Why indeed? I'd love to know. I'd be all ears! Unfortunately he won't even confirm he's in charge when it's obvious he is.

Has there been any sign of advancement at all anywhere?

On field side seems to be well managed TBF. Off field social media side seems a lot more professional now and first time in years we have had shirts and merchandise available before xmas in years and haven't seen any complaints about quality. I suppose you could say club have had plenty of time last year to sort out the merchandise and its in their interests to get it right as its first source of income they could tap into with late release of season tickets. And I'd expect season ticket sales to be significantly down this year with uncertainty around fans being allowed back in. Superleague bid documents that were released seem quite well thought out too.

Areas where there needs to be better communication are long term plans, ownership and investment. Also some clarity around Odsal. Other than in season ticket marketing material I don't think its been officially announced that we are moving back and whether its a short term measure or longer term. Also what terms are we coming back on? Is rent split between us and Stock cars, is their a stadium management company now. I noticed on one of stock car releases their actively marketing upper level of Southbank for corporate events mid week ( something we should have done more with TBF). does that mean their senior stadium lease holder and were just taking it for matchdays?.

He is very cagey about being the visible face of the club, but every interview with Mark Sawyer now has him specifically saying that he's urged Nigel Wood to come forward and take a bigger role. Sawyer wasn't really on my radar before our latest melt-down but I have a huge amount of respect for how he's had to juggle his primary role at Dewsbury with being caretaker of our club. Understandably he wants someone else to step up so he can get back to his first love.

So perhaps there's a steady pair of hands behind the scenes which fits with what Sawyer says about capable Nigel Wood being involved. But did Nigel ever strike you as the shy retiring type? I'm not sure why he isn't becoming the face of the club, unless the minority stake his family have bought is literally the extent of his interest?

His handling of Thrum Hall put a stand sized hole in the side of the good ship Halifax which they have never recovered from...the more he hides the more worried I get.

I wonder if there's anther silent partner involved. Don't think Nigel Wood is that wealthy per se. Generally people who get involved in ownership of rugby clubs are wealthy local businessmen with an attachment to the club wanting to give something back/ have a hobby. Nigel Wood doesn't seem to fit into that category.

At the time I thought the RFL had a cunning plan for the lease which involved redeveloping the site, having a primary tenant (Bulls) being big enough for CC Semifinals & internationals (money stays within RFL rather than going to a stadium management company), moving Red Hall to the site (central, M62 access saves on rent) and moving the RL museum to the site.

As time has gone by, it is obvious it was just short term, emergency action to gain an asset for their unsecured loans which has caused more trouble for the RFL and the wider game because no-one actually had time to think about it. They just wanted to cover their backsides for when the likes of Lenaghan and Moran started asking questions about the loans. Because of Odsal & the RFL - it's caused governance issues with Sport England (who give £millions annually to RL), it's caused conflict of interest with how they related to other clubs and it's messed up the administrators attempts to gain value for creditors and stable owners for the Bulls.

All of this - off field and on field I would put down to Sawyer & Kear. Sawyer has just transferred over all his experience of running a club sustainably to Bradford. Kear knows how to maximise a playing budget.



These are the areas that Sawyer thinks are for Wood to own, not him. Which is what the recent interviews have been about.

So if what people are saying is right the day to day is being run ok but the bigger issues are still a total mystery. If we do move back to Odsal in its current state I do fear it will lead to oblivion again unless running costs are being borne somewhere else – a bit of clarity on this front would help.

Highlander’s summary of the way Odsal ended up in the hands of the RFL seems to fit with my interpretation and hardly paints Nigel in a good light.

with relation to running costs, the rent wasn't the issue and its broadly comparable to what we're paying at Dewsbury from memory. Its the maintenance and business rates bills which were the killer. Presumably these are now split between us and the stock cars. whether that brings them down to manageable level or not I guess only time will tell.

At the minute the hope has to be that we have found someone in Sawyer who has the brains to run the business and to be fair he isn’t doing bad and has a proven track record with Dewsbury

Purely factually, handing back the stadium costs to the RFL and only having a "pay as you play" deal at Dewsbury just as a world wide pandemic hit won't have done Bulls finances any harm, especially with furlough of staff thrown in. For any club, stadium and staff are the 2 main costs. When you also add the fact that a lot of sponsors and ST holders didn't want refunds, 2020 for the Bulls has a fair amount of income with very little expense. This is of course the reason that the SL clubs used to justify holding back some money from the 12th club as the 11 SL clubs will have lost money over the same period.

