Wakefield were on the brink of bring wound up which is usually and understandably when a plea is made.

Lots of clubs have made the same plea at that stage. This is very different. They haven't been threatened with anything. YET.

Wakefield were, publicly at least, at the very same stage Bradford seem to at now!

Sporties, it is exactly the same, the threat of winding up orders were there but other than that it is the same, Bradford clearly know they are in the same position albeit just a few weeks ahead of the same situation!

No the appeal was made before any winding up proceedings were in place. There was a second plea at the death but the first was very similar to what Bradford are asking for.

Franchising will prevent clubs spending money they dont have trying to avoid relegation

Bollox

The sport as a whole needs a new governing body. The RFL have proven their incompetence over the franchise process, with a Grade B licence being granted to a financial disaster of a club with no future. Lewis MUST go because of this and we need to get a proper governing body in place who will look after the sport properly, starting with the TV deal.

The most worrying thing for me is the World Cup. Remember these fools are also responsible for that. It's an obvious financial disaster already and I'd rather it was cancelled to be honest.

If I were a Bulls fan I wouldn't be putting £100 into the coffers.

Nothing against the Bulls or it's fans but I also hope that the RFL show some balls and instead of giving them a points deduction but throw them out of the SL. Just to send the message out that the pi$$ poor management of clubs is no longer tollerated. Thats three clubs in the last 12-18 months now. Thats at least two too many and one one of the reasons why the franchise system was introduced.

RFL director of standards and licensing Blake Solly said: “The RFL would urge everyone who cares about Bradford Bulls to support the pledge scheme.

“We have been providing and continue to provide Bradford Bulls with all the practical support we can to help the club through their current financial difficulties.”

I think that ship sailed a long time ago as various super league clubs have gone back on promises and failed in the short space of time franchising has been in. Serious questions do have to be raised about how Bradford managed to get a B license last time around. This sort of thing does not happen overnight and right here right now they are in a much more fragile position that most of the C licenses even.

Does a B license guarantee them a license next time around or is that just A? Genuine question, it's slipped my mind.

Regardless of this, anyone (and it is a minority so far) death riding this is ignorant and naive. This is not good for the game, and more than that, this is not good for your club no matter who you are. If you're a close rival or not, this is bad. If your club is hoping to pick up some decent players cheap, it's still not a net gain. Here's hoping they survive and pick up. With better management Bradford could be a monster, but they've been falling year after year from being that big club they once were and it's obviously time for new people with fresh ideas.

Beyond looking at the most recently filed accounts which are in the public domain, does the franchise process involve any further analysis of a club's financial position or audit of its projected cash flow?

Kick us while were down.

I don't totally know the wakey situation so apologies if it was the same.

Winder situations are massively different and I can understand the begging bowl coming out when that becomes public knowledge as creditors know the score.

What the Bulls have told all their creditors is they cant pay in a few weeks.

Frankly its a very honest move. I wont comment further on that.

As an aside - I would buy it it a heartbeat for a pound in a pre-pack.

city club - decent supporter base and in recent history mega crowds.

And theres bound to be a few others who think like that.

Also get the local MP involved RBS is part publically owned.

Chin up Bulls

Of course it does , thats how the RFL slammed Fax s for being ' speculative ' , so can you or they explain how 2 months into a season we have a club with no money or income to pay its players ?

I've tried ringing KPMG and the Governance and Business Management experts at Leeds Metropolitan University. KPMG are out to lunch with someone called Mr Rimmer and the experts at Leeds Metropolitan University have all graduated and are now working for the fundraising committee of the Conservative Party.

I've thought this for years. In some ways RL suffers from lack of media attention but the suits at the top must be relieved at the lack of scrutiny now just as they were at various times during the Crusaders fiasco and when they failed to kick Hull out of the Challenge Cup because they wanted an all SL tie for the TV cameras.

Hello you!

I knew you (and Bugman) would be all over this likes ferrets in a rats nest!

I'm working with enough businesses who on the books look fine but one bad debt, one bank decision, one tax demand and suddenly they're done.

You have to remember that at the time of the licences Bradford owned their own ground a significant asset.

Its also been reported that the staff have been paid for march.

This indicated to me that this has happened fairly suddenly - likely the od getting reviewed, and I would hang onto as much money as possible and negotiate with the staff immediately in a cashflow crisis.

They failed to kick Hull out of the CC because the rules didn't allow it.

It must be horrible being a Bradford fan at the moment. But DO NOT pay them any money until they come up with answers as to how this has happened and why it won't happen again.

I cannot believe that the RFL's response to this is to tell the fans to pay more money to Bradford. Irresponsible to the extreme.

I am here to do all i can for the future survival of Bradford Bulls. We are all part of the same Rugby League family.

If you are as clever as you sound you will realise they didn't OWN their stadium , they had a lease on it , and also they had massive borrowings against that lease , all at the time 9 months ago when they were declared a ' B ' franchise , when in effect they were millions in debt with no obvious way of paying that debt or of financing 3 seasons of SL

Tis to be applauded, I'd expect nothing less.

Of course it happened suddenly. The bank reduced the overdraft which caused their cash stream to dry up. This crisis isn't caused by the bank cutting their cash stream, the problem is why they were eating up an overdraft whilst claiming to be profitable to the tune of £1.5m per season.

That is why it is stupid of the RFL to endorse Bradford's plea for cash.

Jokes aside, if anyone comes to the next match with "buckets for Bradford" i will be the first to dip my hand in my pocket. We've been there and faced the jibes from some fans of other clubs but then when you can't sink any lower you see other fans turning up and donating. We had a bus load of Warrington fans pop in on their way to a night match - all to do their bit. Whilst i may bay for the blood of The Teflon twins at Red Hall i do not share the same venom towards Rugby League fans.

Yes they did. There was no automatic expulsion but the RFL had the power under their own rules to apply any sanction as they saw fit.

They decided not to expel Hull even though that is what would have happened in every other sport in those circumstances and indeed is what the RFL themselves decided to do in future should anyone repeat Hull's error.

The RFL = Kings of Expediency.