The wife of the Salford owner has put in a bid to buy Bradford. Could this be that Dr Koukash has devised a cunning plot to get his Marquee Player Plan accepted. IF YOU CAN'T BEAT 'EM BUY 'EM.

This can only be good for the game IMO. Maybe if he also buys up Wakey, Cas and London we can actually start running the league in a progressive manner and think about closing the gap on the NRL!

Not too sure it's a good idea. There's a lot of people, The Dr included, who've complained about the Hetherington's influence on the league. This would just be the same thing really and whilst it would give more power to 'the rebels', who's to say that they will always be putting propositions forward that we agree with??

Now we need IL's son/daughter/dog/cat to buy the Bronco's

If this did go through it would change the voting balance of power in Super League.
I hope they are the winning bid and Bradford can get some investment into the club and their fans have a top class team to support.

His (and presumably his wife's) interests are in removing restrictions so top players can be bought in who put bums on seats. IL, conversely, has actually spoke out against raising the salary cap before IIRC, and why wouldn't he? We compete for trophies every year and get good crowds, both seemingly regardless of us losing some of our best players to the NRL every year. He knows that we'll get make money off the sale of these players, talented youngsters and the odd bargain will come in and replace them, we'll still be there or thereabouts and the fans will keep turning up.

However, for us fans I think it would be far better if the cap was raised, marquee players exempt etc because it allows us to watch the very best players in the competition every week. IL couldn't sit happily knowing he can sell our best because he would have a big concern about other clubs overtaking us. We may even get to the situation where players aren't as keen to leave if they get a decent wage and strong competition here. You could argue the little clubs will get left behind but that seems to happen anyway, at least they could pick up better quality cast-offs from the big clubs and if they go bump they'll be a better investment opportunity if investors see they can come in, buy a good team and become competitive fairly quickly.

Neither Kath nor Gary Hethrington own Wakefield or Leeds. Both are only employees of the clubs.

But they are the people who influence the votes for their clubs. Effectively the Hetherington family have two votes at every meeting. 3 if you count the family member they have at Widnes. Koukash will now end up with 2 votes too and whilst that works in our favour for the time being, it may work against us further down the line. It's more or less the same as IL having Wigan and London, which he wasn't allowed to do under the RFL's operating rules.

I agree but if the doctor was in Hetherington's camp on major issues there'd be a lot of people on here saying how unfair it is that a family can own two clubs. It's more or less the same as IL owning London and Wigan and that wasn't allowed.

Whilst I think it will benefit us in the short term, I think it's a bad idea overall.

Michael Carter has the vote for Wakefield, Kath is just a consultant.

Whats wierd about this conspiracy and Koukash needing to 'buy' another vote to get his marquee proposal through because of the Hetheringtons, is that Gary Hetherington made the same proposal for the last couple of years, and voted for it this time, Michael Carter for Wakefield voted the other way.

There does need to be a shake up of the organisation of the game, I'm still not sure about the good doctor (& now his missus) though and I agree that the SC needs to go up. But be careful what you wish for: who's going to pay for an increase in players' wages? It certainly won't be the chairmen.

Of course it would partly be the chairmen. Having said that, would you not be willing to pay more money to see better players? I know I would. We get a damn good deal for our ticket price and the countless deals they put on

I would be worried now if i was a Salford fan, how long till the doc loses interest in Salford and their pathetic attendances when he realises how easy it is to get big crowds at bradford compared to Salford? That's where the money will go.

I know where you are coming from but the Hetherington Hull and Leeds connection should tell you it is not really a good thing.

His views may at the moment coincide with ours but he basically gets two votes to our or any other clubs one as they are never going to oppose each other. Not a good thing regardless of the fact I am glad to see him shake the game up.

why worry about him having 2 votes, when the league goes to 12 to carry a proposal that the RFL are against it will need 7 votes as a 6-6 vote gives the RFL a casting vote. So if 7 clubs vote for something it must in their mind be better for the game (well their club at least)

It's a good thing that Bradford may finally get through their years of financial hardship and may become competitive again. There are several comments that it might influence the salary cap and help to push it up. Personally, I can't see the cap ever increasing sufficiently to enable us to retain our best players. It would have to more than double and even treble to get anywhere close to the NRL.
Interesting times ahead!

Even if we just get closer to the NRL cap-wise it will make a difference. Don't forget for a lot of these players like Mossop, Hock etc it's likely to be a choice between a large % of an SL team's cap or a smaller % of an NRL team's cap. Raising ours might just tip that balance for some

Yes - my concern is that (esp as IL has resisted any increase) that the bulk of any rise would end up on us & we have the drip-drip of increasing prices that take it into silly money.
The only reason Oz ticket prices aren't through the roof is the game's exposure (and thus sponsorship) & the fact that many of the NRL clubs have some 30k ST holders & routinely have home [iand [/iaway averages of 13k with finals in the 30k.
They can more than easily afford it - I'm not sure SL could (or would) without milking the fans.

Also (back on topic slightly), Bradford council have recently given the go ahead for retail & office development in & around Odsal that could be beneficial for anyone who owns significant bits of anything round there.

Doesn't Koukash have an interest i property development?

yes, that was my point - not sure how extensive his/their holdings are, but I wouldn't be surprised if they've not got an eye to whatever plans are afoot around there. Not that there's any problem with that, my Communist leanings don't extend to any Stalinist wealth redistribution or envy of success.
My main concern is the conflict of interest it generates: what if Bradford are 3rd from bottom near the end of the season & they have a decider with (say) Barnet pony club as to who stays up: star (Salford loanee) player London are depending on is recalled at short notice, destabilising the team. Bradford win & survive.

Or perhaps I'm just a cynical git.

I dont think this infulences the balance of votes at all really

It sound like the koukash family are investing in rugby league and stablising clubs that have been very unstable for years this is a good thing

I give them benefit of the doubt but the RFL needs to kee on top of the relationship between the two clubs as that could be used as a way round the salary cap with cheap loans from one club to the other

One man, Rupert Murdoch, effectively owns the sport in the UK. If this offer is rejected, it all seems a little bit hypocritical.

I think, If you've got the cash, you should be allowed to buy as many clubs as you like.

Although the RFL screwed up when they told IL he couldn't have both London and Wigan. That was a bad move.