What I find most worrying is the fact that Odsal is a 'money pit', That and the stock cars/speedway tie up (much as I liked watching both), which seems like back to the future and not exactly the 21st century ground we thought/hoped might be in the offing.

Don't get me wrong. If the team carries on, I've been going far too long to give up now, so I guess I'll still be there, but it does all seem more like a long winding down process rather than a springboard into the promised land.

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... ack-anchor I commented on this article suggesting it isn't possible to make Odsal either sustainable or fit for purpose as our home ground. I also suggested that the developers claims that "It's going to bring an awful lot of business." and "People are looking to book hotels, etc. etc." sounds fanciful. This is their response: Quote ="Startrax"Actually politely being a positive person myself and 24 years experience and having operated Odsal previously, I can 100% assure Bradford, some planned events at Odsal will bring significant tourism . hotel business to the City and add ons - people are already requesting Hotel details. one major event planned attracts around 3000 visitors alone from Mainland Europe, these major events when announced from experience see hotels booked up often 12 months in advance - and that's without outside food / drink - fast food outlets etc. We WANT businesses in Bradford to benefit from the re opening of Odsal together with the employment the stadium will create locally in terms of event stewarding, catering staff etc,etc, many posts will genuinely be created. We all need some positivity in life, for myself, a 23 year journey to make this happen! Lets be positive. Nearer the time I will provide substance and proof of what it will generate. When it opens, this will be the beginning, not the end of investment - It is impossible to reboot a stadium some 120 years proud into a 'brand new' stadium day 1. The Bulls and ourselves are working closely and on day one it will be significantly 'brighter' 'more loved' and then work will continue over coming years, piece by piece, revenue justifies further investment. We want something beyond me being custodian, a stadium and events to be proud of and to be respected by Oval racing fans and Rugby fans alike after a 20 year turbulent period,past is the past, energy is for what can be achieved in the future and the illuminating start is getting the old girl functioning and restoring her pride.'" I wish them no ill-will at all, but none of that remotely changes my mind. It all feels a little delusional.

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... ack-anchor I commented on this article suggesting it isn't possible to make Odsal either sustainable or fit for purpose as our home ground. I also suggested that the developers claims that "It's going to bring an awful lot of business." and "People are looking to book hotels, etc. etc." sounds fanciful. This is their response: Quote ="Startrax"Actually politely being a positive person myself and 24 years experience and having operated Odsal previously, I can 100% assure Bradford, some planned events at Odsal will bring significant tourism . hotel business to the City and add ons - people are already requesting Hotel details. one major event planned attracts around 3000 visitors alone from Mainland Europe, these major events when announced from experience see hotels booked up often 12 months in advance - and that's without outside food / drink - fast food outlets etc. We WANT businesses in Bradford to benefit from the re opening of Odsal together with the employment the stadium will create locally in terms of event stewarding, catering staff etc,etc, many posts will genuinely be created. We all need some positivity in life, for myself, a 23 year journey to make this happen! Lets be positive. Nearer the time I will provide substance and proof of what it will generate. When it opens, this will be the beginning, not the end of investment - It is impossible to reboot a stadium some 120 years proud into a 'brand new' stadium day 1. The Bulls and ourselves are working closely and on day one it will be significantly 'brighter' 'more loved' and then work will continue over coming years, piece by piece, revenue justifies further investment. We want something beyond me being custodian, a stadium and events to be proud of and to be respected by Oval racing fans and Rugby fans alike after a 20 year turbulent period,past is the past, energy is for what can be achieved in the future and the illuminating start is getting the old girl functioning and restoring her pride.'" I wish them no ill-will at all, but none of that remotely changes my mind. It all feels a little delusional.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Well in fairness to them, they've done more work on the stadium than we've done for nearly two decades. I don't include the selling of the scrap metal as work either



I've given up on us ever being in a decent stadium sadly. In two decades, Bradford, one of the biggest cities in the country, has gone from having a Premier league football team, the best RL team in the world, to Bradford City fighting for their lives to stay in the football league, and us nearly going out of existance,moving out of the city and another big hole in the city. Maybe I'm looking at things too simply, butt he potential of selling Odsal to the developer and using the money to build on Richard dunns site. Give the city something to be proud of. Yet we just sit in decaying facilities while other small towns seem to get new facilities.

