Re: Whitehaven (H) : Mon Aug 22, 2022 8:30 pm  

Highlander wrote:

It’s just their name keeps coming up. They’ve the contract for the old police station development, which will be the anchor point for the park & ride. The park & ride is going to be in or around Odsal, near the 606. They’re already building 150 homes between Odsal and the current houses on rooley crescent and I’ve heard they’ve made the members of Bradford south golf club a substantial offer to buy the golf course for development

An offer has been made to buy the golf club but it's peanuts and has been declined by the members.

Re: Whitehaven (H) : Mon Aug 22, 2022 9:10 pm  

Peter Goddard wrote:

An offer has been made to buy the golf club but it's peanuts and has been declined by the members.

A peanuts offer had been declined but a much improved offer has just been lodged with the club

Re: Whitehaven (H) : Tue Aug 23, 2022 8:01 am  

Bullseye wrote:

I know what you mean but it would be possible to turn it all around with the right owner. Other clubs have come out of the doldrums and got new grounds. Look at Huddersfield. We're just like they were when they were called the Barracudas and playing in a crumbling Fartown.

Indeed look at York. Not so many years a go they were playing at an amateur ground and were on the verge of going out of business. Think the played Toulouse we with 14 players and that includes the coach. A modern stadium will be the catalyst for changing our fortunes around IMO I won't hold my breath though. While small towns get state of the art facilities, one of the largest citys in the country still hae to play in a dilapidated stadium.

[Bullseye]

Re: Whitehaven (H) : Tue Aug 23, 2022 9:12 am  

With the impending economic storm I'd be amazed if money was found to build us a new stadium, but if the club is ever going to rise again it needs a modern stadium.

In the meantime the move back to Odsal has been ruined by the club reducing the size of the pitch and allowing the motorsports to make a complete mess of the standing and sitting areas. The whole point of going back was to ensure we got bigger crowds than at Dewsbury and Wood's managed to make a mess of it.

Re: Whitehaven (H) : Tue Aug 23, 2022 9:47 am  

Bullseye wrote:

With the impending economic storm I'd be amazed if money was found to build us a new stadium, but if the club is ever going to rise again it needs a modern stadium.

In the meantime the move back to Odsal has been ruined by the club reducing the size of the pitch and allowing the motorsports to make a complete mess of the standing and sitting areas. The whole point of going back was to ensure we got bigger crowds than at Dewsbury and Wood's managed to make a mess of it.

I don't believe that the blame lies solely with Nigel Wood on this one. Do you know this for a fact or is he just the easiest person to point the finger at?

[Bullseye]

Re: Whitehaven (H) : Tue Aug 23, 2022 10:32 am  

Nothus wrote:

I don't believe that the blame lies solely with Nigel Wood on this one. Do you know this for a fact or is he just the easiest person to point the finger at?

He's the club owner Nothus. Big decisions like where the club plays and the sign off of contracts that affect the club (such as deals with partners) are his responsibility.

Jack Gibson said that winning starts in the front office. He was right. Decisions made about off field matters have got this club where it is today. Wood, as owner, bears ultimate responsibility for what's gone on since he took over (and more besides while he was at the RFL).

Re: Whitehaven (H) : Tue Aug 23, 2022 12:19 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

With the impending economic storm I'd be amazed if money was found to build us a new stadium, but if the club is ever going to rise again it needs a modern stadium.

In the meantime the move back to Odsal has been ruined by the club reducing the size of the pitch and allowing the motorsports to make a complete mess of the standing and sitting areas. The whole point of going back was to ensure we got bigger crowds than at Dewsbury and Wood's managed to make a mess of it.

I thought the only reason we were able to move back to Odsal was because the motorsports were sharing the £500k pa occupancy costs? (Probably more than that now).
All the “issues” we have- tiny pitch, carriageway dividers, red dust on the seats and terracing, have been done to accommodate stock car racing. If they are paying the lion’s share of the costs, then I guess that’s fair enough and I’m not sure what we can do about it.
Has anybody seen where motorsport fits into the Odsal Sporting City plans? (Academic point that it probably is.)

