Built on an industry thats all but gone and living in the shadow of a successful neighbour. Knocking down (and not yet replacing) some of the awful 60s monstrosities at least gives a better view of some of Bradford's old and attractive architecture - especially the city hall.

There is that advantage.

Given that the rescue or kick-start plans have all failed they could do worse than remove the construction fences and pop up to B&Q to buy a job lot of paving slabs and have the biggest piazza in the northern hemisphere.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Bradford is this country's greatest depository of 19c architecture which is one good legacy of under-investment.

By the way - whatever happened to "Liverpool, city of culture" ?

It's funny how most of the success they had in the summer era came when they were playing at Valley Pulse Bradford and Bingley Parade.

IMO they should still play there. Its much better than Odsal! The atmos behind the goal & when they put us at the side was brilliant!

I enjoyed that day. I got very drunk. So drunk in fact that I threw half my pint in the air when we scored late on. On the video I can be spotted suggesting that all the Bradford fans go for two points.

I was the one throwing bog roll from the top tier behind the goal.

Large old stadia like large old houses cost more to maintain.

E.g. the £75k to unblock a drain a couple of years ago.

are bradford spending the full salary cap amount on wages? If so, the stadium maintenance argument for their crapness becomes null and void

100% Agree.

If in 04/05 you would have said to me that Bulls will be a spent force in 09 and they would be bottom of the league i would have had concern - Only for the sake of the league system.

But seeing the likes of Hull KR pick up wins week in week out and run Leeds and Saints close. Seeing the quality of Rugby between Wire and Wigan the other day and to say they are not even in the top 8. The league is thriving this season - seeing Bradford suffering is comical as its not effecting the standard of the competition.

About a week after Gary's banoffee pie marathon?

No, we still have cap space left.

In that case then, fair enough. Maybe the stadium issues prevent you from spending the full cap

Stadium issues also mean we spend a tenth of what we did on marketing in 96/97. Short cuts are taken on other business too. Lots of backroom staff have been laid off.

Money well spent on them drains.....

Think it was more a case of signing Bird and finding he couldn't get a visa, similar to Leeds

Compare that to the £60K we spent on pitch drainage a couple of season ago, oh and the £7m that was spent on a new stand.

All clubs need to either pay for ground renovations or are paying for a brand new stadium (Wakefield excluded of course). This is factored into the annual budget and in no way should detract from player payments.

The reason that the Bulls are under-performing at the moment has nothing to do with Harris or that your aging ground is drain on the purse – no, it has to do with your front and rear of house miss-management, simple.

The first port of call for addressing the problems at Odsal is McBanana, since taking the role from Nobby he has taken the club in one direction, and I think we all know which way that is?

... and the £500k that was spent on the southstand four seasons ago, and £250k needed to be spent on the stand now...

It makes you appreciate how Leeds remained reasonably competitive while paying their own stadium costs all those years Bradford City Council (?) took care of Odsal.

How much of that came out of the pockets of Leeds Rugby Ltd, out of interest?

Let's also not forget that Headingley has year-round revenue streams, Odsal does not.

Do the Union arm of the business qualify for ground improvement grants from the RFU too?

That would be nice.



Didnt the RFU put towards our shiny Kirkstall traing base too??

It was, as usual, a one year deal for 2008.

This year the award has gone to Vilnius in Lithuania, as well as Linz in Austia.

Swings and roundabouts. Leeds CF&A were, until recently, pumping several million pounds into ensuring that next door was still capable of hosting Test cricket.

You're right in that Headingley is now a 365-day-a-year venue (RL, RU, cricket, hotel, university, etc) although much of that is down to the money that was put into the stadium complex several years ago, even if it isn't overly evident to the rugby supporters.

Absolutely, which makes comparing the various amounts spent on Headingley and what has been spent on Odsal - which some were attempting to do - like comparing apples and aardvarks.

The money is there to spend on upgrading Headingley because of the revenue it produces and the status it already holds, neither of which apply to Odsal.

Quite, Odsal is a rugby venue first and last. So up until 2003 it was not pulling any cash in outside the RL season. On since 2003 did the Bulls invest in the ground building the Coral Stand for corporate stuff. Before then the Council simply did enough to get the game on and nowt else. The club and the council simply didn't have the cash to invest in the stadium necesary for large scale developments. The ground itself is built on contaminated land making building more problematic than at other places.

It had one year with the title, as planned, during which time estimates vary as to how much investment came in, with £800M being a popular figure among the press. Whatever the number was, the area between the city centre and the water front has been redeveloped to an extent that it's barely recogniseable from the place I lived 7 years ago, with new shopping centres (like Bradford wants), at least one new museum and a new indoor arena.

I think it would have been a good thing for Bradford to have won. Shame for them really.