Re: new chairman : Mon Apr 05, 2021 7:37 am  

Without Nigel Wood and others, the club would of gone into Administration again in 2019, it appears Nigel Wood can't win as if he didnt step up he would of got blamed for it, now he has stepped up he is getting blamed for it, look at the accounts under Chalmers and what they are now. With the introduction of the squad booster and a limited budget on players it appears we are now trying to manage on an affordable scale, you then get fans complaining we aren't spending enough which is what caused the problems in the first place.

Re: new chairman : Mon Apr 05, 2021 7:46 am  

The recruitment can’t be left at the door of Sawyer and Wood. You can argue the signings are where we are as a budget but we surely have to be as happy as we can be that we are (I hope) living within our means

Re: new chairman : Mon Apr 05, 2021 7:59 am  

bulls2487 wrote:

Without Nigel Wood and others, the club would of gone into Administration again in 2019, it appears Nigel Wood can't win as if he didnt step up he would of got blamed for it, now he has stepped up he is getting blamed for it, look at the accounts under Chalmers and what they are now. With the introduction of the squad booster and a limited budget on players it appears we are now trying to manage on an affordable scale, you then get fans complaining we aren't spending enough which is what caused the problems in the first place.

He's the reason Chalmers owned the club, if in fact he actually owned it all. People from within the RFL coughed 'Nigel Wood' whenever Chalmers and the Bulls were mentioned, for instance when he arrived from NZ without the money to open a bank account so had to use the RFL's account for season tickets. He's neck deep in this going back 9 years.

Re: new chairman : Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:16 am  

Highlander wrote:

Up until yesterday, I thought the club had done a reasonable job stabilising things after Chalmers had spent more money than we had, again. Crucially last season they’d avoided administration by paying off all the creditors Chalmers had left. I don’t know what effect Covid has had on the club finances but I thought there may have been a surplus due to staff furlough. After the reserves were cut, up to 10 players were released (are these the young players you mean?) as they had no way of being played.
I suppose it all depends on how much club funds are being diverted into the stadium.
Would this be a good season if we finished mid table, back at a slightly improved Odsal, with our academy renewed for another 5 years and no hint of an administration event? I would say that would fit an acceptable season for me. If all those things happened and we got into playoffs, I would call it a good season.

I don't think they are unreasonable expectations.

Personally I think as 2020 was an enforced fallow year for the Championship, its given the illusion that the club has been stable for 18 months. Whilst other clubs have used it as an excuse to regroup and crack on - what we have needed for a long time - it seems everyone from the board room down look to have been happy with the bare minimum.

Given we have a speedway fan group begging for money to repaint Odsal, I'm not convinced money is being funneled into the stadium

Could be a long old season. A mid table finish is looking pretty good right now.

Re: new chairman : Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:19 am  

bulls2487 wrote:

Without Nigel Wood and others, the club would of gone into Administration again in 2019, it appears Nigel Wood can't win as if he didnt step up he would of got blamed for it, now he has stepped up he is getting blamed for it, look at the accounts under Chalmers and what they are now. With the introduction of the squad booster and a limited budget on players it appears we are now trying to manage on an affordable scale, you then get fans complaining we aren't spending enough which is what caused the problems in the first place.

Bit of a bizzare statement to suggest people would have blamed Nigel Wood for not stepping up in 2019. The only person to blame if the club went into admin would have been the people involved in running the club at the time. Surely that wasnt Nigel, was it....?

I haven't seen any complaints asking us to spend more money, more to be more considerate on the money we do spend - eg Danny Brough?

Re: new chairman : Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:22 am  

We cant be accused of not spending money. Brough and Murphy wont have come cheap. However I think the main issue again is a bloated squad of average at best unproven players.

The squad is Kears responsibility, as is the "tactics" we have continued to use during his time.

I get stability but on the field we are a sinking ship and no 38yr old is going to stop that when the other players around him arent up to the job.

Plenty of squads that cost far less look much better at this moment in time.

Re: new chairman : Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:29 am  

bullinenemyland wrote:

Plenty of squads that cost far less look much better at this moment in time.

Sheffield and Swinton are a prime example of this. Their squads looked fitter and more creative than ours on what I can only assume is a smaller budget than ours.

Re: new chairman : Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:46 am  

bullinenemyland wrote:

We cant be accused of not spending money. Brough and Murphy wont have come cheap. However I think the main issue again is a bloated squad of average at best unproven players.

The squad is Kears responsibility, as is the "tactics" we have continued to use during his time.

I get stability but on the field we are a sinking ship and no 38yr old is going to stop that when the other players around him arent up to the job.

Plenty of squads that cost far less look much better at this moment in time.

Yep I agree. It would seem that we have spent disproportionately across the squad as things stand. No point bringing in Danny Brough if the pack is unfit and lacking quality. Unfortunately we look to be carrying few passengers and John Kear has to take responsibility for that. He is in year 3 of his rebuild so he will need to get this bunch playing for him or the pressure will mount. It's still early days so I'm loathed to press the panic button but we look a long way behind a lot of clubs and it is difficult to see how we can turn things around in such a short space of time.

Re: new chairman : Mon Apr 05, 2021 9:13 am  

M@islebugs wrote:

He's the reason Chalmers owned the club, if in fact he actually owned it all. People from within the RFL coughed 'Nigel Wood' whenever Chalmers and the Bulls were mentioned, for instance when he arrived from NZ without the money to open a bank account so had to use the RFL's account for season tickets. He's neck deep in this going back 9 years.

He was involved in selecting the owners yes, he did attend Bulls games from January 2017 as was seen on a regular basis, What I am getting at is without him stepping up to Full ownership we would of gone into Admin in November 2019, another 12 point deduction or relegation to League 1(which would of got carried over due to Covid-19) or no one came in and the end of club again. Would you prefer a year where we finish mid table or bottom of the league and relegated?

Re: new chairman : Mon Apr 05, 2021 9:16 am  

Bully_Boxer wrote:

Yep I agree. It would seem that we have spent disproportionately across the squad as things stand. No point bringing in Danny Brough if the pack is unfit and lacking quality. Unfortunately we look to be carrying few passengers and John Kear has to take responsibility for that. He is in year 3 of his rebuild so he will need to get this bunch playing for him or the pressure will mount. It's still early days so I'm loathed to press the panic button but we look a long way behind a lot of clubs and it is difficult to see how we can turn things around in such a short space of time.

I appreciate what John Kear has done for the Bulls but I think we need to look at a younger coach with fresh ideas. E.g someone like James Ford or Danny Ward other clubs seem to be going down that route Eamonn O'Carroll at Newcastle and Rhys Lovegrove at Keighley. Lee Greenwood at Dewsbury would be a good shout.