Well they seemed to be doing fairly well, last time I looked.

And with a far better stadium, having sold out the previous one to Tesco.

And you say this based on what. They may be entitled to be in SL but it's up to the creditors whether they actually will in the likely event the fans don't raise a million pounds.

Hardly a non story is it!

It would be a disaster for Bradford to go out of business.

Dont pretend, you are more intelligent than that

Have you even read the article? We might not even be able to fulfill our remaining fixtures THIS season, never mind the next one!

I'm reminded of my days in 2002/3 working in Bradford. It wasn't a great time being a Halifax fan and I didn't receive a lot of support from Bradford fans in the middle of their glory years.

As a Rugby League fan I hope you can get things sorted out and put this financial mess behind you. You're a proud proper rugby league club at heart and I hope for your fans and the game that you survive this.

As a Halifax fan please allow myself a little chuckle remembering those days I was being reminded how our board could not arrange a pi$$ up in a brewery.

Fans are apparently being asked to cough up £100 each – but if people are willing and able to do that, is there some way that it could be held by a fans group until certain guarantees are given by the board and a lot greater clarity about why the club is in this mess?

"The following clubs are awarded a B grade license:-
Bradford Bulls"

Oh dear....

I would actually be interested to work out how many clubs went bust prior to licensing.

Very funny IMO. They won't go bust, £1m isn't so bad and the moneybags RFL can cover that with ease, as could Bradford Council in order to keep the team in the City.

If they wait until they go into admin, it'll be a free for all. If they get the chequebook out now and beat them to it, they'll have more chance of getting their man.

Will we have room for Whitehead given that we've got Ellis, Tickle, Manu, Westerman and Whiting?!

Warrington also got bailed out by the council + consortium of businessmen (of which Mr Moran was a part I think) quite some time ago... but the question is, would Bradford be asking their fans to donate £100 each if they hadn't already tried and failed to get some businessmen on board? We saw in the early SL years what the city of Bradford is capable of producing in terms of support for the club with the right success on the field, it would be awful to see the club go under.

Well, they've got a home derby fixture against Leeds next week. Surely, given this news, they could muster an extra large bumber crowd to help the coffers?

Does this provide further proof that a sizeable reduction in the salary cap is required? IMO teams cannot afford it, we play too many games and ticket prices are too low. The RFL has shown it's sheer incompetence in not being able to generate an acceptable TV deal and one the sport deserves.

London will no doubt follow pretty shortly, there is no future there either. If things got so bad that they were no longer in Super League, the sport should go with a reduction in numbers to 10 teams rather than promoting some more dross from the lower leagues.

If dross from the lower leagues was the problem it wouldn't be Bradford and London you were discussing going bust would it?

Less teams = less fans of teams shown on tv = less tv revenue. Doesn't it?

It's not looking good for Bradford but surely if they are asking fans to pledge money then the fans should see some sort of return? A spot on the board or a stake in the club?

It's a shame to see a club that led the way in Super League for so many years falling under its own weight but bad management can be devastating and that is what has happened here.

Good luck to yer though!

Just seen the news and i'm quite surprised. I knew the Bulls were struggling but i thought they were just ticking over obviously not. It does not look good at all for the franchise system if one of the "big clubs" are struggling.I for one hope they can sort something out for the sake for there fans its not nice seeing your club on its a@#e.

Maybe the championship should cut and run after all we wouldnt want some financially stable "dross" cluttering up the mighty superleague cough cough. Or maybe cut the superleague to 6 teams as thats all that compete for the title and sod the rest of the rugby league community.

This is spookily similar to the situation WTW were in just over a year ago, but the figure our board asked fans to cough up was £1000 apiece, in an attempt to raise £500k; I believe it managed £25k before it fizzled out and the club went into administration, which turned out to be no bad thing.

The worrying thing about the Bulls situation however, is the recent decision by the RFL to buy the lease on their ground, in what was vociferously argued at the time to be a way of securing their future and was definitely NOT a bail-out. Fast forward just a few weeks and they're at risk of folding mid-season, and being unable to fulfill their fixtures; some serious questions need to be asked about the Odsal deal, how much they disclosed to the RFL and what form of due dilligence the RFL carried out before agreeing to purchase the lease.

Furthermore, for this situation to arise so soon after the franchise process and the scrutiny that we're told goes with that, is almost unbelievable.

I feel sad for the Bulls fans who are going through this, because I know what it feels like; I don't feel especially sad for the incompetent club officials who appear to have systematically squeezed the life out of the club that in many ways, set the agenda for SL.

Maybe Bradford can pay down their overdraft by offering RBS some of their Stobart liveries. Apparently they're worth something.

If the RFL had to bail out either Bradford Bulls or London Broncos this summer, which do you think they would help?

But over 10k of them have already given the club their monies.

Good question.

Get ready for the RFL to bend the rules for some, yet not others...yet again!!

With such a financial black cloud, sadly but fairly.....their SL license should be revoked!! We are barely into the new season, and debts of this size don't just pop up overnight. So either their accounts as presented for last years license application process were bent!....or their business plan for this franchise period was absolute BS which the RFL either bought into....or selectively ignored!

Frankly speaking it stinks!!!


I will add......I genuinely feel sorry for the Bulls fans!! keep your chins up guys!!

The RFL are in a bad position here with the money they they owe them, if they dont help them out and they go in to Admin then the will be paid pennies in the pound, if they do help them where does that leave every other team - you would either need to give them a similar lump sum or just allow them to be run badly as they would have to bail you out as they set a precedent with Bradford. Last year they did not help out Wakey so will be interesting to see what the RFL decide this year!

Consider some clubs got panned cos their financial predictions were speculative..................

The articles are pretty clear, and contain enough information to answer most of the questions.

It's stated that Bradford haven't any revenue from the sale of Odsall as they had to use it to pay the RFL back. They've been living off their overdraft for goodness knows how long. The bank has cut off their cash supply and they're not able to pay their bills this month.

Now all that's easily understood, and can be easily rectified by the RFL by coming to a new agreement for either reversing their decision to wan all their money repaid and coming up with a new payment plan. However the questions come when you start to question the information given by the Chairman.

It's quoted that Bradford turnover £3-4M and their operating costs are £2.5M. Where does the difference go ? How have they got into that position ? The sale of Odsall was to secure their future.

Clearly the board (especially the Chairman) have been fibbing to the RFL, their sponsors and the supporters. Any deal outside the begging bowl should come with open access to all the facts, and the resignation of their Chairman.

The most alarming part is that the only time you would expect a club to ask the fans to bail them out is when all approached to the banks, RFL, sponsors, and any other avenue has been refused as too big a risk.