Re-signed olbison and sidlow

Marc Green affirming commitment to building full time first class SL club in championship. Promising to run it with honesty and integrity.

Most important thing is not what goes on on field but having a well run and profitable club. If that happens, then success on field naturally follows.

Re launch of The Big One lottery is the big news I think.

No the fans are deserting the club Stevo said so

Karl Pratt is on staff to run the lottery.

I feel a little underwhelmed if I'm honest.

Pretty much what I expected to be honest, couldn't go as I didn't finish work till 8 but the key thing is going to be income & stability. Seems we are slowly getting there, if we can retain even the current gates of 5-6 thousand I believe we will be ok moving forward. Squad is coming together, there gonna be departures but on the whole not that bad.
On another subject why are people obsessed with Ainscough been resigned, I appreciate he was passionate and was quick but that was essentially it for his game. All our current wingers offer more IMO. Maybe it's just me.

I was hoping for a few more squad details and possibly some news on season ticket pricings etc., but I can also appreciate that these things take time and we've still got this season to get through yet.

From what I saw, it looked to be a professionally put together event, which bodes well for the future and I'm sure the squad will begin to fill out as the weeks progress, and the season ticket details will come eventually.

I can't believe the negativity

To be honest, it was always going to be more of a 'bang the drum' event than anything earth-shattering in terms of revelations. There was a lot of back-slapping, big cheers and smiling faces. The place was absolutely rammed with Bulls fans and the whole event was a well put together and run event. What more do people want?

Which other clubs in SL, let alone the Championship, would be able to pull off something like that, with so many people?

Fantastic turn out for what was essentially a relaunch of the clubs lottery scheme. Hopefully a lot of people will walk away feeling upbeat about the next 6-12 months. Overall a success, it's a just a shame not everybody was able to get in.

Nice touch at the end with the club awarding lifelong Bradford fan Charlie Ebbage 'Life Membership'.

by what? The quality of the announcements or the fact that a club on its aa can get 1k to a relatively minor event?

Exactly. I am a cynical git but even I have been pleasantly surprised.

No, the event well very well done and the attendance was phenomenal. But would they have got 1000 there had they known it was to announce the lottery? I don't think so. I got the impression from the letter that the event was to tell us about the business plan for the club in the next few years. I was expecting more to be honest.

And I was not the only one, the people sat near me said exactly the same. Maybe we were all just bitter because we did not get any chocolate...

Did anyone talk to the players get any info ? I talked to Elliot Kear who told me Bulls hadn't offered him a contract yet . Also heard Jamie Foster talking to the guy at t&a talking about Newcastle . I'm pretty sure that's union and not Australia

I know the T&A called him "lottery guru" Alf Davies. But do we know anything else about him? background? Someone last night said he had a financial background. He was a great speaker.

Alf Davies has a long association with various sporting organisations, latterly on fund raising issues. For years he was CEO/MD? (or some other high ranking position) at Leeds RLFC. Last night he was particularly scathing/uncomplimentary about our previous owner in particular, and generally about our last few sets of directors. But as the previous post said - a good speaker. Marc Green does seem to be surrounding himself with good people which is reassuring.

All in all I thought it was a great morale boosting evening for us supporters. Something to be welcomed not viewed with negativity particularly after the few past morale sapping seasons

Can't disagree with most of what's been said so far...

This happened once in the past too - for those of who have been around long enough to remember.

I too was a little under whelmed - likley because I have seen it before.

However, there were far more positives than negatives;

For those than have never come across Marc Green before - he did a good job at beginning to re-build the much needed trust of the fans. For me, he seems sincere, truthful and passionate.

Unlike the last launch - this was very professionally put together - RHP is a natural for this stuff.

Alf Davies stated he would not have come onto the team if there was any indication that the board contained anyone who was not honest and true. (I picked up a simmering anger over what OK did to the club and also how he treated the staff).

There were people on that podium we can trust - and I include Marc Green in there, Jon Hamer, RHP and Jimmy Lowes. And you can feel the passion the have for our club too.

