Without Nigel Wood and others, the club would of gone into Administration again in 2019, it appears Nigel Wood can't win as if he didnt step up he would of got blamed for it, now he has stepped up he is getting blamed for it, look at the accounts under Chalmers and what they are now. With the introduction of the squad booster and a limited budget on players it appears we are now trying to manage on an affordable scale, you then get fans complaining we aren't spending enough which is what caused the problems in the first place.

The recruitment can’t be left at the door of Sawyer and Wood. You can argue the signings are where we are as a budget but we surely have to be as happy as we can be that we are (I hope) living within our means

He's the reason Chalmers owned the club, if in fact he actually owned it all. People from within the RFL coughed 'Nigel Wood' whenever Chalmers and the Bulls were mentioned, for instance when he arrived from NZ without the money to open a bank account so had to use the RFL's account for season tickets. He's neck deep in this going back 9 years.

I don't think they are unreasonable expectations.

Personally I think as 2020 was an enforced fallow year for the Championship, its given the illusion that the club has been stable for 18 months. Whilst other clubs have used it as an excuse to regroup and crack on - what we have needed for a long time - it seems everyone from the board room down look to have been happy with the bare minimum.

Given we have a speedway fan group begging for money to repaint Odsal, I'm not convinced money is being funneled into the stadium

Could be a long old season. A mid table finish is looking pretty good right now.

Bit of a bizzare statement to suggest people would have blamed Nigel Wood for not stepping up in 2019. The only person to blame if the club went into admin would have been the people involved in running the club at the time. Surely that wasnt Nigel, was it....?

I haven't seen any complaints asking us to spend more money, more to be more considerate on the money we do spend - eg Danny Brough?

We cant be accused of not spending money. Brough and Murphy wont have come cheap. However I think the main issue again is a bloated squad of average at best unproven players.

The squad is Kears responsibility, as is the "tactics" we have continued to use during his time.

I get stability but on the field we are a sinking ship and no 38yr old is going to stop that when the other players around him arent up to the job.

Plenty of squads that cost far less look much better at this moment in time.

Sheffield and Swinton are a prime example of this. Their squads looked fitter and more creative than ours on what I can only assume is a smaller budget than ours.

Yep I agree. It would seem that we have spent disproportionately across the squad as things stand. No point bringing in Danny Brough if the pack is unfit and lacking quality. Unfortunately we look to be carrying few passengers and John Kear has to take responsibility for that. He is in year 3 of his rebuild so he will need to get this bunch playing for him or the pressure will mount. It's still early days so I'm loathed to press the panic button but we look a long way behind a lot of clubs and it is difficult to see how we can turn things around in such a short space of time.

He was involved in selecting the owners yes, he did attend Bulls games from January 2017 as was seen on a regular basis, What I am getting at is without him stepping up to Full ownership we would of gone into Admin in November 2019, another 12 point deduction or relegation to League 1(which would of got carried over due to Covid-19) or no one came in and the end of club again. Would you prefer a year where we finish mid table or bottom of the league and relegated?

I appreciate what John Kear has done for the Bulls but I think we need to look at a younger coach with fresh ideas. E.g someone like James Ford or Danny Ward other clubs seem to be going down that route Eamonn O'Carroll at Newcastle and Rhys Lovegrove at Keighley. Lee Greenwood at Dewsbury would be a good shout.

I am not calling for Kear to be sacked, he has done enough in the game to be given some time to pull things together this year. I must admit though, over the years I have always seen John Kear coached sides to be consistently difficult to beat even though the rugby isn't always the most exciting to watch. I can live with that if it gets results, but I'm not sure he ever quite achieved that so far at the Bulls. He has often worked on tight budgets as well so he should in theory be a good fit for us.

Hi guys been a while since i was on here.. Wasnt NW reponsible for appointing Mark Green & Chalmers ? instead of the other syndicates including Mr & Mrs Koucash ? Seems to me he orchastrated his rise to chairman a long time ago... interesting to see how this pans out.. He saved us yes he did but we are miles away from being anything other than mid table... agree totally with a new young coach, would like to see Rowan Smith given another go if he was interested.

And a new commercial director [urlhttps://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/19224058.bulls-name-pitts-new-commercial-director/[/url

With regards to NW he was part of the RFL hierarchy at the time though I'm far from sure it would ever have been his sole decision, in fact I doubt very much that it was. That the RFL, as a controlling group were responsible, there is no doubt in my mind, they were guilty as charged.

It's hard to know but he was effectively the RFL so I'd say it's at his door.

There was an article in the T&A which quoted Chalmers saying Rimmer and Wood told him in the December before liquidation that he and Lowe would get it but they'd have to ride out a couple of bumps first.

If we end up a cock up like at Fax we'll not come back.

The worrying thing now is, after watching the CC this weekend and seeing where the other 3 SL championship winning clubs are, I don't think I'd care. There's little skin left on this dead horse.

