Mr Godot at bradford : Thu Jul 19, 2012 11:16 am  

Some interesting comments on the Bradford thread of whats happening there around page 52 and 53. with mention of Fev and Fax

From an outsiders perspective it all looks and feels a complete mess with much clinging to straws and Mr Godots!......

The fact that the previous Bradford board did a complete ostrich with their financial planning
The pledge money taken from the small guys to feed the HMCR
The purchase of the lease by the RFL whilst probably well intentioned has now dragged them into potentially being perceived as the bad guys should any bid fail
If the RFL try and cling on to the lease to protect Bradford Bulls long term they probably scupper the current deals.
The big question is if the current interested parties actually are interested in Bradford Bulls long term? To me anyone in RL should be looking to protect the Bulls and their ground long term.

I just hope that for once the RFL can show some integrity and do the" right thing" rather than fix and bodge it. If that means Newco Bradford, with RFL still holding the lease to Osdal and start again in our league then it has to be better on a 3 to 5 years strategy than only looking to the next 18 months.

Get Bradford in our league and I bet that promotion and relegation from SL suddenly becomes reality and just think of the derby crowds.

Lets get back to how things should be

minimum standards for SL entrance
Promotion and relegation(top and bottom) determines who is eligable to apply
If you go bust it is on your head be it and you are down a Division (ie no more excuses and irrelevant points deductions )

The alternative is a RFL with no power base and a merry go round of incompetence and financial disaster.

Re: Mr Godot at bradford : Thu Jul 19, 2012 12:35 pm  

Of course there were a number of things that lead up to the current situation at Bradford.

As far as the ground is concerned my understanding is that once the Bulls had sold this to the RFL then the banks withdrew much of the overdraft facilities as the ground was there as security if anything went wrong.

Among everything else it seems that the RFL and Braford completely failed to see that this would happen and the repercussions.

It would seem reasonable to anyone willing to take on the current position the ground returning to the Bulls ownership would be part of the deal to provide some sort of security.

Re: Mr Godot at bradford : Thu Jul 19, 2012 1:58 pm  

Their is still a problem with promotion and relegation though, and that is that promoted clubs can´t attract decent players on one year contracts, and if they commit to two year contracts and they are relegated straight away, they are in deep doo doo.

The big advantage of the Franchise system is that it allows clubs to plan for a given period, and they should have financial commitments that run alongside the franchise cycle.

That´s not to say I´m a supporter of the Franchise, both systems have major weaknesses, I´d suggest a third way. One team is promoted every two years, not ideal but it at least allows a promoted team to budget on two years SL income, I´d suggest that every two years the two teams who finished bottom play off to see who is relegated, and the two winners of the Championship play off to see who is promoted, any team who is the champion two years running is automatically promoted, and any team finishing bottom two years running is automatically relegated.

In such a system I´d advocate the team that finishes top rather than the grand final winner is the team put forward, it´s a better measure of the best team and in the interests of rugby the best team should go up, and it would allow them to start making plans for the forthcoming season a crucial three weeks earlier.

The above would for me be the ideal compromise, a greater degree of financial stability for teams going up and less boom and bust.

Re: Mr Godot at bradford : Thu Jul 19, 2012 2:09 pm  

From the RFL website

The consortium seeking to rescue Bradford Bulls have today formally submitted their bid, administrator Brendan Guilfoyle has confirmed.

But Guilfoyle, partner at Leeds-based The P&A Partnership, says the offer is conditional on the prospective new owners buying back the lease of Odsal Stadium and the Bulls retaining their Stobart Super League status and warns the next few days will be “critical”.

The Rugby Football League, who bought the lease for £1.25million in January to safeguard its future as a rugby league venue, have said they are unable to guarantee Bradford’s long-term position in the top flight. The club effectively relinquished the three-year Super League licence that was awarded last July by going into administration and the new buyers would need to satisfy the governing body of their intentions before the franchise could be transferred.

The other 13 Super League clubs will also have a say over any re-issuing of the licence and views are thought to be mixed.

The group of Bradford-based Asian businessmen, known as the ABC consortium, have been in talks for several days with the administrator and are the only buyer left in the race.

Guilfoyle said: “The consortium has made an offer that is a basis for negotiations with both the administrators and the Rugby Football League.

“Their offer is conditional on the RFL selling back Odsal and on the Bulls retaining their Super League status.

“The next few days are going to be critical for the club. I can’t speculate on what the outcome will be.

“The ABC consortium, the RFL, the administrators and professional advisers for all parties will be focused on trying to get a deal over the line.”

so ABC say i want Odsal back and a guarentee for SL and the RFL have already stated, No long term assurances can be given, Bit of a Non starter from what i am reading. If the RFL sell Odsal back then i think that is a very dangerous thing to do.

Re: Mr Godot at bradford : Thu Jul 19, 2012 2:30 pm  

Hmm, not sure about this at all. The ABC group have come in at the last moment, have they ever been interested in RL even the Bulls before? If not, then what are their real intenetions and do they have an hidden agenda.

Who knows but I'd be taking some scepticism with my tea.

Re: Mr Godot at bradford : Thu Jul 19, 2012 2:54 pm  

Looks like the Asian Business lot are interested in the lease of the land rather than actually the Bradford Bulls and I get the feeling that the RFL are not too happy about this consortium and how they want to do things. It would be interesting to see what exactly the terms are for the lease of Odsal. What is to stop the Asians actually taking over Odsal and redeveloping it for their own use (Warehouses/shopping centre) and the Bulls going down to Valley Parade with veryx little money being invested in the Bulls and the Asians making there money from redevelopment of useage of Odsal? It also is a game of Poker between the RFL and the Asians as the Asians will be thinking how far they can push the RFL to get what they want knowing that the RFL have forked out a fair bit of cash for the lease. The RFL are thinking how far do they go before seeing the Bulls fall in to liquidation! Very interesting to see how this pans out.

Re: Mr Godot at bradford : Thu Jul 19, 2012 2:59 pm  

On this topic the League express said the following concerning guarantees.

"The RFL would be breaching it's own rules were it to give a guarantee to any group that purchases the club from the admisnistrator."

Could well be a big sticking point,only time will tell.

Re: Mr Godot at bradford : Thu Jul 19, 2012 3:07 pm  

faxcar wrote:

On this topic the League express said the following concerning guarantees.

"The RFL would be breaching it's own rules were it to give a guarantee to any group that purchases the club from the admisnistrator."

Could well be a big sticking point,only time will tell.

HAHA ! Good news then

Re: Mr Godot at bradford : Thu Jul 19, 2012 3:53 pm  

Who is this Mr Godot Im still waiting ?

Re: Mr Godot at bradford : Thu Jul 19, 2012 4:32 pm  

I bet that Maccy D's just down the road is bracing itself for a downturn in trade if this particular consortium takes over the Odsal site !!!

Word had it at the U23's game at the Shay last night that a well known Asian restaurant chain drive-through might be created...