Interesting piece in the leaguer today.

Nigel Wood is keen to get back to Odsal, but the club don't have the money to pay for all the various costs of Odsal.

However he states that if the club were to get into Superleague and generate an income of £5 million a year [i"which it was"[/i last time they were in Superleague then spending 10% of that on making sure the ground is safe to use and remains so year on year [i"Is not unreasonable"[/i......

How Lenegan may set up his 2x10 Superleague in 2022, if he can get it through, could easily involve hoisting Bradford back into Superleague back in Odsal, and the quid pro quo for other clubs would be the likelyhood that large numbers of Bulls fans will get on board with such a revival, and put big money through the gates of fellow clubs...........

Maybe you are Right but what if they get back to Odsal and it all goes tits up again then what

Since they couldn't afford Odsal last time they were in SL he seems to have his sums wrong.

where Bradford Bulls are concerned, they should remember " The road to Hell is Paved with good Intentions."

They may have bought bigger buckets for the annual collection.

There are more if's but's and maybe's in his statement that you can fit on a scrabble board.
Of course, Wood, a shareholder in Bradford wants them back in SL and at Odsal.

Are we going to have yet another contrived league, to "help" the sport prosper


RL needs a plan and a strategy to increase investment into the sport and not yet another quick bloody fix, they tend not to work (understatement).

I've a feeling it's more about some rosetinted vision that if the Bulls are in SL and playing at Odsal their attendance will suddenly grow to 10k+ and the heady days of 20k for a (competitive) Bradford v Leeds derby will suddenly return and everything will be good in RL again

Yep, dream on.....

Odsal's capacity is 22,000.

Maybe this is an obvious question, but why don't they return and mothball or close and sell off some of the bits that require costly maintenance?

They would be fine with an 8,000 capacity stadium and it would put them back in Bradford.

As there's not been a game played there since Sep 2019, there's going to be an initial outlay to update safety certificates etc. The running costs of Odsal have exceeded the income that Bradford can generate for a good decade, or more. Nigel is being very optimistic, but it would be great to see the Bull's back playing in Bradford. Hard to see a solution to make that happen, though.

They hit 10,000 for their recent cup game with Leeds on a saturday, absolutely nothing rose tinted about that is there

.

The 10,000 could have all watched on TV. So anyway a sunday Superleague league match crowd against Leeds would be how many in your judgement??

No there aren't, just a clear statement from Wood that they can run solvent in Superleague.

Good lord man your own club can do it in an equally ramshackle stadium on far lower crowds than Bulls

There's no need to be mean and negative all the time.

Wakey do it don't they, on less crowds.....

In 1963 they were playing in front of crowds on only a few Hundred. They folded, returned and YES everything was good in RL again.

Nothing "rosetinted" about it. Again check the Bradford.v.Leeds cup game, check the 4,500 crowds for the losing side they had in the Championship.

What is this a Bull's haters thread?

I've followed Bradford for 35 years or so and am just as mystified by the practicalities of returning to Odsal as anyone else. I think it's fair to say we are rather cynical about big Nigel generally, particularly his historical involvement in Odsal sagas, and his role in turning down wealthy groups of people who bid for the club. Appointing friendly and compliant people with no money has clearly been a deliberate choice, it's just we are yet to understand why. You might cynically wonder if he's been central to a grand plan that has yet to reach fruition.

I'm not emotionally torn when it comes to Odsal anymore. I have had so many magical moments there but I've had enough of the place. It financially cripples the club I love, and it's entirely unacceptable for the 21st century. You have to invest hundreds of thousands to simply maintain it, and millions to give it the comforts people should expect to find. Stock cars putting in a lick of paint and a few barriers is not addressing the completely unsustainable state of the place. It's all dispiriting and I don't have any answers.

Not a hater, more a realist - it's great to get 10k for a one off, but Odsal needs a consistent crowd of 10k week in week out to be a viable proposition.

It would be great for the game if that happened, and if Bradford were back competing at the top again, but Ive not seen a viable proposal that supports that, and the wobbly/best intended attempts to save the club in the past suggests there are issues much greater than just whether they are/aren't playing at Odsal.

Why aren't you sharing with Bradford PA, as was once mooted?

As I remember, the ground is more central than Odsal and surely offers a sustainable future in Bradford.

Bradford PA is too small capacity wise and no scope for any extension even including temporary stands.

Odsal isn't fit for purpose in the 21st century, a bit like Belle Vue. It's also unaffordable - without the upkeep being paid for by someone else. When the club has had to pay for that itself it's gone to the wall or gone very close. That was during periods when motorsport was still taking place and contributing funds too. Not sure what planet Nigel is on.

BPA are our sister club in many respect, and we have far more historical ties than we do with Bradford City so I'd be happy to share with them. The problem is that although they've done a good job with the Horsfall stadium (and we play our Academy and Women's games there) it's very small (circa 3k) so would also need a lot of investment to make it a forever home. I think we looked into getting it up to 5k before choosing to go to Dewsbury but it was prohibitively expensive.

If you had a fiver would you go for A. unhinged, or B. grand plan?

Nothing "mean and negative" at all, just plain simple fact.
IF someone is prepared to throw (very) serious money at Odsal, it "could" be a runner but, for a club in Bradford's current position, there seems very little evidence of this, other then some optimistic words from a bloke with a vested interest.
Odsal has NOTHING to do with Trinity so, maybe, for a change, keep on topic.

Do what?

That IF again. IF this IF that. The biggest word in the world
I would love to see them back in playing at Odsal, but they have a lot of money to find before that happens

Not according to Wood. He's the boss and he's the accountant and he states on a Superleague size turnover they can operate from Odsal.

Yes of course this is very questionable indeed as not so long ago Bradford were planning stock car and bike racing to make the business plan stack up.

So there's certainly a "credibility gap" in this statement. The question is why make such a statement?

Maybe he's found that rich owner

Or maybe the ground requirements have been somehow relaxed? One thing about those requirements was posters questioning what was it that actually made Odsal "unsafe" for Superleague?? Nobody knew?

Not only does nobody know the costs but if Bradford Bulls + some stock car enthusiasts + RFL + Bradford Council have found the money then rest assured it wasn't a lot. The previous owner moved the club to Dewsbury owing to 'costs' just before he left for New Zealand and never came back. This is the same bloke who couldn't guarantee the funds for a bank account facility when the RFL gave him control of the club.

I wouldn't trust Wood if he told me the time but I suspect he's probably right on this. The people who couldn't afford the upkeep on Odsal couldn't afford a sandwich. There's never been any numbers apart from something to do with a connection to a deep sewer some years ago that ran into 6 figures.

Like the man who owned one restaurant that the RFL chose? Or the guy that sold kids beds that the RFL chose? (Now insolvent) Or the guy that had a small security company that the RFL chose? (now insolvent) or the guys from New Zealand with no money that they chose?

I'm just thankful that we've been on the end of such favouritism as many still point out. Thank goodness they never allowed Koukash, the millionaire owners of Wasps or any of the other interested parties with money to take over. It would have been a nightmare.