To paraphrase: THis has been one of the longest death scenes since watching a play wot Ernie Wise wrote. Not sure many supporters can be bothered with the fight for existence any more. Can't we just ring EXIT in Switzerland

At the time they took it on it seemed sensible to believe that the RFL might use the stadium for finals in the academy and amateur game and perhaps move their headquarters to a very handy spot off the M606 - bang in the middle of the heartland.

Hindsight says in saving the stadium for the sake of the game they've actually made things worse.

Would it not have been better to have started the club again in League One at Horsfall?

Good point MBB

It's really not so very long ago that apparently Carter and Hudgell wanted to buy Odsal

Well, come on then lads, here's your opportunity. Let's see if you got the money and the vision to do it - or whether, as most of us suspect, it was all a lot of hot air designed to annoy Andrew Chalmers

That wasn't a choice given to whoever took over in 2017. It was Odsal or nothing.

Their assertion was that SL clubs should by it, to safeguard the investment made on behalf of the game (saving the iconic hole in the ground), which they feared would be lost in the event of another Bulls mismanagement.

Looks like they were right to be worried.

THIS

I don't "get" Chalmers, but I agree that you have to trust him.

He knows the real ins and outs, the costs and the hurdles.

Like Carter at Wakefield, I'm sure he has the Bulls interests close at heart.

Mick has just put on Twitter that we're paying Dewsbury £2k per game.
So that's £26k a year not counting any cup games - so off that's hell of a reduction in outgoings. Sort of explains why the re-signing talks have been put on temporary hold as we work out new budgets meaning we're likely able to better hold on to some of our players as well as look at bringing in some more experienced players and improving our competitiveness in the league

If that's the level of financial nous in Bradford it's no wonder the club's been in so many messes recently.

Has anyone thought of Dewsbury in this? Poor lads will be using their own away changing rooms at least once!!

In all seriousness, if Mick is right and we are saving 28-30K a game we could pit that into the playing squad (albeit after taking into account the profit/loss on the season tickets and concessions). I do hope it’s for 2 years only though. I for one will shed a tear on the 1st September. Let’s see the old girl off.

On another note I wonder if the club could sell bits of it off as a way to make a little cash in the offseason.

I suppose selling bits off depends on who claims ownership before this happens

My take on this is pretty much what I've said before.

I didn't think the Council and RFL between them would act in time to prevent this, s both are such turgid and undynamic bodies that they probably haven't even opened the post about it yet.

RFL: Well, they have known for a significant time now that we were OUT in September unless a deal was done whereby it made some economic sense for us to stay. Maybe they doubted we would do it. Dangerous game, if so.

Anyway, if nothing changes then
a) they will now have the full cost of the maintenance all by themselves for as long as their lease continues
b) they have no tenant and won't get one.

c) They loudly proclaimed they were buying the lease to save the iconic Odsal forever for the game. That obviously puts them with their backs firmly against the wall, as to anything else they could do, without having to completely backtrack and renege on everything they said.

d) The iconic Odsal is not worth a carrot to rugby league, unless the Bulls are playing there.

So to me, the RFL have shot themselves mightily in both feet, and I can't understand why they didn't do something, anything, to avoid losing their tenant, as doing so just makes absolutely no sense at all.

The Council
They would prefer the Bulls to remain, but really it makes no odds as the Council own the asset, and get no income from it. Of course, though, if the RFL were not to maintain the upkeep of the ground at an acceptable level, then the Council could forfeit the lease and kick the RFL out. Except then the Council would shoot itself in the foot as by doing so, the huge maintenance would revert to them. For that reason, I can't imagine the Council doing anything but letting the RFL lease run and run. If the RFL fail to look after the place, then at the end of the lease, the value of the resulting Schedule of Dilapidations would probably run well into 7 figures, and would immediately bankrupt the RFL.

Bulls
Say what you like about Chalmers, but it seems to me plain for al to see that WE can't afford 72K rent plus 400K maintenance, never could, and never will. So chalmers had 2 choices -run it until the cash eventually runs out and we go tits; or move, and operate somewhere we can afford.

It's a simple as that.

It may not suit many, and it has a litany of its own problems and issues, but given the choice of moving, or signing up to pay HALF A MILLION a year in hard cash before you open gate or pay a single player, was it ever a choice?

Will it be the death of the club? A real possibility, but what has that got to do with it? If you accept that staying is financial suicide then at least we have staved off suicide.