It seems to me that MG does not bang a big drum with promises - he says it how it is and quietly delivers what is affordable - which keeps the club viable.

And a true indicator of the current set up is;

Charlie Ebbage - a guy who has given his life to the club and name I can associate with the Bulls for as long as I can remember.

Well Jack Bates could have made him a Life Member - but he didn't, Chris Caisley - same, Peter Hood - same, Khan - not even in his dictionary.

But Marc Green made Charlie a Life Member - nobody else did. And thats what finally convinced me he is the man he says he is.

MG and SF are akin to a man marrying a woman who has been crapped on three times (US) and trusts nobody anymore.

They have a huge job in rebuilding that trust.

Last night showed me that they fully understand that - and are continuing to work on the problem - and hopefully they are slowly succeeding.

[Edit - OH - and of course between 1000 and 1100 people cared enough to give up their evening - including the couple who spent their wedding anniversary attending this event - who were presented with a bottle of champagne for their loyalty.. No negatives there either!!!

Despite everything, I can't argue with the above. Green came across as honest, if a bit of a "geezer". I liked the line about the fans having been kicked in the knackers for the last five years. And also about the importance being a stable, financially viable club, run as a profit making business, then success will follow.

Robbie is excellent at the PR, a funny and very personable guy. And Jimmy came across, as er, Jimmy.

I feel a lot more positive than I was this time last week. So it was worth going.

Well I didn’t go last night. From reading on here and on social media it sounds like it was very well attended. I remember the club doing a “re-launch” of the lottery at Norfolk Gardens back in the early 2000s. That was billed as a massive announcement and pulled in good numbers too. Was anyone at that who can compare numbers?

At that one Caisley went on about how success needn’t be cyclical provided income was coming in and that Alf Davies had been brought on board to revamp the lottery and make it as good as the Leeds version. Alf then went on and compared the Leeds scheme with the previous Bulls scheme which was pants. Did he do this again last night? Sounds a bit like a repeat of an old theme.

At least last night people got to hear from Marc Green. I doubt there’d be much to say about long term plans given that it wasn’t a Q&A (was it?). The club threw in the news about re-signings and fans had a chance to chat to players which was good, even if many are on their way at the end of the season.

I’m pleased to see Charlie Ebbage honoured. Charlie’s a great man who was a close friend of Trevor Foster and has done a multitude of things for the club over the past 60 years.

One thing that does come over is that there still seems to be a heck of a lot of enthusiastic supporters. This is very good indeed considering all we’ve been through. I hope the club continue to build on this and follow through on the fine words we’ve heard. There seems to be lot of optimism around. Personally I’ll wait and see how the squad shapes up in the next few months before I get myself too excited.

I think the board, through no fault of their own, have a lot to contend with on the public confidence front, due entirely to the shortcomings of some previous people in charge. Green is no sugar daddy though, so he's spot on to talk about getting the finances right and building the business - whether we like to hear people referring to the club as a business or not, it is the only sustainable way forward, so it's good to hear he's going to take the Bulls by the horns, if you'll pardon my pun.

Thought the evening was well put together. Plenty of laughs and Marc Green came across well. I was amazed by the turnout, didn't expect nearly that many people there.

Not sure of what he meant either, as a seminar talking about the restructure of our club, it ticked the boxes!
Sure it was about selling a facet of the club that had been sadly lacking for the last 3 or 4 years. And don't forget for those that carried on with the last convoluted lottery, they upped it to £2 per week with naff rewards for the winners, at least the Bulls have now brought it down to a £1 per week, with good rewards for punters once again.

Do you remember what Alf Davies said it was bringing in pre the unpleasantness??? 16,000 members he said..if they can achieve even the target figure he talked about 2,500 wasn't it? I think we will become one of the most successful championship clubs in the second tier?

I was well impressed and I know Charlie was, rightly so he regained his status with the Bulls once again.

There were other problems too, at the same time as putting the price up they changed the bank which was collecting the standing orders, which resulted in money being returned and contributors having to re-set up their orders. I only found out when I called in to question it, but I expect many didn't even realise their money wasn't going in. It descended into a bit of a shambles, to be honest.