and he's reverting to form on all boards rapidly

Blimey. If I had said that I would have come under hasty fire from some on here.

There was a journo, a lawyer and an accountant........

[url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbulls/4658060.Bulls_won_t_be_bullied_into_making_big_name_buy/Bulls won't be bullied into superstar replacement[/url

I just hope the 'two in the pipeline' are quality players. This article didn't exactly fill me with any optimism! If the club are genuinely expecting to be challenging for the play offs then it is the very least we need. At present we're years away from being able to compete with the top teams.

Completely agree. That to me reads "prepare to be disappointed with our squad next year".

Or perhaps we're already tied into deals with two NRL players. It will be interesting to see what happens to the cash from the Burgess deal. I can't think of many.. if any good quality SL players who are still out of contract for next year. So are we prepared to target players under contract?

I think that's probably our only option.

The only thing we'll have on a few clubs is that we can probably offer the targeted player a bigger salary as we've loads of room at present due to having half a squad!

A lot of clubs won't have the same level of turnover we're having so may only be able to offer an incremental rise to the player we target.

The two guys from the NRL - Kearney / Walker (if indeed it is them) will hopefully be confirmed soon. Pick up one or two players to bolster the squad who are out of contract and then target one player from another side in a position we need to address, be that prop, half back or centre being the likely areas.

Might not exactly be what we wanted but if we get the "squad players" on short term deals i.e. 1 year, we put the onus on them to prove they are worth a longer deal - it's worked in the past - James Evans was a player most would have thought was absolute garbage before he signed, but he proved to be a great squad player.

Gone are the days of having 1-17 of international players, with a few on the side.

Didn't know we were in for Deleney! Is Hood just offering all these players the minimum wage?

What about Jodie Broughton? Currently in talks with Leeds apparently but with Hall and Old McDonald they surely won't be able to keep him???

A good buy IMO!

At the moment i have less optimism by the day for next season.

I'm fully expecting the squad to be worse than this years and this years wasn't even playoff worthy.

Just all seems a bit pi$$ poor from the Bulls lately even if hands are tied. I didn't expect such an exodus of players.

If we really have signed Walker and Kearney surely we'll be announcing them as soon as possible? The longer we go without hearing anything the more I fear that those deals have fallen through. News that Tadulala is next to go is yet another blow.

Today's stories in the T&A do nothing to encourage me to look forward to 2010 at all. Is there no positive spin or reasons to be cheerful at all? We've only had negative news from the club in the past few months, coming on top of a poor season it just makes things worse.

We obviously have space under the cap for at least three top players. I'm beginning to wonder though if the club have the cashflow to actually pay for those players and the reason we haven't signed anyone is that we just can't afford it.

If that's the case I fear the worst.

The same thought has crossed my mind.

Perhaps we should declare financial difficulty to the RFL and ask them to give us a big hand out like Celtic?

I dont know...

people ask for the club to be honest, Hood is honest and people still moan.

Bring back the good old days..

next mondays press release from Duffy will be announcing record season ticket sales compaerd to same time last year!

I do hope the Club are not trying to play mind games with this "We have 2 in the pipeline but won't be bullied into make star signings rubbish" Because if they are and are sitting back smuggly and thinking we'll show them when we make an announcement in 2 or 3 weeks, they may find poeple have found other things to spend their hard earned cash on. Also people who are holding back until the announcements are made won't have the wool pulled over their eyes by someone telling them how well we have strengthened the squad with journeymen. They also may just decide they can't go through another season of torture and false promises, after all Xmas is just round the corner and times are hard!

Tbh this article just puts one image in my mind. It's of Peter Hood stood on the centre spot at Odsal sticking his fingers up at all the fans.

I said before the Burgess signing was offical that the club needed to do damage control. Stating "We've sold our brightest young player but it's up to us if we can bothered to replace him. You plebs in the stand better shut up and realise who's in charge here" is not damage control. Crowds are already dropping and as good as Hood might be at holding on to the purse strings, he seems to have very little knowledge of what is needed to make a sports team successful either on or off the field

I just wonder if the club is actually doing anything to bring in replacement players at all? The stuff in the press suggests otherwise, unless the club have taken a vow of silence where the press is concerned. McNamara has been away on a post season holiday and has only recently returned to discuss next season's squad. It all seems rather too laissez-faire to me.

I expect record season tickets sales - a record low!

Unless we've no money to offer which would explain the lack of signings.

If we don't bring in any more replacements and instead promote about 7 juniors en masse it looks more like a desperate move forced on us by financial restrictions.

i dont think we were , i think hes got mixed up with Daryl Millard

If that's the case it just pokes holes in the "We're making a profit and finacially we're rosey" line and the sale of Burgess has popped the "building for the future" bubble

TBH i'm scared for the future of the club.

TBF no-ones ever said financially everything is rosy. We may be making a small profit but that's because heaps of cuts have been made and the accounts take into account our fixed assets such as they are. Our main problem is cashflow and it could be the very reason we haven't filled up the spaces freed up under the cap.

You're not the only one who's worried. I suspect if it gets really bad we won't find out until it gets really critical. Back in the late 80s many suspected we were struggling financially but it wasn't mentioned by the club until Jack Bates came out in the T&A and announced we were 48hrs from closure.

I'm only guessing at reasons for the lack of positive news and new signings but the silence is increasingly loud. I hope to be proved completely wrong very soon.

[ias long as season tickets sales hold up[/i

I think that is the correct situation at present. All the cost cutting over the last couple of years was to get us into profit and spending within our means. Which by the sounds of things we had achieved - until we had a below expectation season. In any business cash flow is King. At this time of year - season ticket renewals is cash flow. If Hood gambles on some big signings to encourage season ticket sales which don't materialise - he is gambling with the future of the club. If he waits to see his income before signing players, there might not be much left to sign.

Usually I wait until the early bird deadline to get my tickets but I think I shall get them next week instead

Trouble is you then end up with the situation of No new signings = less cash in season ticket sales = no news signings = poorer performances = less cash = no new signings etc etc

This situation continues until you have no club

I'd join you in that hope, but my faith in the club and it's board is rapidly waining.

There's an old saying about how when life gives you lemons you should make lemonade. However it seems to me that for the bulls, when life gives you lemons put them in the team

The trouble is, the longer the Clubs lets things go without making any announcements the the worse things will look. We really do need to get some serious media management going. Positive news, positive stories. No news, rumours building and the odd sarcastic comments from Hood "we won't be bullied" don't add to the Clubs credibility. Come on Bulls sort yourselves out and give us some hope for next year!.......

PMSL......

Wow talk about a 'prepare for the worst' statement.

No wonder people think we are having huge financial difficulties.

Im not sure everybody is wanting a star signing (as im not sure that would do any good), what we need is 4/5 solid SL/NRL proven players at a high standard to complement Halley, Langley, Donaldson etc and the players promoted from the academy.

It is true, for any sports club, that as Bullseye says there is a clear vicious circle in terms of fans/gates/signings/performance/fans/and so on.

The trouble is that many fans expect - nay demand - that someone -anyone - comes in on a white stallion carrying unfeasibly large pots of money to pour into the club and "make things right" - yet while at the same time many hundreds or thousands of stayaways are NOT prepared to continue to make their own small investment into the club to help make things better.

A clear case of double standards by some.

BTW I should immediately make it clear that (a) I am NOT one who believes [ianyone[/i has any obligation to spend their money at Odsal nor should be criticised if they choose not to, and (b) those who hope for an Abramovich or even a Whelan are pie in the sky dreamers.