Sadly not. The Spanish won all the gold and the Mayans came a poor second.

[url=http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/9881112.Parkin_backing_Bradford_City_in_Midland_Road_deal/Interesting that a new friendship seems to have been formed.[/url

I bet the other bidders breathed a sigh of relief when they saw this!

Tease! I thought it was you & Adey.

Well, we know the lead names on the bids, but sod all else and, of course, he's one of the names who has kept an ultra low profile in all this - not as low as others mind - even ones with a large shareholding..

Now hearing on the rumour mill that the SLE is the only bid that would be good for the Club and its Staff, the Rugby side is of minor importance to the other bids. Thats what I heard a couple of weeks ago and its still doing the rounds but with a couple of variations!

That would be the problem though, given that SLE surely won't have any long, or even medium term plans going forward. Given their statements it's clear they don't actually want to run the club and will only look to sell it on and [iIf[/i all the potential buyers, or at least all those who have already shown their hands, are "unsuitable" where does it leave us?

Got to say the rumour mill only echoes my own thoughts since, so far as I can see, none of the potential owners identified seems to have the sort of cash to buy the debts and pay off sufficient of those to ensure SL survival. Our SL future is looking extremely bleak for my money.

Of course we've not heard anything from the missing man as yet?

Again rumour, but if to be believed, he's involved in some way with 3 of the bids excluding SLE

Well, [ione[/i of the rumours is going to be correct, I mean there's a rumour covering every base from what I hear....it's just the simple matter of finding out which one!!

49,500 at rangers today

now that is what you call fans getting behind a team dumped into lowest league in competition

Setting a record for the highest attendance ever for a 4th tier football match

But that's not comparable to the Bulls situation should we be dropped down.

Rangers have held on to a large number of their players from last season because there's no salary restrictions like in RL. There's also promotion and relegation, so as it stands, it's likely Rangers will be back in the top flight in 3 years.

They're also one of their countries biggest clubs. They've sold, I believe, in the region of 30k season tickets. IF the Bulls could do that, we'd not be in the cackhole we are now. But there's far more to being a Rangers fan than just football. It's whole community identity that the club has bestowed on it's followers.

And that's before you even begin with the financial differences between football and RL. Even in the 3rd tier of Scottish football, Rangers are a big name and will probably pull in more sponsorship money for just their shirts than the Bulls would from all advertising they can muster.

I think Rangers will be back in SPL next season, it might not be around if they wait 3 years for them. You're right, there are fundamental differences between Rangers situation and ours, but it does highlight the importance of preserving as much of the fanbase as possible. And surely a Bulls team playing to 4-5,000 crowds in the Chamionship should be viable?

Would you retain that many fans?

Possibly year 1 , but after that? , and what level of support will you need in the Championship to continue playing at Odsal?

I'd think a 4 - 5K average crowd would sustain a successful championship team easily - the championship norm is much lower. With the cap being low it would be important to keep a good quality coaching system and the academy set up, though in the lower levels we would find it very difficult to attract the sort of player we are used to. As I'd suspect most clubs would be at the top end of the pretty low cap, the quality of coaching and training facilities would probably play a bigger part than they do in SL and a strong support base to finance that is bound to be an advantage.

I think with effective low-cost marketing, using the net and the latent interest and support of the hardcore, we could be pleasantly surprised by the level of support if we were to drop out of Super League. A Wigan-style "tough-times" bounce in attendance is out there if we can harness it with the right message.

You would no doubt retain a sizeable fan base early doors, it would however get more difficult if you were not in a position to re enter SL until 2018

True enough, but I do not believe that the Bulls will be the only club to go belly up in the next couple of years. They might revert back to a 12 team competition but, if not, SL might not be spoilt for choice when it comes to finding replacements.

Whatever happened to George "I'll talk to my Middle East Contacts" Galloway? Like most MP's he had plenty to say at the time to get himself publicity but seems to have dropped back into the shadows.

probably doesn't have any books coming out soon...

Summer recess, he'll be on his Jollies somewhere!

If we were able to ignore the salary cap of the Championship and retain our better players, then yes. I could see us holding on to that size a fan base.

Again, if the exile was only until the next round of franchise, we might not suffer too much.

But I really worry about holding on to the fan base.

We wouldn't retain out better players. If anybody we would keep players such as Walker, Sibbitt, Joseph etc. We wouldn't keep our top players like Whitehead etc. But we wouldnt even keep our average players like Scruton, Ainscough, Pryce etc.

Due to their backer pulling out last year due to his company folding Leigh found themselves in all sorts of brown stuff. We have not had our distribution from the RFL this season (90k afaik) as they on our behalf paid the majority of it to HMRC. So with no backer, no rfl funds and virtually no signed players in November and working to a salary level of around 200k, champ limit is 300 or 350 i think, Coach and directors assembled a small squad which is possibly going to finish 2nd to Fev in the championship.

If the worst does happen it is possible to be successful below SL with the right management and generous fans.