Im intrigued how you lot have gone from top of SL year in year out to strugglers in such a short amount of time

Where did it all start to go wrong? From what ive seen its not looked like big financial constraints have been the biggest issue, you spend more than a few in this division right?

Politics within the club, Iestyn Harris, Holding onto Youth and talent and coaching and backroom staff appointments. You could make a great dream team from ex bulls players currently playing in super league.
The main one is politics within the club... cost us good players

Letting Noble go and bringing Macca in.

Great choice.

Knock on Nigel is a Fax fan who has a rather ironic 'intrigue' into our downfall. Jog on sunshine...we aint as low as your lot (just yet)

I am intrigued as any other rugby fan. we suffered our own pitfall which was down mainly to financial disaster

We didn't let him go, he left because of the way the club was run and the back stabbing politics going on at the club. I love how the majority of fans believe everything is black and white and how we let this person go and that. But is doesnt work like that. Take Jamie Peacock, left because they retained Harris so they refused to up Peacocks pay, and to which i quote ''Jamie your not getting a pay rise and if you dont like it your free to find another club and we will just sign an aussie''.
The club was ran in the wrong sense and half the talent we had left because of it.

Exactly. Let him go.

Lets explain it nice and simply....2005 onwards we have been completely mis-managed from top to bottom. It started with Caisley and he jumped ship when he could see the horizon. Been watching since 83' and this is by far the worst team in my time. I honestly cannot see another win this season.

Whilst this season may not be going well the beast way to judge your position is by looking at the players roster and seeing where you might be next year. I got these figures off this site, It appears you have a lot of players OOC this year.

There are some good forwards you have got on contract but in the backs and half backs you look a bit weak. Depending on the kids you have coming through you may be able to replace some players BUT it will be very difficult to get good half backs etc. There will be no Aussies available once their new salary cap kicks in. So you need to think about whether this squad can be strengthened to take you forward and where the new players will come from

1. Michael Platt 2013
2. Dave Halley 2011
3. Paul Sykes 2013
4. Chev Walker 2011
5. Patrick Ah Van 2011
6. Brett Kearney 2011
7. Marc Herbert 2011
8. Nick Scruton 2014
9. Heath L'Estrange 2011
10. Andy Lynch (c) 2012
11. Olivier Elima 2012
12. Elliot Whitehead 2013
13. Jamie Langley 2013
14. Matt Diskin 2013
15. Bryn Hargreaves 2012
16. Craig Kopczak " 2013
17. Ian Sibbitt 2012
18. Shaun Ainscough 2011
19. Gareth Raynor 2011
20. James Donaldson 2012
21. Danny Addy 2012
22. Steve Crossley 2012
23. Thomas Olbison 2014
24. Jason Crookes 2012
25. Shad Royston 2011
26. Cain Southernwood 2013
27. Adam O'Brien 2013
28. Vinny Finigan 2011
29. Tom Burgess 2012
30. Liam McAvoy 2011
31. John Bateman 2014
32. Kyle Briggs 2012
33. Ben Jeffries 2012

Agree with the above, but would like to add one. A massive clanger was keeping hold of McNamara for the length of time after one and all surely knew he was not the man for the job.

The Giants showed in '09 that a new coach can make a huge amount of difference. Brown signed Hodgson, made it clear performances like the previous year weren't going to happen under him, and off they went. Under McNamara mediocrity became not only acceptable but the norm.

The recruitment this year has not paid off, and I fear we're going to have another revolving door turnaround in the pre-season. Only when we get a settled side will we get out this mess.

Where did it all go wrong?

You could right a book on it probably.

Here are a few of my thoughts on where it all went wrong (plus other factors). These are not in any particular order I hasten to add.

1. Chris Caisley. He got into a peeing contest with Darth Hetherington over Iestyn Harris which ultimately cost the club ALOT of money it didn't really have.

2. Gareth (?) Davies was brought in to act as some sort of Sporting Director. He, at the looks of it roughed Nobby up the wrong way which ulitmately resulted in Nobby leaving the club. We then promoted (at the time) a highly thought of assistant in Steve McNamara who, as history shows, didn't necessarily have the best eye for a player.....

