So, as I've said in other threads, I managed to find some probable email addresses for Andrew Chalmers and Graham Lowe, and sent out the same email to them until I found one that was delivered. And, luckily it was Andrew Chalmers email address.

He replied asking me to go in and discuss my concerns at the next home game, which was today. I was quite surprised he got back to me as: 1 - it was a pretty shirty email, and 2 - Their fan contact isn't brilliant up to date.

Today was me and my good mate Sy, and I asked Bullseye to go as he seemed pretty unhappy with the situation as well. He couldn't make it alas, but suggested I contact FA to ask him, which I did and he came with me today.

The email I initially wrote follows, and Andrew Chalmers took a good hour to go over these points, and more with us. I will write up what he said, and I'm sure FA will add the bits I missed/changed, and then I think its common courtesy to send it to Mr Chalmers to look over first. We did ask him if it was alright to put his replies up here and he said it was, as long as we didn't misrepresent him/get it wrong. So its probably going to be later in the week I can feed back to you guys. Sorry.

Here is the email I sent and the return from AC

[iDeano,
You are more than welcome to call into see me at the next home game and discuss your concerns in person.
Please let me know.
Regards
Andrew Chalmers

From: Deano [mailto:deanovski13@*******
Sent: 22 May 2017 10:31
To: *******
Cc: *******
Subject: A concerned fan
Importance: High

Hi there,

As a long term supporter I feel I need to write to put forward my very real concerns about the club I have followed faithfully for years.

I would imagine this email will fall upon deaf ears, but a reply from Mr Chalmers or Mr Lowe to acknowledge my worries, in return for the many thousands of pounds I have spent on the club over the years, the time spend travelling and attending home and away games, the donations and being with (and foolishly believing) the succession of appalling owners who have brought us to this, the edge of oblivion, would be gratefully received.

I have been supporting the Bulls for many years, despite not being a Bradford native, my first game was in the first season of Superleague, and from there I have been lucky enough to see the period when we were the best in the world, through all the issues faces through several iterations of terrible management, to where we are now.

This is my fun time, this is my recreational pastime. But it’s really not fun anymore. Despite now living in Derbyshire I rarely miss a home game, but I’m trying to find a reason to carry on going this season. The team performances have deteriorated since the season started, and this compounded by other issues such as the botched Visas for our invisible coach (although listening to the table banging and swearing from him on Sunday I wondered why he can’t coach that passion into our team of loanees, kids and past-it ex-stars on the pitch), announcing players we aren’t able to play (Chisholm and Phoenix), and the utter lack of communication to the fans don’t instil confidence that your management of our club is any better than those before.

Throughout our fall from the top there have always been a hardcore of maybe 3000 fans who have stuck by us through thick and thin, but I can see that being eroded. I know of many fans who won’t bother coming again this season unless something positive happens, and who could blame them? Us poor fans have been through the mixer and yet still keep coming, but who wants to see their team beaten by 50+ points on a weekly basis? I was dreading going to Blackpool next week to watch our team utterly destroyed by a rampant Hull KR team on national TV, and so I’m not going to bother. It’s like going to a bullfight to support the Bull. I know RL is a game of ups and downs, but where are our ups? I would rather we didn’t exist than sit through an excruciating season of utter humiliations and then relegation. Who wants to see a beloved pet kicked to death? That’s how it feels.

I’m not sure what the plan is, but at the moment I can see nothing other than relegation and then part-time, with a crowd of maybe 1000 next year. Maybe this is the plan? The RFL don’t appear to know what they are doing, and if (through their incompetence) they end up with Odsal stadium with no club to play there then I’ll shed no tears. I will give up on Rugby League however, and I know many more that will too.

