What a load of absolute rubbish that Rimmer talks in the t&a today about how they had to do what they did to the bulls, it’s beyond belief what is is saying, his comments it had to be done, he needs to get a few years under his belt in logistics to see how things can change in a hours let alone days, what he and the rest of his clowns did was weaken two clubs not help them, whiteheaven could have and should have swapped places with the bulls, what rugby league needs is people who are going to make the game and teams stronger and move them forward, all you clowns at the rl headquarters need to move on, maybe stack some shelves in Morrisons or something and start understanding life’s rights and wrongs, I ain’t asking for the bulls to be given special treatment, that’s your decision, but don’t penalise them for things from the past and former owners, you need to remember who made super league what it is along with a couple of other clubs

I said on this board some years back that I had heard, from a very reliable source, that it was the plan to kill off the Bulls. Not many believed it, but putting it in purely neutral terms, in 2017 we finally died. Did we just fall, or were we pushed? All you can say is, if it was the plan, then it has been almost fully achieved. We now technically exist again, but in name only - we're a minnow in C1 by the RFL's design, with owners who are the RFL's choice, playing in a ground rented from the RFL.

Plan or no plan, what you can say is that notable decisions, such as the "loan" to the club which they repaid themselves from money due, imposing the "surprise" penalty that scared off Moore & Co., penalising Omar to the tune of no money for 1 year, making us start in the Championship with minus 12, have none of them been especially conducive to the club's health. And not to mention as a result of the way the new club was constructed and admitted to the league, it turns out that we (and the RFL) are embroiled in a heavy Tribunal case which my money is on it costing us another pretty penny.

Take just two things - there is no way the RFL "had to" deprive Omar of a year's funding. That was a ridiculous and outrageous handicap and he and ultimately we paid the price. And there is every way we could and should have started in C1 as a new club with no points deduction. Because a new club with no staff, players, or assets we certainly were.

People need to aim at Super League Europe (aka the super league clubs chairmen or women) for the Omar funding issue and the Championship club chairmen for this years debacle. Everytime it comes back to the RFL being at fault, whilst they are complicit, they are not the only protagonists.
If what Rimmer said at the Forum is true, then its the likes of Batley, Dewsbury, London etc... and their chairmen (or women) where people ought to take aim too - they stopped us dropping for their own gain and greed.

Us Bulls fans need to stop with the "woe is us" attitude as well - IT IS ALL OUR* DOING - no one has got it in for us, except fans of Cougars, Fax and other local rivals, certainly not the RFL. The Bradford Bulls brand is still strong, even if the current team is not. The national press still refer to Sam B as ex Bradford Bulls player..... why? because the club has national/international recognition that the likes of Leigh, Huddersfield, Warrington can only dream of.

*OUR = past owners, directors and fecking idiots - who is what is your own to decipher.

All our doing? Wait .. so Omar deliberately refused to accept a year's central funding? And we insisted on starting in the Championship on -12? News to me

No but they are the 'Governing Body' (a professional one at that). Clue's in the title.

Not once did they [ihave[/i to do anything the other clubs wanted.

The buying the ground lease was the coup-de-grace... They must have known that in doing so the banks would run a mile and they'd get themselves a nice little lever to control all matters Odsal. Even they could not miss that outcome.

Had they let an administration run it course we'd have been dead in the water or bought and would have been ploughing our own furrow but instead....slow lingering death with as many clowns as the RFL could foist on us along the way. 'Koukash? Sh1t he's got money and will want the lease.... Err here's Green, a cowboy from East Leeds, and Ferres he knows loads! Thanks!'

And the little matter of 'It's fine to sign Harris'...

Then they wonder where the conspiracies come from? The only people coming out of the last ten years at Odsal with a smile on their face are the RFL with that nice little lease about to make them some cash. I kinda hope the tribunal finds against them and that cash is wiped out. Even if we are.

Phew. Nice Friday morning rant......

Thing about the lease, of course, is that without a Bradford team to play there, the lease is worthless since it can only be used if the rugby ground is there. It isn't a licence to dig up the ground and sell for house building.

No but to do anything with the land the owners will obviously have to compensate the lease holder if the lease is broken. It's clearly worth something as can be seen in the RFL's stubborn refusal to even talk about it's sale.

If the owner, that is the council, wanted to use the land for other purposes, that would be correct, but the council have always appeared happy to let the ground be used for RL, so that situation seems unlikely. If the RFL break the lease, as I see it, then it's their problem, not the council's.

EXCEPT that from next year that requirement ends. But that's none of my business ...

Am I correct in thinking that part of the lease agreement is that rugby has to be played there until a certain date? Can anyone remember what that date is as I think it is within the next couple of years. What happens after that? And are the RFL just propping us up til they can dig it up?

cause and effect - these sanctions were not applied to the bulls for fun, they were the effect of our previous chairmens failings.... why do people seem to gloss over these facts? I can't imagine big Nige asked Hood to borrow x amount..... more the other way round as the mis-management was all our doing (the cause!)

