I'm pretty underwhelmed myself, if I'm honest. Whilst I have nothing against Stocks or speedway per se, in fact I like both, I'm not keen on being even further from the rugby action than we used to be. With my rugby hat on it has long been my hope that the track would eventually go and we could watch from a bit nearer the pitch.

I'd love to watch the motorsport at Odsal but have the Bulls in that 'boutique' ground over the road. That is my position and I am unanimous in that.

Mick, what happens on Thursday? Decision re SL or just on ground?

Agreed. I think the Bulls going up (almost inevitable) is a strategy designed to save the whole sport not just the Bulls. Odsal is viable for a few years with £1m and gives the game, the RFL, SL and of course the Bulls and Bradford Council time to get cracking on a long term plan, Richard Dunn and another ground.

This is a worthy risk for all in these very worrying and troubled times.

The ground decision, who goes into super league will be decided on the 16th

Decided or announced? I suspect it was decided before the criteria was written.

Haha I’m not for counting chickens like that

Yes I agree, and I'd also suggest that whoever is getting the 12th spot has already been told, even in a nudge nudge wink wink sort of way. I don't believe this has been a genuine process.

you are correct
its Toulouse

If all was fair in Love and war YES. see you in the Coral Stand in August.

Question though... when is it all fair when it comes to rugby league?

This thread is now descending into a realm somewhat beyond the one of phantasy..

Well you've said that an awful lot on various forums. I'd be happy with that but share with us why you seem so certain.

Well it can't be us , we've got the Betfred championship logo on the new shirts. !!!

It would be poetic justice that we finally get some shirts released and in stock for Christmas just for them to be out of date by the time the season starts!

I still don’t think it’s us (shouldn’t be us) but, as someone else mentioned, the backlash on social media from some fans that we would even have the cheek to even apply is quite impressive... some very upset people and it’s only rumours at the moment

The money - our Championship funding this year was about £300k iirc - then the sky rebate will be removed. But if we get the 12th slot in SL we get £1m funding. Is that in addition to or instead of the £300k?

We will have kept the £300,000 (using your figures) minus our share of the rebate for the 2020 season. If we get SL we’ll just get the £1million. Then whoever was below us in Champ should get ours and everyone below us would move up one place in the table and get the relevent funding. Then I would assume the L1 club that takes our place in the Champ would get the funding that the 12th place finish would get?

I’m just guessing but that’s how it normally works, but nothings certain these days.

I almost think it's now worth getting the place just to watch the coronary figures in Calderdale go through the roof....

Who needs a stadium when you can live, rent free, in their head day after day?

What's wrong with them? Is it the fact we don't hate them back that make them feel jilted and ignored and so more angry? It's hilarious! Low flying toys and dummies everywhere. Grown men on twitter calling all Bradford fans Cnuts for what?

Poor sods.

Something about social media appears to take people's gripes and grievances and dial them up to 100. I try to remember that generally people aren't quite as loony as you see on Facebook or Twitter. But to be fair we can't expect anyone to forgive us for luring people in Shelf to come to Odsal over 15 years ago. Too raw.

I'd probably tell you not to let a few idiots wind you up. The Halifax fan reporter who did the story has got exactly the response that he wanted and he knew it would whip people in to a frenzy. Let the idiots crack on with it I say and just remember that not everyone is like that. I find rivalries are more fun fuelled by friendley banter than they are by hatred.

On the funding its my belief that this years funding will be made up to 1m so its not an extra 1m like has been made out. That itself just about rules out any team of having a serious chance of staying up. A championship team is been set up to fail and I for one hope that its not Bradford because I don't believe it will help you in the longterm. Thats my reasoning and is nothing at all to do with hating Bradford.

Absolutely this. I'd prefer to stay where we are. We've seen SL in Odsal, it didn't end well and now we have Wood's hand 'officially' on the tiller. He's hardly covered himself in glory when it comes to Stadium dealing has he?

I don't buy into the old boy network either. He wasn't exactly golden boy at the RFL with the SL chairmen was he. Hopefully we'll see Halifax at Dewsbury next year because if it's Leeds Rhinos at Odsal it will be the beginning of the final act, unless Nige has got several million squirrelled away he's not told anyone about.

Maybe Toronto’s 56 investors have decided Bradford is the chosen club

Well said GFB, I couldn't agree more.

It's strange that the Fax 'fans' who would feel so annoyed if we got picked don't realise that it would probably kill us, or any Championship side which accepts this poisoned chalice.

Which act does playing 6/7 seasons in Dewsbury fall into? When you say I'd prefer to stay where we are there's a suggestion that the club have reached a plateau form where they will further stabilise etc. Isn't a more likely situation is that team's that play in Dewsbury become Dewsbury (no disrespect to our gracious landlords)? Gallagher, Scurr, Doyle will one by one go to lower level SL clubs with a the odd Bentley and even a Bateman thrown in? There will be increasing pressure to jettison the academy and less genuine pressure to get the club back to Bradford. No TV money will exacerbate this.

I don't see an alternative to getting back to Odsal if at all possible and that demands we aim for SL.

I’ve not commented too much on this but here is my take.

In terms of SL ‘are we ready’? Honestly, we are not in the ‘ideal’ situation given the issues with the ground and recent financial troubles. However when will we be ready? After 2021 the funding is likely to be slashed dramatically and who knows what effect COVID will have on the Championship and the game as a whole in 2021. Wouldn’t it be great if we could slowly nurture our homegrown players and gradually build up a team capable of winning promotion. Unfortunately the reality is that they are picked off by SL clubs before that can happen... see James Bentley/Storton etc for recent examples.

After 2021 all I see is the gradual decline in quality at Championship level and the gap between us and SL being even greater. So in many ways I don’t see us having a great deal to lose by applying and possibly getting the nod. The SL season will probably be disrupted again and they will likely scrap relegation part way through due to some issue with integrity of the competition etc. Yes we would get thrashed most weeks but with some additions we could probably be competitive with the lower 2 or 3 clubs. Personally I don’t see why what we have to lose as long as the spending is within our means and the funding received.

On the other hand I think next year’s championship has the potential to a great competition so I wouldn’t be disappointed to be watching that. I just worry where it will be from 2022 onwards..