I wonder if the term "independent panel" should be rephrased to an agree arbitration body? It sounds relatively balanced with someone on the panel familiar with the Bulls and one familiar with The RFL.

For an arbitration process to work both sides need to be in agreement that they are happy with the people sat on the panel of judges and willing to accept their judgement. Otherwise I suspect one or the other of the parties would have not gone ahead until they had a panel both agreed with.

With both parties probably hoping for the same outcome I don't think they really need to worry about any conflicting interests.

Telegraph & Argus :- panel have asked for more information to back the appeal so verdict not expected till next week?.

Should have got Judge Judy in, whole thing would have been done and dusted by the 6 O'Clock news.

"Waddya mean you havn't brought a (insert whatever is applicable) where did you think you were coming today ? Judgement for the plaintiff"

A great idea, would love to hear her reduce their case to "Baloney"

It does take the though. How do you go to a meeting that could decide your fate in the league and not take all the possible info to back up your argument?

You've never done a full shop and arrived at the till to realise your wallet is at home on the coffee table?!

Not the same, lame excuse.

A bit like Bradford have been operating for the last couple of years!

I did that once; fortunately, the manager of Asda thought my car was iconic, so he bought it off me for the exact price my shopping came to, then rented it back to me at a fair market value so I could still drive home in it.

And from a man I know has committed as much to Trinity as I know you have that is a strong statement..but how I feel too. This whole situation has been dealt with appallingly badly but having decided on 6 pts and allowed it to drift as long into a season as this, to back track on it would destroy my faith in RL, FRANKLY in sport if allowed to happen. Bradford Bulls is very analagous to Ken Bates and Leeds Utd for me. And Im a Leeds fan..hard to argue against the penalties Leeds Utd got and Bradford Bulls are chancing their arm, ably cheered on it seems by the RFL.

Clubs being treated equally and Rugby League being a fair sport went down the pan when Maurice Lindsay and SL hijacked our game in 1995. It appeared overnight. We suffered unfairly at the time as did other clubs, some of whom never got another break; at least we did and only have ourselves to blame thereafter for screwing up. But fair, based on sport, transparent?? Never. I have looked at our game and thought how contrived and controlled it is to produce a 'product' for sky for a long time. The sky team talk utter ball cocks at times. They are blind to forward passes, blatant video ref bad decisions, obstruction is their new rant even when it is blatant. The agenda is points galore and speed at all costs..agree or you are a dinosaur. I rant on myself because it all feels part of an agenda to have the same teams filling the sky schedule in a way that suits their business ideas, not a true sport. I am sick of it. I love Trinity but I feel the game is lost and started to die when it prostituted itself to Rupert Murdoch.

The independent panel will need to tread carefully on this one and come to a fair, transparent and honest decision. The whole rugby league world is waiting for this decision as is the media. The verdict needs to be clear, concise and accurate. The last thing they surely would want to get into is a legal challenge of their decision and or integrity! The qualified chair a solicitor or barrister would have taken many years to get to this stage. Then there is the Legal 500 & Chambers Bar guide to consider.

I have seen first hand some corruption in people. We live in a greedy, nasty, bitter and jealous world. But I still try and see the best in people and organisations. I do hope for the sake of the best game in the world the decision is made with ethical integrity whatever the outcome maybe.

I agree. Pity the RFL didn't so similar when handing out the original punishment. Let's hope we're given full reason and explanation whatever the outcome from the independent panel.

I have no doubt that the RFL have partly created some issues with none upfront dealings, of course depending on the side of the fence you sit will determine whether its been in favour of the bulls or not.

IMO they have a lot to answer for by not being open and honest and I don't see how they can dig themselves out of this hole without condemning someone to Div 1 and that will seem unfair to whichever side that happens to be.

Its turned fan against fan imo.

Have the Bulls paid back all the loans and wages that the RFL paid to them!

I don't know. Perhaps you could start by detailing what loans were given by the RFL and the amount?

Noble just referred to if they get the 4 points back why would it be 4 if they were appealing on a force majeure argument? Also has his reference to 4 points along with the previous rumours let the cat out of the bag?

Freudian slip from Mr Noble or was it just an error on his part?

I'm inclined to believe that because Noble moves in circles and has connections particularly to the Bulls that he knows what outcome has been brokered and has slipped up in front of the cameras.

Who do you think was paying the wages for month after month

Look no mater what the outcome, if we can not play better RFL than what they have offered today then we deserve to go down . For me that was dire, and showed nothing to fear.

I don't know. Please enlighten me, you're obviously in the know..

I am, but I'll leave you to fathom it

As I suspected, not a clue.

I would be surprised if the Bulls received anything other than 4 points back. This was obviously "leaked" last week. This is the way unpopular decisions are "eased" into the mind before an official announcement. Governments do this all the time as do many companies.