BRING THE BULLS BACK TO BRADFORD PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION. https://www.change.org/p/bradford-counc ... bulls-back https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... back-city/

BRING THE BULLS BACK TO BRADFORD PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION. https://www.change.org/p/bradford-counc ... bulls-back https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... back-city/

Has this petition been connived by the RFL to recoup some of their £200K already?

We hear but are not 100% certain that Judith Cummins MP may be behind it, a lady who apparently thinks highly of Nigel W.

Obviously can't stop anybody subscribing but come on. It may be more legitimate to make a donation to top up the nesteggers nestegg !

Later.

Well cuckoo egg it has Bullbuilders seal of approval and I'm sure Bullseye will not be too happy with that remark!

"Bulls should be in Bradford".

Well yes, if they're trying to start an argument they'll need to try a teeny bit harder than that. Absolutely everyone will rally around that flag I'm sure. The council, Mps and the RFL are backing it - well, super, but what are they backing it with? I suspect (and wouldn't expect it to be any money) that it will be more empty rhetoric like the T&A article.

To be truthful I'm far from sure just what the point is - isn't coming back to Bradford the current plan? and we all fully realise that staying away too long will be the death of the club anyway so what's the point of a petition and who are we petitioning anyway, since everyone from council to RFL to the fans solidly agree already that we need to get back to the city?

If the stay in Dewsbury turns out to be a disaster then clearly "something will have to be done", but without some cash or land or some decision that H&S has been suspended and we go back to Odsal, I'm damned if I know what. Even worse, reading the article, which is very short on specifics, it seems they are no wiser either.

Bulliac put it better than I could have done in the post above

Any petition needs to be petitioning [isomeone[/i - it appears that this petition is vaguely aimed in the direction of the club, the Council and the RFL, to somehow 'hold them to their commitment' to bring the club back to Bradford.

Well, I'm sure you won't find any arguments there...



But [ihow [/iexactly is that meant to happen? Because none of those organisations has the proverbial pot to urinate in. And its going to need a whole lot of what none of them have to make this happen.

Well intentioned, but essentially vacuous IMO

Maybe its Judith Cummins idea to get other councillors on board with the get the Bulls back to Bradford campaign so she can take it to a meeting and say something has to be done.

I'm as cynical as everyone else after the last 7 years but i've still signed it. If it gets 1500 signatures then it has to be debated at the next full council meeting. I'm not of the opinion that anything other than the usual platitudes will come out of it but at least they can't ignore it.

I saw this on social media this morning. I, like all fans, want the Bulls back in Bradford. But if that means we just get dumped back at Odsal with the mounting costs involved in keeping the decaying ruining in a semi-usable state and the repeated cycle of financial ruin that brings, then I won't support that.

If there was something solid, some sort of fund raising campaign to bring in the needed cash for the actual bricks and mortar for a new ground (personally I think that actual renovation of Odsal is not viable given what the site is built on and the additional costs that would be needed to make it safe to build on would likely double any price tag that we'd be paying for an alternative location.) then that would be a better thing to get behind

Exactly. The petition is too woolly and vague. Needs to be more specific

Oh yeah, please don't get me wrong, there's nothing to be harmed by signing and I'll probably do so myself. Ultimately all our problems could be solved by money, which none of us have enough of. The council have already been closing libraries etc to fund their statutory commitments so they haven't any spare and, as was said above, there's no point in just dumping us back into Odsal as it stands.

The best shot is probably to 'piggy back' a new ground on the back of a commercial development, maybe on the basis of you can have planning permission provided you build us this little ground on site...mind, that was the idea for superdome and that went well, iirc.



Anyway, it's cheaper to build in an economic slowdown (does anyone still believe that?) so let's hope someone wins Euromillions.

Please clarify. Yes, the undoubtedly honourable Judie was round at BullBuilder last week, but why will the excellent Bullseye not be happy with the remark; which part of the remark?

Anyhow, back to key issue here. Haven't some of us fans (i.e. fans who do actually attend games) already wasted enough hard earned cash buying 2020 season tix that may never come to fruition. Then to ask us to contribute to another pot is frankly no more than adding inult to injury, It's for the RFL to spend the circa £80K-£100K that's needed to re-open the doors of Odsal; not the fans Circa £80K or so should after all be loose change for the likes of the RFL.

As said many times we hope that Sawyer and Wood make a good go of it and once again we wish them the best of luck. Mind you the utter codswollop peddled out in this week's RL rags will not help their cause.

If the land & the lease are the problem, what is the problem? There must be value in the site as everyone seems to want it - does anyone have an estimate? I assume money needs to be put in to unlock value - is it put £6m in, get £12m back in 5 years sort of value? More? Less? Is it arguing about the profit split that is delaying things?

We have the figures, but not something we'd be willing to share with forum members at this stage mate, and trust you understand why.

Nestegg-
As a member of the Bull Builder Board , I’m sure I would have noticed Judith Cummins presence .
“Round at BullBuilder last week” my a**e.
Did you assume that because we decided to support and publicise the petition?
More importantly, your group promised to respond to the allegation of a racist comment. We wait and we wait.
Perhaps the moderators will take notice.

Don't drag my name into this debate.

I also won't be signing anything that tries to put us back into a crumbling Odsal bowl. A new, smaller ground for us and P.A. then that would be different.

