question is, would you win nothing with a mid table team next season or stay and possabily win the championship and be part of the new momentum being created?

I was thinking same. The smiles on the faces of the players, you could tell they enjoyed it. I think it could convince one or two to stay with us

I agree, although the result v Wigan and Leeds ultimately mean nothing, let's hope that any of the players who have been wavering about their futures have been given more reasons to stay and become part of a club on the up next season.

The thing is, although it's easy for us as fans to say they should stay, the players have to consider their financial futures. After all it's a short career and as shown recently by both Sean Gleason and Chris Tuson it can be ended by one incident.

Trust me guys 90% of your current squad will have their future sorted, whether at Bradford through choice, Bradford because there's nothing else or elsewhere. All I'll say is you will have more than a competitive squad next season along with London. You've both got some cracking signings ready to be announced and with Leigh, Halifax, Fev Donny etc fighting for a top four finish I believe you'll be in for an exciting and pretty refreshing season. Obviously the super league clubs will be strengthening but in a 7 game series it's pretty much like a cup run so anything could happen in that middle 8 play off.

The most [only? fortunate aspect of going down this season is that there are no teams going up. There is therefore no new team to do the usual P&R thing of taking most of the relegated teams players. The competition money has gone up, but of course, ours has gone up much more than anyone else's, so whilst a very few may get a berth in SL for next year it's unlikely to be [ithat[/i many, so the likelihood is that we'll retain the bulk of the squad. As our friend from Wakey says, there will be more contracts already agreed than announced so promotion or not we could still have a good season.

Your are right in terms of the Bulls league position, but the last two games were against top 4 opposition, teams with much bigger and stronger squads, and despite injuries still fielding international players. You could also argue that for the Warriors and Rhinos the higher they finish the more favourable draw they will get in the play off so the two points would have helped them in the battle for Old Trafford.

So maybe Jimmy's efforts to get the team to play to it's real potential took both Leeds and Wigan by surprise, but they are still great wins which I for one did not see coming and having feared the current season would fizzle out with further thrashings it's certainly put a smile on my face - and I will certainly be claiming bragging rights over the rhino's fans in the office who though they would have a 50+ wall over to crow about on Monday morning

Another medal for "General" Jimmy!

Funnily enough NR, on the way over to Headingley, I caught part of an interview with Macca on Radio Leeds, in which he said, "it was good for me they beat Wigan, it makes my job easier. "Sometimes, it's hard to motivate a team when you're playing a club with just a few points, but that result shows that Bradford are a good side and we need to play well".

I guess Macca's problem was that some people just can't be told!

It seems Jimmy gets his points over a bit more clearly - also as I think someone else has pointed out more proactive with his use of subs.

I was in two minds when JL was announced as the new coach but he is clearly turning the ship round and the collective effort from the guys in the last few weeks has been great.

Yeah, agree NR. I felt a bit like you, and much as it's still early days, things are undeniably on the up.

Nothing?

The only single sense in which they "mean nothing" is in the one limited to our prospects of improving our league position. Other than that, they mean everything they ever did. I don't know about you, but going to Headingley and beating them on their own pitch means a helluva lot to me, every time we do it. It's pretty much a self-contained thing, really. I feed on a win for days afterwards and this one was no different, it felt absolutely fantastic at the final whistle and hasn't worn off yet. Same for the Wigan game, but not just quite as good as away at Headingley. "Ultimately"? Everyone has their own reasons for going, and I'm not knocking them. I suppose if I had to analyse it then ultimately the feeling like at Leeds is pretty much the ultimate for me.

It can be more enjoyable to win at Headingly in a bad year. I still reminisce about our 1998 win more than many of the wins in our good years.

I'm still smiling...we're still relegated, but I'm still smiling. Make of it what you will.

a win against leeds is one of the most important result of the season , for a full season we will be able to glote untill (if)they beat us again ,i take great pleasure when a leeds fan glotes to ask if they have won the challenge cup this millennium .

I was the same. My view was if he couldn't make it happen at Warrington with the financial backing there, how could he turn it round on a shoestring at Odsal. So far I've been proved very wrong.

I just wonder if the experiences at Wire, Salford, Leeds and Carnegie have actually done him some good and he's now able to process everything he's learned and put it into good practice.

Its a fair few years since he played and i'm sure the young lads will look up to him for his playing exploits rather than remember him as one of the lads (which I believe was one of his failings at Wire).

Time will tell but one thing is for certain... how wrong were we not to cut Cummins loose after the Easter fixtures??? It could have been very very different

The one thing you would say about Jimmy the player was that he always played with passion - which he normally managed to keep under control!

Now I know in the modern game there is an awful lot more the coach needs to get across to his team - but putting back the collective pride in the shirt certainly goes a long way and gives me a lot of encouragement for next season.

.
He left Featherstone a much better coach, or so it would appear.

I regard the last two results as sticking plasters for amputated legs. Utterly without meaning.

But that's me personally and clearly there are few quite as demoralised as myself. I can see why your average fan might feel better from these results but it's not going to have that effect on me.

If we keep winning and finish within 6 points of the next club, that is going to make it even worse as far as I am concerned.

I have to agree and I was probably once amongst the more optimistic and positive supporters who posted on here. I'm looking forward to the future and I feel reasonably confident that we have the right people at the club to turn us around. I'm even now quite looking forward to a different challenge in the championship and visiting some new grounds. This season however is dead and buried in my mind and I'll probably only use my season ticket unless I have nothing better to do.

The 2015 season can't come quickly enough for me, so I can once again look forward to my RL at Odsal.

There's always an uplift when a new coach comes in but Jimmy's association with the club during a remarkable period of success might just be the difference between his effectiveness here compared to elsewhere. That said with relegation confirmed and the pressure off, the team is unshackled and playing for fun and pride.

I think we need a feel good end to the season as that will inevitably feed into next year. That will obviously be the real test of his ability as a coach.

I think we all know the six points would never have come back so even if we finish within range it's a moot point. Even post-Easter (had Jimmy come in then) I don't think we'd have racked up all the extra points to surmount the deficit especially with the squad situation. The lack of Sky money killed our chances this season.

It is strange to think that about a decade or so I would have felt the same , beating the bulls home or away meant a great deal , yet somehow last week's result was nothing more than mildly irritating , and that's mostly cos I live in Bradford and lost the bragging rights.

Around the same time you were beating us year in year out , and winning trophy after trophy , did beating Leeds mean as much then ?

Completely agree.

For me, it went back to the late 60s and early 70s,going to Headingley and being routinely battered by classy Leeds teams who seemed to have backs who were twice as fast as ours. Even on occasions when we thought we might win, they always came up with some magical try from their own line to snatch an unlikely victory. A win at Leeds was always more satisfying than beating anyone else.
Probably still is, although these days I don't always routinely support the opposition when watching Leeds play on television, which probably stems from the support we received from Leeds during our recent dark days.

Spot on.

If I never again see the back of John Atkinson, tearing in to win the match in the last minute, it'll still be too soon....how many times did we have to suffer that over the years!!

To be honest, I've never been one to 'hate' other clubs [though I'll sing along with the rest on matchday...

because I've met, or worked with, too many other fans to not realise that they are actually just like us. Y'know, a bit biased, want their side to win, usually feel their team is 'badly done to', etc etc, so my wish in games not involving us is basically down to how the result affects the Bulls and not to the dislike of one side or another.