These points would go a long way to getting a bit more spirit in the fans, and a bit more pride in the Bulls:

• Can you please try and reconnect with these fans (myself included)? Fan forums, talk to the press, do an online Q&A, T&A interview, ANYTHING!
• We don’t need lies and empty promises, hell we had enough of them from Green, Khan, Caisley and all the others; no we just want you to tell us what the plan is?
• What are the short term and long term aims? (and don’t give us that BS about Champ 1 survival or promotion to SL, because that’s just pie in the sky talk. I want a helicopter but there isn’t a way in hell I’m getting one at the moment). What are your REAL aim? What should we expect? IS there a future?
• Why are we spending money on an academy when we need players in the first team? Are we going to be the only team in the third tier with an academy? Are we being lined up as a feeder team for others? I’m mean Huddersfield would be knackered without our academy, and incredibly so would the England national team.
• If you have no money to invest, and by god it looks like it, why were you given the club instead of some other bidders who HAD money to invest?
• Why, if you had nothing to invest in the team, did you take on a team of kids with a -12 deficit AND having to play Hull KR 3 times? Why not start in CH2 instead?
• We were told there were no players available last year and yet Rohan managed make signings within days of becoming coach. This season we have been told that there are no players available however other teams (in our division) ARE signing players; so if there is money available for strengthening why are we not in the market for these players?
• Are you just RFL stooges sent in to fulfil the fixtures/wring out the last of the money from us poor, manipulated Bulls fans one last time before the club is euthanised at the end of the season? I don’t want to believe this, but in the dearth of real information from the club these sort of rumours gain traction. Maybe it is true. Only you guys know.
• Please, please, please, PLEASE get someone to check the spelling and grammar on your infrequent (and often laughably late) press releases. Hell, send them to me to check over first! We’re a laughing stock on the pitch and in the league already, there is NO EXCUSE for this shoddy and amateurish language.


I’m not expecting a reply, if anything the deafening silence from the club about almost everything makes me expect that anyway (apart from rolling out poor Leigh Beattie for those after-match interviews where he apologises for another appalling display. Isn’t he the kit man? I hope he has got a pay-rise as ‘interim coach’), but I will await a reply even if it’s a ‘thanks for your concern’ email. It may make me carry on going this season. You may not lose another faithful long term fan.

And bear in mind what I said about being your spell/grammar checker. If it’s going to help (Note: it IS going to help you look less amateurish) then I’m happy to help.

Thanks for your time.
Deano[/i

While I don't want to get ahead of myself with the content of what he said, we all came out from that room feeling a lot happier than when we went in.

Well thank you for sharing but I remain unconvinced by them and actions will speak louder than words. They continue to let some absolute numpty be the public face of the club they're supposedly running, that in itself worries me. Today's twitter feed says our next home game is against Olfham today at 15:00. I mean seriously ffs, it's frankly embarrassing.

I'm willing to listen but I remain unconvinced that this season is anything but a sham and a waste of my time, money or effort. My only hope is perhaps there will be something to get behind in 2018.

All I can say at this moment is thanks you.

I look forward to the second part of this.

Sorry to be a pain. Have you emailed chalmers with you minutes?

I look forward to part 2

I haven't. I only got home at 8 and have been doing family since. I'll try and get them done tomorrow and send them to FA for proofing.

We did mention the spelling/grammar and he did get back to us about that too. He said they were going to give the lad a dyslexia test and if he passed that they were going to run a drug test on him....

Same here.

I have to say, without an actual public declaration, which is something the club is lacking in providing, I really am leaning towards the belief that there will be no Bradford Bulls in 2018 and the only reason these guys got the club is because the RFL wanted to put people in charge who'd at least ensure there was a club to see out the fixtures that were already in place in order for other clubs to get a pay day when the Bulls come for a visit.

I have no faith in the club or the RFL and I honestly feel that 2017 is the last year there will be professional rugby league in Bradford

Preposterously inadequate and an appalling way to start up a professional, well supported Rugby League Club imo

Glad to see he gave that a suitably sensible response. That bodes well for the rest of the questions.

Whilst I am interested in hearing 'something', I would have to take anything said with a small dose of salt. Given what we have seen so far has been less than professional, why would we assume they're capable of delivering what they're planning?

More importantly, why hasn't he done anything about it!?

I hope there's more to that particular topic. If the answer was just "Yeah we know, he's a f***ing idiot isn't he hahaha" and then ignore it and carry on, then it's not dealing with the problem. They shouldn't be testing him for drugs, they should be sacking him. I don't accept this idea that he's learning the job because the mistakes he makes consistently and repeatedly are the exact same mistakes he made last time, and the time before. If you don't learn from your mistakes, then you're not trying to be better.

