Marc Green has already stated that the club will be full time next year but I think that statement would have been made on the assumption that the Bulls finish in the top 4. It will interesting to see if this decision changes should the Bulls fail to qualify for the middle 8’s and not receive the prize money that accompanies it.

For the past couple of years the Bradford fans have been asked to pay Super League ticket prices and in return the club would provide a full time, “Super League standard” playing squad. The quality of the team that has been assembled is clearly well below the standard that is required and as such, we are struggling to compete with our part time opponents, never mind being in a position to mount a serious promotion challenge.

If the inevitable happens and the club fail to reach the middle 8’s then there will be obvious financial consequences and one of three things will need to happen:

1. The club hold up their hands and admit that they have failed to use the salary cap available to build a quality squad and they take responsibility of making up any financial short falls next season.

2. Once again, the club approach the fans and tell them that if they want a full time squad then they’ll have to pay for it, possibly by raising ticket prices or by setting the bar for the number of season passes sold.

3. The club go part time.

I’d be very interested to hear how far you guys will go next season? I personally feel that the club have misused the money provided to them and as such I refuse to pay any more than I have this year, regardless of the outcome.

If we fail to make the middle 8s then we're done as a club. We will revert PT at best! It's not only the absolutely pittance of central funding we would receive but how on earth would anyone market the championship shield!? We'd get no income at all for the rest of the season.

That's why i'm so angry at those players for yesterday and haven't calmed down. If we won that game we would have more or less secured our top 4 spot. But once again we were out-enthused and utterly bullied by Fax AGAIN! In a game of that importance!!

It's not just a one off game where we can bounce back. We're now relying on other results to go our way to stumble in the the top 4. If we got into the M8s, we wouldn't have done anything but we could have rebuilt with the superb juniors we've got.

Now thanks to those so-called professionals, not only may we go PT, but also lose our superb juniors we could have built the club around.

Hard to disagree with anything in the previous two posts

Regardless of whether we somehow scrape into the Top 4 (and line up for a series of absolute floggings) or suffer the humiliation of dropping into the Championship Shield, I don't see anywhere near as many people taking season tickets at those prices next season.

Marc Green has done a very skilful job of explaining why a 'Super League standard team playing at Odsal' costs those prices (who remembers the PowerPoint presentation at the fan event?) but I'm afraid he's actually sold us a pup. Not his fault - blame the squad recruitment and the players themselves. But still...

Either way we are going to need a complete re-think of season tickets for next season, or I can see mass indifference from the faithful, including myself.

I don't know, but would bet a lot of money that if Green had his time again, he would tell whichever expert was in his ear that we could do without a scrum half to fsck off and made that his number one priority.

I disagree that our squad, overall, is not of enough quality. It is. But more often than not, sadly it doesn't play up to its potential, and there may have been several reeasons for this but on my list, in bold, way at the top, is the perennial lack of an organiser / playmaker.

Can I just add, shame on the few now calling Charnock, saying he's crap, does nowt, get rid. What we needed was an established and tricky no. 7, obviously we couldn't afford one of the best but either a seasoned old head or a tricky nippy young lad, and give him a year or two to settle into the team. Because any such key role takes time. To have a go at Charnock, a young lad who's only here for a month, and coming into a zero-confidence team under pressure, well, words fail me, to be honest.

In due time Charnock will make it, because you can see that. Well, I certainly can. Like I could with Gale, and defended him stoutly, but plenty on here were slagging him off as useless, rubbish, good riddance. Why, I can even go back to Deacon, and how - despite his astonishing career with us - there were several who "never rated him" and weren't sorry to see him go. I conclude that there are fans who simply don't actually see what a player contributes.

Team with talent recruiters with more nous than Bulls have had, therefore can pick up players like Gale or Finn, because they know they need a guy who can do a job at 7. But I expect the knockers will never learn.

Maybe one last utterly candid plea to the fans, that we can finance (just) one last tilt at promotion for next year, if people buy their season tickets. But just admit to us that in 2018 we would need to go part time.

I've said before we should have immediately announced we were going part time after the million pound game and said it loud and clear that you cannot be promoted under this system. I would hope that when Leigh fail to go up, Uncle Derek drastically cuts back the expenditure. It is the only way we can hope to focus the minds of the RFL.

I really hope it doesn't end up in a situation where the club try and turn it back around on the fans - something like a 'we need to sell this many season tickets to remain full time' ultimatum.
That would be a complete and utter disaster and yet, unfortunately, something I can totally see them doing.

