Bradford : Wed Nov 02, 2016 2:08 pm  

Bradford Bulls seem to have taken a leaf out of the Broncos book of how to upset your own fans.
Bradford sold at a cost of £1000, ten year season tickets. This was when they were in trouble and needed cash. Forty five no doubt very loyal fans signed up to this and paid up in good faith, anticipating that their club would honour their commitment ,
Now these 45 souls have found out that it is no longer the case and if they wish to attend games they would haver to buy a new tickets. To add insult to injury the club failed to contact the fans directly, most found out from the newspaper.
Whilst it may be correct in law that they do not have to honour these tickets, surely there is a moral obligation. After all it is only 45 fans we are talking about. Commercially I would think that Bradford could lose more than the £10 000 that they might make if they did sell all 45 new season tickets and I would be very surprised if any of them did.
Still we can draw from this that we are not the only Championship fans whose club fail to understand or really appreciate them.

Re: Bradford : Wed Nov 02, 2016 3:12 pm  

There must be a legal obligation too you would think.

[brian2]

Re: Bradford : Thu Nov 03, 2016 8:19 am  

Fits the description of "shooting yourself in the foot". a terrible piece of marketing/selling yourself to your community and fanbase

Re: Bradford : Thu Nov 03, 2016 10:38 am  

The Bradford Bulls company that sold these 10 year season tickets, as I understand it is not the Bradford Bulls company now in charge. So legally they have no obligation to honour them.
People who are prepared to stump up a £1000 are true, committed fans, you would do your upmost to keep them onside. Not even to contact them individually is a disgrace. The club should be ashamed of itself. It does make you wonder how bad things are up there.
If it was down to me I would have spoken to them personally and given them £100 discount on the season ticket that they would now have to purchase. Do that for the remaining years and most fans would probably accept that.
This has not done any favours for any other club that thought to implement such a scheme.
It does however, make a change for it not to be The Broncos upsetting their fans.

Re: Bradford : Thu Nov 03, 2016 10:43 am  

Bostwick wrote:

It does however, make a change for it not to be The Broncos upsetting their fans.

Be fair, even DH has to take a day off some time!

Re: Bradford : Thu Nov 03, 2016 11:00 am  

To be fair Broncos could have declared the season tickets invalid when they went bust two of three home games into the season a few seasons back, a new company was established. Even they concluded alienating your most committed 'customers' in one fell swoop was a daft idea.

Re: Bradford : Thu Nov 03, 2016 1:05 pm  

I dont ever remember my season ticket being declared invalid and I have had one for twenty years, that is not to say it didnt happen. Bostwick when are you going to realise the club is a financial business and does not need the consent of fans to do things. Any business will do what is right for them. Do you think Chelsea, Liverpool, oher RL sides, cricket teams approach the fans and ask how to spend money. Sport like any other commodity be it Iceland, Tesco or a market stall provide a product and as a consumer you pay for it or you go without. Broncos is no different they provide a sporting match and you as a consumer pay for it. Like it or not that is how it is. I have been around a lot longer than most fans and remember cowgirls, face painting, players signing posters and cars, the bronco run etc etc etc and this was all provided free. There is no money around at the moment and if fans want good players then other things have to go. DH is not my favourite person but like us his pockets are not endless and he provides a facility to us and does not need to ask you or me how to spend his money. Get over it.

Re: Bradford : Thu Nov 03, 2016 2:44 pm  

Broncos season tickets weren't declared invalid. Newco Broncos could have done so legally but opted not to.

Re: Bradford : Thu Nov 03, 2016 3:08 pm  

My thoughts on this subject were how poor Bradford have been towards what must be some of their most loyal and committed fans.
Now as for the Broncos, it is an entertainment business, that is true, not that is run as such. The club constantly lets down its supporters, (its customers).
I see little effort being made to promote the business. Its administration is not professional in any way. The club is a rich mans toy and as such will never pay its way. Under the current administration, Whilst we have the chance for the club to progress. My thoughts are it will not.
In my time following the club, the only owners who I feel understood the relationship between fans and the club and worked at it were the Marantas. They are long gone.

Re: Bradford : Fri Nov 04, 2016 12:38 pm  

Never had any time for Bradford from the minute their Chairman at the time was disrespectful to Fulham RL in season 1. That led to the challenge match at the end of the season that the boys won with some ease. However, scuttle forward to 1991 & that master strategist Ross Strudwick. Bingo we launch a Life Membership scheme. Can't quite recall all of the details but the idea was give the club money & get in free for life. as the saying goes when a deal look too good to be true it usually is. And of course so it was. The Bartrams took over at the end of the season & didn't want to honour it but in the end they did for the following season. The rest as they say is history. Still have my Life member Keyring, possibly the most expensive outside of a Tiffany's store.

Whilst a big fan of the Marantas & particularly Robbie Moore, I think Bostwick you should include Roy & Barbara Close who were also understood that relationship very well. They even had players kipping on their lounge floor. Not quite sure if DH has done that.

I don't watch the team these days as ended up staying at the Stoop as a Debenture holder. Would willingly have invested in a Broncos Debenture if only the Management could be imaginative enough to put a package together. In fact come to think of it, since DH took over, very little has been done to generate funding outside of admission fee, bars & food (when allowed to keep it) or the odd bit of merchandise.

At least when those Legends Ron & Mo Snares were around, we had Lottery Scratch Cards, Raffles & even bucket collections (maybe you still have them). Who can forget bucket collections to help pay the fee for Dave Bullough? Oh happy days.