The saddest thing about our recent demise and present predicament is lack of vision on the part of our various partners. Investment is a driving essential, but it sure hurts to see the development at Headingley accommodating both RL and Cricket as apposed to what we have on our own doorstep right here. Park Ave,Richard Dunn and the old lady herself Odsal. All were fit facilities in their day, but things have moved on and we, in this respect, have not. You do not have to be a visionary or even a billionaire .. but where there's a will there is definitely a way. Now is the time for assessment and a determination to succeed. A commitment is needed from the Council,Sport England and associated developers, working with their partners to deliver what the City needs to replace... with aplomb, our outdated facilities. One stadium fit for both professional sport and community use. We deserve such and we, as a large City and indeed Metropolis, need to strive to, at least match other forward looking Councils and move with the times.C'mon the powers that be and seize this opportunity to revive our creaking sporting infrastructure once and for all.

Thank you very much for your clarification BullBuilder Bored Member. Most helpful.

We had of course been made aware that Judith Cummins MP is spearheading the campaign/petition. That was most generous of Judith. In fact those of a cynical disposition may even think that there may be a general election looming on the horizon.

Two of our informants did inform us that they had seen or met with Judith Cummins in the proximity of BullBuilder last week and one of them testified that she had given a speech to, or met with, some Bulls supporters. Regardless, either you didn't see her, or they were mistaken. In any case it's largely irrelevant because we are where we are, i.e. sadly stuck for the time being with another allegedly nefarious owner(s) of the Bulls.

Even if our informants were mistaken, we trust you can accede that despite some forum members cynicism, the nesteggers are right most of the time, and as time passes we predict that many (if not all) of our direct or inferred accusations may well become fact. Time will be the judge of that, but we are quietly confident.

Let us now consider a related point that some fellow Bulls' forum members, and others on social media, have raised. Although on face value the Judith Cummins led initiative appears to be laudable, the parties that count, inc Wood and Sawyer etc, will sadly take little (if any) notice.

The Bulls' fans are the club's #1 asset. Of that there can be no doubt. But we allege that Wood and Sawyer don't see it that way. They we aver are largely concerned with their own selfish motives and interests. For example, we believe at this time that the two of them are allegedly seeking to reconcile their own debts in part via a ruthless asset stripping exercise. In that regard we urge fans or the credible RL press (i.e. Mr Sadler excluded), to ask Wood and Sawyer the following question - "[iPlease confirm with proof who were the top three BB17 creditors by value as of 1700hrs on 22cd October 2019?[/i ".

Despite the aforementioned petition we would like to put forward the following possible hypothesis for Nigel Wood and Mark Sawyer to contemplate. In order to boost allegedly ailing Bulls' 2020 season ticket sales, the club may look to work with their close friends at the RFL to house many, or a few, 'marquee' games at Odsal next year. For example, the home game against Halifax could draw in an attendance of over 5,000 fans to Odsal.

We understand on good authority that the cost of re-opening Odsal in order to facilitate the above would be in order of £75K - £80K and that should be sufficient to reasonably comply with H&S legislation etc. The RFL can easily afford to fork out for such a modest outlay.

Hypothesising even further, then given Eric Perez's (interim) role in BB17 and his close Toronto affiliation then why has it not dawned on the RFL (or Eric) to house some of the the Wolfpacks' 'home' SL games at Odsal next season rather than doing so in the likes of the Netherlands or other overseas locations? Oh, of course, we have forgetten about the alleged Odsal land grab. How remiss of us. Would the following (dubious) cast list, therefore, please accept our sincere aplogies for such an apparent oversight:

1) RFL's Ralph Rimmer and Simon Johnson,
2) Nigel Wood,
3) Mark Sawyer,
4) Andrew Chalmers,
5) Judith Cummins MP,
6) Kersten England, and last, but [unot[/u least,
7) Susan Hinchcliffe.

Time for the nesteggers to head across to Reykjavik's world famous Blue Lagoon for a relaxing bathe and rub down.

Not sure we can take anything from Headingley development - which looks terrific, incidentally. We, as a club, aren't in the same position as Leeds, who have Caddick construction as a benefactor, so there isn't the same cash floating around the Bulls as at Headingley.

From our point of view we need to take stock of both our current position and our aspirations and what, more sensibly, is likely to happen. To be frank, I'm far from certain about Will and his way and short of there being some quite serious money in the background, in my opinion, we as a club, are likely to remain in the Championship (and in a bind) for the foreseeable. So first question is, do we need an expensive ground? The short answer is no - though it might be wise, if any ground were likely to be built, to maybe leave some provision to expand at a later date. It all costs though, and some 'cloth cutting' would need to be done.

Is Odsal a starter? I dunno, but possibly not, due to costs, even though it does have the obvious attraction of being available for the asking. It would probably depend on any other commercial use(s) which could be integrated into the site - it is, after all, a pretty big area. We've had other suggestions; the Richard Dunn site, Horsfall, Park Avenue, and all are possibilities I suppose, though how many are available? I'd guess the Dunn site would be worth a bob or two to the council, maybe for housing as they would no doubt like to increase the amount of social (ie 'affordable') housing in the city or for industrial use of some kind.

Horsfall would be available as the Park Avenue club have already said so, but it remains very undeveloped and in a bad area for amenities like parking, for instance. The idea of Park Avenue, and us going into it with the new Avenue soccer club does, given the history, have a solid ring to it. I've no idea who owns it but I do believe there is still a cricket school on-site which may mean it's unavailable.

Bradford South has been a safe seat for Labour since the 1940’s.

Suggesting that the Bulls are a deciding issue that could impact a majority of around 7000 again shows that pest egg is talking out of his rear.

TBF Judith has been a big supporter of the Bulls for a while. She's head of the all parliamentary group for RL and has reguarly brought the Bulls up in the house of commons from when we went bust to when we won promotion. She's certainly not just taken an interest in the Bulls with a GE on the horizon.