Both sides have been gambling behind the scenes. Both have lost their figurative shirts.

and the other staff members.

All of these are real people with real lives, mortgages, rent, kids to feed.

Indeed.....Indeed.

The arrogance and sheer nerve got what it deserved in the end.

From the official Bradford Bulls website on Friday 31st January 2014 prior to being hastily deleted...

- [i"BRADFORD BULLS officials have this afternoon announced that the club will not suffer a points deduction, as a result of its former operating company entering administration. OK Bulls Ltd was placed into administration this morning but the club has since been purchased by Bradford Bulls 2014 Ltd. And, on behalf of the new board of directors, chairman Mark Moore has confirmed that the Bulls are to remain a First Utility Super League side and will start the new season on zero points"[/i.

OK didn't "fold the company". The administration was forced by one of the creditors - the loan company that Whitcut had raised money from!

Except all this started before any P&R was discussed and decided upon. You really talk complete bo77ocks.

Yes sorry my mistake.

A manufactured ploy that appears to have backfired spectacularly I'm afraid.

Just the one



Some of the RFL conspiracy theories on the Bulls board are a credit to loons the world over



Sad day for the fans of the club, but their season is not done yet. They should pick up 2 at the weekend, so will only be one win away from the other 2 favourites for the drop.....and there will still be 24 opportunities to get the points needed to stay up.

I'd suggest NOW is the time that the fans of Bradford Bull need to turn up to Odsal and scream themselves ho in support of their side!

SmokeyTA wrote:The RFL weren’t going to buy them, the SL clubs were. Why would they do that now?

Especially in a relegation season why would Wakefield or London or anyone else who might be relegate want Bradford to survive? What would happen if Bradford, against all odds finished 12th? Would (for example) Wakefield accept being relegated when a club they part own survived?

Massive, avoidable, unnecessary clusterwhoopsie and 2 games in we get our first casualty of the return to P+R, possibly the integrity of an entire season ruined, possibly one of our biggest clubs disappearing, a whole raft of bad headlines, more uncertainty for everyone and the gloss taken from a very good start and some of the positive coverage of recent times.

Great way to capitalise on the World Cup




I seem to recall Back when SL started, that all the clubs in SL had an 8% in Hull FC.

Can someone explain please what happens if the £500k isn't provided to keep the club trading? Is it liquidation, or left to the administrator to sort out?
It does appear that any prospective owner would have to find £500k immediately and then come to an agreement with creditors. Is that correct?
Surely that isn't going to happen!
The only way to resolve it and maybe save the club seems to be to sell players.
I do hope it's sorted for the sake of the Bulls fans.

I am sure the Bradford players have been heartened by the faith shown in them by the erstwhile "new owners", that was only limited by their failure to believe they could overcome a 6 point deficit, which is in effect 4 as London are dead and buried already!

Is this just a convenient excuse for the new owners to get out?
And where is RHP in all this?

Maybe not yet, but likely to be soon. Needing £500k to continue - where's that coming from?

Regarding te £500k in the RFL statement, they said MM & co asked for £500k keep trading.

I asked the point earlier, would MM & CO be able to do this as the club was with the administrators at the time.

Also if they did ask for this on the 7th Feb then why the hell did the RFL ratify the takeover???

I think the £500k is basically MM asking for the other half of the SKY money.

Time to make the HARD decisions that should have been made years ago. It's never nice being made redundant or making people redundant, but the alternative is the demise of one of the RFL's and the Sports flagship clubs.

I would have use a different word to flagship, but if I'd said Ico**c I'd have been lambasted for kicking them while they were down....

Have faith fans of Bradford and to a man woman and child, drag everyone you know to the game at the weekend and show prospective investors the potential that exists!

How can the game at the weekend go ahead?
OKBulls is in administration.
Newco had a temporary 28 day licence to be in Superleague dependent upon their doing the deal with the administrator. They have now publically stated that they are not going ahead.
Who now employs the players?
Who has the responsibility for ground safety, player insurance etc etc?

The best thing for them to do now is liquidation. Dissolve the club, reform and apply to go into Championship 1 next year. With the crowds they will get, hopefully 2-3k, they should be in Championship in a couple of years, they can then build the club back up on solid foundations and earn promotion back into Super League. If they get propped up until the end of the season the problems will still exist and the entire cycle will continue to repeat itself. It is perhaps several years of pain, but its the only way to sort the long term future of the the club.

It's simple.
The players are now with OK Bulls again.
OK Bulls Administrator makes all players on over £30k redundant (unless they accept a reduction to £30k).
Mr Lamb buys Bradford Bulls from the Administrator for an amount that covers his fees.
Mr Lamb then has a Super League club, with affordable players and no debts.
Once special measures lifted, no more contracts offered of more than £30k.

Agreed. We shouldn't be bailing clubs out in the first place. There's this fear that if we don't bail a club out then disaster awaits for the sport. I don't believe that for one moment. If a club folds it doesn't mean that city loses RL forever. More to the point, bailouts have a habit of failing in any event. And then there's the moral hazard. Let them fail. If the people of the city of Bradford care enough about Rugby League, a new Bradford will arrive. If not, then another town deserves the chance.

What more proof would it take than a prospective owner specifically and clearly stating P+R and the prospect of relegation being a major factor in them pulling out for you to accept it?

Is the former newco now the oldco? Or is the current newco the oldco? Can a newco become an oldco and vice versa? And which entity is in administration? The newco? Or the oldco? And who has spat the dummy again and walked away? The newco? The oldco? Or the neverco?

Hull weren't in SL when it started?

The players, certainly Diskin haven't been particularly complimentary about it, they seem firmly on the boards side.

Only hope is Nigel's taken another plane journey and had the tap on the shoulder that there is another Koucash in the wings. Otherwise the game has dug itself a very big hole

Even now with all this going on Bradford still have more of a chance of being in SL at the start of next season than Fev, Fax, Leigh, Sheffield or any other championship club!

I don't think the truth of what has happened from start to finish will ever come out especially now it's turned into an argument between the Bulls and the RFL!

Like Nat says they should bite the bullet and drop down ready to rebuild from the bottom up. The Bulls fans won't like to hear it but this should and most likely will happen.

who is paying the players redundancy? Can you tupe a player to a company in liquidation? Who says Mr Lamb has 750k to pay the players if there is no money coming in? Who can even say if he will want to? Wo would say anyone would pay to see a team get 70/80points put on them?