3. Peter Hood kept Macca on longer than he probably should, but again finances may have paid a big part in this.

4. We are a victim of our own success. Let's be honest, prior to SL we were hardly the greatest team in the world. Granted, Peter Fox would work his magic every now and again and we could have the odd season where we would in all honesty, over-achieve. There is now a weight of expectation on all of the club to return to World Club Championships, SL Grand Finals etc....

5. Local clubs got their act together. At the birth of SL we were the shining light, the example. Leeds, Huddersfield and others finally got their act into gear (Leeds on the pitch, Huddersfield off and then on the pitch) which resulted in us losing floating supporters.

6. Local talent. We've never been a hotbed of RL at junior level compared to Wigan, Leeds etc. OK, we have some great amateur sides in West Bowling, Dudley Hill etc, but when you compare this to other areas, we are competing with lots of clubs for the same talent in areas where we cannot now sign as many as we may have done previously. I believe there are now rules on the number of players outside your district that you can sign?

7. Odsal. As much as I love the place, it's a money pit. Probably wasn't the greatest idea to take on a 99 year lease (or whatever it was) and take it off the councils hands so to speak. It is fantastic on a summers day, but, like any other ground, it has a limited useage. I know the club use the Coral stand for functions etc, but it's not the first place that springs to mind for hospitality.

8. General apathy in Bradford. The town is no longer on it's knees. It's lower than that whatever the correct description of it is now. The town centre is an abyss, the local footy team are on the brink, the council is hung, meaning that no decisions get made easily, and the largest employer in the city, the council, is set to cut services and jobs creating much uncertainty in the city. People in the city need a feel good factor, and to be honest the Bulls used to be that feel good factor.

9. The Warringtons and Huddersfields of this world moving in on some of our academy players. Granted this happens all around the league, but we seem to be a bit of a target at the minute. Ben Helliwell went to Wire, Joe Wardle went to Huddersfield, George Burgess went to Souths. With the exception of George (probably), they went to these clubs for the cash. I have little issue with that, but I think that shows where the real power in SL will be over the coming years - wherever the rich owners are.

10. Player recruitment and retention. We are vastly short of leadership on the field. Even in the past few years we've had Morrsion and Menzies, both of who were allowed to leave (mainly due to injuries / age), but they brought that level of professionalism and commitment that many people don't have. They were someone to look up to. We don't have anyone in that bracket at the club which is a worry. When the going gets tough, like it is now, I don't know who the players are looking to to take the lead.

There, many people will probably disagree, but, they are the reasons I see, and there will be more should I have a little more time to think about it.

Agree with all of that, except for aspects of #2. Davies was CEO, and had the misfortune to be the one to have to put the strategic plan together to try and balance the books. Inheriting a situation where we were spending maybe half a million or more every year than we were earning. Indeed, I think thatv may have been the main reason for his recruitment. That plan led to big big spending cuts, to try and live within our means. As I understand it, that did not sit well with Noble - understandably, but I'm not sure what other options there were? Big parallels with the situation the country is in right now, in fact.

I know Davies came in with the role of cutting costs, which ultimately meant we lost Nobby. The main role Davies did ultimately probably saved the club long term, and that is not highlighted in my post. Fair point Adey.

But, his character and treatment / relationship with Nobby has had an effect on where we now are.

If you read JP's book, [iNo White Flag,[/i he says that Caisley's message, given to Jamie's agent, was actually much more succinct than that, "he can get f***ed then, we'll just bring an Aussie over" is the quote in the book, except there are no asterisks in it. Jamie says the lack of respect shown in that comment was the main reason he left. As yet, I've heard nothing about JP being sued for that, so I guess so we are free to draw our own conclusions.

Must remember to buy Caisley a drink or two should I ever bump into him

Thanks for your valuable and insightful contribution.

Allowing Peacock to leave was one of a few huge balls ups on the recruitment front made the Caisley administration. I think it's beaten only by the Harris debacle.

This debacle was one of the main reasons everything went to pot. The letting go of JP, Noble and others

By far the biggest crime was getting rid of Steve Long.