My current thoughts are that I will probably pay as I go next year, I certainly have little appetite in paying up front for a whole season. The lack of scrum half this year has been an insult to the fans who have paid well over normal Championship prices.

Rumours that we've signed Chisolm, don't know whether to laugh or cry that we've waited until 4 games before the 8's when we look likely to miss out now anyway.

I'm not sure which question you've just answered there old pal? I basically asked a question of how fans would feel if Marc Green asked them to make up the financial short falls from not reaching the middle 8's by increasing ticket prices? Would they pay more?

You've taken a comment that I made in another unrelated thread and brought it up here, for some reason? I have no real feelings towards Charnock. He's not a Bulls player. He was temporarily brought in to paper over the cracks of poor half back recruitment over the last couple of years. I don't believe that he has given the Bulls much more than a decent kicking game but it appeared Addy was given the responsibility over him. I never doubted Gale and I reckon we would have gone straight back up last year had we kept him. This thread wasn't about any of that though.

I was aiming in general and not making any direct reply to anyone, don't worry.
On your question re ticket prices, I paid £380 this year and won't be paying any more. Also, if we don't sort out the halfback situation then after approx. 150 years as a season ticket holder, they will have lost me. I will pick and choose. If I don't get totally disillusioned. But the club may make the decision anyway because if we don't make the 8s, which barring miracles we now can't, then as Green has always frankly said he won't put money in (though he must already be doing just that) we'd be reduced to a part-time operation and forever doomed to mediocrity. In other words, we will no longer be the club I've followed.

I agree what you say about Charnock, it's just disappointing that the lad takes a bagging (not just here) from some, when as you say he isn't even our player, and has hardly taken his coat off yet.

Of course I also agree our last tackle plays are in the main woeful. I suppose one reason is we manage to get to them so infrequently that we are out of practice, and the players are amazed and out of position, wondering what to do next. But even so, really, it can be embarrassing at times. Literally every other team manages to regularly put us under pressure from clever last plays. Us? If a punt to the winger doesn't work, then that's about your lot for the most part.

I'd have thought the lack of a Gale is 100% bang on the topic of failure to reach the middle 8s, though. I've seen how all these Championship clubs play, and can you imagine a fit pairing of Gaskell and Gale (which we did have for a short while!!) - they would take the rest apart, and the team that now plays so poorly would play great off the back of an inspired lead. But we are where we are, like a fairly expensive mid-to-top range car, with dodgy spark plugs, running on 2 1/2 cylinders.

I agree with all of that. I have no issue with Charnock in general and I'd be happy to add him to our squad with a view to the future but we need results now and I'm not sure that a young inexperienced lad was/is what we need at this important stage of the season, particularly as Thomas was beginning to find his feet.

I've not given up hope for this season yet but I've never been that bright.

And people said no to Sammutt as he went missing half of the time. At least we would have had an attacking threat half of the time and a little bit of creativity and speed in the half backs. Some said he can't tackle but don't people say that about Thomas and Addy and isn't this a criticism said of the new lad, Keyes?

I can't see anything but part time players if we don't get in the top 4. If the difference in money is half a million then I can't see a way they can stay full time

My lad is out now with Joe Keyes showing him the delights of Halifax as opposed to London so I will ask him if part time was ever mentioned in contract negotiations

I can't see us making top 4 now.

Even if we made the top 4, there was never a guarantee that we would make the mpg and thereby finish 'fifth' overall in the middle 8s table.
Marc Green seems to be a pretty shrewd bloke so I would hope, at the very least, that he drew up a budget for us doing what Leigh did last season and finishing 8th overall.

If he did do this, then the difference in central funding between bottom of the middle 8s and winning the champ shield might not be so drastic as to force us into part time rugby.

Maybe £200k or so? Just trim the squad a bit, get rid of some of these wastemen and that will be covered in no time

No word of going part time next season

2 more London players signing for next season

Any ideas who?

A prop and a winger

You can never have enough wingers.

Rhys Williams would be a decent addition but not sure that we need him unless Danny Williams is on his way out? Perhaps the club are thinking about saving money on printing new shirts?

I'd happily swap out Danny Williams for Rhys Williams

We've Clare Caro and Ryan. We don't need another winger! Have someone from the academy as 4th choice.

Rhys Williams. Meh.

Where we getting money from?

There's a few leaving

Joe Keyes going out on dual reg this week

Who are we dual reg with?