FWIW i think it's a nice idea to have Potter involved, like some fairy tale ending. Problem is you cant run a club in dreamland. I honestly hope you guys survive, but at this point i'd take it anyway i could if i was you. Noble's no novice.

"tainted in most other fan's eyes" is a generalisation that even your fellow FC fans would disclaim.
Get a life sunshine!

My summary of where we are, add comments if you have actual information.

[uBradford Bulls[/u
In Administration, facing Liquidation if a buyer cannot be found.
Assets are a current SL license, players and perhaps some structures on the site.
They are tenants to the ground leaseholders - the RFL . The agreed rent payable is not known
Odsal Stadium is an aged structure which is very expensive to maintain.

[uThe RFL[/u
Having loaned the Bradford Bulls considerable monies, they took the option of trading these loans for the leasehold of Odsal. Not something that they wanted to do but it did recoup their loan.
The RFL wish Bradford Bulls to remain in SL, and are the sole arbiters on this
Other actions that may be considered by the RFL may need approval from all SL clubs
The RFL would prefer to divest themselves of the lease on Odsal at cost+ but not if was to the detriment of denying Bradford Bulls a ground to play at.

[uBradford Council[/u
BDMC will not directly put money into Bradford Bulls, it would be an unfair use of rate payers money
BDMC own the Odsal land which was leased to Bradford Bulls, and then agreed to transfer the lease to the RFL. to be sub-leased to Bradford Bulls
If BDMC were able to buy back the lease then the land would would be theirs to sell to other users.
They could change the use of the land to commercial or housing and get a shed load more money in rates than its present use. Perhaps a prestigeous delevelopment
This would mean the Bulls playing elsewhere than Odsal which BDMC might be prepared to facilitate. Should it be to Valley Parade it would seem as an even handed support to both teams.

[uBradford City FC[/u
A Club that is synonymous with the city but still under serious financial pressures even after a few millions put in by previous directors/owners over the last few years.
To share the rent and maintenance costs with the Bulls would put oodles of cash into their coffers and maybe help to lift them to promotions.
One of their owners (or in tandem with a Bulls investor) could make a bid for the Bulls
Clearly these owners would have to be assured that they are buying a club stripped of debts, that the team remains strong and competive in SL to include our most promising players, otherwise
how could they keep up the gates of 10,000 Bulls supporters
They would of course need to get SL approval for a change of ground, temporary dispensation for the length of the pitch.

[uAkbar's[/u
The whole image these people present in their Restaurants is of magnificence, not one run out of a glorified tin hut such as the Coral Stand.
They are involved in the bid, and if its for Restaurant purposes we can expect a flagship one of exceptional size and magnificence

[uHousing Deveolper[/u
As said one of the consortium is a housing developer. This may or not be on land south of Odasl known locally as "the tip".
If BMDC were to give planning permission for houses it would be valuable. Access would be through the current Bulls site.

[uCommercial Developer[/u
As said one of the consortium is a Commercial Developer. Don't know what this could involve.

[uOdsal Bowl[/u
I calculate 1,200,000 cube meters to fill in to make it flat.
Say you charged £30 a load for tipping dry fill from a 30 cube meter wagon
Then the receipts would be £1.200,000.
Or the council could dry tip there and save themselves even more money.

[[u:1e4eivaxOdsal Bowl[/u










one of the best posts I have EVER read

The RFL have said that, if the club is liquidated, they wish to see the Bulls see out the season but then may review the situation.

Didn't the T and A state the deal was dependent on the RFL selling the lease back to ABC/Bulls? The council would have to agree to this transfer and would insist that as a condition of the original settlement that the Bulls would play there. I can see the sense of the council allowing the Bulls out of the lease but can't see any way they would allow a situation where the Bulls went to VP and Akbars stayed at Odsal. Whoever agreed to that would spend the rest of their life in front of the audit comittee.

Why? If the new owners say they don't want it and the council can get a nice wedge from it why would they insist on that? What do they get out of it that is nicer than millions of pounds and some construction jobs this deep into an economic slump?

Because they wouldn't leave themselves in a situation where the Bulls went to VP and ABC had a 100 year lease on the site. In effect for minimal investment ABC would have control of a huge site next to the M606/62 that was owned by BMDC.

The future potential 'wedge' would therefore have to be shared with ABC whereas if they insisted on keeping the clause which states the Bulls must play there, were the Bulls to request a release from said clause and council agreed, BMDC would reclaim the entire site with no other parties holding a stake.

In this scenario BMDC would get the full 'wedge'. This is why the 'predator' theory expounded at the time of the sale of the lease to the RFL didn't hold.

Bradford City FC



The last time I checked we weren't in any sort of financial trouble?!





As far as I understand any money raised would go to that horrible man, Gordan Gibb.



Mark Lawn and Julian Rhodes have said that if you do come down to VP they will have to remove some of the rows at the front of both the Bradford End & Kop. Thus making the pitch suitible for RL/SL.

