Any chance Leeds will give us back some of the Harris money? If we go down, and the figures are as mooted, then ultimately in my head the Harris deal will be what killed the club.

The above is exactly the reason why me and the missus pledged our £100 each, for all those who have yet to pledge, just remember that if we fail to hit the target then darker days lie ahead than those we have had for the last 7 days.

If you are able to PLEASE PLEDGE NOW

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end


Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes...again


Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need...of some...stranger's hand
In a...desperate land


etc etc......

The Doors could have wrote this track for Friday! Please don't be the end!

We need every fan to leave their season ticket at home and pay on the gate, drink the bars dry and eat all the food, all enter the golden gamble and donate the winnings

Surely pledging a donation is more efficient than paying on the gate?
The donations are tax free, gate receipts are not.

Correct.

But, a counter-argument might be: if it was you, would you prefer the bird in the hand or the less-certain prospect of the two in the bush?

And it occurs to me that maybe that could do with rephrasing slightly...

Finally, you are talking things I understand...

We need every fan to pledge regardless of 'he said,she said,blah,blah...'
If the worst happens i hope all the people who refused to pledge because of Hood etc will be pleased at the outcome of their stubborness when there is no more Rugby League to watch in Bradford. You couldn't make it up.

Well, the emotional stakes have definitely been raised for me. I just bought a virtual ticket on behalf of my late Father. He attended in person for over 70 years, including the glory days of the 40s and early 50s, the depths of the early 60s, right up to our peaks in the first 8 years of Superleague. Now he'll be there virtually and in spirit on Friday.

I'm afraid that if as Hood suggests only 1,600 season ticket holders have pledged then that speaks volumes of how bad the club's communication with its core fans has been on this issue. They have managed it very badly indeed. Sure there are constraints but I'd guess the majority feel in the dark and being viewed as mugs. I say that because i can't think of any other reason than a lack of trust why at least 50% of the season ticket holders or more wouldn't have pledged. I mean, it is a bit of a captive audience, and can be viewed as the most committed to the club's cause. And the club has so far seemingly failed to convince them.

The essence of a club is the supporters, the reformed club driven by Trevor Foster and the fans is the same in spirit as the Bradford club that preceded it. The Bradford Bulls are just the current conveyor of that and, to me, are not the be all and end all of things.

Correct. If the current club bites the dust it is essential that we get some form of commitee together to raise funds in order to set up a team in CC1 next season. As long as a team runs out onto the pitch in red,amber and black on the first day of next CC1 season it will be a start on the long road back.

There would be a committee formed in an instant. Too big a fanbase for the club to immediately cease to exist.

It is appalling that this is what it has come to. The failure of the RL authorities and the club's management are outrageous.

What is even more disgraceful is that there is no proposal to bring in proper financial monitoring and controls to prevent a repeat of this latest disaster.

How many clubs have to go through this before something is done about it?

There used to be a provision in the Salary Cap that limited the amount a club could spend on playing staff to 50% of turnover. It was removed a couple of years ago at the request of the SL clubs. As for any other form of monitoring I would suggest that this is not the responsibility of the governing body of any sport.

I’m sure the answer to this question has been covered in one of the pages on this thread but I haven’t been able to find it yet.
 
Have the club disclosed what will happen if the total pledges are enough to cover the 1st 500k but falls short for the 2nd 500k? I’m guessing that by reaching the 1st 500k target the club will cash the pledges?
Will all this money be lost if the 2nd target isn’t reached and the club then enter administration? I’m pretty sure that without a financial backer we won’t make the total amount.
 
BTW a great gesture once again from the Widnes chairman. A true RL fan.

Just so long as all of that committee were prepared to then make the hard, lonely yards that would be needed. Out of the public eye, doing the boring necessary grind. And they had the support of the rest of the fans, who understood the commitment necessary and not to expect overnight results and were themselves prepared to help out from time to time.

by the sounds of the interview on look north last night, Peter Hood is finally saying it as it is.

"there isnt a que of investors outside my office door!"

by the sounds if you dont get someone major to invest this really could be the end.

Admin is the only option you have from where i sit.

Jeez.....
What an almighty c**k up! Start by being super optimistic - become supper pessimistic and ending god only knows! On an earlier comment Adeybull mentioned that they board have no middle management to lean on and are doing it all themselves - this becomes more apparent every day - they look and sound exhausted, and still don't have a pln other than trust us

!!