The lease was sold to the RFL because Hood/Caisley didn't have a pot to pee in and still spent money that they/we didn't have.....

Has this ever been independently confirmed that such a stipulation is in place and has a time limit?

If the RFL hadn't lent Hood 700k in 2010 then admin would have happened then but any new owner would have still been left the very sizeable asset of the lease on Odsal.

Spot on. The RFL got the Odsal lease which was worth way more than the club owed them.

True, but the asset would be the leasehold not the actual freehold - without seeing the lease and its fine print, a true valuation is impossible. Only Hood/RFL and Bradford Clowncil will know the value.

Again, if Hood/Caisley hadn't overspent..... no need for the lease to be sold on for 700k

As far as I know 2019 is the year that RL has to be played at Odsal.

And had the RFL not told Caisley it was fine to sign Harris the over spend wouldn't have been as big. Very costly error that one.

Everywhere you look in the who debacle the RFL's finger prints are everywhere. Every time they tried to 'help' it drove another nail in the coffin.

I agree Caisley got too cocky but the ham-fisted interventions by the RFL have seen us collapse completely. They couldn't even oversee setting up a new club without getting dragged into a tribunal.

We shouldn't expect any different though. Big Nige's work at Halifax speaks volumes.

The value of the lease can be classed in terms it's sale was the main reason the bank withdraw the overdraft facility which caused the admin in 2012. The lease must also be a sizable asset due to the fact the RFL are unwilling to do any sort of deal on it.

The RFL never said it was fine to sign Harris that's the great urban myth that has cropped up. They said he had no registered contract with Leeds at the time when he signed for us.

Quote ="redeverready"The RFL never said it was fine to sign Harris that's the great urban myth that has cropped up. They said he had no registered contract with Leeds at the time when he signed for us.'" I'd say there's a reasonable base to the Urban Myth though. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 855107.stm "the Rugby Football League has accepted Bradford's move after checking with its lawyers and the Rhinos are now threatening to take the matter further." Reads like, Caisley did the deed, Leeds said 'just a minute..' and the RFL said its ok. After all it's their rules the clubs have to abide by To be fair though, if Caisley wasn't willy waving so much you'd have thought Leeds would have let it go with a s knowing they had Burrow and Maguire up their sleeves and we'd signed a fat, old donkey

Quote ="redeverready"The RFL never said it was fine to sign Harris that's the great urban myth that has cropped up. They said he had no registered contract with Leeds at the time when he signed for us.'" I'd say there's a reasonable base to the Urban Myth though. news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_l ... 855107.stm "the Rugby Football League has accepted Bradford's move after checking with its lawyers and the Rhinos are now threatening to take the matter further." Reads like, Caisley did the deed, Leeds said 'just a minute..' and the RFL said its ok. After all it's their rules the clubs have to abide by To be fair though, if Caisley wasn't willy waving so much you'd have thought Leeds would have let it go with a s knowing they had Burrow and Maguire up their sleeves and we'd signed a fat, old donkey

Firstly May I burst your bubble of indignation over what you think is the justification for our demise!

At the time Hood sold the stadium lease Chris Caisley wasn't at the club and hadn't been for 6 years! Secondly the year of Hoods mis management began in 2010 , I have the comments he made after that years AGM where he states that in 2010 we were showing a loss of £334 k, from the 2009 figure of £78k loss. Turnover had dropped from £4.69m to £3.96 million. Crowds were down to just over 8.5k from approx 12K the year before. So it would be helpful if you have the facts before sounding off (something that many people on here can make their stance from).

On a final barb to your good self can I say that in no business that has had the misfortune to be nearly insolvent and faced with Administration is the situation made worse for the saviours or potential saviours to be in the position of blaming their clients/customers for the demise of the previous business, with punitive penalties heaped on the innocent! Plus when they have no say whatsoever on the chosen New owners, particulary when the choosers of those failed owners blame the client again and again. It's akin to the guilty blaming the innocent.

what's 'rimming' ?

Let's not go there.

what indignation??? are you Chris Caisley by any chance?? If so, why did YOU send us into Admin?????? answers on a postcard

another one that fails to understand cause and effect.

What was the blooming cause?? where did it all start? small clue, not at Red Hall

I'm no fan of Red Hall, Nige and his cronies but way too many people are happy to point the finger at them rather than looking closer to home.

Caisley/Hood/Green and others can rot in hell for what they have done to this club. I sincerely hope that none of them step foot in Odsal again, ever

I think when someone comes to write the history of this sorry period they'll come to the conclusion that the RFL and member clubs often compounded the very great failings of successive owners.