[Bulliac]

Re: Where do we go from here? : Wed Apr 06, 2016 4:27 pm  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

But no decision to be made in our case, well, except for anyone who may I suppose be out there who is prepared to accept us "hopefully not going too far backwards" and becoming another Batley, Hunslet or whatever.

That is not an option for us. Many reasons, first and foremost there would be no appetite for it, crowds of 300 beckon. Second, we are already straining all financial sense being at Odsal on 4000 crowds, we urgently have to get back to previous levels for there to be any chance at all of a Bulls team playing from Odsal.

I think I am the same as most people, in that I am not interested in some bastardised parody of a Bulls team limping in the lower reaches of the leagues, if our city can no longer make a SL club work then better to pack it in altogether than have a thousand Northern/Bulls legends and a million Northern/Bulls fans spinning in their graves.

Well, we've had a bit more success than a Batley or Hunslet, even discounting the SL years, but that is, more or less, what we have been for most of the club's life - it may be a shock to some, but it's the glittering success of latter years that is the aberration, not the current position. Hunslet were once [before my time] one of the great clubs of the game btw, but nothing is forever.

IIRC, we were only ever getting crowds of 300ish in 1963, an earlier bad time which led to collapse. No-one wants to go back to part-time rugby, with gates of that size, and certainly not me, but is infinitely preferable to no rugby though, so if that happens, well, qué sera sera. I suspect gates would remain a fair deal better than that though, given a reasonable side for its division.

Of course, you're correct to think a city the size of Bradford should be able to support a top division team and I'm sure it will again. Though I do confess to wondering just when, to be honest.

Re: Where do we go from here? : Wed Apr 06, 2016 4:52 pm  

Bulliac wrote:

Well, we've had a bit more success than a Batley or Hunslet, even discounting the SL years, but that is, more or less, what we have been for most of the club's life - it may be a shock to some, but it's the glittering success of latter years that is the aberration, not the current position. Hunslet were once [before my time] one of the great clubs of the game btw, but nothing is forever.

IIRC, we were only ever getting crowds of 300ish in 1963, an earlier bad time which led to collapse. No-one wants to go back to part-time rugby, with gates of that size, and certainly not me, but is infinitely preferable to no rugby though, so if that happens, well, qué sera sera. I suspect gates would remain a fair deal better than that though, given a reasonable side for its division.

Gates of what, where, though?

It isn't preferable to me at all, to me, we would have done a Park Avenue, and kept the name but changed the soul. We would no longer be the Bulls, and we would be playing out of Horsfall or somewhere, and to me there is no point in that. If others would be prepared to revert to basically watching a pub team then fine but not me.

I would very happily be a fan of teams like Batley, Dewsbury, Keighley or Fev if I lived in those places as they do great with the hands they're dealt. But not the Bulls.

You do Bulls/Northern a great disservice. Apart from a single season, Northern were never outside the top flight, and cyclically were a formidable team for much of their existence. But I followed them through plenty of thin as well as thick, and that wasn't the point. That was then, this is now, and if anybody should be a SL club, or a club like Leigh with genuine SL ambitions, then it's now us. If we are no longer trying, and want to descend to the bottom, then that doesn't wash with me. I'd much rather watch a team at the same bottom level but with 10% of the resources actual or potential and working its balls off to be the best it can.

Bulliac wrote:

Of course, you're correct to think a city the size of Bradford should be able to support a top division team and I'm sure it will again. ...

But I am not sure. I honestly fear the writing is on the wall. I don't see a way out of it. Promotion is a distant pipedream this year and I don't think we'll survive next year.

Re: Where do we go from here? : Wed Apr 06, 2016 4:52 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

I expect us to scrape past an injury ravaged Dewsbury. I’m not sure that an unconvincing performance is what we need though.

Steve Ganson has certainly helped us out in appointing James Child.

Anything and everything will happen on Sunday, mark my words.

Re: Where do we go from here? : Wed Apr 06, 2016 4:56 pm  

Dewsbury were going toe to toe with Leigh for about 60 minutes until Leigh up'd a gear and blew them away.
Expect a similar story when we play them, only for Dewsbury to be the one to up a gear and destroy us

Re: Where do we go from here? : Wed Apr 06, 2016 8:06 pm  

roofaldo2 wrote:

Dewsbury were going toe to toe with Leigh for about 60 minutes until Leigh up'd a gear and blew them away.
Expect a similar story when we play them, only for Dewsbury to be the one to up a gear and destroy us

Quite possibly

From the interview with Morrison I heard on Radio Leeds on the way home on Sunday, he argued that it was the combined effect of being short-handed due to injuries, and the effects of the Easter programme on a small squad of part-time players, that led to Leigh basically running away with it.

