Managing Expectations : Tue Oct 15, 2019 8:41 pm  

Now that we know a bit more about the plans of the proposed consortium, it got me thinking about the question of 'expectations'.

It seems self-evident that a significant section of the fanbase are living with the expectations that our return to Super League and the glory days of winning trophies are some sort of minimum requirement. I don't think that's necessarily true for this forum, but you only have to head over to Facebook to see a VERY different approach!

In a way, I think that did for Andrew Chalmers. When he came in, I think he really did intend to run the club along sensible business-like lines. But I think he got carried away with the expectations and the constant reminders of our relatively recent glory days. It's easy to get caught up with it! It's not so many weeks since he was optimistically talking about us getting into the Top 5 and having a real shot at promotion to SL. Was it all bluster? I'm not so sure - I think he genuinely got 'carried away' with things.

You could make the same argument about Mark Green - remember that meeting at Odsal with all that Power Point Presentation guff, with figures about how he was going to make the business viable whilst 'getting the club back to where it belongs'.

Now, of course, there were clearly other issues and shortcomings of the various owners, not to mention some dodgy morals lurking around. BUT I still think this constant mantra of 'we belong in Super League' really hasn't helped.

So, my question is whether this Chris Brereton guy really can manage those expectations better - his T&A piece today does seem to suggest he can. But we did hear similar things from previous owners, didn't we?

And is it now incumbent on the fan base (us!) to stop harping on about 'getting back to where we belong' and 'pushing for Super League' and just accept that we need to concentrate on being a sustainable Championship club, at least for the next 5 years or so? And just forget about SL for the foreseeable...

Re: Managing Expectations : Tue Oct 15, 2019 8:58 pm  

My preference would be that the club does whatever it needs to do to cut costs. Run on a reduced playing budget but preferably with John Kear still there. On the understanding that for the first couple of years, it's all about surviving in the Championship whilst clearing these debts. No grand plans, no "back where we belong", just we need to get this mess sorted. If they can achieve that, then they can start slowly building up again to a better playing budget when the debts are cleared and the club is spending what it makes rather than what it can't afford.

That would be my preference. I don't care about being back in Super League. If they were to run something like that, I think I'd be turning up when I can even if it did mean a relegation battle. I currently value honesty and sorting out the mess more than I value winning every week and making playoffs.

The issue with that is that I don't feel many will share my preference. If you pretty much admit from the start that you're not looking to challenge for promotion and you're going to spend a lot less on the team, a lot of fans will see that as we're gonna lose most weeks and not want to turn up. Then your attendances drop and you're getting less income.

It's not a position I'd want to be in. I still don't really understand why anyone would want to be in it.


Oh and if they do use the term "back where the club belongs", I'll be out immediately. That term is worse than the C word to me.

Re: Managing Expectations : Tue Oct 15, 2019 9:41 pm  

Do Championship clubs have to run reserve and academy teams and the rest?

Maybe they should go if we are cutting our cloth accordingly?

Re: Managing Expectations : Tue Oct 15, 2019 9:46 pm  

Bulls4Champs wrote:

Do Championship clubs have to run reserve and academy teams and the rest?

Maybe they should go if we are cutting our cloth accordingly?

I certainly think it should be considered

I seem to recall that we have to have Reserves if we continue to receive Academy Funding.

Maybe we should just forgo the Academy for now? Especially since we just usually end up developing players for other clubs anyway.

I realise that this view will be tantamount to heresy for some, but some tough decisions maybe need to be made?

Re: Managing Expectations : Tue Oct 15, 2019 9:51 pm  

Probably should if survival is the only aim.

Re: Managing Expectations : Tue Oct 15, 2019 10:42 pm  

DILLIGAF wrote:

My preference would be that the club does whatever it needs to do to cut costs. Run on a reduced playing budget but preferably with John Kear still there. On the understanding that for the first couple of years, it's all about surviving in the Championship whilst clearing these debts. No grand plans, no "back where we belong", just we need to get this mess sorted. If they can achieve that, then they can start slowly building up again to a better playing budget when the debts are cleared and the club is spending what it makes rather than what it can't afford.

That would be my preference. I don't care about being back in Super League. If they were to run something like that, I think I'd be turning up when I can even if it did mean a relegation battle. I currently value honesty and sorting out the mess more than I value winning every week and making playoffs.

The issue with that is that I don't feel many will share my preference. If you pretty much admit from the start that you're not looking to challenge for promotion and you're going to spend a lot less on the team, a lot of fans will see that as we're gonna lose most weeks and not want to turn up. Then your attendances drop and you're getting less income.

It's not a position I'd want to be in. I still don't really understand why anyone would want to be in it.


Oh and if they do use the term "back where the club belongs", I'll be out immediately. That term is worse than the C word to me.

Agreed with that. From what our friends at Wakey have posted I think CB really will look solely at the cold hard numbers and then worry about the rugby side of things after the numbers stack up. There will inevitably be people whinging about that. Even this week Mick Gledhill had the cheek to say that "asset stripping wouldn't wash with bulls fans" stirring the pot. But I think most fans will accept the position we're in. I certainly do. Pay the bills and try remain a Championship side next year

Re: Managing Expectations : Wed Oct 16, 2019 7:22 am  

A very big ask next season if we have already spent our allocated funding and also have to finance the Club's debt. Some challenge that.

[Bulliac]

Re: Managing Expectations : Wed Oct 16, 2019 9:27 am  

I've never expected miracles. A half decent championship side, getting their wages and paying the bills and I'm happy.

I've never felt that SL is truly achievable without some 'fairy godfather' with lots of cash to waste/burn and the way the cookie seems to be crumbling, with ever more very well funded clubs like Toronto seemingly on the horizon, it's certainly not looking any easier going forward. Talk of SL is just a distraction to what we should be thinking about - as above; paying the wages and bills. I'm not sure just what some fans are on, tbh.

Re: Managing Expectations : Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:29 am  

Bull Mania wrote:

Even this week Mick Gledhill had the cheek to say that "asset stripping wouldn't wash with bulls fans" stirring the pot. But I think most fans will accept the position we're in. I certainly do. Pay the bills and try remain a Championship side next year

Nobody WANTS to lose the homegrown players. We all want to see Matty Storton and Rowan Milnes in the first team for the next 10 years and helping the side do well. But it's about priorities. And if selling those players in order to get the debts cleared and get back to a level playing field where the club can start paying bills properly, then frankly I'm OK with that. As long as they're up front and honest about the reasons.
Those who it "won't wash" with, are presumably the ones that would rather we keep their favourite players and end up in financial oblivion again.

Re: Managing Expectations : Wed Oct 16, 2019 10:49 am  

DILLIGAF wrote:

Nobody WANTS to lose the homegrown players. We all want to see Matty Storton and Rowan Milnes in the first team for the next 10 years and helping the side do well. But it's about priorities. And if selling those players in order to get the debts cleared and get back to a level playing field where the club can start paying bills properly, then frankly I'm OK with that. As long as they're up front and honest about the reasons.
Those who it "won't wash" with, are presumably the ones that would rather we keep their favourite players and end up in financial oblivion again.

I completely agree.

If I needed to have a leg amputated to save my life, I wouldn’t want to lose a leg but it would be necessary.

No one wants to lose our best players or our homegrown products, but if we can’t afford to keep them then that’s preferable to admin / liquidation.