dunn site becomes available in the autumn and all the talk about putting another retail park on their has gone silent. 10-12k expandable stadium on their funded by sale of odsal site would be best outcome for us I feel.

Beyond the fact that, if true, this idea must have had a far longer gestation period than appears to be the case. I've heard nothing. It is very late in the day to suggest moving for next season, given the logistics of it. It's not come from Boris Johnson, has it??

I’ve heard it’s a lot further along than suspected. RFL are the holdup, possibly under pressure from membership to chisel more out of the deal for themselves. Council have signed off on it

If that's correct then let's hope the RFL continue to be a road block. Not that I'm against a new ground but it seems our considerations won't have been considered in the rush to push this through. Have we made any contingency plans? Has the club even been given timely information on all this in order to make such plans?

Again, I'm not going against any plans, as such, but we're likely to get stuffed in all this if we're not careful.

Horsfall isnt big enough with a capacity of 3000/ 3500
VP is far too big.
Dewsbury has been muted but id hate to see us move out of the city boundaries

How about moving 10 miles or so to the north west of the city for a season sharing with our friends at Cougar Park?

There isn't another venue that ticks everyone's boxes but surely staying in Bradford is a must, and by Bradford I don't include Keighley.

For what it's worth I suspect that BMDC would like to see us move into VP so they can unlock the value of the Odsal site in some way. That's something they've been keen on since the last plan fell through in 2002. As we know VP has its limitations and unless we were equal partners with City it wouldn't even begin to work. The RFL purported to see Odsal as "iconic" and wanted to safeguard the playing of RL there but the people in charge at the RFL have since changed.

Horsfall doesn't come close to meeting our needs.

I just hope Chalmers knows what he's doing and that's assuming he's operating in the club's best interests and not part of some byzantine plan to realise the value of Odsal with his chums that enabled him to become club owner. I may be overly suspicious but the circumstances of him becoming owner did pose a few questions that have never really been answered.

If one ignores the conspiracy theories I'm not sure what influence Chalmers can bring to bear. We're not the power we were and even back in 2002 it wasn't enough to get the Council to play ball. Now we're more dependent than ever on BMDC and the RFL so we're really powerless in this situation.

Do you mean signed off as in building a new stadium?

Regarding the council Bullseye, I think they're more supportive of us now than previous. They really put a lot of effort in to get the RL Museum here. Pointless if they then don't want to see their own RL team flourish.

I've heard lots of rumours about a agreement whereby if CBMDC move us out they need to provide us with another place/stadium to move to.

1) Anyone know if this actually exists
2) As they don't own VP can they force us there if the agreement exists?

Who knows what’s in the fine print?

I imagine the RFL won’t give up the leasehold without getting back the value they paid for it or the clubs will be up in arms.

I imagine that the Council would like to unlock the value of the Odsal site if they can considering the current financial situation with austerity cuts etc.

The Bulls aren’t the big deal they once were.

As things stand the club is clearly not spending anything above the absolute bare minimum on ground upkeep. The place looks a shambles. I fear if we got promoted we’d have to spend a lot more (floodlight improvements, turnstile servicing etc). Short term Odsal is tolerable. Medium and long term it isn’t. I’m sure Chalmers knows this but it’s not a priority for the Council when they have bigger problems like not being able to fund social care and other first line services.

Don't forget that the RFL wrote down the value of the lease not so long ago. With that in mind I think it unlikely that they will get back what they paid for it, although it's hard to know for sure with such limited info being available to the public.

We’re in the dark that’s for sure. We can only speculate on the motivation for that article from Chalmers.

As things stand we’re at Odsal next year whatever he says in the T&A.

Wasn't it said the first, second fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth time it was raised that VP playing surface isn't actually big enough. Moving there would be the final nail in the coffinof any hope of return to SL.

A few SL clubs have playing surfaces less than the dimensions in the rulebook IIRC.

At present Odsal’s floodlights aren’t SL standard.

I think that decision day has to be looming large because for the Bulls, it's all about sustainability and the stadium itself is looking as if it's had enough. With team strengthening much needed to progress also a consideration, investment has to be very much ongoing, but the stadium remains a drain on revenue.It seems we will have to rely on new partnerships to move forward.

Speculation indeed. Here is my speculation;

Nigel Wood takes a big part in the decision to pass ownership to Chalmers/Lowes despite there being bidders with a less dubious track record.

Nigel Wood resigns from RFL.
Nigel Wood turns up at Odsal and invests
Nigel Wood wants his money back as he wants out - so we have to sell Oliver Wilson to pay him back.
We now have no backer.
Rotund toe rag gary Schofield is telling that we are about to go into admin again and players wont be paid this month.
Same source saying players considering signing for us are holding off.

It stinks and its stunk from the day Wood imposed Chalmers/Lowes on the club.

If the speculation is correct - the same organisation that chose our owners will do it again and deduct us 14 points - back in league 1?

For me that article is utter tripe and he knows exactly that - there is nothing in the pipeline.
I wonder if the never ending, farcicle circle of utter incompetence will ever be broken.

Got any sources for all of that?
Also it's Lowe, not Lowes buddy.

Bullseye wrote:
We’re in the dark that’s for sure. We can only speculate on the motivation for that article from Chalmers.


Speculation indeed. Here is my speculation;


Rotund toe rag Gary Schofield is telling that we are about to go into admin again and players wont be paid this month.
Same source saying players considering signing for us are holding off.

Lowe then FFS

Oh so most of it is just your speculation? Damn, and I thought I was pessimistic

Well I did say from the outset - can't do much more..

It may be I'm being realistic and I'm also suspicious as I have been from day one of the takeover.

The stuff churned out by Chalmers over the past months does nothing to change my view.

I have no idea where Gary Schofield gets his info from and I wish he would stop being given air space and inch columns to spout off too.

I absolutely hope I am miles off the mark and we continue on with new signings to bolster the squad and some light bulbs so we can see during the early part of next season.

Schofield really, really dislikes the Bulls, but luckily his predictions are 99% wrong.