And what have Bradford just recieved exactly???
From where im sitting it looks like a handout as they are a poorly run club who prior to this did not have a clear viable future???

Funnily enough, the RFL concluded in the Licensing review that the Bulls were a well-run club with a clear future. But what do they know, eh?

Its hard work on here. If you have a property, and you sell it and rent it back, how does that make it a handout? Do tell us.

Id be worried about your eyesight then. The people who run our club secured this deal so cant be doing that bad of a job. We also had a lease in place, regardless of the deal, that we could afford the rent for and a strong fan base to support out club moving forward.

Handout/Loan/Bailout

Lende=#FF0000R o=#FF0000F Last resort?

It doesn't, it's a common business practice and there is nothing wrong with what Bradford have done.

What I find difficult to swallow is the bull that is was purchased to stave off preditors/developers and to safeguard a wonderful historic stadium. You have a 150 year lease which gives you security of tenure and the only reason the RFL have bought it it that you are in the financial clag - nothing wrong with that, by God we know all about that - and the RFL have have bailed you out with what is in effect a loan. Why don't the RFL express it that way rather than the crap they have spouted.

Whether loans to some and not others is fair is of course another matter for debate.

Are you lot still banging on about this? Jeez, get over it.

This part.

You have better crowds, yes, although a lot of that is to do with your current "giving away" of season tickets. Most clubs could get more ST holders and bigger crowds if they decided to run at a massive loss and give tickets away for £60. Maybe if you had sold your tickets for a more reasonable price you wouldn't need to be begging for a handout.
As for the better history and future, we'll have to agree to disagree. If we get the nod for Newmarket, Wakefield will re-emerge as one of the biggest clubs in RL, watch this space!

Post something worthwhile or don't bother coming on here.

Simple enough for you?

It would be a black day for the sport of rugby league if a club with the size and status that Bradford currently enjoy ceased to operate.

It's been suggested elsewhere that the real reason behind the bail-out is to pay off the HMRC in connection with the image rights issue. If this is indeed the case, the Bradford club may not be the only club hit hard by this, and the RFL were right to act, even if their explanation for acting leaves a lot to be desired.

Anybody would think you'd been hard done to the way your carrying on, it's not anybodys fault that you went into administration. If youd have thought a bit more forward and worked out a deal before hand to avoid potential slip ups, like Bulls have then you wouldnt be feeling so envious and angry.

But will they act for other clubs hit by this? How much money have the RFL got? The Bulls chairman said the club didnt need to sell the stadium, if they hadnt the club would continue as normal and still own the lease/ground delete as apropiate at the time...so he must be lying then if they did need the money from the RFL to survive.

The club went into adminstration because the planning for the stadium got refered to the government and stopped a payment by the developers then the then chief exec asked the RFL odsal (as it's now called) for a loan and got refused. If the RFL had offered to buy our ground we wouldnt have gone into adminstration!! hence the slightly aggrieved wakefield supporters....

I can understand your frustrations but let's face it the RFL have helped my team Hull FC out in the past...because like it or not we are considered a big club as we have a large fanbase (irrespective of the fact we have performed poorly since 2006). The same goes for the Bulls, when they were last successful in the mid part of the last decade they averaged 15k attendances....if they can become a competitive force once more and they attract even more fans back than they already have, then in my opinion this is a sound investment and makes good business sense.

And please don't accuse me of being another of those arrogant Hull FC fans who think they have a divine right to be at the top, I know there have been plenty of those on here!

I agree, it was our own fault that we went into Administration and to be fair its what we deserved but let me ask you a simple question.

If the RFL had not bought the lease and effectively given you a substantial loan would you have had to go into Administration like we did ?

And this is why the RFL are corrupt, how the (guesstheword) are we supposed to stand a chance?

I'm all right Jack, who cares about Wakey and their Tin Pot ground? Why should they get special treatment? They aren't one of the RFL's special clubs, nah they can just rot and die for all we care. This sport stinks.

Well, I’m not frustrated in the slightest, I understand why the RFL are coming to Bradford’s aid, however, I still don’t see why they’ve taken the lease on?

Why not just bung ‘em some money ala Crusaders?

By becoming Bradford landlords they (The RFL) have gifted the club with a gold-plated licence having become entwined in a partnership that could last for infinity.

People constantly have a pop at Wakefield for the state of their ground, but when you look at Bradford, for all their recent past glories, where’s the investment been in Odsal?

I’ve no idea how much Bradford will be paying the RFL each year, nor who will be picking up the maintenance cost, but I’m not sure about a sound investment. Those heady days of Bullmania are now well down the track, with new kids on the block.

I really detest this big club arrogance.
Trinity were a big club in my younger days.
What is more they have the potential to be so again.

But we haven't been given a loan and there has been no talk of Bulls going into administration. We sold some of our assets, to ensure and secure at least some stability and future for the club. We haven't been given or handed anything by the RFL and certainly not received any preferential treatment, it was purely and simply a business deal, instigated by us and negotiated by both parties.

You and Cas need to stop feeling sorry for yourselves and stop crying.

The fact that NOTHING will be done angers me even more. I hope we get our new stadium, get attendances of 10,000+ and win the Challenge Cup or Super League one day, and look back and say we did it the hard way, not by being mollycoddled by the sports Governing body.

It's just becoming too farcical, you couldn't even make some of this stuff up anymore, what next? I have no idea.

To the poster above, you clearly have received preferential treatment, if you think otherwise then you are deluded my friend.

Please tell me, how?

But if you sold the RFL the lease and received a substantial sum and then pay rent how is that not a loan - you can call it what you want but its as some have said a "sell and leaseback" which is in effect a loan.

How were you going to pay the HMRC on the Image Rights issue without the RFL money or selling your assets as you put it ? If you are a well run club, and I'm not saying you aren't why did you have to sell the lease - clearly you needed some working capital over and above your generated income, season ticket sales and the SKY money ?

Nothing wrong at all with what you have done but it would be better if is was spelt out what has happened rather than the bullcrap of safeguarging an historic stadium, fighting off developers etc.

Spot on it is a loan. Also why have they had to go to RFL to get one ? I have heard they are over their heads in debt, they have exhausted all their commercial avenues of lending and RFL was the last resort. Even with the odsal deal I doubt if it will be enough to stave off their problems if the image rights issue turns out bad for them.

We have been their ourselves and know what its like so lets hope if they go bust they can come out of it for the better just like we did.

How is it a loan? as far as I was aware, a loan is where you borrow something and then pay it back. We haven't borrowed anything and the RFL haven't loaned us anything. We have sold something, and agreed to remain at the site as paying tenants, so no, it is not a loan in practice or effect. It is you that is calling it whatever you want to call it.

We probably weren't going to, so that is why we have moved to secure some extra funds in the form of the sale of the ground lease, so we don't take a hit financially. What RFL money? You sound like you believe that the RFL have just handed us money for nothing, the RFL now own the lease that we previously did and we are now paying them rent to remain there. It was a sale, not a loan.

There isn't anything wrong with what we have done, nor is there anything wrong with what the RFL have done either. Maybe, just maybe the RFL have some interest in the Odsal site for future development of their own and so it isn't in the hands of private developers that don't have the interest of RL at heart.

The RFL have given you money in return for the lease and you pay them rent.

Call it what you want but its a Loan.

No, we have offered the sale of the lease, they paid cash for it.

That's a sale.