Clearly, you do have an agenda.

I defended the club to Mr Show Me The Money and said Chalmers would communicate to the fans which he did via the website and T&A.

Didn't see this yesterday (apologies if it's already being covered) but below is the statement from Chalmers responding to the player signing being blocked and CCJs.

Earlier this week it was reported that “Bradford Bulls had agreed a deal to sign a player from a Super League club and had the deal blocked by the RFL due to concerns over funding”. This reported news is absolutely false.

Disappointingly the journalist in question didn’t seek official confirmation from the club.

Chairman Andrew Chalmers responded, “In the middle of the club considering key issues around Odsal Stadium, it’s disappointing to see journalists peddling fake news”.

“The club continues to work through the options for playing venues next year, which is our focus, in conjunction with our key stakeholders.”

“I also confirm the two minor CCJ’s have been settled. The club apologises to our fans for this mistake. Important lessons have been learned by our executive as to how best to deal with genuine disputes,” Chalmers confirmed.

Well I think article was published by the 12 year old Halifax fan who writes for LE, so you can only speculate why he might publish it seemingly without any fact behind it.

Mick, look im going to make this absolutely clear for you.
On your show you stated Chalmers was going to comunicate with the fans on SUNDAY regarding all the stories in the press this week. It was 1 hour 7 mins and 40 seconds in to the show to be exact (go look it up if you dont believe me) You are the one that mentioned SUNDAY. That word came out of your mouth on camera

All im asking is a simple yes or no answer based on FACT and not your personal opinion on me. Did AC communicate with the fans today regarding those stories in the press? Yes or No?

Now ill make it super clear. We all saw his article that was published on FRIDAY
But did he communicate with the fans on SUNDAY as you stated was going to happen?

Perhaps he changed his mind after talking to Mick and decided he needed to communicate earlier than Sunday?

TBH I couldn’t care less. Chalmers was going to “communicate” with fans and he did this via the T&A. So that’s fair enough.

The main disappointment on the microphone on Sunday was Stuart Duffy who certainly isn’t a natural in that job. Where was our usual excellent announcer?

He appears to have taken the players music snippets where ever he went too. No doubt RL Express's low IQ wannabe journo twitter-rats will be speculating that he hasn't been paid so left under a cloud....

Wayne is on holiday (he works in a school, so has to take holidays to fit in with that).
No dramas.

That's good. He does a superb job and has a real rapport with the supporters.

I understand many on here don't have a great opinion of him, but personally I quite like Stuart Duffy. He's always been very approachable and reasonable when I've had to deal with him. Like anyone who works for a business, there are things he can say and things that should and need to be kept quiet.

That said, yesterday I don't think he did himself or the club any favours with him joking about the club finances. He's definitely got a bee in his bonnet about this and seems to be taking the criticism very personally. Instead it would probably have been best for him to lay low and off the mic.

With regards to the communication from Chalmers, sorry but I think there are a few who have been "Gledhilled" again. AC was never going to get on the mic on Sunday regardless of the opinion of Mick.

What I believe is that had he surprised everyone and done so (a very distant possibility) Gledhill would have used it to show he has the inside scoop, with the full knowledge that AC releases a weekly column in the T&A each week and that could be used as a back-stop (sorry, everyone is using Brexit terminology so thought I might as well jump on the bandwagon).

Mick is a good local commentator and is clearly passionate about the club. IMO he needs to stick to this and this alone. He has very little credibility left in the bank and I fear it will be his downfall.

I’ve no idea where the story that Chalmers was going to address the crowd came from – I saw it on Facebook first but there was nothing official from the club. In the absence of official confirmation it wasn’t going to happen. Given that he’d written the T&A piece this wasn’t an issue for me. As for Mick you’re right he’s a very passionate supporter and gives a lot of time and energy to the club and the game. Like any journalist you have to take what is said with a pinch of salt sometimes. He attracts a lot of OTT criticism. His style might annoy some people but he doesn't deserve the abuse he gets sometimes on Twitter.

On Stuart Duffy he’s clearly not the man for the mic. I totally agree that the quips about the financial situation weren’t funny. Stuart can get a bit touchy about stuff at times as anyone who remembers him moderating the official Bulls messageboard will testify. Maybe he did have a bee in his bonnet. Either way, better to leave commenting on that to the owner.

I think too many have a chip on their shoulder where Mick Gledhill is concerned. We all know what he is, and what he is good at, and where his limitations are.

On balance he does more good than harm, and the OTT criticisms feel like a way of diverting people's anger at the mess that the club has been in. He doesn't deserve that.

Sunday/Friday?Who cares--The fact is that AJ published a very enlightening piece in the T&A explaining quite a few things so thanks for that.Mick/Thegamecaller does a very good job imo,very entertaining Podcast/commentaries along with Showme but some are nit pickers in chief trying to throw mud at someone who's heart is in RL and the BULLS.I think your time could be used more wisely.I will be interested in listening to Mick's interview with Nobby? where I think I read he thinks the Bulls have been trying to operate with their hands tied behind their backs.Should be interesting listening.Great effort yesterday,they gave it their all,that's all you can ask of any team.

I don't think there's any issue with Chalmers not grabbing hold of a mic yesterday - he was only going to regurgitate what was said in the T&A anyway, and what would have been the point?

