[Bullseye]

Re: Not playing at Odsal next year? : Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:16 am  

There isn't another venue that ticks everyone's boxes but surely staying in Bradford is a must, and by Bradford I don't include Keighley.

For what it's worth I suspect that BMDC would like to see us move into VP so they can unlock the value of the Odsal site in some way. That's something they've been keen on since the last plan fell through in 2002. As we know VP has its limitations and unless we were equal partners with City it wouldn't even begin to work. The RFL purported to see Odsal as "iconic" and wanted to safeguard the playing of RL there but the people in charge at the RFL have since changed.

Horsfall doesn't come close to meeting our needs.

I just hope Chalmers knows what he's doing and that's assuming he's operating in the club's best interests and not part of some byzantine plan to realise the value of Odsal with his chums that enabled him to become club owner. I may be overly suspicious but the circumstances of him becoming owner did pose a few questions that have never really been answered.

If one ignores the conspiracy theories I'm not sure what influence Chalmers can bring to bear. We're not the power we were and even back in 2002 it wasn't enough to get the Council to play ball. Now we're more dependent than ever on BMDC and the RFL so we're really powerless in this situation.

Re: Not playing at Odsal next year? : Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:24 am  

Highlander wrote:

I’ve heard it’s a lot further along than suspected. RFL are the holdup, possibly under pressure from membership to chisel more out of the deal for themselves. Council have signed off on it

Do you mean signed off as in building a new stadium?

Regarding the council Bullseye, I think they're more supportive of us now than previous. They really put a lot of effort in to get the RL Museum here. Pointless if they then don't want to see their own RL team flourish.

Re: Not playing at Odsal next year? : Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:57 am  

I've heard lots of rumours about a agreement whereby if CBMDC move us out they need to provide us with another place/stadium to move to.

1) Anyone know if this actually exists
2) As they don't own VP can they force us there if the agreement exists?

[Bullseye]

Re: Not playing at Odsal next year? : Mon Jul 22, 2019 1:08 pm  

Scarey71 wrote:

I've heard lots of rumours about a agreement whereby if CBMDC move us out they need to provide us with another place/stadium to move to.

1) Anyone know if this actually exists
2) As they don't own VP can they force us there if the agreement exists?

Who knows what’s in the fine print?

I imagine the RFL won’t give up the leasehold without getting back the value they paid for it or the clubs will be up in arms.

I imagine that the Council would like to unlock the value of the Odsal site if they can considering the current financial situation with austerity cuts etc.

The Bulls aren’t the big deal they once were.

As things stand the club is clearly not spending anything above the absolute bare minimum on ground upkeep. The place looks a shambles. I fear if we got promoted we’d have to spend a lot more (floodlight improvements, turnstile servicing etc). Short term Odsal is tolerable. Medium and long term it isn’t. I’m sure Chalmers knows this but it’s not a priority for the Council when they have bigger problems like not being able to fund social care and other first line services.

Re: Not playing at Odsal next year? : Mon Jul 22, 2019 1:14 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

Who knows what’s in the fine print?

I imagine the RFL won’t give up the leasehold without getting back the value they paid for it or the clubs will be up in arms.

I imagine that the Council would like to unlock the value of the Odsal site if they can considering the current financial situation with austerity cuts etc.

The Bulls aren’t the big deal they once were.

As things stand the club is clearly not spending anything above the absolute bare minimum on ground upkeep. The place looks a shambles. I fear if we got promoted we’d have to spend a lot more (floodlight improvements, turnstile servicing etc). Short term Odsal is tolerable. Medium and long term it isn’t. I’m sure Chalmers knows this but it’s not a priority for the Council when they have bigger problems like not being able to fund social care and other first line services.

Don't forget that the RFL wrote down the value of the lease not so long ago. With that in mind I think it unlikely that they will get back what they paid for it, although it's hard to know for sure with such limited info being available to the public.

[Bullseye]

Re: Not playing at Odsal next year? : Mon Jul 22, 2019 2:23 pm  

We’re in the dark that’s for sure. We can only speculate on the motivation for that article from Chalmers.

As things stand we’re at Odsal next year whatever he says in the T&A.

Re: Not playing at Odsal next year? : Mon Jul 22, 2019 2:41 pm  

Wasn't it said the first, second fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth time it was raised that VP playing surface isn't actually big enough. Moving there would be the final nail in the coffinof any hope of return to SL.

[Bullseye]

Re: Not playing at Odsal next year? : Mon Jul 22, 2019 2:46 pm  

A few SL clubs have playing surfaces less than the dimensions in the rulebook IIRC.

At present Odsal’s floodlights aren’t SL standard.

Re: Not playing at Odsal next year? : Mon Jul 22, 2019 2:49 pm  

I think that decision day has to be looming large because for the Bulls, it's all about sustainability and the stadium itself is looking as if it's had enough. With team strengthening much needed to progress also a consideration, investment has to be very much ongoing, but the stadium remains a drain on revenue.It seems we will have to rely on new partnerships to move forward.

Re: Not playing at Odsal next year? : Tue Jul 23, 2019 7:49 am  

Bullseye wrote:

We’re in the dark that’s for sure. We can only speculate on the motivation for that article from Chalmers.

Speculation indeed. Here is my speculation;

Nigel Wood takes a big part in the decision to pass ownership to Chalmers/Lowes despite there being bidders with a less dubious track record.

Nigel Wood resigns from RFL.
Nigel Wood turns up at Odsal and invests
Nigel Wood wants his money back as he wants out - so we have to sell Oliver Wilson to pay him back.
We now have no backer.
Rotund toe rag gary Schofield is telling that we are about to go into admin again and players wont be paid this month.
Same source saying players considering signing for us are holding off.

It stinks and its stunk from the day Wood imposed Chalmers/Lowes on the club.

If the speculation is correct - the same organisation that chose our owners will do it again and deduct us 14 points - back in league 1?

For me that article is utter tripe and he knows exactly that - there is nothing in the pipeline.
I wonder if the never ending, farcicle circle of utter incompetence will ever be broken.