Yeah, it was a lighthearted comment to the question at the end of an hour of us grilling him. They are aware of this now and hopefully this issue will now go away. We did point out that it makes the club look foolish.

Well quite. I'm just a name on the internet, and you can either believe what I say or not. That's one of the reasons I asked for someone with more 'clout' than me from this board to come along, to add some weight, and was grateful to FA for coming along and asking some more pertinent questions than I could too.

But, I completely see your point, and you can either chose to believe what I report or not. Much the same as us thinking that despite AC answering our questions fully and truthfully, we will only see if he delivers on them in the fullness of time.

I'm assuming that the visa for Toovey will be covered. Did I hear Mick make some reference to him having returned (or going to return) to Australia recently (or soon) on BCB yesterday?

It's not yourself that I doubt I'm sure you will report what you were told honestly and accurate, though admittedly I don't know you from Adam!

Well both Fr13daY and FA seem quite positive which is a good sign. My concerns would be that if good news is around the corner why the club is being run so amateurishly now and people being needlessly alienated?

The latest c0ck up being ban on food and drink being brought into the stadium. Facebook is full of accounts of people being told they couldn't bring flasks and sandwiches into the stadium and them deciding not to bother coming in as a result. Utter madness.

Interested to know if he said this was the first time it's been mentioned?

In a previous, happier, life I worked in the marketing team for for one of the mobile networks for several years.

I've contacted the club twice outlining my experience (was responsible for the proofing of copy and making amendments for campaigns/comms to 22m customers blah blah blah), the people I still work with (and can pester for more help) and offering time to proof comms for them. No response at all.

I'm far from the most literate person on the planet but am light years ahead of the Pigeon English employed at the minute.

I feel the RFL want the Bulls to survive and succeed. I don't believe they just want us to fulfill out the fixtures and then die. Have you seen some of the crowds in SL? HOWEVER, whether they are competent enough to deal with that is another matter. They lurch from one disaster to another.

I look forward to seeing the answers. FA i know was particularly aggrieved with some of the things going on so if he's feeling more positive from the meeting, then that's good.

If the club can get some of the absolute basics right I.E making sure press releases are grammatically correct, stop with cock-ups like banning food, then that will go along way. I really hope they sack the person who's doing the press releases (i don't want anyone to lose their job, but if you can't do the job you're paid for, you shouldn't be in it i'm afraid) Give it to a fan who i'm sure would do it for free.

Looking forward to this being posted up

Although I still will need a bit of convincing that we're not being fed a load of bull. To clarify, I have no problem with the two guys from this forum, its the guy across the table that I might have some problem believing!

That's exactly the way it is. I don't know the lad from Adam. He may be the nicest guy on the planet or he might be a total piece of crap. It's irrelevant. If I was god awful at my job, I would expect to be relieved of it, regardless of whether I made a good cup of tea or not (unless I was a tealady obviously). And he is awful at his job.

Yeah, as I said before I can only report on what I have been told. He seemed enthusiastic and knowledgeable, and didn't dodge any of our questions (even when I asked him if he was a RFL stooge sent to skin us poor fans one last time).

Personally speaking, I was pretty disconsolate with the club this year, but after talking to him I will be getting a season ticket next year. He deffo sold me that!

I did also say that if only he could speak to everyone like he spoke to us many nerves would be allayed and we can start looking forward to what promises to be a bright future. Just not in the short term....

I like the noises that are coming from you. You are giving me hope.

Thank you.

I've got just one question.

If the owners are happy to speak to a couple of fans, in person, before the game, and then have the results of that meeting put on a message board, then why the hell don't they just organise a proper forum and speak to the fans en masse? Are they just shy? Jesus, they might even sell a drop of beer...

Or even a simple "send us in your questions, we'll collate them, and then post something on the website with all the answers" would do the job. Ok, we might struggle to read the answers if they don't type them personally and they let their "media executive" do it, but I would think it would be quite easy for them to do that and it could be of very large benefit in getting some supporters back on side.