The reality is that nobody really knows what is going to happen next including, I suspect, Andrew Chalmers himself. I am still thinking that he's hoping to lever some sort of deal from the RFL / Bradford Council, simply because there really isn't a very good alternative right now.

Of course, 'getting a deal' to stay at Odsal for next season is one thing, but it doesn't address the long-term issue i.e Odsal is basically crumbling beneath our feet. I suspect that day is not so very far off that Odsal won't get a safety certificate anyway without expensive work being done. So any 'reprieve' on Odsal is hardly likely to be something that's going to help for long.

Can't see the safety certificate really being a problem, tbh. More likely, in the case of any specific problem they'd just reduce the capacity, which, from a current base of over 26k gives us a bit of scope.

I'm not so sure. I took a few photos around the ground yesterday just in case we are moving on. It was clear to me that apart from the obvious things like the crumbing touchdown bar and other prefab buildings (which must be close to being unsafe) the steel crush barriers are looking very rusty in places and the fixings to the old concrete terracing look rather old.

I suspect fixing those would cost a bit even if they just did the popular side. Then there's the stand roof which used to need regular maintenance. If that became an issue we'd lose 5k seats almost immediately.

Constantly reducing the capacity doesn't really solve the problem, it just puts it off. The place has a lot of history but like Fartown it's had its day. I remember a few trips there when weeds were growing on the terraces.

I said on Tuesday that Andrew Chalmers would be communicating with the supporters and he has done just that since last Tuesday. He released his statement in the T&A and on the Pulse and then released this on the website www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/article/ ... -to-report That's three pieces of information for supporters, which is what I picked up on supporters needing from reading all the messages that were heading my way. Re: Brian Noble interview - it’s in the T&A and on the Pulse tomorrow.

I said on Tuesday that Andrew Chalmers would be communicating with the supporters and he has done just that since last Tuesday. He released his statement in the T&A and on the Pulse and then released this on the website www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/article/ ... -to-report That's three pieces of information for supporters, which is what I picked up on supporters needing from reading all the messages that were heading my way. Re: Brian Noble interview - it’s in the T&A and on the Pulse tomorrow.

The last couple of weeks have been a rollercoaster and at times has felt a lot like that awful Christmas when we were liquidated. Constantly checking rlfans, twitter and facebook for any chink of light and worrying that we are in real trouble.

I thought it might help if I read back through the entire thread/topic this evening to see if I could make any sense of recent events but I can’t.

What i’m pinning my hopes on is a comment way back on page 1 that some sort of deal is imminent between council/club/rfl. I’m praying that what we are seeing are the final stages of an end game where each party is doing their very best to get every last drop out of the potential deal for themselves as they can.

It is just so hard to make sense of it all!

If we really are in trouble and need to leave Odsal and groundshare to ensure our survival then so be it. I’d rather have a team to support and would be prepared to give it a go somewhere else.

I just don’t believe (or maybe just don’t want to believe) that is what is happening here. Maybe we all just have to sit tight for a couple of weeks and see what transpires. Chalmers has made public a deadline of Aug 15th so something has to happen by then.

I live in hope but this sentence concerns me:

“The club continues to work through the options for playing venues next year, which is our focus, in conjunction with our key stakeholders.”

Are we, as fans considered key stakeholders? If so when do we get a say?

If we are paying £72k rent to RFL what is the net position? i.e. How much did we originally get for the lease in the form of the loan and how much have we paid the RFL in total.

Well there is an article on widthofapost.com (a bradford city site) outlining the fact that "no formal talks have taken place about the bulls returning to VP"

It also provides information that it costs City a "seven figure amount annually" to play at VP.

Basically theres not a chance in hell we could afford to play there.

Certainly doesn't sound like it.

The options:

Stay at Odsal and continue to pay the same rent as we have when the stadium was in a much better state. See parts gradually get condemned until it doesn't pass a safety certificate.

Go to Horsfall with a hugely reduced capacity. Depends on rent and ability to increase capacity temporarily.

Go to Dewsbury.

It's got to be Horsfall hasn't it? Nobody is going to spend anything on Odsal.

Could we play in their car park. Bit of a slope but we are on hard times.

Unless Chalmers can do some kind of deal that will keep us at Odsal and get the RFL and council to spend some money on it which seems highly unlikely then Horsfall seems the most likely alternative. Having never been before I went for a look after the Toronto game - it took a bit of finding! It looked pretty tidy and in nice surroundings but with only one terrace and small stand I can't see more than 1500 - 2000 turning up there regularly. I fear we'd be settling for remaining in the championship or worse for the foreseeable future. It does appear to have potential for development but that would need investment, permission and support from the council to get planning approval. Living in Haworth I might have to settle for watching the Cougars though it would break my heart having followed Northern/Bulls for half a century.

I'm surprised that nobody I've seen so far picked up on the following, in Chalmers' T&A article. He said this:-



This makes sense, but also no sense. If he refused to sign the lease, then on what basis are we occupying the ground? I suppose the RFL may have had little choice but to suck it up if we are "paying" the rent equivalent etc. as practically, (i.e. they are as normal helping themselves from "our" money) what would their alternative have been? But it seems strange, to say the least, and why hasn't that come out at any earlier stage?

Then there is the Sept. 30 date. What if we do NOT leave by then? Will that have any consequences going forward? Have we e.g. given notice that we will or may Bullxit by then?