from Chris Irvine on twitter

Chrisirvine
Steve Parkin, who failed to buy Wakefield, wants to purchase Bulls, Bradford City and build new stadium, according to YP #rugbyleague


just of to look on YP website !

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/fo ... _1_3475954

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/fo ... _1_3475954

Hmmm , sugar daddy with very little sugar? or enough Business sense not to just throw money about? either way im not sure ( from whats in the article ) what the Bulls would get out of it. if the plan would be to get City back to the championship, then that would rule out odsal as a base

Sounds very "City focussed" to me. Depends if our majority shareholders want to sell. Reading between the lines he seems to have claimed to have spoken to some Bulls shareholders.

Sounds like a man on an ego trip! Serious people don't do their negotiating via the papers.

notice the bit about playing out of one stadium until economy improves enough to build the new joint one in 5 or 6 years. 3 guesses where we'd be playing for next 5 or 6 years (an probably forever as doubt new stadium would ever materialise). Wonder what wakey lot make of this are there still convinced parking is going to be coming onto there board in new year.

I'm going to take a slightly more optimistic view

First, we have been crying out for investors or people to come in and take sole control. So far we've had zilch, so its a step forward to at least have someone who is interested. Does he have the financial clout and a sound business plan? Who knows. It's up to Peter Hood and Andrew Bennett to 'smoke out' the truth, and not be swayed by paper talk. I think they seem sensible enough to do that.

Having said that, since Caisley owns most of the shares, he could get hold of the reins of power at the Bulls by buying out our beloved former Chairman!

Another point is that when you look at takeovers of sporting clubs it seems to me that once one reasonably serious bidder shows their hand, then suddenly other people or consortiums come out of the woodwork. That might happen here. We might suddenly find that there are two or three other people - maybe people with serious money - who declare their hand.

So... let's be cautiously encouraged by this. Nothing to get too excited about as yet - but at least a modest step forward eh?

Depends what's on offer if a bid is ever made.

commonly held view but in error. caisley doesnt hold majority of shares. he has largest single shareholding (26% from memory) but can be overruled by other shareholders. Parking would have to get caisleys share plus a few other shareholders stakes to take a majority shareholding.

certainly no bad thing that someones showing an interest in investing but he does seem more interested in the football side with bulls almost an ofterthought from reading his comments in paper.

Like Bullseye mentioned it does seem like a very City-focussed business plan. Upon reflection it would appear that some sort of merger would have to take place for the plan to go ahead smoothly. I know many people have been against this idea mainly because they feel we lost our identity whilst playing at VP.

It's early doors and I am not getting too carried away with this article. If our position as a club can be improved by this venture then it's obviously worth thinking about. The only problem is I could see us having the same problems as Wigan do with Dave Whelan.

The article hardly mentions the Bulls really. He does seem very interested in City though. I see a very lareg stumbling block over the "play at one stadium until the new one built" issue though...

Unfortunately it's the right thing to do but both sets of fans have an attachment to their own ground and a dislike for the other (which is understandable).

Only way I could see it working is if both teams stay at their respective grounds until a new shared ground is built then move in together. If either team was forced to play the others ground as an initial step before new ground was built then its a safe bet the new ground would never happen.

That's the most feasible option IMO. For me, both teams should stay where they are until a new stadium is built, and then we can really take the next step.

I'm cautiously optimistic, but with more emphasis on the caution.

Lies, according to Connor.

Ooh that's strong coming from Connor. Think there may be an interesting article forthcoming if he's dismissing it that quickly
Reading Connors tweet say parkin hasn't talked to bulls. I'd take that as meaning current board. Wonder if he's been talking to other shareholders though?

hmmmm

Tough one this, we all want a sugar daddy for the club. But the full cap is already available, so if this guy did come in, we couldn't spend any more on players wages than we are able to now (and if you believe that you'll believe anything)

The stadium issue is what matters most to Bulls fans (and City fans) neither want to move from thier home grounds as they both hold so much history for the clubs. But you can't expect anyone to build two new stadiums. I'm a loyal Bulls fan, but there is no way i will be going to that pit of a place, where a nice stadium VP lies.

A sugar daddy isn't the be all and end all. All Odsal needs is a roof. We recently built our own state of the art training facilty (which apparently is the best in the league) so we obviously aren't that skint, just need to get the piggy bank out again and start putting the pennys away for a roof. Simples!

MurphyonBulls Connor Murphy
To clarify, Steve Parkin may have spoken to shareholders but hasn't made attempt to meet the club/board. No firm plan now but could change.

Awful lot of spurious assumptions being made here for something that is evidently in it's early stages.

Choosing the press as an early platform of negotiation, isn't necessarily as daft as it may seem. It allows him open dialogue and to connect parties without having to sit at a table at this stage. Similarly, he may have approached any one of the shareholders in private, not difficult especially given the largest single shareholders potential receptiveness.

Clearly any mutual proposal has to be of benefit to both parties; meaning primarily, shareholders, who despite their grandstanding don't always care too much about the public. To say he is pro City or vice versa is a strange conclusion for us to draw at this juncture.

What is clear, is that as a club we are in a highly precarious financial position (along with many others) and something needs to be done to mitigate the current structure or more clearly, something has to give. As I've alluded to before, the present management and staffing structure is highly flawed (yes hail the rescue blah blah) and that is one key area that any investor should be looking to rectify if they are to grow the business, fan base and outreach as it should be.

Mr Parkin, you have a hell of a job on your hands. Good luck to ya.

I'm sure those loyal fans with emotional ties to the old grounds are staying/will stay away from WIre, Hudds, Wigan, Saints, HKR, Cas, Salford & Hull. That'll show 'em.

Difference is they all moved to new grounds. This looks like a thinly veiled method of getting us down to VP. We've been there before and it was massively unpopular. IF it was a case of moving directly a new stadium then, whilst people wouldnt like it, I'd say it could be pulled off. Its the 5/6 years at VP before any new stadium was built (if it ever was) thats the potential deal killer imo.

I don't see anywhere where playing at VP was the caveat.

I don't see anywhere that outlines it will 5/6 years at any venue

I don't see anywhere that suggests it is a deal breaker.

Assumptions.com

Really?




looks like a pretty simple to understand statement that both clubs would be sharing one of current stadiums for 5/6 years. dont see how you can misunderstand that.

Given that odsal would need major upgrades to allow city to play their and its considerable cheaper to get out of the odsal lease compared to the city lease then its not much of an assumption to say the current stadium used would be VP.

Assumption is the mother of all f*** ups

Is the right answer. Especially given relative commercial land values of each facility and noises emanating from VP.

If we were to play there, the problem is....?

Or shall we continue playing at a money juicing hole and little hope for progression with the current structure?

Coin flip