Re: Peter Hood says Bulls on brink of going bust. : Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:33 am  

isaac1 wrote:

I thought the salary cap was designed to stop this happening????
Its not worth thepaper its written on. IN fact, instead of helping us in our current situation, it could hinder us. If Wigan, Warrington, leeds etc... didnt have to comply with the cap, wed already have had money coming in as the likes of Bateman, Whitehead, even CRookes, might have been subject to a cheeky bid!

However, Part of me is now thinking that we'd be better off starting again now anyway. It might pull people together if we can get a decent chairperson, and the players on inflated deals would have to either be removed, or take a cut in pay. maybe, just maybe, there is light at the end of the tunnel and that light is ths chance to start at "0" and build again?

Well I've been told I am wrong about this , but my impression was that the cap was to level out the playing roster across all clubs.

You would need a break even rule to stop clubs being daft with finances, as the cap only limits a club to £1.6 on the players wages.

Re: Peter Hood says Bulls on brink of going bust. : Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:35 am  

This is the tale I was told about the ground sale / lease deal, :-

`I was told the financial reasons why the RFL had to buy Odsal at the time of the deal going through. It now makes even more sense and it could be argued that the RFL have recovered from a poor situation. Bradford apparently approached the RFL after Christmas in early 2011 prior to the new season starting. The RFL loaned Bradford £ 700,000.00 in order for the club to continue trading, Bradford did not meet any of the repayments and the RFL realised that they were not going to get this money back and what ever assets the loan was secured against could only be realised if Bradford was liquidated. Move forward a year and Bradford are still in problems, low crowds , huge debt, creditors chasing etc etc. They again approach the RFL who see an opportunity to get their original £ 700,000loan back. A deal is agreed Bradford sell the ground to the RFL for £ 1,200,000. The RFL contra the £ 700,000.00 and hand over the £ 500,000 balance and get the deeds to the ground. Good deal by the RFL. `

Re: Peter Hood says Bulls on brink of going bust. : Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:36 am  

Well if Jamie Peacock has pledged, i expect our players to

Re: Peter Hood says Bulls on brink of going bust. : Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:38 am  

bellycouldtackle wrote:

This is the tale I was told about the ground sale / lease deal, :-

`I was told the financial reasons why the RFL had to buy Odsal at the time of the deal going through. It now makes even more sense and it could be argued that the RFL have recovered from a poor situation. Bradford apparently approached the RFL after Christmas in early 2011 prior to the new season starting. The RFL loaned Bradford £ 700,000.00 in order for the club to continue trading, Bradford did not meet any of the repayments and the RFL realised that they were not going to get this money back and what ever assets the loan was secured against could only be realised if Bradford was liquidated. Move forward a year and Bradford are still in problems, low crowds , huge debt, creditors chasing etc etc. They again approach the RFL who see an opportunity to get their original £ 700,000loan back. A deal is agreed Bradford sell the ground to the RFL for £ 1,200,000. The RFL contra the £ 700,000.00 and hand over the £ 500,000 balance and get the deeds to the ground. Good deal by the RFL. `

Sounds about right now. Pity they lied to us about it all.

Re: Peter Hood says Bulls on brink of going bust. : Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:38 am  

slideby wrote:

Well if Jamie Peacock has pledged, i expect our players to

What you mean?

Re: Peter Hood says Bulls on brink of going bust. : Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:39 am  

bellycouldtackle wrote:

This is the tale I was told about the ground sale / lease deal, :-

`I was told the financial reasons why the RFL had to buy Odsal at the time of the deal going through. It now makes even more sense and it could be argued that the RFL have recovered from a poor situation. Bradford apparently approached the RFL after Christmas in early 2011 prior to the new season starting. The RFL loaned Bradford £ 700,000.00 in order for the club to continue trading, Bradford did not meet any of the repayments and the RFL realised that they were not going to get this money back and what ever assets the loan was secured against could only be realised if Bradford was liquidated. Move forward a year and Bradford are still in problems, low crowds , huge debt, creditors chasing etc etc. They again approach the RFL who see an opportunity to get their original £ 700,000loan back. A deal is agreed Bradford sell the ground to the RFL for £ 1,200,000. The RFL contra the £ 700,000.00 and hand over the £ 500,000 balance and get the deeds to the ground. Good deal by the RFL. `

In the end blame for poor finances can't be laid at the door of creditors. Creditors do not mispend money. They may make poor decision of who to lend too!!!

Re: Peter Hood says Bulls on brink of going bust. : Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:40 am  

Got too say I hope that you can work everything out and become the strong force that you were in Super League. I can remember my own Team being in dire straits in the late nineties and selling ground to council.

Good Luck and again I hope that it all works out, as I have met so many Bradford who have always been brilliant to chat too over rugby, even when you use too give us regular hidings.

Re: Peter Hood says Bulls on brink of going bust. : Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:40 am  

debaser wrote: What you mean? https://twitter.com/#!/jamiepeacock10

debaser wrote: What you mean? https://twitter.com/#!/jamiepeacock10

Re: Peter Hood says Bulls on brink of going bust. : Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:41 am  

Adeybull wrote:

My initial guesses to those IMO excellent questions:

1) Would the club lose its license? A points deduction wouldnt have much impact without the threat of relegation.

London and Wakefield did not, so there must be precedents there?

2) Would the club be able or allowed to fulfill its fixtures this season? Would we face the prospect of playing out the season with juniors? At what point would it make more sense to withdraw from SL and start again next season?

I guess it would depend on how much of the team we could - or were allowed to - retain. A quick pre-pack might enable an incoming buyer to act before players started leaving (for whatever reason) - Wakey's resolution dragged on, and they lost a lot of players ove rthat period.

3) Have we already received the Sky money for the season? What other sources of income would the club have, bearing in mind how much of our income is from season ticket holders and has been already received?

Not sure how the Sky money works, but suspect its available early-on. Clubs get money from the RFL too? Any sponsorship and similar contracts would probably die with any insolvency so would have to be renegotiated. I guess any provider of commercial income who had paid up front (as well as those season ticket holders who took out the extended deals) would feel especially aggrieved?

4) Does SL have the equivalent of football's "football creditors" rule?

Not heard of one, tbh. Football gets away with it because of the clout it has.

5) Have we paid the final instalment of the Harris settlement? Could that have anything to do with the timing of this announcement

Hood assured us at the last forum (and in the media IIRC?) that it had been paid. And Hood is an honourable man...

6) How would the lease with the RFL be affected? Would moving to VP be an option?

Administration would almost certainly void the lease, and the RFL would be a - I think unsecured, if their charge has been released? - creditor. they could repossess the stadium, I assume; and we could move to VP, or Sedburgh playing fields or wherever.


In saying "we", I mean the new entity that would be formed to buy the assets off the administrator. Forget Bradford Northern Rugby League Club (1964) Ltd, more recently renamed Bradford Bulls Holdings Ltd. It would be Bradford Bulls (2012) Ltd or similar.

Thanks. As others have suggested, the fundamental problem appears to be the lack of income to keep the club going through an administration, at least for the rest of this season.

Re: Peter Hood says Bulls on brink of going bust. : Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:47 am  

Whilst I sympathise with the Bulls fans I can't help but think that if this was Castleford or Wakefield most would be saying "tough luck".

I hope the Bulls can sort something out but I don't want it to be at the expense of fans if there isn't a long term financial plan that stops it happening again some short time down the track.

Where has the Andy Lynch money gone?