After the departure of Chalmers, and the $h!t$how of watching Elstone and SL chairman drive the sport into the ground, I gave up on caring on RL off field wise, trying to big it up to other people, hoping for a better future for us. I decided to just concentrate solely on the rugby itself. I really enjoyed it last season, seeing Scurr, Gallagher dish it up and not really care about the off field stuff.

If star trax enables me to at least watch them in Bradford, then im OK with that. As mentioned above, I've given up on us ever being in a state of the art stadium.

Agree.... On the whole Bradford thing. 6th largest city, 4th largest Metropolitan area and look at the rest of the top ten. Every one has an arena, a decent city centre, decent sports stadia, us? We get 'Oh they'll travel to Leeds ' compounded by eejits living in Bradford that claim they live in Leeds. (Musn't have seen Leeds in the 70's and early 80's). The Leeds City Region has killed the west half of the county.

Right I'll stop moaning, back to Rugby, I've made peace with where we are and prefer this to oblivion...SL can go whistle

My only question would be how long did it take Fev to slowly upgrade their ground? We at least won't have to bring stands across the county, the infrastructure is there, it needs upgrading, one bit at a time.

I've thought of another point. The stockcar people are aiming for an Easter opening. Is it purely coincidence that the league season (CC a couple of weeks earlier) now starts Easter as well?

Out of interest, what upgrades do we all think need to be made before we can get back to odsal with crowds from purely a rugby perspective?

Starter for 10

Im my eyes the terracing that was open seemed fairly sound but the barriers and yellow walkways certainly needed a coat of paint.

The touchdown bar has certainly seen its day. How that or the platform that the young kids stand on to do the score board has never collapsed ill never know.

Repair work needed to all the smashed up toilets at the rooley lane end.

Floodlights?

Im presuming the terracing behind the posts needs to be made safe? Is that a patching up job surely not replacing the whole terrace? Painting the barriers and walkways as well .

Some sort of cover across the 'legs' of the Coral stand.

Does the coral stand need a coat of paint?

Is it too much to ask for the electric score board to be fixed? (I cant see that happening)

Removal of the bleeding yellow poles with the speekes on top that go all the way round the bottom of the terracing. The old tannoy system hasnt worked for more than 25 years



The stand seems fine. Cant comment on the state of the toilets and bar as i dont get round that side of the ground very often but is it fair to assume there is some work needed there as well?

Im interested in everyones thoughts.

TBH I think the stockcar people are delusional that they're going to have any spectators in at Easter, never mind a 'capacity crowd'.

They have limited sales to 2000 tickets due to Covid-19, the government are looking at Tiers again from March. So if Bradford is in Tier 2 they will be alright.

Quote ="bulls2487"They have limited sales to 2000 tickets due to Covid-19, the government are looking at Tiers again from March. So if Bradford is in Tier 2 they will be alright.'" Except: [iEngland is unlikely to return to a localised tier system of restrictions as Covid infections and hospital admissions slow, as Boris Johnson admitted the infectiousness of the new variant had made the system less workable.[/i https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... ovid-tiers

Quote ="bulls2487"They have limited sales to 2000 tickets due to Covid-19, the government are looking at Tiers again from March. So if Bradford is in Tier 2 they will be alright.'" Except: [iEngland is unlikely to return to a localised tier system of restrictions as Covid infections and hospital admissions slow, as Boris Johnson admitted the infectiousness of the new variant had made the system less workable.[/i https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... ovid-tiers

Quote ="Mr Dog"Except: [iEngland is unlikely to return to a localised tier system of restrictions as Covid infections and hospital admissions slow, as Boris Johnson admitted the infectiousness of the new variant had made the system less workable.[/i https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... ovid-tiers'" I did post this over 2 weeks ago when the Media were advising the Tier system would return once lockdown ends, Tiers are returning but on a national scale, I don't think we will see fans in sporting events till May/June.

Quote ="Mr Dog"Except: [iEngland is unlikely to return to a localised tier system of restrictions as Covid infections and hospital admissions slow, as Boris Johnson admitted the infectiousness of the new variant had made the system less workable.[/i https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... ovid-tiers'" I did post this over 2 weeks ago when the Media were advising the Tier system would return once lockdown ends, Tiers are returning but on a national scale, I don't think we will see fans in sporting events till May/June.

Latest update I've senn vai Ross Heppenstall & James Smailes https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... n-19793749

Latest update I've senn vai Ross Heppenstall & James Smailes https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... n-19793749