As a Keighley fan we've been through administration twice since the halcyon days of Cougarmania. It's not a pleasant experience as a fan.

Sure you're "the enemy" so to speak. You always will be, with the city being the bigger brother in the district coupled with everything that happened when we were screwed out of Super League back in 1995, even if it did happen more than half my lifetime ago.

I wouldn't this wish upon anyone though. If you're not around the rivalry dies, there'd be nothing to cheer about when we hear you get beat, no banter on the forums or in the workplace and no more dreaming of drawing you in the Challenge Cup at Cougar Park and turning you over.



Just over couple of years ago we ended up going in to administration just after being promoted to the Championship. The club was reformed with a new board a couple of days later. We got hit with a 9 point penalty. We were lucky that the nucleus of the squad stayed with us. Despite being short on quality and too skint to sign anyone, the team played their hearts out every game and although we got destroyed in a few games and inevitably relegated I was so proud. Look at us now, we bounced straight back in to the Championship and have players like Sam Obst that we could only have dreamed of signing a few years ago.

Sport is cyclical and at the moment you're at the bottom of a trough. It will get better, you'll be successful once more (much as it pains me to say that).

All the best and keep the faith. I'll still be typing Br*dford with a asterisk mind

As a Leigh fan we went through a similar thing a few months ago, we scraped through, just.

I hope you lot do the same.

Good luck.

Anyone need anything to help them fundraise or pledge listen to this playlist



Feeder - Save Us
Pro Green - I need you tonight
Arnej - They Need us
Johnny Cash - Aint no grave
Beatles - I need you
Manics - You Love Us
Blink 182 - Don't Leave Me
RHCP - I could die for you
Kaiser Chiefs - the angry mob (although when i flicked passed dead or in serious trouble i hoped that wouldn't turn out to be more fitting)
The Jam - Start
Bob Marley - Get Up Stand Up
Example - Last Ones Standing
Faithless - We come one
Run with the bulls

Search bradford bulls montage on everyones favourite video site for another reason to pledge. first one. great memories.

Personally I find the nice round figure of one million pounds suspicious, are we being blackmailed by Dr Evil?

Pledged, not exactly happy about it but don't like any of the alternatives. Dislike basically giving people money for being massively incompetent (I mean, seriously, none of them realised that selling your main asset wasn't going to affect secured lending?) but we can try and sort that out later.

Even getting to the end of the season and then going into administration is better than being wound up by HMRC midseason and worth a couple of hundred quid.

Anyway, where exactly is Red Hall and how many pubs can I stop off at between there and Odsal?

After another day of reading articles, seeing the pledges being made by former players, all the fund raising ideas and the fighting spirit being shown by all the fans I've made my pledge.

Still not anywhere near happy about the situation but I'm trying to look at it from the perspective that i've effectively now paid full price for a season ticket. I guess it is still probably less than a full price season ticket.

The response to this situation from the entire rugby league community and beyond is astounding and you actually get a sense that it could be done.

Here's hoping.

A question for you all.

Are we more optimistic, more pessimistic or basically the same since the news broke 36 hours ago?

Me? I'm optimistic. 103k by 5pm this afternoon is amazing, and with plenty of time left, plenty of fundraising planned, we can do this



BTW, I'm thinking of running from Odsal to Tong School (and back, if I can make it, i'm in training for a race anyway), sometime next week, almost certainly Thursday, if anyone fancies joining me as a partner?

More optimistic, without a doubt.


Not sure about a partner, i'm pretty unfit

, but im willing to take par in a run.

Except...it wasn't really like that.

The "main asset" was the long lease with the council.

A bank will normally only be able to realise its security in the event of insolvency.

In the event of insolvency, the long lease would become void, and the site would revert to the council.

Therefore, the value of the long lease as security to the bank was, IMO, not a lot!

And the bank anyway did not have a fixed charge on the lease.


As I understand it, the club asked the bank for a modest temporary increase in its overdraft. This to plug a shortfall left by finding they were required to pay a certain other liability very much earlier than they expected or (apparently) were led to believe. In the event, the bank not only declined the increase, but also reduced the existing facility. Apparently. That led to the current crisis.

For the reason given earlier, I struggle to see that the explanation given by RBS is very credible.

I'll endeavour to get more to the bottom of this if at all possible.

RBS for whatever reason pulled the Plug, a good opportunity for a competitor(as long as it isn't Santander) to step in and bankroll the debt and also get a lot of RBS's local accounts as well, if only it were that simple.

So essentially, shafted by a bank.

Now where have I heard that before?

You could say the Club and the Fans have been RBS'd*

* Royally Bloody Shafted!

I hope to God you guys make it - losing Bradford would be an unthinkably awful blow to everyone in the game. I wouldn't miss getting soaked on your terraces once a season though which would be a small consolation

Sorry not to appear supportive but basically if you owe money and you have assets then sell them. Simples as the Meerkats say. I think you will make it but be pragmatic.

If the club went into Administration, wouldn't any new owner be able to negotiate a good deal on the lease? Who else would rent it from the RFL?

