Because most family houses have more spare cash coming in than any RL club. TBH you could say the same for Cas, Bradford or Saints.

Problem is fans. Fans are cash but they want the best players or they tend not to watch. It would be a brave Chairman to stop signing players and build stands for five years. It would take an even braver set of fans to keep turning up for 5 years, i mean it's been bad enough.

OK, but it's not just Ted is it. Cas have had more success as have Bradford and both have failed to invest. Hull, and Hudds did it on the back of football teams etc.

Blame Ted as you clearly must but he is not the one who allowed BV to reach the state of no return. It was a 2 1/2 side one roofed crap hole before he turned up.

That distinction goes to previous owners and the Council.

In the late sixties we built the Theatre club in an attempt to ape Aussie League clubs - the gambling laws were never passed to allow it to happen but we'd already built it. All other clubs were building stands. We could have built a nice cantilever stand that would probably just need a lick of paint.

Then some doylum director knocked the covered and best stand down to allow a supermarket to be built, it was pure speculation that failed. All that stand would need now is a new roof and an upgrade to the bogs.

The Council forced us to pull down the old main stand, it wasn't needed and others got away with it.

The Council forced us to replace our floodlights even though the ones at Cas were worse and there's stayed. This could have allowed us to replace the old main stand.

Did you know.... that about four years ago the club wanted to build a bridge connecting Cats bar to the flats. Logical as it allows the club to have a proper reception and it's fairly straight forward you'd imagine. The club was told it did need planning permission even though one of the structure was temporary. They duly applied and low and behold it was rejected, on the grounds that it would cause extra traffic congestion





I think at that point they gave up any hope of upgrading BV - and it's interesting that all the proposed upgrade are temporary - for obvious and not so obvious reasons I suspect.

Yes the old regime might have done better been more imaginative etc etc I accept all that but the starting point was so low and the obstacles so high it was almost impossible - for anyone not just them. The mess this club has got itself into over the past 40 years should be turned into a guidebook on how not to run a sports club.

I also seem to remember that the small stand with which we intend to cover clown corner also had planning approval rejected unless some serious foundation work is done and the wall at the rear is rebuilt and strengthened. If that was told to the old mob I can't see how they will ignore it this time around. Infact the way WMDC work if all this tempoary stuff is applied for approval today I can't see permission being granted before NM is ready.
Oh and last but not least Fat face Fan is correct a stand can't be built behind the sticks unless the floodlights are moved {Or they aren't serviced)

new touch line bar will be open for the crusaders game.

Thats a bit of PR in the 'stadium race' as good as if not better than anything tricky Dicky could do.

brilliant news, about time too

that building has been an eyesore for years, cant wait to sink a few in there

I don't think there will be a pool table in there.

Good news and as others have said, a significantly more meaningful statement of intent than being photographed in front of a digger wearing a hardhat.

Well done AG a bit of positive news.
Is this maybe to give the RFL one final dilemma by showing we are serious about doing BV to standard.Should maybe start work on a stand if possible to really put the cat in the pigeons.

No mate, we've saved our trump card (the couple of 60Watt energy savers we've fixed in the cludgie) for last.



At least the bar's open in time for people to drown their sorrows at the weekend, and there'll probably be plenty to drown. Kerching!

In an ideal world we should have started on the stand the day after the big meeting, to prove that we mean business. Ofcourse, with everything needed to build a stand, keeping it secret for the meeting would have been too difficult.

To build a temporary stand behind the posts we have to knock down the terrace, so obviously this would have to wait for the end of the season. Can't imagine the bottle bar stand would be any different either. In 17 days we'll know whether we're about to get either. "Aah hae ma doots".

It does get you down sometimes looking at the score against lately !! Maybe a good idea to use the electricity on bottle fridges ! this could lull the pain and be putting more money in the Wakefield coffers

Thanks for the benefit of your view of the situation; I can see that when you're standing in the cosy environs of the post-apocalyptic wasteland that is Odslum, surveying the glittering success story that is the present day Bradford set-up, it can be easy to feel a sense of altruistic sympathy for your less fortunate neighbours.

Ar5e.

As much as a new bar is a good thing, you would have thought they would be getting rid of those terrible looking porta cabins on the western terrace if theyre planning on putting a stand over there??

Don't let Steve Snitch hear you say that!



I think the plan is to put the 'covered area' down below and in front of the cabins, so that users of the bar can see the magnificent vista that is Belle Vue. It's a case of making the best of what we have got.
Personally I'd have thought they could have made better use of them by turning them into a 'Daddy Cool' area for our younger supporters; we seem to do nothing in terms of attracting and keeping the 'future' of the club. When my kids were younger we used to bring a rucksack of toys and they used to play with their cars on the north bank when they were bored (shows we didn't get the crowds).
What do the kids do now? What is there for them currently? - a face painting area that is half open to the elements!

Coming from a fan whose team haven't produced the form that they should have this year. Also that have a stadium that is fantastic (sarcasm)! Don't know how they have got under the radar from RH about their facilities!

The plan is to cover the area to the side of the old cabins - where the bands play - not in front of the cabins. This was also the plan back in 2000 and is therefore easily resurrected.

Would love to play in a new improved belle vue next season and for the other 2 before moving into newmarket. I was thinking we still have crusaders to play at home thats gonna be tastey if there 3rd rate australian club get the nod ahead of us!!! Protest in the ground?

Folks some of you are barking up the wrong tree! The bullster is an ardent wakey fan and an ex player!

I was just thinking the same!

Then he's not making himself very clear.

Trust me I know him very well. He's being sarcastic, suppose if we didn't laugh at our plight we'd all be in tears!