This is my last attempt to explain this one.

He was out of contract next year.
That means anyone wanting to buy him would have had to pay 1 year's salary for him, or 18 months if they wanted him for now.
I think most clubs would actually sooner wait the contract out (because if he'd not signed a new deal this year you'd have to expect it was because he wanted out), and probably not have enough cap space to accomodate him this year anyway. So any fee would be negligible on the scale of their debts.
He signed a 5 year deal.
That means the purchase price is now in the region of 5 years of his [iincreased[/i salary, less a bit because clubs know they need the money.
This announcement means that clubs now know that Bradford may not be able to say no to a good offer, so someone will look to get ahead of the rest by buying him now.
Bradford go from getting £0-25kish for him (which would be 2.5% of their debt), to maybe selling him for in the region of £100k (10%).

If that happens his new deal was a belting move.

It's more the tone of your posts and your earlier harking back to Radford (you weren't alone in this, I didn't mean to seem like I was singling you out).

Maybe I've misjudged, but I do think a lot of what you've said on this subject is way off the mark.

I'm done now as it's taking over the thread and must be annoying others by now.

But it is only a belting move if they raise £1m, are you convinced they will do that in such a short time ?

I feel for the genuine Bradford fans, the ones who have been through the thick and thin. You only have to go back to 1999 when our club was in serious danger to remember what it was like for the fans.

As for the club officials, other than that they should be disqualified from being company directors again, there is a certain degree of karma on the horizon. Wasn't it Bradford, who by actively marketing in areas like Keithley and Halifax, effectively crippled a couple of other traditonal RL teams?

Oh, and the RFL need to be investigated at some length into how this has been able to happen so soon after they "aquired" Odsal.

Don't quite agree with that. There are now 4 possible outcomes in relation to Whitehead:

1. They sell him and raise the money.
2. They sell him and fail to raise enough money.
3. They don't sell him and raise the money, and they've secured him for the next 5 years.
4. They don't sell him and fail to raise the money.

If 1 or 3 pan out, it was a good move. If 2 happens it at least gave them a better chance. If 4 happens it was irrelevant.

I just don't really see a way in which it was the stupid move you think. The worst outcome is that they don't gain from it, but I can't see a way in which they lose any more than they already stood to. Giving him the contract has not caused their plight, nor does it seem to be a symptom of how it's happened.



No, but the value of players like Whitehead is where their best chance lies IMO.

The RFL can not and will not let a club like Bradford go under .Who will replace them , Featherstone Halifax ,leigh, a second French side , another Welsh club. None will be able to match Bradford with the fan base etc .Bradford on a bad day will beat most of those clubs on a good day

My point was that they should not have given contracts out, they should have reigned the finances in, tried to offload a couple more with a transfer fee if possible, like you point out it would not have touched the sides of this debt, however I feel it would have given them more time to try and sort this mess out with the help of the supporters and planning. I understand why they have done it however it is a massive risk and I do actually consider it a symptom hanging on to players they can ill afford to pay, two weeks to raise that kind of money is a massive ask now.It will be interesting to see how this pans out, I actually think there is more to it than what is in the public domain right now. Even if they get a top transfer fee for players like him it will not cover these costs, the fanbase will crumble and the inevitable will come.

Other sides are overtaking your fanbase.

Its a shame when 6k Bulls stopped going they didnt go back following Keighley like they were pre 1995

As well as the fans you have to feel sorry for Jarrod Sammut, thats twice in two years now unless he could get dispensation again.
Elliot Kear would be different as I'm sure plenty of clubs would take him.

But this is what I don't understand, why?! Where is the sense in that?

They can't save enough money from the wage bill to pay the debt without having a pathetic squad that nobody will pay to watch getting trounced each week (you say the fanbase will crumble by selling off a few of their best, how diehard do you think it will be with a squad costing sub £700k? That's not even twice the NL1 cap, and is actually assuming they are at full cap now, which I highly doubt. It's probably more realistic to say that slashing £1m off their wage bill will essentially give them an NL1 side), but they maybe can pay them off by selling a few of their promising young players. You can't sell players who are out of contract, and those with not long left to run have little value. By giving him a 5 year deal they've possibly just quintupled what they can get for him.

Their need for money in is greater than their need to decrease their outgoings.

Administration wouldn't necessarily get them kicked out of SL - see Wakefield last season. In fact their best bet would be if they could somehow 'do a Wakey' and start over with a new BOD/owner. Chucking more cash at the current bunch of incompetents would likely only be putting off the inevitable.