Or would it revert back to the Council? In which case doesn't the same apply?

Northumbria, sorry to butcher your post, but after what Hood has done, and the way we have been treated, isnt this company running our club alien to us already?? I for one would welcome Hood going so we can make it our club again. It is clearly not our club. we are treated as customers / consumers, not members. What real interraction do the club have with us that is honest?

The rubbish trotted out at the forums is insulting when you look back at it!

HOw can not paying the taxman for a decent chunk of PAYE cuase shock and doom when they ask for it???

It would be tough watching the team drop through the divisions, but there is no precident for this. In bfact the opposite is true. Wakey and Crusaders went into admin, and wakey are still in SL and crusaders chose to leave. Who would take our talent off us??? Who has space under the cap?
In fact, with Sykes going on loan today being another positive, we are removing some of the dead wood!

I doubt it would revert to the council, since the parties to the head lease are now the RFL and the council.

Whether a new entity could negotiate a sub-lease with the RFL on better terms than the present one (which, make of it what you will, I was assured was a good deal for the club...) can at this stage only be a matter for conjecture, I guess.

We had a long long debate at the Bullbuilder board meeting last night about the advantages, disadvantages and consequences of going into administration. It obviously helped that some of us have experience in this field. In short, we concluded that any protracted period of administration would probably (there can never be any certainty, so you have to look at the balance of probabilities) lead to the club in an ything like its present form never rising again. In particular, the administrator would have to start selling off assets pretty well immediately to generate cash to continue operating. You'd have to assume you would lose the very young, upcoming players that the club is depending on for its future.

The only way we could see an administration working would be if there was a 24-hour prepack - i.e. the new vehicle and financing is already in place when the administration order is granted by the High Court. Administrator is appouinted 3pm Monday, 9am Tuesday he announces he has sold the assets etc to NewBulls Ltd. Creditors are presented with a fait acompli, and (as with most prepacks) scream merry hell that they have been shafted (which invariably they have). BUT...such a prepack is invariably fronted by insiders - usually some or all of the management, sometimes a major shareholder. Without detailed inside information, it is very hard to put everything in place before getting your hands on the books and records and staff.

The prospective new owners will already have lined up all the necessary stakeholders (in our case those would have to include the RFL, the Council, the new players' union and maybe the GMB, maybe Sky, maybe Stobarts, maybe existing sponsors, the more important of the various other quangos and bodies the club engages with - as well as any external financing) before the administrator is appointed. And, of course, carried out the necessary due dilligence. We concluded it must be highly unlikely the existing management would be entertaining this option, and there has been no evidence that Caisley (the only other credible "insider"icon_wink.gif is well-advanced with such a project (although that could change, obviously). So, again on balance of probabilities, we have to assume at this stage that there is no "quick fix" on the horizon.

Speaking personally, as for what caused this disaster, it is obviously easy to point the finger at an inept and untruthful board. That is certainly what probably most people would conclude from how this all came out. And indeed, many many fans have made their views on this subject abundantly clear. For my own part, my immediate reaction was one of incredulity, and of feeling very badly betrayed. Followed shortly afterwards by anger at how we could be assured in January that everything was fine, and in March that we are two weeks away from being fed to the fishes. You could not make it up, could you?

But are things always as they first seem? So far, as we manage to piece together more facts and "information", a picture is starting to emerge that suggests that in January the club WAS confident that the situation was OK; but that events that they could not have anticipated (or have planned for) in the interim period have changed all that. Certainly that is the story coming out of the club, and at this stage, to me it seems to be stacking up. That situation could change, obviously, and whatever happens it seems Hood personally has lost the confidence of many of the fans by the manner of his communication and explanation over recent months. The extent that this is down to the man not the necessity of the circumstances may never be known.

But, as far as I personally can see, OK going into administration could lead to a new ownership and management, and certainly a resolution of the shareholding situation that Maislebugs so rightly points out is an enduring impediment to our future progress. Equally, it could lead to oblivion. But IMO it would very probably lead to the loss of the young talent we have coming through on which the future of the club needs to be built, whatever the outcome. And that is something I really cannot subscribe to. And in any case, even though I know others may not agree, I remain strongly of the view that Hood would stand down if a suitable successor would manifest himself. And it may well be that this will happen, if (as the club are suggesting) the commitment from the fans helps encourage a new investor to come on board. Guess only time will tell!

So basically unless there's a good chance of a prepack we're completely up the creek?

As for losing our promising young players that's obviously a great concern, however Wakefield were in the same boat, possibly worse off. They had a prepack waiting in the wings I take it?

Adey,
I was a player at a (fairly dire at the time) semi-pro club in the mid-80s. We went bust, all the players (who became free agents) & management stayed. We just carried on as normal literally the next day. I assume this was going into administration, as players we didn’t care about the legal side, we just wanted to play for the club. Have things changed legally or could it have been a different form of going bust? There was nothing of value to sell I suppose. Could all Bulls players choose to stay or could they be forced to be sold by the administrators? Thanks in anticipation.