I frankly don't hold out much hope in the long term, and can see our support falling off badly next season if the Dewsbury move goes through, but that is by no means a certainty, and I can also agree that with some clever marketing and some shrewd pricing we might be able to tick over nicely in Dewsbury. Basically, we could become another Dewsbury.

The one thing I cannot imagine is anything like a half-decent SL standard stadium being built within Bradford under our own steam. It would surely have to be a big consortium - like the plan-that-nearly-was - and that would take a lot of work. We have failed to achieve any ground developments for half a century so forgive me for saying it will never happen.

Told you the RFL won't have read their post. They know nothing about it








So we made a "request". But not an "application".

Is there a form for that, then?

Which is totally irrelevant.
Postcodes are nothing to do with where people live they were designed for routing letters when they were being sorted and nothing whatever to do with where you live. Ilkley has a Leeds postcode but is part of Bfd met, parts of Pudsey have a BD postcode but obviously are under Leeds council. Great swathes of North Yorkshire have Lancashire codes, I could go on (and many say I do..) in fact, there are areas which have a telephone codes, post codes and councils from 3 different areas. I don't know how they work out where they live...

Think this reflect on the state of the city as a whole that we cannot support two professional sports clubs in a city this size, and not even top class sporting teams.

Statement from the Council on the T and A website, for those who have not read it:

BRADFORD Council says it will work with Bradford Bulls to make sure the club's upcoming move to Dewsbury is "as temporary as it sounds."
The Rugby League club made the shocking announcement that it would be leaving its longtime home of Odsal Stadium at the end of the season, and play at Dewsbury Ram's Tetley’s Stadium for the next two years.
Chairman Andrew Chalmers said the decision was due to the high financial costs of remaining at Odsal.
But the club has told fans it is looking for a future home in Bradford, and is already looking at potential alternative stadium sites in the city.
These plans would take at least two years to come to fruition, fans were told.
After the announcement Bradford Council's leader vowed to work with the club to ensure a speedy return to the city.
Bradford Council owns the land at Odsal, but the Rugby Football League owns the stadium, and leases it to the Bulls.
The club said it had looked into sharing existing stadiums in Bradford, but these plans were "not suitable."
"The Club has a proud history and we want it to continue making history in Bradford... and to this end all parties have been working towards this" - Susan Hinchcliffe - Leader of Bradford Council
Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe said: “I am hugely disappointed by the news that the Bradford Bulls intend to move to Dewsbury for two seasons.
"The Club has a proud history and we want it to continue making history in Bradford.
“The owner of the Bulls is clear that Odsal is no longer financially viable for the Bulls.
"We fully accept that if costs are too high then a business cannot sustain itself. The Bulls is no different.
"We have been working with the Bulls and the Rugby Football League to find a solution to secure the future of Bradford Bulls in Bradford, which is both realistic and financially sustainable.

"We still really want the Bulls to stay in Bradford and to this end all parties have been working towards this.
“We will continue to speak with Bradford Bulls, the RFL and other local organisations to determine a viable Bradford home for the Bulls for the future and hope that this move, announced today, remains as temporary as it sounds.”

So they are not going to do anything to help, but accept that they have to do it and will work with them to get them back as soon as possible....well thanks for everything Bradford.

Ok. I can see you couldn't actually be d to read the thread, so to help you out, my post was in direct response to this comment...

"Maccbull_BigBullyBooaza wrote: "They have approved other clubs groundsharing outside of their postcode including approving Dewsbury for Wakefield to play at in Superleague."

My comment is entirely relevant.

If you'd bother to read the thread, you would also see that I agree that there is no obvious issue with Bulls being allowed to play at Rams.

Your post is, amusingly, irrelevant.

If I am totally honest I’m fuming more the fact we are leaving Bradford than odsal. After posting and reading on here for quite a few years now I expected nothing other than the rationalised discussion and most saying they will go.

Its the loony side of the fan base I can see spitting their dummies big time. I’ve been told it’s going hell for leather on the cesspit that is the Facebook pages.

I’m on the fence at the moment on whether to go or not. I genuinely think to shift season tickets they should have offered free travel for the first x amount with a season ticket as a sweetener. Whether this again was financially viable and whether one coach company would cope.

Anyhow I’m definitely on the side of there is far more to come out on this. I actually had a swipe on Twitter on the RFL post about ignoring the bid from David Thorne. I genuinely believe with the squad we had in place we would have been better than KR and gone up that year had he been allowed to buy the club.