I'd say Wood's tenure has absolutely no bearing on whether we 'come back' or not. This club's chances of being back at the top of the game died a long time ago.
The money is gone, the crowds are gone, the quality players are gone. This is what we are now, a mediocre championship side.

Unfortunately correct. The young players coming through now barely remember us even being in SL never mind when we actually won anything. We've become like Huddersfield were in the 70s/80s, a side that was great years ago, playing in a museum piece ground in front of dwindling crowds. I remember back in those days RL commentators would go on about how good it would be to see Hudders back in the big time and reminisce about players like Lionel Cooper. It was all long before my time. It's getting like that now when us old fogies talk about past players.

That's a very helpful analogy, Bullseye. I'm sure many of us recall standing on crumbling terraces at Fartown, now those crumbling terraces are our own! Another analogy - certainly if we don't get back to Bradford soon - would be Swinton.

The way Huddersfield got out that particular rut was the arrival of Ken Davy with his large bank account. Not sure there's a 'Ken Davy' around for us, or surely they would have emerged sometime over the past few years?

I guess there is some analogy there but I wonder if Hudds will ever get back to where they were? By that I clearly don't mean in the top division but at the top of it, winning lots of trophies consistently, that sort of thing

. It was strange to hear commentators, I think it was on Sky, wondering out loud about who was going to challenge the clubs who have won the championship and, as still one of the only 4 to do so, we got a mention.

Funnily enough a crumbling Fartown was exactly what I was thinking of. A place that had certainly seen better days. As you say Davy was the key for them. We've never had anyone like that behind the club in its entire history. Our successful periods 1940-1950, 1977-85, 1996-2006 were never due to a big money backer so perhaps we don't need one? The success in each case was down to the club having good, trustworthy and reliable people in charge with a vision and the appointment of enthusiastic and highly qualified employees. Names like Harry Hornby, Trevor Foster, Joe Phillips, and Harry Womersley inspired everyone under them. I know Caisley had his faults but he brought in some good people like Peter Deakin and others who transformed the club. We need people like that again. Is Nigel up to task? His record doesn't suggest so and the lukewarm tones of his recent interview don't inspire confidence.

Swinton and maybe Oldham are examples of great clubs that were cut adrift from their communities at the time. I'm not sure either have ever recovered. Let's hope we aren't following in their footsteps, even a period of treading water at Odsal in the mid to lower part of the championship is better than becoming nomads. Some day our Prince will come...

I think Watson might be onto something at Hudders if he's given time. He seems to have that rare ability to get good performances out of average players. If he can get great performances out of good players with the help of Ken's money then they might just win something. Who knows?

The fact that only 4 clubs have won the league since 1989 and only 3 since 2005 is a bit of an indictment of the game over here.

To be fair when I said 'come back' I mean to where we are now, a mumbling shadow of Bradford scratching around for a place to play and grabbing any player that brings their own boots.

I know the games being streamed this weekend, I know I've bought a Season Ticket but I have absolutely interest in watching it. I am disgusted with myself but... I think I'll be turning into a glory support after this season.

Better get a Euro millions ticket for Friday...

Not at all. Our most recent glory period was 10 years long and as Bullseye pointed out, finished 15 years ago. Anyone still watching cannot be described as a glory supporter.

My main issue seems to be there are obviously Stadium negotiations going on in the background, as well as some superficial (paint) and structural (fences and the Touchdown) improvements that Startrax are shouting about. But Bulls don’t do that. There’s no interaction, no info. Dropping to the championship we went from 8k fans to about 5.5k fans, then we’ve lost about 10% a year since then.
It’s as if the directors are expecting to finish the negotiations then go “ta-daa, we’re back at Odsal, we’ll build slowly and sustainably every year, you can all come back now”. But people won’t. They’re doing other stuff now. They’re lost the the Bulls specifically and RL in general.

Spot on. It perfectly sums up where I am. I've stuck with the club through thick and thin but the latest mob seem to take us for granted. That's very dangerous considering many of us have had time to get into other things during the pandemic. I've not necessarily been lost to RL, just lost to RL in this country. I've got an NRL season pass and am really happy with it. The game over here is so poorly marketed I had no idea it was cup weekend last week. As for the Bulls the club off the field aren't making me feel welcome and the on the field the players don't seem bothered either. So why bother with them myself? The club can't expect people to support them out of obligation.

Huddersfield under Watson might challenge for 4th but it will take 2 seasons to revamp that squad. The issue is that very few people in Huddersfield care.
Wakefield are Dewsbury with TV money. Hull KR, a club I've affection for have never recovered from their fall through the divisions. I'm at a loss to understand what Catalans bring apart from a half empty Wembley and a retirement home for ex-pie eaters. Cas without Powell? Salford without Watson? 4 clubs from 89? And one is us.
It's not just dull, it's depressing.