Re: Odsal : Tue May 11, 2021 4:43 pm  

Donnyman wrote:

No there aren't, just a clear statement from Wood that they can run solvent in Superleague.

Good lord man your own club can do it in an equally ramshackle stadium on far lower crowds than Bulls

There's no need to be mean and negative all the time.

Do what?

Re: Odsal : Tue May 11, 2021 7:51 pm  

Donnyman wrote:

Interesting piece in the leaguer today.

Nigel Wood is keen to get back to Odsal, but the club don't have the money to pay for all the various costs of Odsal.

However he states that if the club were to get into Superleague and generate an income of £5 million a year "which it was" last time they were in Superleague then spending 10% of that on making sure the ground is safe to use and remains so year on year "Is not unreasonable"......

How Lenegan may set up his 2x10 Superleague in 2022, if he can get it through, could easily involve hoisting Bradford back into Superleague back in Odsal, and the quid pro quo for other clubs would be the likelyhood that large numbers of Bulls fans will get on board with such a revival, and put big money through the gates of fellow clubs...........

That IF again. IF this IF that. The biggest word in the world
I would love to see them back in playing at Odsal, but they have a lot of money to find before that happens

Re: Odsal : Wed May 12, 2021 7:19 am  

Huddersfield1895 wrote:

That IF again. IF this IF that. The biggest word in the world
I would love to see them back in playing at Odsal, but they have a lot of money to find before that happens

Not according to Wood. He's the boss and he's the accountant and he states on a Superleague size turnover they can operate from Odsal.

Yes of course this is very questionable indeed as not so long ago Bradford were planning stock car and bike racing to make the business plan stack up.

So there's certainly a "credibility gap" in this statement. The question is why make such a statement?

Maybe he's found that rich owner Or maybe the ground requirements have been somehow relaxed? One thing about those requirements was posters questioning what was it that actually made Odsal "unsafe" for Superleague?? Nobody knew?

Re: Odsal : Wed May 12, 2021 8:53 am  

Donnyman wrote:

Not according to Wood. He's the boss and he's the accountant and he states on a Superleague size turnover they can operate from Odsal.

Yes of course this is very questionable indeed as not so long ago Bradford were planning stock car and bike racing to make the business plan stack up.

So there's certainly a "credibility gap" in this statement. The question is why make such a statement?

Maybe he's found that rich owner Or maybe the ground requirements have been somehow relaxed? One thing about those requirements was posters questioning what was it that actually made Odsal "unsafe" for Superleague?? Nobody knew?

Not only does nobody know the costs but if Bradford Bulls + some stock car enthusiasts + RFL + Bradford Council have found the money then rest assured it wasn't a lot. The previous owner moved the club to Dewsbury owing to 'costs' just before he left for New Zealand and never came back. This is the same bloke who couldn't guarantee the funds for a bank account facility when the RFL gave him control of the club.

I wouldn't trust Wood if he told me the time but I suspect he's probably right on this. The people who couldn't afford the upkeep on Odsal couldn't afford a sandwich. There's never been any numbers apart from something to do with a connection to a deep sewer some years ago that ran into 6 figures.

[Pumpetypump]

Re: Odsal : Wed May 12, 2021 9:17 am  

M@islebugs wrote:

The people who couldn't afford the upkeep on Odsal couldn't afford a sandwich.

Like the man who owned one restaurant that the RFL chose? Or the guy that sold kids beds that the RFL chose? (Now insolvent) Or the guy that had a small security company that the RFL chose? (now insolvent) or the guys from New Zealand with no money that they chose?

I'm just thankful that we've been on the end of such favouritism as many still point out. Thank goodness they never allowed Koukash, the millionaire owners of Wasps or any of the other interested parties with money to take over. It would have been a nightmare.

Re: Odsal : Wed May 12, 2021 5:30 pm  

Tubbs Wood was hardly a success in Halifax and this £5m that he's taking ten percent from to run Odsal is the 5m profit or turnover, there are quite a few costs to running a sports team. They are where they are due to pie in the sky financial management a bit like Halifax

Re: Odsal : Wed May 12, 2021 5:36 pm  

Pumpetypump wrote:

Like the man who owned one restaurant that the RFL chose? Or the guy that sold kids beds that the RFL chose? (Now insolvent) Or the guy that had a small security company that the RFL chose? (now insolvent) or the guys from New Zealand with no money that they chose?

