Apparently Wood has thrown his weight behind a new venture, whereby the Chairman of Dewsbury will buy 25% of the Club and Perez will front it as Temporary Chairman. It is unclear if Wood will be an investor or just ad advisor.

A number of questions arise from this, but the one I am keen to explore first, is joint ownership of more than one club, especially in the same division,as Dewsbury Rams and Bradford Bulls will be in 2020. The last time something like this happened IIRC, was when Ian Lenegan wanted to continue to invest in Harlequins Rugby League as well as buying Wigan Warriors. I believe that Nigel Wood recommended that he not be allowed do this and the resultant mess ended up with London dropping from 4.900 fans to 1,150 and out of Super League. I wonder why 1 person can now own 2 clubs in the same competition when this was blocked a decade ago?

Next is conflict of Interest. Wood, apparently a lifelong Bradford fan, was up until recently an RFL employee. He now has a position at the IRL and therefore influence in same way at the RFL. If he's there as an advisor only, then I suspect Bradford will be gone by the middle of next season.

Then there's Perez?
He has said he is paving the way for a new owner.....no call me a cynic if you like, but this sniffs like another club being bought with an eye on moving it across the pond. If not, then why is Perez not spending 100% of his time getting his other project OTTAWA up to the starting gate? Perez hasn't a pot to pee in, Bradford have used and been used by a number of charlatan investors and Ican only assume (because we're never given the facts) that Argyle or one of his mates is the real financial muscle here.

I feel for the Bradford fans who have stuck with them, but surely this is the last throw of the dice?

Last roll of the dice? We’ve sold the dice about 2 meltdowns ago...

It’s not admin which must be the only positive but yup it stinks to high heaven again but as fans all we can do is wait until February to see if we have a team to go watch. Gone passed caring now it’s not worth getting worked up about anymore because you know it’s only going to be stop gap and then come the next mountain.

They still can't though they can be a minority shareholder in a second. From memory, didn't Lenagan hold shares at London for a while after he shipped out to Wigan?

I just hope it isn't some snakes scheme of moving the Bradford "franchise" to America and leave the Bulls fans high and dry.

Perez did a great job launching Toronto and helping them get to where they are, a remarkable effort.
But, just what is going on ?

Bradford playing out of Dewsbury may be a runner in the short term but, surely, without a move back to Bradford in a 2-3 year time frame, their identity will just disappear and you wouldn't be surprised for the dreaded "merger" question to arise.
However, with Wood and Perez now apparently involved, just about anything could happen.

It could be great news but, it all looks just a little bit weird and you get the feeling that Bradford's place in the Championship may be "on the move"

Perez is only there for a few months to try and bring in sponsorship/investment. The whole consortium are actively looking for a permanent chairman after Brereton withdrew (for reasons as yet unknown).

And there's a reason Sawyer owns 24.99% of the shares, and the decimal point should give you a clue.

Size of your share holding is only one of the things that can make you a Person of Influence at a club (you can only be a PoI at ONE club) and I would have thought that some of the things Sawyer is suggesting that he's doing at the Bulls (eg negotiating budgets with the RFL) could quite easily take him into one of those definitions.

It wouldn't be an off-season without the latest tribulations of Bradford Bulls.

If I supported them I would be beyond jaded by now.

Oh well, I suppose a little light is better than no light at all.

Yep, I thought to be a Trinity fan took some doing but Bradford in recent years have taken it to a whole new level. Under all the current crud there is a potentially decent RL club, not the super club some seem to think, not the SL monster built on sand, but a potentially good SL club all the same. At the moment though that looks a million miles away, its a crying shame.

Most Bradford fans have come to learn that when there's a light at the end of the tunnel, it's usually an on coming train.

Nigel Wood my god if he’s involved you know it’s going to be a Titanicsville disaster.

Wouldn't mind if it was an oncoming train. It's when it keeps stopping, backs up and runs over you again.
Not only that but the last two "owners" were hand picked by the RFL and now the current one used to work for them.

First 10 years - SL giants.
Following 10 years - gradual decline out of SL.
Next 10 years - Championship also-rans with a stint in the league below.

You wonder when it'll turn around. P

If I was a bulls fan, which I’m not, I would be happy with Perez being involved. He’s taken Toronto from being a pipe dream to super league heavyweights in 3 years.

Unfortunately we don't have a David Argyle behind us. It's his bankroll that got Toronto where they are.

Er....no he hasn't. He was on "his toes" well before they fell at the 2nd Hurdle v London and has been nowhere near Toronto in the last 18+ months. Prior to that, he used Argyles money to garner publicity, which as soon as he had no more access to it, resulted in him rarely being seen. Any RL fan with a modicum of marketing experience could have get Toronto to where they are with the spends available.
I do not doubt Perez's enthusiasm for the game, but ARGYLE is the reason Toronto are in SL.

As for them being heavyweights

Bulls need a Rugby League loving multi millionaire to take them over.
Anybody know of any?

We all need one of those, you should be truly grateful.

Bulls may not have an individual millionaire on board, but they certainly have an RL organisation spending large amounts of someone else’s money on them. I have to say the silence from member clubs chairmen/CEO on the reported £200,000. maintenance spending for Odsal 2020, beggars belief. Many heartland clubs don’t receive that amount as a share of central funding. There is a very unpleasant smell around RFL headquarters. All of us who support rugby league. are paying good money into the RFL coffers, but the fans cannot remove Rimmer and co. Come on you clubs chairmen, get this unsavoury lot out of the RFL leadership.

Ken Davey?

Does super league still need bradford then ?

seem to remember plenty on here saying its a crime that they are not in SL but salford wakey and hudds are !!

I don't think SL needs Bradford, no. But the [isport[/i needs all the support it can get, and Bradford certainly do have several thousand lapsed supporters right now. Would they ever come back after all the club has been through? I'm not sure.

So, are the SL clubs now having to pay for the lease at Odsal and if so, how can that ever be right ?

That the million Dollar question isn’t it?

Very easy to stop going to the game week in,week out but a very hard habit to get back into,I know through my personal experience I just fell out of love with the game only brought back into it by a family member.

I do fear for Bradford.

.