With a full week of rest - together with their desire to put one over on the (perceived) big boys from up the road at Odsal - will doubtless mean that they'll come at us all guns blazing on Sunday

Re: Where do we go from here? Dewsbury Away. : Wed Apr 06, 2016 10:11 pm  

It's all very laudable to say you want run the club as a business but you have to realise what that business is. To a certain extent the laws of supply and demand do not exist as the supply is fixed i.e. the number of games.To be a successful business therefore you have to increase demand i.e get more spectators, and/or cut costs. Increasing demand is done in one of two ways, being successful or playing exciting rugby or preferably both. It is clear that at the moment the Bulls are doing neither. Perhaps the Bulls should realise that there is more to it than 'Build it and they will come".

Re: Where do we go from here? Dewsbury Away. : Thu Apr 07, 2016 6:16 am  

rugbyreddog wrote:

Perhaps the Bulls should realise that there is more to it than 'Build it and they will come".

At the moment it seems to be "knock it down and they will come!"

Sit down for this but I get the feeling we could get a really committed performance and a good win on Sunday. This is not a new found optimism or change of heart on Lowes, I just wonder if last week might have engendered a backs-to-the-wall mentality which, coupled with the slightest bit of humility from Jimmy, might combine on the field and deliver.

(No I've not been drinking.)

Re: Where do we go from here? Dewsbury Away. : Thu Apr 07, 2016 7:47 am  

I wouldn't underestimate Dewsbury. A few of their young lads and reserves look like decent players, and given a chance to step up from reserves footy to play a once mighty team will be motivaton enough for them. Likes of Brad Delaney and Jack Teanby especially that have come through their reserves look very good players.

Unless we show significant improvement, I think Dewsbury will turn us over.

Re: Where do we go from here? Dewsbury Away. : Thu Apr 07, 2016 8:29 am  

bullsonfire wrote:

Sit down for this but I get the feeling we could get a really committed performance and a good win on Sunday. This is not a new found optimism or change of heart on Lowes, I just wonder if last week might have engendered a backs-to-the-wall mentality which, coupled with the slightest bit of humility from Jimmy, might combine on the field and deliver.

I've been thinking - what is the best we can hope for on Sunday? I’m not sure of the answer actually, but the above would be a start. Ideally we’d absolutely wallop Dewsbury to give everyone a bit of faith – of course the problem with that is I don’t think it’s at all realistic and it would be completely papering over the cracks. The game against Sheffield was the culmination of a lot of mini problems that plenty of fans of been highlighting here and there ever since the start of last season – it seems now that the floodgates are open and a competent performance against Dewsbury would be a welcome start, but now more than ever we need to find a level of consistency that has been missing our entire stay in the second tier. (Yes, we won plenty of games last year, but how many were the performances we felt the team were really impressive, barely a handful and we’ve gone backwards from that. We certainly didn’t seem to string two or three consistent performances together).

From a fans POV, yes we want to see some good performances, but I think this is one time we are justified in asking for the club to do it’s talking off the pitch, as limping over the line against an injury hit Dewsbury simply isn’t enough. As far too many people have said, the silence is deafening.

[Bullseye]

Re: Where do we go from here? Dewsbury Away. : Thu Apr 07, 2016 9:13 am  

amberavenger wrote:

I've been thinking - what is the best we can hope for on Sunday? I’m not sure of the answer actually, but the above would be a start. Ideally we’d absolutely wallop Dewsbury to give everyone a bit of faith – of course the problem with that is I don’t think it’s at all realistic and it would be completely papering over the cracks. The game against Sheffield was the culmination of a lot of mini problems that plenty of fans of been highlighting here and there ever since the start of last season – it seems now that the floodgates are open and a competent performance against Dewsbury would be a welcome start, but now more than ever we need to find a level of consistency that has been missing our entire stay in the second tier. (Yes, we won plenty of games last year, but how many were the performances we felt the team were really impressive, barely a handful and we’ve gone backwards from that. We certainly didn’t seem to string two or three consistent performances together).

Very well put. Agree 100%. The point about the Sheffield game being a culmination of of problems that have been apparent since the beginning of last season is bang on.

I'd like to think that last week was rock bottom and we can draw a line under it. I'm doubtful.