It's a tough ask to get 11k signed up, but for the money it's still a no brainer if it remains as low as it is. Even if it went up to £100 I'd still buy one given that I go to the home games anyway.

One things for sure, if we don't get the income you can forget about ever having a decent team to support.

Indeed to both.

And unless anyone has a sugar daddy waiting in the wings, there is only one place that most of the required income is going to come from.

I think the Bulls put too much emphasis on the fact we were a winning team in the first decade of SL. Not very futureproof, not enough to keep all the fans we picked up and now there's a sense that a trophyless year means that the fans have been duped.

A winning team puts bums on seats but no club in any sport can guarantee that year in year out. I don't think the emphasis RL adminstrators put on it is healthy for the sport. By definition, a minimum of twelve clubs in SL end up as losers every year.

The Bulls will always have the loyal support base, like myself, who will by a season ticket regardless of expectations. The problem we have next year is that many tickets were purchased by 'fringe supporters' who bought into the 'whole new beginning' pitch that the club sold. How many will buy into that again? As I said earlier, I persuaded 5 people to buy tickets, none thought we would win anything' but all expected a good game day experience. What they actually got was poor rugby and flat atmospheres. None of them will be interested in buying another next year. How many others will feel the same?

Agree i think we will srtruggle to get 11k but i will still be buying mine for next season, not sure about the family though its hard to get people to watch a shower of that week in week out. Hope MP can turn it around next season, otherwise we will struggle.

If your a loyal supporter and support bulls through the thick and thin you will buy one. The people who dont will be like you say not the true fans... however if its £60 or cheaper or a bit more its still very cheap considering what you pay on match day so could still tempt few people.

Not entirely true - value for money was given by Cas h, Wakey h, Saints h, Hudds h. Add in two fairly meh wins over Salford and Quins, entertaining losses to Leeds and Catalans, and two gubbings by Wigan and Wire (not sure how to categorise Hull) and I'd say they've had their money's worth.

I appreciate that people don't seem to see it that way, but sixty quid for that lot is not shabby at all.

If we had to rely just on "true fans" for income, the club would go bust tomorrow. Like it or not, we need a large number of discretionary fans to pay the bills.

I totally agree. It has been fantastic value for money and I'll jump at the chance to buy a cheap season ticket, but I'm a bulls supporter. The people I persuaded to buy tickets liked the bulls but have only ever been to the odd game. I talked them into buying it. The general consensus was that they had their value for money but weren't impressed enough to go around again. Fair enough, but how many more people who bought tickets this year will feel the same? Quite a few I reckon.

I seem to remembering us saying the same about the pledge last year. The team is better than last year (just) so i can't see why we can't get 10,000 again but it will be a push for 11k plus.

Aye with hindsight this letter should have come out straight after the Hudds game shouldn't it? I think we will have a team on paper better than this years, but I thought this one would be leagues above the Orford-less 2010 side. I think we'll get higher numbers than recent years but probably a drop from this years campaign.

The real problem is that many people bought into the Potter regime being the end of a tough few years and the start of something much better. A marginal improvement on 2010 does not equate to those expectations, however misguided or unrealistic those aspirations may have been.

It's almost impossible to sell the reboot of the club two years in a row and have those same fans buy it when they feel let down after the first one.

The only way to generate buzz after the on field disappointment is with top class signings, and those type of players are way out of the Bulls league unfortunately.

Even a marketing genius would struggle to sell this one.

Well, I know of 2 fans who didnt have a season ticket this year, they will have one next season though so it's not all doom and gloom. Let the glory supporters come and go and the dedicated supporters will always stay.

I am going to be away for the Hull KR game so will miss the announcment. Good luck with this one though Bulls.

I have £50 of Bulls vouchers to spend though so whatever they end up costing won't be so bad.

Id of bought one this season regardless of price and same for next year, its the sport i love and dont particularly like football, always will be going up to Odsal to watch the boys regardless of price and weatehr for that matter !!!

The letter does like a desperate plee on one side, which I can understand, but, on the otherside a fancy do for the corp people. Maybe not the best of PR, no doubt it was written well before the wire match and posted last Thursday/Friday.

Given the fact that the economy is still well in the sh*t, they can't really jack up the price for memberships. So, the board have to go out there and fetch the money in from other sources, not to rely on the supporters. Its time they went out to every business in the area and offered them bulk deals, specials and any other incentives to get the money in.

I suspect if the team had been well inside the top 8, the season ticket could have rose by £10/£20 and we all wouldnt be having this conversation.

Evidence from City suggests that, if it's cheap enough, people will still put their hands in their pocket.

The fact that performances haven't been that great doesn't disguise the fact that £60 for 13 games of top level sport is good value for money - if after 4 seasons of mediocre 4th level football City can still get 9000 people to part with £150 for a "cheap" season ticket for the 5th it shouldn't be that hard for decent numbers to renew at Odsal.

I agree. If the season tickets stay the same price for next year, I'd not be surprised to see a similar number of takers.

I think one plank of the strategy has to be to try to convince the waverers what fantastic value the Membership is? After all, we have had a handful of games at Odsal that together were easily worth the Membership cost. So even if many of the rest were dire, they did not cost folk anything other than a bit of time? I guess the tactic of trying to shame some into renewing by labelling them Glory Supporters might work with some, but for many a different approach will be needed.

The gist of the club's marketing strategy looks to be to recognise that the best salesmen for the Memberships are the existing members? Which is why Sunday's debacle was so especially depressing. An honourable loss after putting up a hell of a fight would have carried on the "on the mend" feeling from the previous game. As it is, the letter's release could hardly have come at a worse time.

I love this emphases on "true" fans! this is my 30th year supporting this club, i have traveled around a lot of rl grounds all over the country over the years, spending god knows how much money in the process, purchasing replica shirts and what not! Yet because i have chosen not to go away any more or don't go to as many games at home a season, mostly due to having a young family, I'm lambasted for not being a "proper" or "real" fan, even though I'm a season ticket holder!

Its getting beyond a joke now, all i can say it must be kids complaining about it, oh to be young again, when i only had to worry about going to watch Bradford and how much ale i could consume on a weekend!

If you think its bad now just ask Ron Willey and David Hobbs how bad it was at Odsal in the late 80's early 90's! (Probably be a bit hard to ask Ron now though)

There is no denying that it is exceptional value and I would say it was a safe bet that everyone on here is likely to renew. But it's not "us" that is the problem, most of "us" have bought tickets when they were £150 and still would. Its the others, its the ones who bought last year because it was cheap, went to a few games, realised it was s**t and didn't bother coming back. They will not renew this year. Not a chance. And I know at least two who fall into this category.

So your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to persuade those people that they should after all renew.

This post will self-destruct in ten seconds...

After persuading them to buy this year, I am keeping well away from them this year. I like my bits where they are thanks....

What I would do is the following: 11k+ pledges @£50. 10k pledges @£60. 9k pledges @£70. 8k @£80 etc . . . . .

That's an interesting idea...