Sounds like the perfect crime to me..............

Out of interest do we know where the club is in its quest for the second £1/2m, has it just stalled? I know fans are still doing bits James@odsal for one!

That's an interesting point Badger because it could easily be exactly the opposite. It could be Hood saying that Bateman is not for sale and if Caisley comes back then the onus will be on him not to sell. My feelings are that Hood will not sell, whilst making sure everyone is aware of the offers and then if CC comes back then he will have to make that decision, which if it is not the one the fans want, will immediately turn them against him and the Atkins/Bridge scenario will be brought out again, probably quite rightly.

Mick, if £250k saves the Club, then I'm sure the Bulls' fans would be prepared to raise that amongst themselves (again) rather than go into admin or sell Bateman. Going into admin would, I understand, lead to the sale of players on the cheap - catastrophic for us.
What about the Board launching a £ for £ investment arrangement between fans and investor. Get an interested party to invest £500k on condition that the fans raise another £500k. Surely an interested party would find a £1 million fund (from a committed fan base)attractive for a £500k investment. Conversely, would Bulls fans want to raise (again) £500k if they knew an investor would match it? I'd want to pledge again.

PS Bateman was advised to hold on until next year before re-negotiating his contract which is only sensible.

Having just given more than I could afford to something that was sold and heavily implied to be precisely that situation then they wouldn't get another penny out of me.

Must admit, im quite suprised we have made a bid after im sure i read something Tony Smith saying that he wasnt into taking advantage of a club in difficulty, im sure around the time Wakey were having issues.

What i would say though, if it wasnt for Wire selling Scuthorpe and Harris years ago, it was very possible the Warrington would not be in exsistance!! Needs must when clubs are in such a postion.......

Guess time will tell.....

That's the key point. Personally I hope Bateman stays with the Bulls - Wire have plenty of young back-row talent anyway. It remains a fact that selling Scully and Harris kept Wire in business, though, which I guess is why it might happen at Bradford.

Well we do know there was a bid in the past before any of this came up, and there's nothing there saying the other bid wasn't an improved offer at some other time before any of this came up.

vbfg, the last pledge was more of getting out of the clarts. This would be putting the Club on a prosperous financial footing and would help to ring-fence our young talent - too much of which is already in the other team's colours.

Fair enough, Smith strikes me as a man of his word, so would be logical, but who knows what goes on behind closed doors.........

I think he's a great prospect, and hope he stays with you guys, but if he did come to us obviously that would be a great signing for us.

Do you think?

I'll be fuming fi we sell Bteman after i've pledged. The main reason i pledged was so we didn't sell our young players.


I do feel sorry for Hood inheriting Caisleys mess and then taking all kinds of flack, but is communcation skills are appalling. Talk about fuelling a non-story. Expect the Wigans, leeds, Hulls, to start circling.

I realise that mate but it was heavily implied that there would be the remaining 500k to follow by both Duckett and Hood in the papers. Maybe they lied, maybe they were overtaken by events. Don't know, don't care.

Many people have given more than they could afford in a time of financial strife for all and sundry. I personally wasn't but I know some that were convinced by those heavily trailed implications of outside sources of funding in the papers to pledge in the first place.

I'm afraid that bolt has already been shot.

Selling your best home grown players only postpones the agony and is not a sustainable way to run a club. If the club can only pay it's way by selling whatever decent players it develops then what's the point in pretending to compete in the top flight? Fact is we need a backer or some big sponsorship deals to compete in SL. Without one we're finished.

Yep

john bateman‏@johnbateman1

Paper talk nowa days, lol love to no who's writes these things

Retweeted by Bulls Media

As has already been said, Peter Hood says these things then Journos write what he says. Are you getting this John??

I wouldn't quite agree with that, what is true is without a backer or big sponsors we can't compete at the top level. But on crowds of around the 10K mark we could certainly compete in the bottom half of the table, it's just that that's not our own self-image nor what we want.

Speaking of what we want, if you become a selling club then the slide into obscurity becomes inevitable. The gates quickly dwindle from 10K to 6K to 3K to less and the lower leagues would become the only option. It may be a bit chicken and egg, but ATEOTD it would not take long to get to a situation where only the hardcore few turn up to see us getting embarrassed by top teams full of our own ex-stars and starlets.

It's bad enough even now what with the ex-Bulls legions of the likes of Bridge, Atkins, Menzies, Pryce etc etc etc but at least we have some outstanding young lads of our own. If we start getting rid of them, then there is, ultimately, no hope.

As a concrete example, what you would make on a sale of (say) Bateman now, you would more than lose on 2013 season ticket sales.

As you say crowds of 10k would dry up fast if we became a selling club (some might say we became one in 2005/6) and our status in the bottom half of the table would quickly be in doubt, we've certainly been on a steady decline since then.

The point about season tickets is well made. There's a terrific sense of all being in it together at the moment but that could be blown out of the water if we start selling the club's future.

You obviously don't know much about journalists then. PIck up any paper - and especially rags like The Sun - and you'll find any number of made-up stories on any given day of the week.

Thats why they are regularly printing apologies - albeit in tiny type on an inside page.

Totally agree the sun is a load of crap most of its lies and entertainment for the reader

I am one of john's biggest fans and love the idea of him (been an homegrown player)compared to the likes of andy farrell, but surely if we have to sell him to help save the club then its a no brainer

. At least if we get into this mess again he will be able to sell his challenge cup winners medals and super league winners rings to help us out (

) before all you easily offended people comment its probably the only way in the next few years he's going to get any silverware i'm happy to follow a club of mediocrity than none at all

In that case I look forward to reading Hood refute this idle speculation and put everyone's mind at rest.

Before you say it I know the club can't be going into print about every rumour but here the chairman has been directly quoted. So if it's made up then the chairman needs to say so.

As a result of this quote everyone's getting worried, particularly so given the situation the club's in.

Time for a press release providing some re-assurance. Or if that's not possible then one saying that whoever is waiting in the wings needs to get off their backsides.

Rumours like this have dogged the club for years under Hood because we simply haven't held the initiative in the media. Frankly our communication is crap.

Beyond crap. Self destructive.

Because you don't understand cap finances?

Bateman may be on buttons so a little cap space + ability to move on a junior player could well make it easy for many clubs to sign JB. With the contract offering bigger bucks in 2013 onwards.

The Giants have never paid large transfer fees - certainly not the amount Bateman would justify -Davy does not do it.

This article looks like an agent (or possible the Bulls) trying to push up transfer fees / contract payments.