Also the RFL when buying the lease committed themselves to the fact that its an iconic rugby league venue, looks a dogs dinner hope they can sort this out.

Why would there need to be a new 100 year lease? Why does it need to be that ABC own it? Why is any of that bad business for the council if it is adequately recompensed?

I'm not suggesting they're going to get it for nothing, very little or even less than the market rate. It has considerably more value as land near the motorway network than it does as a stadium. I'm suggesting there's a deal there that's to everyone's mutual benefit. I have no idea if this is what's going to happen and it's certainly not something I want to happen. I think it easily could though.

The council is skint. Give them a chance to make millions from this, create jobs and not kill off the club in the process and they'll bite your hand off.

I'll be the first to agree, in the light of subsequent events, that something extremely dodgy went on there and it needs looking in to.

If it comes to losing a famous club whilst retaining an empty iconic rugby league arena then it's going to look like a half digested dog's dinner that's been walked into the carpet, particularly if it's the thing preventing the retention of the club and that money being paid back in full.

Bulls

The rent is not very high and the Bulls are responsible for the maintainance and upkeep of the stadium.

RFL

There is doubt whether the RFL (and in particular SLE) want 14 clubs or want to keep a club in with such a dreadful financial record. RFL will worry if they let the Bulls stay then 3 or so other clubs will quickly go into administration.

The RFL are not the sole arbiter of whether the Bulls stay in SL. The SL clubs will be the most important decision makers. If the consortium want a SL guarentee this could be a sticking point.

RFL bought Odsal to keep an inconic RL stadium in the game, explicitly to fend off developers. They would not turn it over to developers. Nor are the RFL keen on clubs having short term rental arrangements. Another sticking point re the consortium?

Do you really think that was the motivation for the RFL "buying" Odsal?

More likely the motivation was to get *something* in return for a loan that they became fully aware Bradford wouldn't be able to pay back.

If that was the case, given the timing of the sale and if the RFL had inside knowledge of the Bulls' financial situation, it would not be surprising to see other creditors, led by HMRC, attempt to claw back the purchase of Odsal to redistribute the asset (which would then involve a straightforward sale to the highest bidder and percentage distribution of the proceeds between all creditors, with no consideration of the Bulls or whether the land would remain as a tenanted Rugby ground).

To my understanding the lease already exists.

ABC would want to own it so that having invested £Xmillion pound they can't be simply thrown off the site at a future date.

In the hypothetical situation that the Bulls went to VP the millions the council would make would be radically reduced if the site contained a massive Akbars in the middle of it, who also held the lease on the rest of the site.

ABC need the lease. Council need clause, or series of clauses, which mean if Bulls go, Akbars go too. This why Reeves and Green are involved.

Whether the council is skint is irrelevant. At the top level the council is a group of highly risk averse employees who would fear being called to the ombudsman to explain why they had entered into an exclusive deal with ABC to develop a piece of land wholly owned by BMDC. Any senior auditor would immediately suspect kickbacks and an investigation would ensue. In short, it can't happen.

I think the first part of your post looks increasingly likely. Add in that at the time of the deal no mention was made of the club having borrowed 700k from the RFL, something also kept secret from the other clubs.

The second part is more or less impossible as BMDC own the site and could easily block transfer of the lease.

Pick up any copy of Private Eye and you can see this sort of thing does happen, albeit usually uncovered in the end.

I remain hopeful that we remain at Odsal but only if we have a sustainable future there. I don't think we can run a SL operation and pick up the tab for maintaining the ground. Having said that VP may cost even more in terms of rent and a move there would see us lose some support as per 2001/2.

I guess it depends how much ABC are prepared to lose.

I hope you're right.

Dont think it was either / or. More likely both. Nigel Wood nailed his colours to the mast re saving the stadium blah blah blah. Selling to some property developers and moving the Bulls to valley parade would weaken his already weak position.

It can happen, but possibly not quickly enough to meet the deadline they're working to.

micky g tweeting that someone other than ABC consortium has made a bid.

Sky sports news ticker: sources reporting that consortiums bid in danger of collaspe as they've not given RFL assurances about plans for odsal.

so they want the RFL to guarantee that the Bulls will stay in SL but wont give an assurance they will play at Odsal even though the sale of the lease to them is a conditional part of the takeover....mmmmmmmmm.....

something smells a bit fishy and it ain't the "Bombay Duck"

If they do anything other than sell the lease for what they paid for it, it is the worst piece of business in a very long time. Sounds like the RFL are doing the right thing. Look at what they are not being told rather than what they are. The consortium wants to do something to the Odsal other than play rugby there, that is clear from the administrators spiel.

There is nothing the RFL and other clubs agreeing to a new company starting up and playing at the Odsal, and in Super League, re-employing the old players.

A Bradford team will be playing out of Odsal in Super League next year, I am confident of it.