I'm just thankful that we've been on the end of such favouritism as many still point out. Thank goodness they never allowed Koukash, the millionaire owners of Wasps or any of the other interested parties with money to take over. It would have been a nightmare.

Do you think that either of these parties would still consider ownership of the Bulls? Have to admit that Omar Khan seemed a very strange fit, to his and the clubs regret I would imagine.

Re: Odsal : Wed May 12, 2021 7:19 pm  

Donnyman wrote:

Not according to Wood. He's the boss and he's the accountant and he states on a Superleague size turnover they can operate from Odsal.

Yes of course this is very questionable indeed as not so long ago Bradford were planning stock car and bike racing to make the business plan stack up.

So there's certainly a "credibility gap" in this statement. The question is why make such a statement?

Maybe he's found that rich owner Or maybe the ground requirements have been somehow relaxed? One thing about those requirements was posters questioning what was it that actually made Odsal "unsafe" for Superleague?? Nobody knew?

I can't see any new owner going and the first thing he has to do is spend millions on Odsal, It's not going to happen. Even if they think they might want to go back there, money has to found for the ground to get a safety certificate before a single game is played there again.

Re: Odsal : Wed May 12, 2021 10:59 pm  

Huddersfield1895 wrote:

I can't see any new owner going and the first thing he has to do is spend millions on Odsal, It's not going to happen. Even if they think they might want to go back there, money has to found for the ground to get a safety certificate before a single game is played there again.

Very true and that’s before you tie in the fact the RFL previously refused to even discuss selling the lease back to any potential owner. So you have to find someone rich who is happy to throw money into it without any prospect of return as they will own nothing tangible. A very hard sell.

As very well pointed out earlier, we had interested parties, some even had money, but these were turned away mostly in part by the man who eventually got hold of the reigns. Slightly suspicious.

I’d love to be back in super league and I do think we’d be able to became a middle table side (subject to relegation rules) with a few years and a reasonable amount of our ‘floating support’ would come back. But I can’t see it happening for a while yet and with sky money being taken off the table and potential scrapping of academies outside of super league, it might not happen again in my life time.

Re: Odsal : Thu May 13, 2021 6:16 am  

Bulls4 wrote:

Very true and that’s before you tie in the fact the RFL previously refused to even discuss selling the lease back to any potential owner. So you have to find someone rich who is happy to throw money into it without any prospect of return as they will own nothing tangible. A very hard sell.

As very well pointed out earlier, we had interested parties, some even had money, but these were turned away mostly in part by the man who eventually got hold of the reigns. Slightly suspicious.

I’d love to be back in super league and I do think we’d be able to became a middle table side (subject to relegation rules) with a few years and a reasonable amount of our ‘floating support’ would come back. But I can’t see it happening for a while yet and with sky money being taken off the table and potential scrapping of academies outside of super league, it might not happen again in my life time.

Thanks for the interesting and informative post.

How much power do the RFL have now in the Bulls saga? I suggest that if Superleague have now negotiated the new SKY contract all for themselves and intend to extend their control of clubs to 20 clubs then what power do the RFL have to do anything? The much maligned Wood no longer works for the RFL and in terms of Bulls future he's answerable to Lenegan, Pearson, McManus & Davey if his remit is to make Bulls a Superleague club again?. Didn't they apply for that this year when the phoney lot walked away?

If the likes of these powerful guys who have just taken the new SKY deal out of the hands of the RFL who have left Red hall to be converted to flats, have decided that crowds of 10,000 at Odsal are still possible (like the Leeds Cup game not long ago) and Bulls fans will travel in numbers who exactly is stopping Superleague hoisting Bulls back up??.

When there were threads on the ground situation triggered by guys who had sneaked into the ground, looked around and found no great disrepair beyond the ceramics in the toilets being kicked in, it became puzzling as to just what was needed to get SL games back on there? Well Wood has now answered that, and I'd guess all the Superleague clubs (all 19 of them) will do all it takes to ensure the Bulls fan base are invited back to the Superleague party.......

As a Bulls fan I understand your pessimism and caution, but their return is a hell of a "must" given the drop in TV money. It's Bulls fans who can help mitigate that supporting their club in Superleague.