Should be an interesting evening. Especially if we continue on our record breaking losing run.

Saw Peter Hood at Odsal this pm, he said he was looking forward to the Forum, I did say its a pity its not this week on the back of another loss, he said Duffy arranged the date not him. If the Team win a couple of games it takes the heat off slightly. He is also looking to answer questions on the OSV. So it will be an interesting couple of hours!

Remember the one last year after the dross that was Warrington and Crusaders at home but before the fans forum we beat Wakefield.

So fingers crossed it works again and we beat Hull KR.

I thought you were talking about Eddie. My bad.

He can get his attention elsewhere. I guess you were not at the forum, else you'd have recalled the incident, I'm sure. Was especially funny cos Stuart collared Mission and I beforehand and said he was looking forward to a good teasing. He was most peeved when we told him his target had been supposed to be meeting us there an hour previously, but had been stymied by the snow. Didn't stop him from still playing it for what it was worth anyway



So any responsible poster who has gone on record recently saying the club would not hold another forum...you might get Duffied!

(AT least Sam is safe from being teased over the order of the colours now...

)

The snow definitely did me a HUGE favour that day!



I have been assured there will be no repeat when I choose to show my face at this forum

We could all do with name badges at the forum to identify each other!!

Said on the Pulse this morning that the Forum was tonight.

No one's going to tape this then?

So who has sent what questions in for this?

Me, but I hold little hope it will be read out.

I was in a cynical, seething mood when I wrote it but the question is simply to Robin Hood:

'Tell the fans, after dismal onfield performances and the club apparently lacking any movement in the right direction, why we should renew season tickets?'

I'm hopeful that the recruitment of Mick Potter will help create some enthusiasm for season tickets for 2011. Not sure what Hoods answer will be, but I hope the hardcore supporters stick by the club during this pretty terrible period. The best way to support the club is by renewing.

They probably won't answer leading and near-rhetorical questions framed in that tone. Would you expect them to? If they DO answer it, expect to get an ear-bashing, I'd say.

Rephrase the question in less confrontational terms and you'd have more chance of an answer, IMO. Give it a go?

These are mine:
1)At the beginning of the season, we were told that the minimum expectation was a decent cup run (a final I think was mentioned) and the play offs. Do the board feel that they should have acted earlier and more proactively when it became apparent that this minimum target would not be met? Why was no action taken when it was clear that this target would not be met?

2)As with any business, the key to success is attracting and keeping customers through offering them a product that they want. Instead of blaming the customers for no longer having an interest in the product, do you not feel that you should be trying to offer your customers incentives to watch? And if so, what incentives are you offering fans to return or renew?

3)Do the club have any intention of spending the full salary cap next season? The supporters were promised that the full cap was available this season, yet have been misled. Are they going to be short changed again next season or will the full cap honestly be available in order to attract some quality players?

4)What is the long term future for the club if crowds stay as they are? How long can they club sustain such figures?

5)Do the club have any plans to engage the help of the supporters? There is many out there who have fantastic ideas, who have useful skills, who have time to offer and who are desperate to help the club in any way they can. Why don't the club take advantage?

I would say a number of those are framed as leading or rhetorical questions, and so might antagonise them a bit? Statements like "short-changed" and "blaming customers" would be hard for anyone to stomach reading them out as a question to answer. As Ii said to Aaron, if you go in confrontational surely all you risk is a robust response?

Just my thoughts, anyway, FWIW.

Peter Hood said the measure of a successful season would be a top-4 finish and a major final - so a bit more unequivocal even than your recollection. And, by those standards, clearly an admitted failure! One of my questions (not sent in yet...must do tonight!) is "You said that earlier this year the measure of a successful season would be a major final and a top-4 finish. Will that remain your measure of success for next season, or has this season's outcome changed it?"

He also said at the pre-season fans' forum that the club would NOT be spending the full salary cap (the expenditure on Tong was cited as a major reason, with comments about having funds available mid-season if opportunities presented themselves, but I think most people got the coded message that the funds just are not there? OK this was not made clear when people bought their season tickets, if that is the point you are making. Another of my questions is "Will the club be able to make the full salary cap available to the head coach next season, and if so is the club budgeting to spend the full salary cap?".

They might of course answer "it depends on how many season tickets we sell..."

I take your points Adey, but I've already sent them! I will just hide if they read any of them out and start looking for me....

The "blaming customers" bit though...they have come out and done that. They have criticised fans for not going. So I think the point stands.

And I personally feel short-changed. We bought our season tickets last December in good faith, expecting full investment in the squad. We have not had that.

Not saying you are not justified in holding those views - and you are very much far from alone. And I was shocked to hear the salary cap comment at the forum. Telling the fans the consequences of not going is nothing new - have you read Caisley's Chairman's Statement in the 2003 accounts? (In fairness, Peter Hood's are far more diplomatic and reasonable). I guess its the same point for the club too - its all in how you word the point!

Just saying that if you want your question used, its probably prudent to frame it in a way that makes it easy for the club to use it, and not in a way that just gets it off your chest. That's been my experience, anyway.

Chris Caisley once called the club that embarrassing name "the people's team". His reasoning was fair enough though; there are no financial big hitters in the background and it is the people, the fans, the ones who turn up to watch matches/buy merchandise, who finance the club.