The killer blow regards SL would be if they couldn't fulfil their fixtures, which is looking like a real possibility at the moment.

To be fair that was more to do with one man's ego than squad make up [iper se[/i. Has to go down as one of the single worst decisions ever made by a club chairman in any sport.

Unless they can get £1m together they are gone, if they go into administration they need a investor/buyer or they are gone, so it could be irrelevant what they get for players . The bottom line is the club have been greedy and signed up players they cannot afford to pay in 2 weeks time, now given the option of watching a pathetic squad who may end up in NL1 is better imo than losing the club altogether and they are serious risk of this right now.

Dont think Bradford got a penny for Odsal as they owed the RFL money, in essence the RFL got control of the ground and the debt was wiped

was with friends from Bradford in January and he made a statement that Bradford would fold soon
if they didn't get they act together .I said to the wife coming home I thought Frank had got it wrong .But what do I know .Like to bet Lynch think he made the right choice to come to Hull .Could be going this weekend to Bradford to see them .and the Pub we go in known I am a Big Hull fan .Yes I feel for the fans of the Club but it should not stop us going for players even for this season .We still have money left on the salary cap use it to get a prop or .any cash sum would help Bradford short term

I suppose the point would now change as to what use / benefit would Odsal be to the rfl if there is no one playing there?

Any idea why they owed the ref money for?

The added problem they have over Wakey though is the ground. Hopefully any new venture would have no problem getting the go ahead from the RFL to play at Odsal, but as we see on a regular basis, you can never quite predict what they will do.

It's the combination of administration + potentially no ground that I think would possibly threaten their franchise position.

It smacks to me of posturing on the part of the Bradford Board. There's clearly been some discussions between them and the RFL over the last few months and it seems that Bradford haven't got the result they wanted/expected so they have now gone public to force the RFL's hand in the belief that they won't let them go to the wall. Especially after the RFL stated publicly the value of Odsal as a spiritual home of Rugby League or something similar and now own it.
You wonder how the players that have recently signed contract extensions will feel about it now they know the true financial position. I understand why Bradford did what they did with Whitehead but he has to feel a bit used now he knows that , essentially , it was just a device to make him a more valuable asset and the club knew they couldn't afford it. Maybe he could tear it up and be a free agent once his existing contract runs out?

I feel sorry for the loyal Bradford fans. Hopefully the club can be saved, it would be extremely bad news for the sport for the club to go under.

Without new owners you wonder whether £1m in the short term is enough and if in a few months time, should they have a poor cup run and miss the play offs again, they'll be back in the same boat.

Yes, it may be irrelevant, but the point is that it can hardly harm them further can it? Whereas offloading at the cheapest price can. Who would buy a club with big debts, no ground, and no decent players to boot? The players are currently the best assets they've got, getting shut at rock bottom prices (or even free) to save money they can't pay anyway would be madness at this stage.

Haven't read all the info out there, but is any of this related to the image rights issue - the case against Leeds seems to be never-ending, but not up to speed with it?
And the other question for me is whether removing the 50% of turnover max on player salaries has contributed to the situation.
Very sad for Bradford fans regardless. Feel for them.

I'm pretty sure the RFL would rather have a paying tenant in Odsal than have an empty ground costing them cash.

The problem Bradford have is lack of operating cash. Wakey were never in any danger of not being able to keep operating until the administrator could find a buyer; unfortunately that's not the case with Bradford. If they can't find the cash to pay wages next month then they fold, simple as.

Some pretty poor opinions on here.

Lets NOT do a DOBBINS special and vote/act them out of existance.

Were bigger and better than that....JUST REMEMBER OUR MERGER.

WE NEED TO SUPPORT THE BRADFORD CLUB (not board members).

Period.

Ironically it seems that the Odsal deal that was supposed to secure their future may have done the exact opposite:



Now that's simple incompetence. The BOD should have talked things through with the bank before selling the lease to the RFL.

I would certainly hope so after all their bluster after buying it. I just hope that if Bradford have to start again that the RFL come to an affordable rental agreement for them and don't get tempted by approaches for the land.

The threat to Bradford is very severe, I hope they come through it. I was just saying that if possible it would be far better for them to avoid administration or restarting IMO, as it could effectively mean them out of SL and I wouldn't fancy their chances of a return any time soon.