Re: Whitehaven (H) : Tue Aug 23, 2022 12:46 pm  

Silver Bullitt wrote:

I thought the only reason we were able to move back to Odsal was because the motorsports were sharing the £500k pa occupancy costs? (Probably more than that now).
All the “issues” we have- tiny pitch, carriageway dividers, red dust on the seats and terracing, have been done to accommodate stock car racing. If they are paying the lion’s share of the costs, then I guess that’s fair enough and I’m not sure what we can do about it.
Has anybody seen where motorsport fits into the Odsal Sporting City plans? (Academic point that it probably is.)

You're correct Silver
Its been stated many times publicly that with out the stockcars wed still be at Dewsbury. Unfortunately a consiquence i
of the stock cars means the small pitch. There was never an option to return to odsal and play in the pitch the size it was before. It was either Dewsbury or the small pitch.
Im not saying i agree with it by the way, far from it but its the facts

[Bullseye]

Re: Whitehaven (H) : Tue Aug 23, 2022 1:19 pm  

RagingBull wrote:

You're correct Silver
Its been stated many times publicly that with out the stockcars wed still be at Dewsbury. Unfortunately a consiquence i
of the stock cars means the small pitch. There was never an option to return to odsal and play in the pitch the size it was before. It was either Dewsbury or the small pitch.
Im not saying i agree with it by the way, far from it but its the facts

The facts have been very thin on the ground IMO. I don't recall one of the terms of the deal being that Bulls fans have to clean their own seats. That wasn't a problem AFAIK when we had speedway and stockcars back in the 80s. So why does it happen now? Perhaps clean up wasn't addressed in the deal? If not, why did we sign up?

As for the reduced pitch size I'm not sure that was communicated to supporters or the coaching staff when the move back to Odsal was proposed. There was talk of something being done to deal with the corners but that then seemed to be on the too hard (or too expensive) pile. The next thing you know we're playing on a kids pitch.

The current pitch size is a real problem for a side as limited as ours and that level of ability isn't going to change without investment. So that means further decline. Perhaps when attendances hit 500 Wood will see there's a problem?

The move back to Odsal was touted as "what the fans want" yet the place is now even more of a millstone than it was before we left for Dewsbury. Filthy and impossible to play decent rugby on. If someone was deliberately engineering a situation where they wanted to kill professional RL in the city they couldn't do a better job than this.

Re: Whitehaven (H) : Tue Aug 23, 2022 2:09 pm  

Bullseye wrote:

The facts have been very thin on the ground IMO. I don't recall one of the terms of the deal being that Bulls fans have to clean their own seats. That wasn't a problem AFAIK when we had speedway and stockcars back in the 80s. So why does it happen now? Perhaps clean up wasn't addressed in the deal? If not, why did we sign up?

As for the reduced pitch size I'm not sure that was communicated to supporters or the coaching staff when the move back to Odsal was proposed. There was talk of something being done to deal with the corners but that then seemed to be on the too hard (or too expensive) pile. The next thing you know we're playing on a kids pitch.

The current pitch size is a real problem for a side as limited as ours and that level of ability isn't going to change without investment. So that means further decline. Perhaps when attendances hit 500 Wood will see there's a problem?

The move back to Odsal was touted as "what the fans want" yet the place is now even more of a millstone than it was before we left for Dewsbury. Filthy and impossible to play decent rugby on. If someone was deliberately engineering a situation where they wanted to kill professional RL in the city they couldn't do a better job than this.

I dont disagree with a lot of what your saying.

Part of he deal with the original stock car company was that they would clean up after the event. Which i believe did happen for the first few race nights. I think once they understood the cost involved that soon stopped and it certainly has happened with the new stock car promoter thats for sure.

The biggest balls up for me was the decision to go with a clay track on a milti purpose stadium. Absutely mindless, selfish dwcision. A tarmac track would have got rid of most of the problems we have with the state of the stadium (albeit not the litch). I was in the coral stand on friday for the acadamy awards night, it was noticable how many people we stood looking down from the windows discussing what a s**t state the old girl was is. The red tinge everywhere is appaling.

Finally, and im no rocket scientist so just go with me here.
During covid just about every football team in the country had thier stands covered in tarp full of sponsors and advertising for the games on the tv. You would think there would be a few clubs that have all the tarps left over with little use for them.
Wouldnt it be a genious idea if the speedway lot got hold of some and covered the front 20 rows of the stand or so every time there is a race meet? Just throwing it out there!!