Don’t know if anyone else has seen this yet but the Bulls are linking up with Bradford PA
A lot of business buzzwords and the fact that Irvine will be working across both clubs but not much else known at the moment

Isn't this one of those things that appear every closed season?

I can't see anyone thinking it would be a bad idea, but it never really happens.

What's the benefit to us? Rent money, or are we getting a foot in Gareth Roberts' door?

As someone not from or living in Bradford I've always assumed when you lot start gibbering about a Texas oil baron it's just an in joke I don't understand.

Linky www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/article/ ... artnership

Linky www.bradfordbulls.co.uk/article/ ... artnership

How much is this Roberts involved with Park Ave?

When it was announced that he had bought them I assumed that there would be serious investment in the Club?

Do any BPA supporters or anybody know what Roberts long term intentions are?

Get along to tomorrows top of the table Manarama North game 2nd place Kidderminster the visitors to 3rd placed Avenue.....Bulls season ticket holders can get in for a fiver, and there is a fans forum after the match in the club house with Gareth Roberts present and answering questions.

He as been involved quite a few years now, but been hampered with the lease for Horsfall being just a 12month renewing contract, rumour as it he has agreed a long term lease with permission to partially remove the running track(YCNMIU) two lanes have to be retained apparantly to fulfil the councils obligation to provide Athletic facilities within it's boundary...Plans are a foot to improve Horsfall soon. watch this space .

I believe he's invested in the more "community" side of things, like reserves, courses/equipment for the juniors rather than ploughing millions into the first team.

It seems then with him being local he sees the importance of stucture of the club as opposed to throwing money at signing the best players to quickly get out of the league. Maybe this is where him and Chalmers have similar views?

Also how many sides have ended up with cashed up owners at that level ploughing through the leagues until they see how tough it is to get from conference into the football league so they pull funding and the club nose dives

Not totally sure about the Roberts tie up.

IIRC he was going to build a new ground (Thornbury was mooted) but nothing developed. He's reported as being very wealthy but, if I'm honest, I have a reluctance to get too involved with these people as we can never be sure of motives - somehow true altruism is rarely found in the very wealthy, and yes, I know there are exceptions, but I'm instinctively suspicious.

Agree with you massively look at the issues surrounding Salford, Leigh etc when one man carries the can and funds it there is always the risk of them pulling out and leaving a mess.

The one thing like has been mentioned is that Roberts has been involved with avenue a long time now since buying the club from Steve Blackburn. He is yet to fund a wild promotion bid which given the few years he has been there seems unlikely to actually happen now.

Where we fit into it all god knows but the major positive I see from it is Damien Irvine looks to be staying from overseeing in a consultancy capacity with the added extra of overseeing avenue as well it gives him plenty to stay for and that can only be positive for us

Maybe we’re looking at their ground for reserves/19’s next year, instead of Dudley Hill

To be honest, my reservations were more along the lines of, do they want our ground?

Not that I've anything against a groundshare as an equal partner but I wouldn't be too happy as a junior partner with an (allegedly) multi billionaire whose primary interest is another club.

I seem to remember fairly recentlythat Roberts was considering taking PA first team games to Odsal but thougt better of it. With a fan base of just a few hundred then Odsal isn't really ideal unless they were able to increase their fan base significantly.
It has been stated that there are plans to lay an artificial pitch at Horsfall which would make it a good alternative for playing Bulls reserve or academy games. Maybe even some first team friendlies in the future.

BPA to make the premiership before BCFC?

'Our' ground?

Not sure how much we will have a say on that...

The fans forum revealed that the link up between the clubs is just that, no merger or 1st team ground sharing/moving. The Avenue will utilise the Bulls full time office/administration helping with commercial activities,ticketing etc, while the Bulls will utilise Horsfall for Academy and Ladies fixtures once improvements are mmade to the stadium, it was also muted shared training facilities would be located their too.Gareth Roberts was joined by another American based investor Jonathan Collura, and Damian Irving. Sounds promising despite one Avenue Dinasaur trying to wind them
copied and pasted from Bulls Banter on facebook

We have a lease to it, so it is 'ours' to use for rugy league and put circuses on (I'm assuming that was a club enterprise) etc.

Who knows what the result would be to, say any offer to the council for the freehold? I'm sure any trivial matters of tenancies and sub tenancies could soon be easily overcome with the aid of all the things at the disposal of a 'billionaire'.. Especially if said 'billionaire' was directly connected to the major end user (ie us).

Obviously, nothing further than a loose arrangement to share some facilities has actually been agreed and that is where we're at. Maybe there are no plans, in the back of anyone's mind to go any further, who knows? I remain wary of other clubs, with very rich financial backers, making overtures.

Maybe it is part of the new RFL and he is going to relocate us to Texas and fastrack into SL.