On what do you base that? The RFL appear to be inserting usage clauses for the sale of the lease and, moreover, the property's ownership rests in the hands of Bradford council and there are existing restrictive sporting use covenants on it.

Beating the RFL up is such an easy thing to do but few have realistic advice on what they could do much better or much differently in the real world.

It does now seem to be a saga of never ending deadlines which needs some 'closure'.

I really hope that someone does rescue the Bulls but for God sake get on with it.

Any takers on BG's next imaginary 'deadline'?

Will it be 2 weeks on wednesday?

The 23rd of august? Christmas day?

The guy just keeps pulling dates of out of his ass and then declaring 'save us by this date or it's the apocolaypse'.

I'm damn sick of the whole saga, they've had the RFL buy the lease on odsal, they've had fans donating money, they've had clubs donating money, they've had the rfl paying players wages, how much help do they want?

They've had enough. I don't care if they liquidate tomorrow.

But i just know one of these consortiums will take over, promising a whole new golden era and a new super sporting institution, all the usual spiel.

Couldn't agree more with last post!! It's like a bad episode of Eastenders!! And with every passing day the RFL loses more and more precious credibility and I bet various coaches in the league below are watching the total debacle that is unfolding!

The whole thing has being a joke .Now they are asking the rfl for next months wages to pay the players ,they should sell some of the players to get money for wages

The money is just an advance on the bulls sky money. When that's run out?

It seems the RFL are desperate to just get them throguh this seasons fixtures.

If that's the deal the RFL will be praying Bradford don't sneak their way into the play-offs.

6 point deduction should (hopefully) see to that.

I have to laugh at some of the bradford fans kicking off because the RFL rejected the ABC bid. They've had more than enough help. The rfl have a responsbility to act in the best interests of the game, and for the bulls to be guaranteed super league status would damage the integrity of the entire competition.

The attitude that ''the game needs the bulls'' also is starting to grate. It's so small time. If the bulls cease to exist the game won't implode. It will just continue. Teams come and go. 10 years warrington nearly got relegated and were a team on the face of it going nowhere. Now they are one of the powerhouses of the game.

If the Scottish football can cope without the Rangers them the Rugby League can do without the Bradford.

The whole sorry saga seems to be a microcosm of the Euro crisis.
As each "critical" point is reached, just enough funds are pumped in to avert total collapse.
The EU's objective vis a vis Greece looks like being keeping things afloat long enough to engineer a Greek exit which is "managed" with less impact on Spain and Italy.
The RFL's objective is to see Bradford to the end of the season.
Personally, I would probably deny them the right to a play offf place if that merely ended up using more RFL funds as it would seem like undue preference with a real negative impact on the 9th placed club.
After that, the offering for 2013 needs to stack up, and be seen by the rest of the Rugby League community to stack up, for whoever may be a prospective licensee.

I heard this morning that Warrington are donating the profits from away (Bradford) ticket sales for this week's game to Bull Builder... Not the Bulls themselves as they obviously don't trust them but to their supporters trust who manage their 'Hardship' fund.

Wasn`t that announced last week?

They'll probably slag off Warrington for their generousity like they did with us!!!

Are you sure about that ?

Agree. Greece (the euro) and The bulls are doomed. The agony is just being prolonged for fear of the short term consequences: the collapse of both is certain with the perpetuated pretence just delaying the inevitable. The decimation is going to hurt all the more when it comes.

its time the rfl made a decision and told the bulls they are playing in the championship next season and sell some players to pay some bills

So you think the RFL should undermine the whole takeover process and force a member club into liquidation at a critical moment? To help pay the wages they are advancing them Sky funds relating to the current season early - which is not unusual for several clubs in the league. The demand of seemingly outraged fans from outside Bradford for the RFL to take some sort of premature "decisive" action is puzzling to me when the very nature of this situation involves offer, counter-offer, negotiation and patience.

Whatever the outcome there is NO WAY their future place in SL is assured to seal any kind of takeover and as for the £££££ IF they run out then they should sell they were quick to pick off Cas when they went down ,wanted the Broncos kicked out of SL altogether and have handed contracts to players they have no way of honouring lets be straight here the RFL have to be very carefull because they were happy to see other clubs fall and this should be no different.

I'm sure that one of the franchise criteria for SL clubs was to do with financial stability.

Aye, easy to beat at Monopoly too i bet.

I feel for the genuine fans of Bradfud i really do, but rules is rules. Kudos for the consortiums chancing thier arms on strings attached bids, never hurts to try. Its not as if it thier business thats drowning is it?

As far as I can see, the RFL are not in a position to take "decisive" action. If they are being asked to "guarantee" Bradford's franchise, that's clearly not a tenable position. Franchises have always been conditional, and that can't be altered for one club.

If they are in a position to advance Bradford cash for this season's TV rights, no harm in that as far as I can see. Whether it's a great way for a new venture to start out from the club's point of view is another matter...

Am I right in saying though that the decision to liquidate or not rests largely with the administrators?

It does appear that the decision to buy the lease on Odsal may not have been a great piece of business by the RFL. If Bradford did fold, or move to Valley Parade (not impossible surely?) as a Newco, then what would that asset be worth, given the covenants on it?

I think the RFL are caught between a rock and a hard place. They have at least
have an asset in odsal albeit not a very sound one. They could have finished up with nothing if the bulls had gone bust owing them a large amount of money.
Like the majority of people on this foroum , I am becoming more and more
Suspicious of some of the bulls wheeling and dealing. I think if they go bust
there will be certain things seeing the light which may surprise people,and not in
a nice way .

That's how I understand it.



If the Bulls go into liquidation the lease the RFL hold certainly looking a bit like they've been sold a pup. Any newco would be free of any contractual obligation to play there (unlike the current setup). So they could go elsewhere in theory. However I would expect VP to be more expensive.

This of course assumes there would be a newco. Not sure who would fund it and how it could afford to run. VP and Odsal would both be out of the price range of any sub SL operation. All the current bidders want to know if they're guaranteed SL status, a fair question to ask really.

You could easily have the RFL owning the lease on Odsal but no club in Bradford.

They could turn it into a tip

Some bradford fans are criticising the RFL but what do they expect them to do?

Damned if they do damned if they don't.

They can't accept a bid which guarantees bradfords super league status, that's a no brainer, yet the bulls fans what an explanation on this



They advance them sky payments to keep them going and it's just ''the rfl getting us to fullfill the fixtures then they can screw us over''.

If he rfl don't advance those payments then the bulls will liquidate tomorrow. Gone. Puff. So what the f*ck do they want?

The RFL need to look after the best interests of the game. Bulls made their bed with shoddy management, now they can lay in it. It's not everyone elses responsbility to sort them out.