[Bulliac]

Re: 2016 Membership : Tue Jan 19, 2016 11:48 am  

Peter Hood wrote:

Well, we know Marc Green won't put a penny into the club.

MG was very upfront about his, 'financial plan' so we all knew from the off that he wasn't going to throw money at the club.

To say he won't put a penny in though, is nonsense as he clearly already has. Starting from the off, when all the season ticket money had clearly gone to the previous owners and he honoured the tickets, and built a side. Maybe he has a printing press, or maybe he put the cash in?

[Bulliac]

Re: 2016 Membership : Tue Jan 19, 2016 11:59 am  

Ferocious Aardvark wrote:

I have always thought that removing ANY sort of "early bird" discount was a bad move. I paid early for all the time the offers were in place, but so far I haven't renewed yet, not as any deliberate policy even, I just haven't got round to it and without the availability of a discount to push it up my list of priorities, it's just in my to-do list.

All I see in our situation, tbh, is a downward spiral, we needed to go straight back up and failed, so this second year is really stretching it. All this "if people want..." stuff is totally irrelevant, though. IMHO the extra numbers that make up the big crowds in the tasty fixtures will come if there's something worth it in their view, and if there isn't - they won't. I reckon the vast majority of those people couldn't really care less if the Bulls went permanently down the tube, or even if they would prefer they didn't, that has no bearing on their expenditure.

Nobody but the base hard core fans will stump up due to any feelings of obligation or concern for the club's well-being, and appeals on the lines of "If you want a top level club ..." are really the most embarrassing waste of time, not one single person will be browbeaten into paying through attempted guilt tripping, and it just never ceases to amaze me that club chairmen (across sports) ever still resort to such attempts at emotional blackmail.

Yeah, pretty much agree with that.

I always thought the 'early bird' was mainly to attract some quick cash into the coffers and keep things running through the off season. To be honest, I always assumed that the EB rate was the 'financial plan rate' and that nearly everyone would logically pay that sum anyway. However, if they don't need to do this then fair enough - to be fair, I paid early anyway, though to keep the same seat in the stand you still have to be bit earlier than most.

Re: 2016 Membership : Tue Jan 19, 2016 12:07 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

Pretty much makes 2016 poop or bust.

Disagree it would be poop or bust. I think if we fail to get promotion, then i think we would be scaled back massively. Junior development, possible PT. Certainly a few years in the championship until an SL club inevitably goes under. The club would still be a strong championship club.

Despite all the doom & Gloom there are still some good things going on at the club, particularity in the junior setup. I believe we've signed up some real gems this time up and a lot of money has being put into the juniors which suggests to me MG is in it for the long term. If it all hinged on us getting promoted this season and would be poop or bust, then why would the club put money in to the juniors? Surely we would do what Leigh are doing, with their entire money going into the first team squad?

Re: 2016 Membership : Tue Jan 19, 2016 12:26 pm  

Bull Mania wrote:

Disagree it would be poop or bust. I think if we fail to get promotion, then i think we would be scaled back massively. Junior development, possible PT. Certainly a few years in the championship until an SL club inevitably goes under. The club would still be a strong championship club.

Despite all the doom & Gloom there are still some good things going on at the club, particularity in the junior setup. I believe we've signed up some real gems this time up and a lot of money has being put into the juniors which suggests to me MG is in it for the long term. If it all hinged on us getting promoted this season and would be poop or bust, then why would the club put money in to the juniors? Surely we would do what Leigh are doing, with their entire money going into the first team squad?

I'm glad we're focusing on getting our academy back to where it was a few years ago. My worry, though, is that anybody half decent will only stay with us for a short amount of time before SL clubs offer them what we cannot while we remain in the Championship.
I don't see any SL club going bust now. I think the only chance we have of going up is if the poor attendances continue in the super 8s and the big clubs put pressure on the RFL to change the system again. Either that or they expand the SL to 14 (or more) teams when the tv contract is renewed. But that's like 5 or so years away? We might be too far gone by then.

