Quite right, but there are a million other occaisions you could use the same analogy, but still doesnt change the principle of the thing

So if you dont believe it is down to franchising why have you used this as a stick to beat franchising with at every available opportunity?


And the application process did highlight these problems.

Ultimatly their decision

I havent

Obviously ignored then

Yeah, the principle of breaking contracts with your broadcast partners, losing money to invest in an already struggling league and youth development is very principled.

In the next ten years when celtic and rangers join the english football league and the scottish clubs can no longer run as professional entities, at least the 20 people still watching Scottish football can remember how much integrity their clubs which no longer exist showed when the kicked out rangers in a fit of schadenfreude

Having thought a little more since I posted last I tend to agree with you. The rules should be the only consideration. I would actualy like to see what the rules are though as there appears to be a different interpritation every day. The fans deserve better but the board deserve to be kicked out of the game. It is a complete mess but other companys go under every day in these hard times we are no different it's just the emotional baggage that comes with sports.

You have. You have done for about 5 years. Even when you were pretending to 'only quote Stevo'.

Or, and stay with me here, I know a lack of insults to the RFL directors and lack allegations of conspiracy or corruption will probably confuse you, but maybe, just maybe The RFL felt, with the information provided to them, that even despite these problems, Bradford were a better bet than Halifax

Their decision, and lets face it, in a RL world Celtic and Rangers would already be in SL or the English Premier League , thats how RL works, so who gives a stuff about the clubs left outside they can become the feeder clubs to the main 2 , they obviously add very little to the competition therefore have little worth, the amatuer and big 2 are the important bits

I dont massively disagree. And i havent said different. Simply that those clubs would come to regret that decision.

So somehow I knew about Bradfords 2012 financial meltdown back in 2007 ?



Maybe they did, in that case they are also

Another weird and wonderful conspiracy theory. Please explain for the benefit of the ignorant among us.

I said in the following paragraph, do what the rules say. So what do the rules say? If there is to be a vote to do something other than what the rules say, they clearly are a moveable feast. The point I was making that it would look like a conspiracy if the RFL do something other than what the rules say. I said at the start, I'm happy with four points. If there isn't a rule, fine, take a vote, do what you want. If the rules are not applied strictly, however, it is clear that different considerations apply to different teams.

Are the Bulls bigger than the game? No.

Sounds like your chip is bigger than mine.

I'd keep them in.

They could end up losing fans, players and youth players.

Some of them they'll, and the game, lose will never get back.

This isn't football, we aren't big enough to lose clubs with such big followings.

I'd agree with you there slugger

AFAIK the rules only deal with a points deduction for entering admin. There is no mechanism for expelling a club from SL other than by majority vote of the member clubs. I understand that at the moment the voting may not be as clear-cut as I had thought it might be.

No - Salford fan - we are in a tricky position it seems as well so would expect to be treated the same and all future Admins/Liquidations must start afresh. Consistency is what we need - if allowed to carry on then that sets the standard and all clubs in the same boat can point to that decision.

Nonsense, they cheated and will pay the price. Smaller clubs will get good attendances, Rangers will have a good run of success for the fans and they will give great "press" as they come back.

The problem at Bradford is that RL, can't afford to kick the fans, because there would be no obvious route back to the top table. Coupled with the fact that the RFL own Odslum!!! No way will they be kicked out.

Incidently, if this was Wigan instead of Bradford, i wonder how many would want Wigan kicked out? Point is that many could be looking at this with biased eyes.....

And when Sky and ESPN renegotiate their contract, pulling millions of pounds out of the game?

Bradford fan and if the club goes into liquidation and ceases to exist, I don't think they should be allowed to take their place back in Super League as if nothing had happened. I would be happy for the club to start again at the bottom and work their way back up into Super League. But then, if they don't come back in - are we left with 13 clubs? Why should someone take their place? Not sure how the licensing system works here, I guess the objective of the licensing system was that this situation would never arise. But yes, hopefully it won't come to that.

And maybe in the SPL teams will start to get real in terms of what they can afford to pay players etc, it will make for a more level competition and supporters will come flocking back to watch teams outside of the Old Firm (or Celtic, as they are now known in the SPL!).

I assume we're talking about [iif[/i they were to be a newco rather than a rescued oldco. In which case, it is arguably about letting them 'enter' rather than 'stay'.

And it depends on the alternative - a 13 team SL? Unlikely.

Fairest (well best, at least) IMO, if SL stays at 14, would be to allow applications for the 14th spot from New Bradford and any Championship club that wants to throw its hat in the ring.
If New Bradford got themselves sorted they'd have a very good chance of being the best applicant.

Outside the old firm, the SPL is probably smaller than SL.

There only 2 stadiums in S[iP[/iL (outside the old firm) that can hold over 20k, Only one club averages over 10k, 4 clubs which cant get over 5k.

The old firm is the SPL, without their Sky money they wont be able to pay the wages, it would be much worse than SL because there are a massive number of leagues where even an average scottish player can go and earn a decent living. The quality of play will fall, attendances will fall, more clubs will go bust and the scottish league will be gone. This is the beginning of the end for that league.

There appears to be two option which are getting confused.

If Bradford come through adminsitration then they will have the points deduction but will be perfectly at liberty to continue with their SL status until 2014.

If Bradford Bulls is liquidated Bradford Bulls no longer exists and therefore are no longer a SuperLeague team. The RFL will not have to do anything to remove them from SL. If Bradford Bulls is liquidated then Bradford New Co can apply to the RFL for member of SuperLeague. It is likley that the RFL will allow New Bradford to compete until the end of 2012 thus alllowing the fixtures to be completed. The RFL will then need to make a decision as to whether Bradord New Co will be permitted to stay until the next round of franchises are agreed. This is when the arguments will all start again as New Co will not have a proven financial record, will not have the relevant success history etc etc to qualify for membership as may people will lose sight of the fact that they are not Bradford Bulls any more

I sure as hell hope you have missed a "P" out as there will be plenty of people from Wigan, Hull, Huddesfield, Warrington, Leeds etc who would like to join together and dispute your first two comments!

I did indeed. My apologies.

I dont think as a Wigan fan, you can take any moral high ground here.
It wasn't so many seasons ago that Wigan, looked like they may finish bottom and so they drove a double decker bus through the salary cap by signing Fielden (plus Radlinski coming to their aid) and then the Wigan "suits" ran rings around the rfl and effectiveley had their punishment halved.
Talk about pot and kettle