Back shaft

So from what we are saying, Hood is less of a liar, but more of an incompetant? Either way, he should be savvy enough to realise that his position is untenable in most BUlls fans' eyes. Problem is, if he's made himself personally liable by injecting cash / mortgaging his home etc..., he isnt simply going to walk away, and we are stuck with him! unless somebody buys his shareholdomg at a price that covers his liabilities.

I can see that going into Administration at this stage of the season would be much more difficult than at the end of the season. At least then there's some time to sort things out and, most importantly, start generating income from season ticket sales.

I'm still not convinced though that staying out of Administration will lead to us retaining our better young players. Even if the pledge is successful it only averts the immediate crisis. In the complete absence of any meaningful information from the Board, I would fear that we'd still have to offload Bateman, Whitehead and a few others to keep going.

Its been over 24 hours since the shock went out - here's some thoughts - not all my own - but a compilation....

They Bulls shareholding is such that no sugar daddy will be prepared to step in.

From memory - Chris Caisley owns about 25% of the shares but suspect that over 80% of the shares are owned by people no longer connected to the club.

This (if accurate) is a major stumbling block for the long term future planning.

Caisley himself has had divided loyalties over the last few years and has acted as agent for several players at the club.

Some of those players have left for pastures new, with contracts negotiated by Chris Caisley. Sam Burgess for example.

After a meeting with Hood about four years ago, he struck me as a very focussed but cautious man, intelligent but not in any way dynamic.

Maybe he is the wrong man for the job or maybe not - don't have enough knowledge to be sure.....

Events over the next couple of weeks may well prove him to be a fool or a genius....

The way is clear for a wealthy backer to come forward now.

Any such person would be worshipped by the Bulls faithful and be able to take charge of a club that has the possibilies to dwarf Huddersfield and Warrington in terms of potential support.

Changes to planning guidelines announced today will make it much easier to build retail facilities as part of an Odsal redevelopment and solve the financing problems for a new stadium.

It's not known yet what Bull owe HMRC but the image rights issue is still unresolved as far as the Bulls are concerned and they will owe some PAYE. Probably will not owe any corporation tax as it's been a while since they recorded a profit!

The Bulls are blaming the bank, in part, for their problems because the bank removed their overdraft facility. As far as anyone outside the club knows there are no outstanding loans with the bank. There must be some cash in the bank as they are still in a position to trade and zero cash plus zero income and some debt would make them technically insolvent. Hood has stated that they can only continue to trade for a couple of weeks.

The Bulls are only asking people to pledge to give £100 and if they don't hit the target and go bump you would expect them not to ask people to honour their pledges.

At a guess - what we have is a company with very little (if any) debt but no cash. They now don't have any access to credit at the bank and very little income for the remainder of the season.

On the bright side

The club owes nothing to the RFL having just paid the loan back

Owes nothing to any other club in Superleague (Leeds payments for Harris ended last season)

The ground will NOT now be sold to the highest bidder (for tipping) should the Bulls fold

This should mean that if the club enters administration and a buyer could be found who was prepared to pay a nominal amount a sympathetic view would be taken by the other clubs and the RFL.

With no bank involved and hopefully no major problem with HMRC any money paid would be used to buy out the existing shareholders.

It may then be possible to hold on to the lion's share of the playing talent and still keep membership of Superleague.

The timing of this is also interesting. Right now all clubs are committed to spending up to the cap or their own budgets so they will not be in a position to cherry pick our best players.

It is in everyone's interest for a Bradford club to carry on in Superleague so lets see what happens.

Unfortunately that's where I am too. I think the club really need to sell their business plan, why will it be a success? What's to stop us being in this situation in 6 months, all £100 plus worse off, having already tapped all the goodwill from the RL family and lost our better players anyaway?

Having spoken to a few people a lot have serious doubts and this is making them reluctant to pledge the full amount they may be able to afford. I think most will pledge something but they have serious reservations.

I think the club need to address this group rather than playing on fear without providing any concrete plans for the future. Simply saying we have a business plan moving forward isn't enough.

I'd love to know what's happening behind the scenes and if we have any genuine new backers in the pipeline!

As a lifelong Widnes Vikings fan, but first and foremost a lifelong Rugby League fan, I just wanted to offer my sympathies for the situation you find yourselves in as fans, through none of your own doing. It sounds like your board, as ours did at the time, have an awful lot to answer for!

We've been there ourselves, very recently, and I consider us very fortunate that we managed to come out of the other side, rebuild and regroup and build our club back up.

I sincerely hope that Bradford come out of this as a stronger club, in whatever form that may take, as I feel that the loss of any professional RL team would be a sad loss for the sport as a whole.

The selfish Widnes fan in me says that the best option may be administration, which may allow us the chance to capitalise on your misfortune, however the RL fan in me who wants to see this seasons SL competition continue as normal feels that it's perhaps best for the clubs immediate survival to be secured and the deeper issues addressed once we are sure that there will continue to be a club.

For this reason, I have pledged and also urged other Widnes fans to do so. I will also continue to push #savethebulls on Twitter as much as I can. @Hull_Viking


Best of luck to you, and looking forward to hammering you guys in a couple of weeks!