As Tweeted by Micky G www.aewarchitects.com/bradford-bulls/ Look at the Date!

As Tweeted by Micky G www.aewarchitects.com/bradford-bulls/ Look at the Date!

Hmmmm...Interesting is that.

Is "phase one" the current corporate area behind the sticks?

Looking at that it doesn't seem to leave any room
for a track. so no Speedway etc?

I thought the tweet said something about it being Peter Hoods plans ? b

That's what it looks like, but it also refers to "providing much needed corporate and function space that would also create a fourth side to the stadium" which might be the area behind the popular side. The Coral stand doesn't seem a whole lot different apart from the seating over the speedway track, which could be removable type. The date is before the recently suggested speedway use.

They could have a tunnel under the Coral stand (is it still the [iCoral[/i stand, btw?) a bit like the Monaco GP. It would be a first for Speedway (unless you know different) and brilliant a marketing wheeze. Can't beat a bit of innovation, I reckon!

No roof then

Actuially TT, given the date, the work on this must have been done/commissioned quite a while before before Peter Hood even suggested there might possibly be a slight problem in the finances department. Mmmmmm.....

As is fairly usual with architects there are a few schemes that are under the 'feasibility study' description, including a proposal for Whitehaven RLFC's SL ambitions! It could well be the architects offered the Bulls a freebie in the search for work, which Hood could also use to further his own ambitions.

I can quite understand that might well be the case, but it still doesn't actually answer the question of whether this scheme is actually in the mind of the people in control at the moment. It is interesting though.

Apparently though the speedway has hit a snag now, the minimum pitch dimensions for super league now mean the straights are too narrow for speedway. Special dispensation would have to come from the RFL to make the pitch smaller. I wonder about the feasability of dog racing up there, used to be stadia in bradford somewhere didnt there and im sure the coral stand would make suitable venue similar to the dining set ups at belle vue and kinsley

There were two dog tracks; Greenfield at Dudley Hill (on land currently occupied by the Morrisons food preparation facility)which was also used by Northern for a period, not to mention Speedway, though as it was before my time I'm not sure if it was contemporary with the rugby.

The other was the City track at Listerhills on land which is still used by AE Autoparts or Federal Mogul as it is now, and also more recently by a big new asian food complex, not sure who the owner is to be honest. The road into the area is still called Greyhound drive.

The current regime have discussed a shop facing onto Rooley Ave

There is a reason why there are hardly any dog tracks left, that is that hardly anybody is interested in going to the dogs any more. Belle Vue in Manchester has managed to do OK but Bradford used to have a real flapping track at Willowfield and even that closed down many years ago, the nearest track now is Kinsley and that is sply attended whenever I've gone. Can't see that there's any prospect of any money from greyhound racing.

We already had speedway for many years, at first it was popular and got good crowds, you could say the same about the stock cars although I never went to that, but it all tailed off, don't think speedway at Odsal ended because the people running it had made too much money. Indeed IIRC the Dukes were actually Champions at the time so presumably as attractive as they could get? Still, it wouldn't be the Bulls' risk, and if Tony Mole thinks he can do it, and we get a reasonable return out of it, then I'm all in favour, except for one thing -

Whether either venture has any legs or not, reducing the pitch size emphatically does not. We are first and foremost a rugby league club and let's not forget that.

There is also the complication that the Council own the land, and the RFL own the head lease, so would they all agree, and would they want a piece of any action?

If they really wanted to bring back speedway they could take out the bottom rows of terracing to avoid encroaching on the pitch. I don't think we have that many capacity crowds to worry about.
The other point about the plans was that an all seater stadium seemed to be envisaged?

Going by date I'd guess its one of tenders for what became the coral stand

These plans are old. They were the ones drafted up in preparation for the first phase of the development (i.e. the Coral Stand). You can see this as there were originally plans to have our own gym developed at Odsal, although the one at Tong was developed instead.

The rest of the plans are what the then owners would have done had further investment been achieved.

The plans actually look pretty decent.
Additional seating in terraced places at the moment.
Doesn't say anything about a good old fashioned roof though on the popular side.

Some would say Odsal wouldn't be Odsal anymore if you had a roof?

One thing is for sure...it would certainly still be bloody cold

Cold? You lot don't know you're born, have a skeg at the pic I linked to on the Nostalgia thread and then come back

Great picture is that.

Is it me or has the date changed on that ? I'm sure the date said March 2012 when I first looked at it, which prompted me to say it was at the back end of PH's reign. It now says August 2002..

it said august 2002 when I first looked at it yesterday. The 2012 bit at bottom of the page is I presume the publishing date of the webpage its on. Cant see why PH would have been getting plans drawn up last year, especially ones that involved replacing the existing coral stand, when the financial problems must have been apparent at that stage. Whereas the august 2002 date sounds about correct for when we were looking at moving back to odsal from valley parade and would explain why the design of the coral doesnt match how it ended up being built i.e. it was an early design/tender.

2012 is nothing more than the current year. Nothing to do with a publishing dateetc, it's a standard website footer

That's what I meant, whereas the date which appears to be associated with the drawing is the August 2002 one.

Tony MOle, who was named in the T&A as being a prospective promoter of Speeday at Odsal has a track record of reinstating speedway at venues that have been unused by speeday for a number of years (Birmingham, now in Elite (Top)league) and working on a track that surrounds a RL pitch (Workington). so his opinion is worth listening to. however I did question a part of what he was reported to have said.
I had a quick look at the track / pitch when i was down at odsal the other day and my thought were confirmed.

From what i can see the straights are just as wide as they ever were. the inner curb drains where the pitch met the track are still apparent. the corners however are not. On a sunday morning after the speedway, the "Deryck Fox" corners were brought in on pallets. since the speedway was booted out by Caisley (they were more solvent than they had been in their 11 year stay from 86-97) the corners were made more permanent.
would bulls fans or the RFL reject the old style corners?

The pits are now gone, but the access road behind the cpral stand still exists, so pits could be constructed on the top carpark. it could even double as executive covered parking on rugby matchdays.

I tried to push this agenda by putting Ok, Gary Havelock (1992 speedway world champion and honorary Bradfordian) and NIgel Pearson (Sky/talksport commentator, and chairman of Dudley speedway) in touch.

This could be a real opportunity. They missed a trick in the 90s top rebrand the dukes as the bulls, and hopefully this will happen.

if theres money in it for OK and the club, I think it might!