I have always thought that removing ANY sort of "early bird" discount was a bad move. I paid early for all the time the offers were in place, but so far I haven't renewed yet, not as any deliberate policy even, I just haven't got round to it and without the availability of a discount to push it up my list of priorities, it's just in my to-do list.

All I see in our situation, tbh, is a downward spiral, we needed to go straight back up and failed, so this second year is really stretching it. All this "if people want..." stuff is totally irrelevant, though. IMHO the extra numbers that make up the big crowds in the tasty fixtures will come if there's something worth it in their view, and if there isn't - they won't. I reckon the vast majority of those people couldn't really care less if the Bulls went permanently down the tube, or even if they would prefer they didn't, that has no bearing on their expenditure.

Nobody but the base hard core fans will stump up due to any feelings of obligation or concern for the club's well-being, and appeals on the lines of "If you want a top level club ..." are really the most embarrassing waste of time, not one single person will be browbeaten into paying through attempted guilt tripping, and it just never ceases to amaze me that club chairmen (across sports) ever still resort to such attempts at emotional blackmail.

Pretty much makes 2016 poop or bust.

Couldn't agree more with FA's post above, and thanks for saving me the trouble of typing it all out

I haven't got mine yet either. But will once I get paid at the end of the month

i wonder how many of the "we must keep a full time team" have not brought a season ticket this year, In all honesty i think we have a better chance of going up this year than last season everybody knows what to expect in the middle 8s

COYB

Well, we know Marc Green won't put a penny into the club.

This. Completely this.

I probably am one of those base hardcore. I've got my renewal sorted already, but then, I would have that renewal regardless of division, regardless of players, as so long as I can afford it. I am not in any way swayed or influenced by the emotional blackmail that comes out of the club and Mr. Ferres especially, who I honestly don't trust as far as I could throw him. I tend not to listen to most of the guff.

The club are in a Chicken and Egg situation. They need some success to get fans back. They need fans back to finance a team that can bring success. It's a difficult situation, but all this "each fan needs to spend £900 a year to get promotion" kind of rubbish falls on deaf ears here I'm afraid.

The problem with "each fan needs to spend £900 a year to get promotion" is that it is not a guarantee. If it was I am sure many would pay it as we did when we had the £500k in 10 days scenario. The scenario we have now is "once bitten twice shy".

Can someone provide a source for Marc Green, or anyone at the club, actually saying that '£900 to get promoted' rubbish, because I don't believe for one second that they actually said that.

What I suspect they might have said was, hypothetically, is that if we wanted to have a SL level salary cap available to us, then - at our current level of ST holders - each one would need to spend £900.

There is a big difference in those two statements. Nobody at the club would be dumb enough to say 'spend £900 to get the club promoted'.

Of course that's what they said. I was exaggerating to make a point, which I thought would be obvious.

Not obvious, quite a few people on here have used the same quote as if it was actually said.

MG was very upfront about his, 'financial plan' so we all knew from the off that he wasn't going to throw money at the club.

To say he won't put a penny in though, is nonsense as he clearly already has. Starting from the off, when all the season ticket money had clearly gone to the previous owners and he honoured the tickets, and built a side. Maybe he has a printing press, or maybe he put the cash in?

Yeah, pretty much agree with that.

I always thought the 'early bird' was mainly to attract some quick cash into the coffers and keep things running through the off season. To be honest, I always assumed that the EB rate was the 'financial plan rate' and that nearly everyone would logically pay that sum anyway. However, if they don't need to do this then fair enough - to be fair, I paid early anyway, though to keep the same seat in the stand you still have to be bit earlier than most.

Disagree it would be poop or bust. I think if we fail to get promotion, then i think we would be scaled back massively. Junior development, possible PT. Certainly a few years in the championship until an SL club inevitably goes under. The club would still be a strong championship club.

Despite all the doom & Gloom there are still some good things going on at the club, particularity in the junior setup. I believe we've signed up some real gems this time up and a lot of money has being put into the juniors which suggests to me MG is in it for the long term. If it all hinged on us getting promoted this season and would be poop or bust, then why would the club put money in to the juniors? Surely we would do what Leigh are doing, with their entire money going into the first team squad?

I'm glad we're focusing on getting our academy back to where it was a few years ago. My worry, though, is that anybody half decent will only stay with us for a short amount of time before SL clubs offer them what we cannot while we remain in the Championship.
I don't see any SL club going bust now. I think the only chance we have of going up is if the poor attendances continue in the super 8s and the big clubs put pressure on the RFL to change the system again. Either that or they expand the SL to 14 (or more) teams when the tv contract is renewed. But that's like 5 or so years away? We might be too far gone by then.

and anything can happen.

Indeed, but as we know better than many, such acts are not in short supply.

Let's not detract from the fact that it was Marc Green who ultimately put the club into administration, so he had no option but to honour those season tickets sold whilst he was playing cowboy and Indians with Mark Moore.

It was also Marc Green who promised to invest in the playing squad to keep us in Super League. To the club's detriment these signings never materialised.

Supporter confidence and morale in the club seems to decrease day on day. Marc Green and Steve Ferres urgently need to make the Bulls become relevant again – making the Bradford Bulls the buzz word of the city.

We all know the stories about admin and now it occurred [several times 'Peter'. It doesn't alter the fact that when it was completed the new company [MG's had to cover all the money paid to the club for the upcoming season but which was lost [to the previous company. I certainly agree he was in a bit of a pickle with this and in truth would have never gained the trust of the fans if he'd insisted we pay again - but the fact remains he did put up the money for the side.

Promises to win games, stay in divisions, get promotion etc all have to be taken with a very large dose of salt as no-one can actually make such promises. I remember standing near to Omar with a group of fans in the middle of an open air restaurant in Perpignan the year before - and his 'promise' that we wouldn't be relegated didn't come true either. Ultimately though, we surely accept that the top people in clubs are going to talk up chances? For heaven's sake, if [ithey[/i don't show some belief why would the rest of us bother?

Not where I sit. Due either to the price, or possibly to my curry habit, nobody sits within 20 metres of me.

An early candidate for disingenuous statement of 2015.

Indeed he did, but you oddly don't mention that this was a defence mechanism to a winding up order issued by HMRC. SSG had a debenture and as such were able to appoint an Administrator. Had they not done so, the fact is the club would have been compulsorily wound up.

What ultimately led the club into administration was therefore, to be accurate, its inability to pay what it owed to HMRC.

Balls.

Where's your evidence for that sweeping statement?

You need to get out more. Have a word with the Academy staff. They're more upbeat than ever. We're really doing well in that dept. Got some great U16s signed up. Some great lads moved up to the U19s too. We're doing all the right things. Our academy set up is better than most other clubs including SL clubs.

Looking at social media most fans seem to be looking forward to the season.

FFS cheer up!

Not that early, probably a bit late to be honest

What?? It's 2016??? Who knew?!?

The people who make calendars. Those shifty buggers are always a step ahead