As has been said on the Bradford board by others I'm starting to think that the RFL saw the books and wanted their money back unfortunatly odsal was all Bradford had so a deal was rushed though giving the RFL odsal instead of them getting their loan back.

It is also then possible that the bank expecting a large deposit into the bulls account from the sale have got rather twitchy when no monies appeared.

Another thing is how much of this did the players know about it?
I cannot see Whitehead signing for a new deal if he though this was in the offing as on example.
I cannot see Sammut deciding to go from one bankrupt club to another one as another.

Mismanagement by the board and disappointing that was not picked up earlier by the RFL

I'm sure they will survive in some form or other but heads should roll for this and Directors should be struck off due to their incompetence

Disappointing ! , are you being serious ? , it was ignored , plain and simple , either incompetance or corruption , take your pick

I will take option B

Stinks of it!

I mean I'm disappointed. In terms of ignored, corruption, etc etc you are right on all counts

Will this debacle see the return of Bradford Northern?

If this were football this would be debated to death on the radio and in the press and we'd get to the bottom of it. Being so small and un-newsworthy, the RFL and Bradford will no doubt escape being pushed for answers as to how this has happened.

This mess throws the franchise system even further into farce. If Bradford's accounts and cashflows were so bad at the time of the franchise decision, why was it ignored? It also raises the question that if Bradford were allowed in with such an unsustainable business plan and commercial performance, perhaps other clubs were as well. How certain are we that the likes of Wakefield, London, Castleford, Hull KR and St Helens aren't also at death's door?

its such a shame our game is run by bafoons

and now they seem to be less than honest bafoons which is even sadder

I can see the same happening for Bradford. WHo in the right mind would lend a bust company money? They need that £1m for the next month, but what happens after that? Another £1m, then another...?

If the company goes into administration, chances are another company will come in, and the fans will not notice the difference, except of course for the 10 or so points they will be docked. OK, maybe a few players will need to leave, and that will weaken the team, but sometimes you need to take a step back in order to be able to move forward.

Heavily discounted season tickets surely isn't helping. They've nowhere to go in this regard. How can they re-align back to £18 when the fans have got used to paying half that? Go into Administration and start again - they're a big enough club with a big enough fan base to dust off and get back to trading in a proper manner.

Bradford fans want their heads testing if they cough up for this hole, it will only be a stay of execution.

Bulls need to wipe the slate clean, exactly the same as WTW.

Correct but that comes with a very heavy price. Loss off finance. all players, all youth development, sponsors etc and starting the season -6 which hurts when you are struggling.

Also Wakefield only survived because Andrew Glover stepped forward - there is no guarantee that anyone will want to take the Bulls on though I suspect someone will. You just have to hope that someone is up to the task.

Get back with what as they have no money and certainly wont have an overdraft facility when the go into admin.
Don't forget that all player contracts go up in smoke plus what do they pay the wages of the players they have left after the vultures finish picking at the carcass with as all season pass money gone,They will have to find rent for the RFL, How do they pay the leccy bill etc.

Wakey seriously struggled and they had a guy who could stand their losses bradford ATM have nobody like that.

Not quite as simple as that, see my previous post - Bradford fans will very much see a massive difference, but at least they will still have a club, just a financially poor one starting at the bottom.

But that's sport. The very nature of sport is that the fittest survive, and that applies to matters on and off the pitch.

I know, I'm just saying after years of success and still being considered by the media muppets as contenders even now - they will notice a huge difference.

It's been a long time since the Bulls didn't consider themselves special.

We have special needs now.

[urlhttp://www.therfl.co.uk/licensing[/url

Richard Lewis:

“I am delighted to confirm that four clubs (Hull FC, Leeds Rhinos, Warrington Wolves and Wigan Warriors) have been awarded A Grade licences, one more than in 2008, and that five clubs (Bradford Bulls, Catalan Dragons, Huddersfield Giants, Hull Kingston Rovers and St Helens) have been awarded B grade licences, two more than in the last round of licensing,” said Lewis.

“As welcome as the improvements in grades are, it is just one element of proof that licensing is meeting its objectives of driving up standards"

The final decision on the awarding of licences was made by the RFL’s independent Board of Directors following a detailed assessment process by the RFL Executive, who received valuable support from property consultants Savills, finance company KPMG and governance and business management experts at Leeds Metropolitan University.




There's some serious running for cover going on this morning no doubt .......................

There is more chance of David Hughes bailing out the RFL than the RFL bailing out London Broncos

I hope the Broncos vote the Bulls out to teach Caisley a lesson(The tables are turned now you Yorkshire get)

and just to think it was your local rivals who turned the first knife with the Harris affair

10 point deduction- 2 Yorky teams below the Broncos now

In the Telegraph & Argus it says Bradford employ 150 staff, that seems like a huge amount unless they're including all players, coaches and stewards.
Also £3-4m turnover shows just how far Bradford have fallen. IIRC Leeds' turnover was over £10m at the last accounts.
Maybe the old salary cap rule of 40% of turnover needs bringing back.

Also with regard the Harris affair. It was Bradford and Caisley who "turned the first knife" by inducing Harris to break his contract.

If they were to go into administration they would get a 6 point deduction (equivalent to 3 wins). That is the punishment in RL. 10 points deductions apply to soccer only.

Is that the Caisley that was forced out of the club and has been touting our players to other clubs as an agent for years now? Or is it some other Caisley?

That doesn't sound true to me, but who knows.

I don't know much about the rules and regulations when a company goes into administration but could the sale of the stadium lease to the RFL be part of a plan to prepare Bradford for administration? Effectively securing the company's biggest asset?