Re: Northern Knights : Wed Mar 05, 2014 1:53 pm  

I am resigned to the fact that Odsal is no longer viable as a modern day facility that can compete with the new stadiums at Warrington, Salford, Saints, Hull, etc

Totally agree - hate Odsal and liked VP.

No analysis was ever done on the make up of customers while we played there. Yes the crowds went down but did we actually gain new customers because we played there. Nobody knows this. At the time it was sold as an apology for the move - it could have been marketed much more positively. On our return to Odsal attendences improved VERY short term - they were not much more than VP in the end.

As for dropping the brand - bad move.

Skoda was the butt of jokes for decades but not anymore.

It can be done with hard work, good PR and credible owners with a set of savvy directors/CEO.

There was hell on when "Northern" was dropped but the Bulls has worked well - its battered now and there are a few banderillas in its neck - but its not dead yet

Re: Northern Knights : Wed Mar 05, 2014 3:08 pm  

So we just need to be bought by another team, and then sell their product with different badges???

All skodas are re-badged and re styled VW's.

Will the new team have the same history as the old is the real question we want answering, I dont live in bradford and only started following in the early 2000's but the Bulls name was just created for the SL juggernaut wasnt it if it had never happened they would still be Northern, however the Bulls name is widely known around the RL world (not just from now) for playing brilliant rugby and sweeping teams aside so i can agree with you Errol the right owner, right management and great marketing can raise the giant from the canvas and get them fighting 12 rounds again.

Re: Northern Knights : Wed Mar 05, 2014 4:11 pm  

I'm aggainst a merger but it would sure make recruiting youngsters a damn site easier. Halifax is a hot bed of talent and we produce a few good ones as well.

Re: Northern Knights : Thu Mar 06, 2014 7:45 am  

I did raise a wry smile at gutterfax's "Bradford Bills", that would be a decent moniker; we'd play teams when they didn't want us.

Billy Slater at full-back, Billy Boston on one wing, err, Bill Beaumont? Bill Withers just to see that name on the shirt again. Billy Smart for the pre-match entertainment.

We have to make this work people.

Re: Northern Knights : Thu Mar 06, 2014 8:05 am  

So we could join up with the Buffalo Bills NFL team?

Re: Northern Knights : Thu Mar 06, 2014 8:52 am  

hindle xiii wrote:

I did raise a wry smile at gutterfax's "Bradford Bills", that would be a decent moniker; we'd play teams when they didn't want us.

Billy Slater at full-back, Billy Boston on one wing, err, Bill Beaumont? Bill Withers just to see that name on the shirt again. Billy Smart for the pre-match entertainment.

We have to make this work people.

Billy Smart is already employed at Red Hall

Re: Northern Knights : Thu Mar 06, 2014 9:33 am  

We would then get called the Bradford "unpaid" bills. Not good!

[Bulliac]

Re: Northern Knights : Thu Mar 06, 2014 10:33 am  

Errol Stock wrote:

Totally agree - hate Odsal and liked VP.

No analysis was ever done on the make up of customers while we played there. Yes the crowds went down but did we actually gain new customers because we played there. Nobody knows this.

So basically, as you believe some new people might have come, you're saying that even more people must have actually left than was thought at the time?

Not sure how this pretty even handed piece of, admittedly not unreasonable speculation, affects anything to be honest. The bottom line says the figures were down.

Re: Northern Knights : Thu Mar 06, 2014 11:21 am  

Bulliac wrote:

So basically, as you believe some new people might have come, you're saying that even more people must have actually left than was thought at the time?

Not sure how this pretty even handed piece of, admittedly not unreasonable speculation, affects anything to be honest. The bottom line says the figures were down.

Doesn't affect diddly - but I raised it as a thought not thought of before... Average attendances

2002 (VP) - 13192
2003 (OD) - 14939
2004 (OD) - 13495
2005 (OD) - 12786

So after 3 years we attracted less people and the rest is history

Now we would give a left testicle for those attendances! I used to think (in the "glory years") that managing success might be as difficult as managing failure. Not sure I was right really.

Anyway - my main point was supposed to be not dropping the Bulls brand - it can be put right (IMO)

Re: Northern Knights : Thu Mar 06, 2014 12:22 pm  

I personally don't think for one moment that any new prospective owner would change the name... what would be the point of getting rid of the single biggest reason to invest??? The name is the one last major selling point other than the playing staff and support base.

Personally I agree with some of the previous comments with regards to how the brand is thought of. The name is still associated with success and entertaining play, albeit over 5yrs ago. Players always talk about being part of getting back to that success and I do think that the brand still has a future despite the current woes (as long as the business survives).

Brands which have turned things around and reinvented themselves in recent years include LG, Burberry, Audi and Lego, the later nearly going bust just 10yrs ago... unthinkable when you see how popular the film is right now!!!

I'm not saying that we are exactly like any of these brands, just that it has been done and can still be done with our own club.