Emotions all over at the moment but got a superb pic of my son overlooking the pitch from behind from the south bank which I will cherish and is now my wallpaper/background on any bit of electrical equipment I have.

Still feel far more to play out yet

Do you know what's really p*ssed me off ever since the announcement on Friday?
The number of so-called rugby league 'journalists' on social media who have been more than happy to spout their two penneth worth about this whole situation.
Ross Heppenstall, the previous RL journo for the t&a, was even using quotes from Marc Green from back in 2015. Why? What in the f*ck does Marc Green have to do with this situation or even this current administration?

The most recent admin and all the shenanigans that went with it was crying out for just one of these journalists to actually get out there and, you know, do some actual journalistic work to get to the bottom of what was absolutely a story waiting to be told, but none of them did because not one of them really cared enough to bother.

Yeah I have to say the journalism in RL is poor at the minute in RL. They will say its sour grapes, I've no problem with Bulls being held to account and negative headlines written about them, christ we don't help ourselves sometimes. But like politics the RL journalists don't look at what the context is, they seem to want to see who it's about before being outraged by the news.

I will say there are two superb neutral journalists in Gareth Walker & Aaron Bower. Always good pieces without a hint of biased in their reports. Others just want to out tweets that you'd see from opposition fan pages to get a few likes. Christ some are resorting to screenshotting ridiculous posts from Facebook fan pages to try and make out they've scooped fan opinion on something. Janet from Bulls Banter isn't what Bulls fans think FYI.

The Dewsbury move has shown the difference IMO with how we're being reported compared how Wakefield were (but I'm sure it's got nothing to do whether said journalist like the chairman or not)

Chalmers has ruffled a few feathers with his less than complementary articles. Michael Carter says all the right things and has a much better interview persona. Listens to RL podcasts, has a good relationship with the media etc.

We move to Dewsbury, the media:

"why did Chalmers buy the club if he couldn't afford the rent"

Don't remember people asking Carter why he brought the club as he couldn't afford to keep Wakey there (with SL money) he's said himself he doesn't have the money to throw at the club, but wants to make it sustainable (which he has done brilliantly)

Chalmers has take the emotion out of the decision to move to Odsal which people have been screaming for someone to do with our club. Try and make it sustainable, media outraged hes not pouring £400k into Odsal.

I'm all for asking questions e.g. What happens if the planned for a new stadium doesn't materialise after two years, where will you go then.

But maybe that's just me.

I think I'm happy to take a punt into the unknown. We know exactly what happens staying at Odsal with dwindling crowds and income. Lets not forget that once this latest tv ends, Championship clubs might well be fighting for themselves. Dewsbury and Bradford might well be very grateful to be sharing that burden if only for the short term.

Dewsbury are a very good example of a club living within its means. It has a nice little stadium, its own training facilities (invested in 3G pitches and contact room in last few years), additional revenue streams through conferencing events/car boot and money in the bank thanks to a deal to build houses on some of the stadium land surrounding the stadium.

We could have done a lot worse than this move.

I do not come on here much but it is all sad. I was a boy watching Northern back in the 70's Will be there to watch the final match. How i will feel leaving the stadium fills me with dread

However I feel the time has come to let go of the old place and thankfuly someone has seen sense and has the bottle and acumen to say enough is enough and look to the future.

AC as hard as he may try wont feel the wrench from what has been such a well loved gathering of people and there children, including mine. Then the ruthless and appalling management in the past. I personally put a lot of blame at the RFL feet. Disgusting!

So onto new horizons Dewsbury first then the club and fans I have no doubt can look forward to clearer skys ahead.

TBH I prefer it this way

you are so sagacious Bulliac, five miles out of Settle in LA2 land the telephone directory and yellow pages meant I could order a home delivery pizza from Carlisle but not from Settle, which was Bradford directory. It was usually cold by Shap summit.

Anyway, this is what I have been waiting for, and it can only benefit the club if it enables Chalmers to spend more money on players.

I don't know if you remember the old 'Asteroids' machines in the arcades back in the ermm, eighties. When your spaceship was about to be blown to smithereens you had the escape opportunity known as the 'Hyperspace' button. Hit this and you escaped the current imminent demise, but you could end up anywhere, from moving serenely through space to being caught in a solar explosion and being destroyed anyway.

I think Chalmers has probably hit our hyperspace button.