Then if no one is/was prepared to put cash in, then to live within your means assets have to sold. Wakefield sold Aiton, Amor, poore , smith, and cockayne and let Tuson move on before his arrival. Bradford tried to keep their unaffordable squad together, until Carvell and Sammut saw the light. London have done likewise. As the RFL state why should Bradford be any different?

But Adey's point is that the company they were TUPE'd too never actually bought the club so they are no longer part of the admin. They are now part of a failed buyout.

This is a real minefield and could be a big problem.

If the SL licence now reverts to OKB Ltd in the hands of the administrator, which doesn't employ any RL players, then how will they field a team at the weekend ? Furthermore, if I was an affected player, I'd be seeking professional advice regarding the insurance situation if they played for a team that wasn't owned by their employer. If they are employed by BB2014 but play for OKB then who has the liability for their injury and income protection insurance ?

BB2014 is not in administration. OKB is. And it seems it is the administrator of OKB that is now running the club, since BB2014 has withdrawn its offer to buy it.

Who the hell holds the SL Licence, God knows. It certainly is not BB2014 Ltd.

But whover it IS, has no players and no staff. And there is no way that the staff can be TUPEd back to an insolvent company in administration.

This looks set to be the most unholy mess. And the players and staff are right in the middle of it all. It is their lives that are being screwed with, and their lives that those who seek and have been seeking perdition for the Bulls would seek to damage.

Big respect

If they haven't bought the business, there is no TUPE

This is getting really juicy.

That is not what they and everyone else were told.

In other words you are enjoying this? It's just so I know what to put on the ban form.

WOW. not really looked at it like that.

I cannot believe how badly this has all been handled. No one is going to come out of this with any credibility at all.

Or a job, if it carries on the way it is heading.

If that is the case then surely all of the players now become free agents as their "employer" can't guarantee their future employment or the honouring of their contracts ?

Couldn't it be possible that the offer was better for the administrator, but not actually for the club?

ie. MM offers to pay £500k to the administrator, but this is as a loan investment which will be paid back to him out of Bulls income.

RL offers to pay £100k to the administrator, all from his personal funds, with no liability on the Bulls for this.

The administrator would have to take the first option wouldn;t he, his responsibility is to the creditors rather than the club going forward is my understanding.

I can bet that most Wakey fans think you'll be okay on the pitch. Beat us at Odsal and you're only two points adrift and with a better points difference.

So if there is no TUPE how have the RFL sanctioned Carvell's ability to play for Hull. By your argumnet he refused to accept something that has not happened. Hull should be docked a quadrillion points for fielding an ineligible player.

I was thinking a similar point, surely when the administrator accepted BB2014 as the best offer for the creditors, he would have to see proof of funding wouldn't he? But for the RFL, I really struggle to understand why they want us to fail (which it looks like at this moment) as they own the lease and if no one is playing there, it is a very expensive hole in the ground. Really raw emotions at the moment, and struggle to see a good outcome unless Lamb has a really cunning plan.

RFL wanted Lamb who is talking a good game to anyone who listens instead of BB2014 who have made them look foolish. Thus they have made it difficult for BB2014 to continue. IT is to be hoped that a) Lamb follows through and buys the club, b) the players agree to be TUPE'd yet again, c) Lamb actually has the backing he has talked about. Feel not only sorry for the rest of the fans but also the creditors, they can say goodbye to their money ( just as an aside this could also include season ticket holders)

I would imagine :

Newco offers him a contract ("we're buying the club so you will Tupe across one is all finalised anyway, so sign up with us now"icon_wink.gif

Carvell refuses.

I'm not denying a new company may have offered players contacts, and such offers may have been accepted, but I can't see how any of the contract transfers are under tupe if the business hasn't been transferred.

Perhaps the Newco were operating under a licence from the administrator which has now been rescinded, with contacts vesting in the company in administration?

The 6 points is fair enough, it is in the operational rules and it is right that they are applied. The halving of sky moneywas agreed by OK as part of the deal that retained the Bulls SL staus last time so it had to be stuck to, whether you feel it is right or otherwise. It was the cloth that needed cutting to suit and it wasn't. The special measures is the harsh bit, but surely that was just while the takeover was ratified after last weeks bidding process. It would have surely been removed then wouldn't it?