If people who used to be fans no longer want to come, well that is their decision; there is a recession on and there are many other calls on people's cash and we're not playing well either. It's never been compuslory to attend matches, and of course 'gates' always drop in those circumstances, and yes it's up to the club to attract them back, without attaching blame.

The difficulty is, the one thing which might attract them back, is the one thing that their non-attendance is helping to prevent; having a successful side out on the field. We're not paying the cap because the money isn't there to do so, if a sufficient number return that might change, and though it might be an STO (STatement of the chuffing Obvious) I don't actually feel there is anything wrong in pointing that out.

Peter Hood is a long standing fan of the club, he took over as chairman at a time of crisis, and if occasionally statements are of a fan rather than the more diplomatic ones from a chairman, well so be it. As one fan to another I can fully understand his frustrations with the situation. Though, yes it's pointless giving statements which antagonise the very people you want to become a part of the solution, rather than remaining part the problem

I'm not sure I can empathise with the "feeling short changed" to be honest. Sport is a different transaction to any other in life, unlike going to the bank where the interest is very specific or buying in a supermarket where it's weighed to the gramme, in sport we have a 'special relationship' with 'our' club rather than a business one.

Personally, I buy match tickets and goods from the shop, lottery tickets etc because I like watching rugby and the Bulls are my team. There are no guarantees with sport; whether we spend the full cap or don't, win the league and make me very happy or don't make the play-offs and leave me a bit less happy, it really just doesn't matter, and whatever, the Bulls are [istill [/imy team.

I think most fans reading that paragraph will wholeheartedly agree with the sentiments expessed!

If you don't have the bad times you will never fully appreciate the good ones, just ask the older Northern fans! The problem with a lot of the stay away fans is that the majority of those came during the "Glory" days and don't have it in them to tough it out like the hardcore fans, these things are cyclical and the good times will come round again, but I agree it's no fun having to grit yer teeth, time and time again, but as a true fan you do!

Amen to that

I agree and I also think the board have taken a longer term view than fans who think we should go out spending money on players we can't afford.

As I've said numerous times - things are bad now and may be for another year or two, but the reward is worth waiting for - we've seen it before with other clubs in the not so distant past.

So long as there is a club left in 2 years.

Exactly. It's all very well saying "You should stick with the club through thick and thin" but the fact remains we are in a recession. People haven't got the disposable income they had 5 years ago so you can't expect them to play SL prices for a Championship product and that's what the Bulls have been producing for the last few years.

Sub-par on field performances will always have a detrimental effect on crowds. You have to give value for money.

I feel the club made a mistake in giving McNamara such a long contract given that he was a rookie manager at the time. IF we'd been bringing someone like Tony Smith or Daniel Anderson to take over from Noble then that sort of contract would be acceptable. But for someone without any head coach experience? Poor choice by the board.

A lot of fans were voicing their dissatisfaction with McNamara yet the board chose not to act. In many ways it could be considered they stuck their head in the sand and hoped the problem would sort itself out. This, combined with the increasingly poor on-field results has left a lot of fans feeling burnt by the club for their lack of action. Yes we may have a shiny new academy with all sorts of potential superstars just waiting in the wings. But I don't think that would have changed by having a different coach in charge. The club has stated that they need to invest in the youth teams. The thing is, we're all aware of it on here but how many of your average fans are? Cos really, we're a small minority of the fans on here. So if your average fan doesn't visit these boards how would they know that we have these great young players on the verge of breaking through? Tbh the club has been a little coy on the front of really pointing at the academy and saying "These are the lads we're going to build the Bulls resurgence on, but you must give them and us the time to get them ready"

A lack of communication between club and fans is, IMO, another contributing factor to our declining crowds. More so now as the fans no longer want to hear what the club has to say after what is perceived as 5 years of failure and virtually no interaction between club and fans. Yes, there's been the fans forums, but how widely are they advertised? Sure they're on the website, but how many people who don't visit this site or the bulls site on a regular basis know that? Or know about or attend the forums? Not many would be my guess.

The club may be rebuilding well in terms of young players, but it's got a hell of a long way to go to rebuild off the field in terms of getting the fans back through the gates.

I think the club has been right to look long term in its planning but I have questioned at times whether the balance has been right. I wonder if we've put too much into the kids when we see the first team go 10 matches without a win due to a lack of cover for key positions.

It's all very well building for the future but sometimes you can take your eye off the present.

Sure we've been unlucky with injuries but to go into the season with only one recognised bona fide halfback was a big risk.

While we have a shiny new training base it's yet to pay dividends on the pitch and it doesn't put bums on seats here and now.

Although there are a couple of points of opinion in there where I'd have prefaced a point with the word "perceived" (by the fans), I have to say that that piece is as good as I have read about where the club stands with the large majority of the fans, and how probably most fans I speak to feel. Sums it up very well, I'd say? Definitely deserves a





And for another reason. A group of us are having a chat with the club tomorrow, with this whole issue of engagement with and motivating the fans high on the agenda. I think you just wrote there the basis of what we need to talk about. Critical but constructive, and highlighting what needs to be addressed. I'm printing it off and taking it with me - hope you don't mind?