[Bulliac]

Re: 2016 Membership : Tue Jan 19, 2016 1:01 pm  

Nothus wrote:

I'm glad we're focusing on getting our academy back to where it was a few years ago. My worry, though, is that anybody half decent will only stay with us for a short amount of time before SL clubs offer them what we cannot while we remain in the Championship.
I don't see any SL club going bust now. I think the only chance we have of going up is if the poor attendances continue in the super 8s and the big clubs put pressure on the RFL to change the system again. Either that or they expand the SL to 14 (or more) teams when the tv contract is renewed. But that's like 5 or so years away? We might be too far gone by then.

I agree that, with the new money being pumped into the clubs, it would need an act of momentous stupidity to go bust. However, it only takes one of the lower end clubs to get ideas above their station [ie, instead of making sure they just keep their position vis a vis the likes of us, they start thinking they could and should be in the top four and go spend happy....] and anything can happen.

Re: 2016 Membership : Tue Jan 19, 2016 4:37 pm  

Bulliac wrote:

...it would need an act of momentous stupidity to go bust. ...

Indeed, but as we know better than many, such acts are not in short supply.

Re: 2016 Membership : Thu Jan 21, 2016 10:30 am  

Bulliac wrote:

Peter Hood wrote:

Well, we know Marc Green won't put a penny into the club.

MG was very upfront about his, 'financial plan' so we all knew from the off that he wasn't going to throw money at the club.

To say he won't put a penny in though, is nonsense as he clearly already has. Starting from the off, when all the season ticket money had clearly gone to the previous owners and he honoured the tickets, and built a side. Maybe he has a printing press, or maybe he put the cash in?

Let's not detract from the fact that it was Marc Green who ultimately put the club into administration, so he had no option but to honour those season tickets sold whilst he was playing cowboy and Indians with Mark Moore.

It was also Marc Green who promised to invest in the playing squad to keep us in Super League. To the club's detriment these signings never materialised.

Supporter confidence and morale in the club seems to decrease day on day. Marc Green and Steve Ferres urgently need to make the Bulls become relevant again – making the Bradford Bulls the buzz word of the city.

[Bulliac]

Re: 2016 Membership : Thu Jan 21, 2016 11:04 am  

Peter Hood wrote:

Let's not detract from the fact that it was Marc Green who ultimately put the club into administration, so he had no option but to honour those season tickets sold whilst he was playing cowboy and Indians with Mark Moore.

It was also Marc Green who promised to invest in the playing squad to keep us in Super League. To the club's detriment these signings never materialised.

Supporter confidence and morale in the club seems to decrease day on day. Marc Green and Steve Ferres urgently need to make the Bulls become relevant again – making the Bradford Bulls the buzz word of the city.

We all know the stories about admin and now it occurred [several times] 'Peter'. It doesn't alter the fact that when it was completed the new company [MG's] had to cover all the money paid to the club for the upcoming season but which was lost [to the previous company]. I certainly agree he was in a bit of a pickle with this and in truth would have never gained the trust of the fans if he'd insisted we pay again - but the fact remains he did put up the money for the side.

Promises to win games, stay in divisions, get promotion etc all have to be taken with a very large dose of salt as no-one can actually make such promises. I remember standing near to Omar with a group of fans in the middle of an open air restaurant in Perpignan the year before - and his 'promise' that we wouldn't be relegated didn't come true either. Ultimately though, we surely accept that the top people in clubs are going to talk up chances? For heaven's sake, if they don't show some belief why would the rest of us bother?

Re: 2016 Membership : Thu Jan 21, 2016 11:10 am  

Bulliac wrote:

... to be fair, I paid early anyway, though to keep the same seat in the stand you still have to be bit earlier than most.

Not where I sit. Due either to the price, or possibly to my curry habit, nobody sits within 20 metres of me.

Re: 2016 Membership : Thu Jan 21, 2016 11:20 am  

Peter Hood wrote:

Let's not detract from the fact that it was Marc Green who ultimately put the club into administration...

An early candidate for disingenuous statement of 2015.

Indeed he did, but you oddly don't mention that this was a defence mechanism to a winding up order issued by HMRC. SSG had a debenture and as such were able to appoint an Administrator. Had they not done so, the fact is the club would have been compulsorily wound up.

What ultimately led the club into administration was therefore, to be accurate, its inability to pay what it owed to HMRC.