At the beginning of all this I didn’t want Bradford to go up and suffer from the disadvantages etc. But now, seeing all the other fans constantly have a go, I bloody hope we get it and stay up.

Its Leigh.

Let's hope we pass them on the way down at the end of next season.

I am hearing Leigh have the nod for SL.

I have heard that the representitives from France are insisting that there is a guarantee of a level playing field when they play at Odsal.
Those bloody Europeans and their level playing fields!

Confirmed as Leigh. Happy for them and happy for us too. I know there are worries about future funding but this was a poisioned chalice for Bradford.

Weve been forced to compete with one hand tied behind our back on a few occasions. Another wouldn’t have been good for us

Meh.

Might have been tempted to watch a few SL games if York or Toulouse got in.

Will stick to watching football and Bulls matches only (part of the problem for SL / RFL and one that they’re not equipped to resolve)

But... But we're the RFLs favourites. How could this happen.

Leigh the right choice for me. This isn't a 3 year license like before. Whoever got in had to be competitive from minute 1. Leigh best placed for that and have facilities to back it up.

Yeah, I can't see this choice shifting many more Sky subs. York or Toulouse yeah, Leigh? Not so much...

Bit boring though isn't it haha. I feel for the Toulouse club, in different circumstances they might have got the nod.
Having said that, this opens things up for them to have a good crack at gaining promotion the traditional way. Leigh clearly spent big on that squad and would have been up at the top of the championship table come season end.

They finished behind York and Toulouse last year?

York have had one good year in the championship, they played 4 lost 4 at the beginning of this year. They weren't ready.

Toulouse I agree, I think they were unlucky with timing with covid.

Could actually be last chance saloon for Leigh. This coming season is last one theirs guaranteed promotion. Leigh have to stay up against SL opposition to get a SL spot for 2022. Us and other championship clubs have to go against easer opposition and go up normal way. BUT there could be no promotion after this year leaving Leigh out in gold if they don’t stay up.

Guess this will shut conspiracy theorist up for a while, or they will move onto moaning about who’s paying for odsal repairs.

Are we better staying at Dewsbury for another year and saving a bit of cash?

Not the choice I'd have made, but a safe enough one, congrats to Leigh. But I'm just really glad its not us, we have a decent shot at the playoffs next season and hopefully a competitive season, Leigh are now removed from the championship so one less really good team to go against.....just need to sort out playing in Bradford now....

Lets not go back to Odsal. It has been a dump of a money pit and I don't see how things have changed.
Lets have that season at Dewsbury as we didn't get it this year.

Not the end of the world by any means. It will be an entertaining comp next year. Let's just hope supporters get to watch it in person.

Concerns remain for beyond 2021 but a year is a long time in Rugby League!!

Well, that’s put to bed now. Onwards upwards, looking forward to a good crack at championship next season.

I think that is unlikely as things stand.

For one thing, although we agreed a two year term with Dewsbury, the RFL only gave permission for one season, which we've had (sort of..) so it would need their approval, Which, given the recent developments (in the situation, that is, not the ground, as yet) would be unlikely as we seem to be a key part of the move by Startrax and the RFL.

No-one could ever say that being a Bulls' fan was boring.

Congratulations to Leigh. Looks the strongest squad on paper to have gone up and just signed Flower and Sidlow.

Whilst we weren't successful has this just energised our pre-season, got the club back to Bradford and significantly weakened the Championship?

Don't really see what benefit of staying at Dewsbury another year would be.

We need to be in Bradford or our support is going to drift away. One year at Dewsbury was borderline palatable but its not a a long-term solution. Not saying Odsal is either but if we can get costs down to a manageable level then its best option we have at moment. Horsfall's too small and VP's too expensive plus we miss out on corporate takings entirely..

Big expenses at Odsal were maintenance and business rates which will both be split with stock cars now. From memory of figures bandied around there wasn't a massive difference in rent between Odsal and Dewsbury. At least at Odsal we get to keep all the bar and corporate takings, whereas we had to give Dewsbury a split this year. I'd guess with those factors taken into consideration financially there isn't much difference between Odsal and Dewsbury.

I wonder too. All the bile and jibes aimed at us, I wonder how much it will galvanise the squad. We've the best motivator in charge too. I think we've a good squad, not the best, but a good squad who looked impressive before this season was cut short. If JK can get an "us against the world" type attitude, and aiming to shut up some of the twitter gob$h1t3 cowards, I think we can have a real crack next year.

Despite dodging a bullet in the SL beauty contest. The pantomime season has started with the ongoing Odsal saga, The way forward to getting the Bulls back to Odsal is looking decidedly amateurish and rushed, still despite that there is a modicum of hope that Odsal can become a reasonably functioning stadium again even if there will be an atmosphere of burnt oil and petrol in the air!

My take on things is this: by missing out on SL we have been given a years grace to get Odsal (together with our partners) into some sort of shape ready for 2022 franchise application.

Our 'problem' has always been the lack of any serious money behind us. Until that problem has a solution I don't think we have any chance of SL. As things stand, the money we actually have is likely disappear down the 'Odsal plughole' which, IIRC was the reason we left for Dewsbury in the first place.

I really don't want to be pessimistic but I really can't understand just how things are stacking up for SL right now. For sure we will have some help in plugging the Odsal moneyhole but the costs of attracting an SL side are going to be down to us and without some semi serious finance behind us I can't quite square that particular circle on that right now.

You are correct about the money. Is there a club in SL that doesn't have a sugar-daddy. I don't think Salford do but they had all their debts written off by Koukash