What I don't get is the dummy spit from your board and their statement regarding relegattion being a certainty. That is far from the case and is a convenient excuse to use to withdraw their bid. So much for them being Bradford fans with the club at heart, they have now left you most of the way up that famous creek with the paddles long since sold to someone else.

As for the players did they actually ever TUPE over or was this Moore jumping the gun when the club entred admin? Or have they been employed by OKBulls all along pending the bid being accepted and ratified? If so then they can carry on for now, although i'm not sure how the Carvell situation works in all this. The players could now though be sold by the adminisration to raise funds for the creditors and to pay ongoing bills whilst reducing costs. If not and they did transfer to the new company then surely now they are free agents as the company they are 'employed' by in effect does not exist as it has no SL licence and they cannot move back over to OKBulls whilst they are in administration, it is a total state of limbo. What a utter mess and I feel for the players, staff and their families at this unsettling time.

Guys, I feel for you. I hope you get the ownership of the club sorted as soon as possible and can concentrate on the rugby again soon.

Good luck

First of all, the 6 point deduction I can agree with the special measures is OTT for me, coupled with half the TV money is almost an impossible position to operate in. As a Leeds fan Bradford point deduction won't effect us (hopefully!!) I can understand fans from teams in direct opposition being secretly happy with Bradford's current predicament, but I find it quite disturbing how much glee some are taking from this. Regardless what old owners and potential owners have and haven't done there are a lot of innocent people stuck in the middle of this who don't know where they are and if they can pay the mortgage or not, or support there families.
As I say I can understand some being secretly pleased but not the revelling in others misery.

Regarding the players, surely they frantically looking for clubs, having been through the last few years you couldn't fault those who are able to get employment elsewhere going?
Good luck, I know your squad is paper thin but thought without all the off field issues you have a good enough squad to stay up.

You're putting words in my mouth.

This

I feel very sorry for the Bulls fans I am a Wakey fan with no axe to grind... but but there seems either an incredible lack of competence and or wide boy businessmen trying to blag their way to success.


the punishment is pitiful compared to that which was allegedly threatend to Trinity earlier tlast year. Although i think the actual outcome would have been something like the Bulls are undergoing now...


I really do feel for the fans.. I have been there and know... and its twice in a very short time now for you guys. I think the opportunity to stabalise and cut the cloth to suit, may now be passed... but I hope you can regroup with some genuine skills and expertise and come back stronger..

The special measures are also in the Operational Rules and are invoked when a club goes into administration owing HMRC money. We know from today's statement that they owe £170k to HMRC. During the period of special measures the business has to demonstrate over a period of time that it is paying its liabilities to HMRC in full and on time. They are allowed to sign loan players but are not allowed to commit to the expense of signing permanent players. I know for a fact that Whitehaven were in special measures for 9 months after they were bought out of administration. It's not a new punishment specific to Bradford Bulls.

Christ, what a shambles.

I detest modern sport. I hate it. Every year for the past 10 has been one financial crisis after another for the teams I seem to support. Maybe I'm cursed? I honestly thought that sport couldn't get more surreal than transfer deadline day at Elland Road but the goings on at Odsal always seem to try and go a step further.

RL, just like half the other sports out there, have sold their souls to television to the point that half the clubs are unsustainable without the money they receive which just isn't healthy. Even then it looks like you can only be really financially secure if you have someone stupid enough to pump their own hard earned money into the club.

I dare say there are other clubs out there who would struggle without the Sky money, but unfortunately it seems that we're the only ones who they choose to punish in this way. Whoever comes in (if anyone) will essentially have their hands tied from the start. It's easy to say that we don't have to pay the creditors now, but surely it's not that simple both morally (ha ha ha!... morals! But in all seriousness, they have employees and people depending on them too) and also due to the fact that we will still need services and products to operate as a club that we will have to source from either the current creditors or someone else?

Meanwhile, the people who (on both occasions) have taken the club into administration trot off over the horizon. What punishment do they receive?

What a stupid way of running a sport.

Maybe we'd be better off joining the RFU instead, after all I hear they allow broken time payments now...!