The expectation that all season ticket holders would pledge is rubbish given the family nature of the support, I'd be interested in the ratio of number of households season tickets belong to against pledges - I have 3 for my sons and have pleadged once, so 33% of tickets but 100% of households.

Assuming (and a big one!) we do limp over the line my point of last week is where on earth is the next £500k going to come from is still my main concern. Assuming no administration, the only way I can see us survive is selling players. Appreciate few clubs will have cap space left - but imagine Warrington signing Bateman for say £150k then loaning him back for the season - but we all know where this path leads. I was hoping against hope we had a cunning plan - after reading the T&A and YP articles it's clear we don't!

Hate to say - but future is NOT bright and my dream of seeing a Bradford team win at Wembley looks like it will stay a dream. Really really p****d off!

I've been thinking. A few musings.

The RFL are coming out of this very well [iat the moment[/i. They have a very cheap 135yr lease on Odsal. If the Bulls stave off administration, it also sounds like they will have annual income from Odsal, with no maintenance costs.

These are all thoughts for another day but - Is there a buyback clause? How much can the rental be increased? Who gets concession stall money?

At the time, other RL fans were concerned about the RFL being the landlord and there being a CoI with regards to franchising.

If administration happens, they will have both the decision on the franchise, but also on who plays at Odsal. This power cannot be underestimated. How would the lease be re-negotiated? The RFL would want someone at Odsal ASAP paying rent.

IF a pre-pack happened quickly and seamlessly then local creditors (usually businesses but also first aiders etc) and the taxpayer would be the ones (legally) ripped off. But otherwise there would probably be a seamless transition.

If admin lingered on then there might be other scenarios. The only power the fans would have is with the [iperception [/iof who is the true successor club?

Imagine Bulls of Bradford 2012 being issued the franchise and getting the lease at Odsal but only getting 1200 season ticket holders whilst in a lower league there being Northern of Bradford 2012 getting 2200 season ticket holders?

The RFL would have to compromise a lot on the negotiation of the lease to get their money back. They do have a lot to lose with this after all...

Ps - we've pledged (3 season tickets in the family) - but one pledge between us.
The tallying up of pledges on Saturday will define what happens thereafter. The only assets we have left (as long as we are not in administration) are players & their contracts.

Good post there Highlander, IMO.

I recall being soundly jeered by fans of other clubs at the time, when I pointed out that this was IMO a win-win deal and potentially of considerable advantage to the RFL. We have since learned that it was in all probability an even better deal for them.

Concession stall money is for the Bulls.

Don't know the rent or the review basis, but I believe there are also obligations on the RFL to e.g. find us a home should they themselves want out of Odsal.

I think there is a buyback clause, but I'd really prefer the club to confirm that (or otherwise).

I really don't know how the maintenance works, since I have heard them say both that the Bulls are resposnible and the RFL is responsible. I suspect it may be one organises it and one pays for it, but I do wish this had been made more clear at the time.

Let's worry about the other 500k next week (if we don't do it this week - I'm still confident we can take a big chunk out of it). That's where the board come in. They're gone either way (new owners or admin) so might as well let them give it their best shot at securing option 1.

You should always aim for the best option IMO until it's out of reach and right now there's plenty of people out there that can still pledge. Maybe today's press reports might push them into it?

Then there's the auction. It could be that people with real money to spend are waiting to see what they can pick up on Thursday?

It aint over 'til it's over!

As much as I'd love to see RBS and the tax man get screwed admin is not the best outcome of all this. That for me is that we get over this cashflow problem the board then enjoy success growing the club and we end up challenging again in the near future with top academy products doing the business on the pitch. That's why I've pledged, bought virtual tickets and paid extra to have my car washed. It's all a gamble and maybe I'll end up losing. But I tell you what the returns are more than worth it if I win and not only that I've not experienced this camaraderie and closeness between everyone at the club and the fans in a long time just by jumping on board. It'll be the same on Friday by buying in to this concept I'll have a great night on Friday.

Saturday and the future can wait.

is there any news on current total.i think up to friday it was about 193,000 then 250,000 was mentioned over the weekend but seems to have gone quiet.hope they are holding back on info a bit for a big announcement come saturday.

It's back below 250,000.

Alternatively the RFL could have a long lease & no possible other tenant. Which could be catastrophic, unless an alternative use for the ground could be secured, which could take years to realise. I doubt any on here know the terms of the head lease & what the RFL could expect from any deal not related to RL?