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.

Agreed. However you'll always get thoe who say "speculate to accumulate" as if that makes any sense.

What I think is needed is a more positive line from the club that acknowledges concerns of fans, provides re-assurance and explains clearly that the fortunes of the club are in their hands.

Money is tight for everyone at the moment and I know quite a few who aren't getting season tickets in 2010. I just think that it wouldn't take much from the club in terms of PR to get more to buy them. The current PR isn't going anyway to help the situation, if anything it's making matters worse.

But that doesn't seem how the board want to play it. No, much better to put your fingers in your ears and go lalalalalalalalala and hope the complaining fans go away.

And it's a strategy that's working given our drop in gates.

I mean, this press release says everything the club shouldn't be saying after selling a player who is considered to have the rugby world at his feet. It was a perfect oppotunity to say something like "Yes, we have sold Sam Burgess, but we are in talks with exciting replacements and we hope to be able to announce these players very soon"

I know Hood and the board have steadied the ship as far as finances go. But saving pennies at the cost of losing the club is not what we want to see and sticking your head above the parapit just to shout down the fans who don't want another season of poor performances and disapointement is not the message the club should be sending out. Especially as it's season ticket renewal time.

It just doesn't make sense to me. How can you ask people to fork over their hard earned cash for season tickets and yet not guaratee them entertainment or at least the chance of more home wins than fingers on a blind butchers hand.

I don't want a gaurantee just to see what the squad for next season is and make my own judgement as to how I think it will perform. From last years squad I actually think we performed worse that most thought we would and a lot worse than the club told us they thought they would perform. I trust my own judgement more than what I am told I should/could expect. We might not be experts but most of us aren't stupid. Get the fans back on board Bulls, we are part of the Club after all.......

Well back from a week away to Burgess leaving, no new signings and no news on the OSV (bearing in mind we were told Sept would bring an update).

How depressing.....

Look closely at the article... the only direct quotes from Hood is a load of guff about pressure. The controversial bit is all in the paragraph



This does not contain any quote marks so, therefore, is an interpretation of what was actually said. Given that...

suggests that, as you'd expect, the club is talking to a number players

suggests that, whatever happens, it isn't being done as a knee-jerk reaction to over anxious fans. (An optimistic interpretation being that the club is talking to someone who might fit the 'marquee' description and has been since prior to all the calamity).

We shouldn't have to be looking closely at articles for crumbs of comfort. The club's PR should be coming out with positive PR that doesn't require so much reading between the lines.

It's not [ithat[/i hard is it?

Thats just the feeling i get too.

and b) many on here have chosen to read it as being extremely negative

BUt we keep getting told that finances aren't a problem.

Simon Parker is the T&A's main football reporter mainly for Bradford City.