1018 replies to this topic

[hindle xiii]

£500,000 by mid-April, a further £500,000 by the end of the year or the Bulls are finished.

(I can't help think this is some April-Fool's come early though!)

T&A-1
T&A-2

[gingerjon]

Hell's teeth.

[hindle xiii]

For those not wanting to read the links, the simple premise is the Bulls are writing to all season-pass holders to donate £100 to raise £1million, they are also speaking to sponsors about some cash to help reach the total. I don't think all the red-dye in the world could help us.

[The 4 of Us]

2500 of those 10,000 will be kids seasons tickets. What a set of numpties. "reasonable proposition". Yeh right. If that's the best they can come up with it would seem difficult days indeed!

[hindle xiii]

Even though it's another Pledge scheme, no-one will want to commit first.

[1976PMJwires]

*********Please note this isn't a dig******


I said this in the thread when The RFL purchased the ground, Bradford were in trouble and people tried to put me in my place......this isn't I told you so!!!!!


This is very upsetting for me as a Rugby Fan if this amount of money is needed to save the BULLS...!!!!!!!

Comments from Robin Hood in January2012

Bradford Bulls Chairman Peter Hood said the sale of Odsal to the RFL would enable the club to face the future with confidence.

“This is excellent news for Bradford Bulls, for the Bradford district and for the sport,” said Hood. "Odsal is an iconic Rugby League venue and is strategically important to the Bradford district, located as it is at the head of the city’s principal access corridor.

“The sale to the RFL safeguards our immediate future and keeps all the options open once the economy recovers from recession.

“On behalf of everyone in Bradford I would like to thank the RFL Board of Directors for their vision and support by investing in Odsal in the way they have.”

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Hood needs to answer the fans why this has happened from a positive message in January!!!!!!!!!!


I sincerley hope all turns out well for you Bull fans (I really do, this isn't me gaining people back on my side)


Bulls are a TOP TOP Super League team and gave us some wonderful memories in OUR Sport!!!


Good Luck, Best wishes......Save Bulls!!!


Regards

PMJ1976

Edited by 1976PMJwires, 27 March 2012 - 06:33 AM.

[hindle xiii]

from the T&A, link in opening post

Bradford Bulls have warned they will go bust unless supporters raise £1million – at least half by mid-April – to save the cash-strapped Super League club.

The Bulls have battled financial woes for several years, but they now say their problems have reached crisis point and that the Good Friday visit of Leeds Rhinos could be their last-ever game at Odsal.

The Bulls face going out of business after revealing they have been dealt a double whammy which has left them desperately short of cash.

Chairman Peter Hood said the sale of the lease on Odsal to the RFL, announced in January, had allowed the club to repay money owed to the game’s governing body.

Yet Mr Hood stated that the Bulls had not originally expected to pay back all of the monies owed to the RFL straight away.

And last week the Bulls were told by the Royal Bank of Scotland that their overdraft facility had been significantly reduced, leaving them with “no cash”, according to Mr Hood.

He told the T&A: “I don’t think the situation could be more critical.

“Without the oxygen of cash in our bloodstream we cannot operate.

“We’ve got to generate a significant sum to survive and we’re doing everything we can to achieve that.

“If we haven’t got cash then we can’t stay alive and if we can’t stay alive then we can’t fulfil our fixtures. It’s that serious.”

The club have written to every season ticket holder, member and sponsor in a desperate plea for funds.

The Bulls are targeting £1million and say half of that must come by the middle of April for them to survive.

The club are asking for every 2012 Member to donate at least £100 in a bid to save the Bulls.

Mr Hood added: “If this pledge raised £100,000 or £200,000 then I don’t think that’s anywhere like enough.

“But if sponsors come forward and we get to between £400,000 and up to £800,000, then it probably would be.

“We can’t afford to leave any stone unturned and the most important people are those who support the club.

“I wouldn’t want to fail without trying this.

“There is no loan money available, it simply doesn’t exist.”

The Bulls employ around 150 staff and operate with an annual turnover of between £3-4million.

Their annual wage bill is around £2.5million but Mr Hood said the cash had now almost run out.

Players and staff will be told about the perilous financial state today, with huge doubts surrounding the club’s ability to pay their wages in mid-April.

Director Andrew Bennett said: “We’re at death’s door.”

He added: “We can stay alive for about two and a half weeks.

“We could just about, at this moment in time, put the Leeds game on.

“But that could be the last-ever game at Odsal unless money comes in quickly.”

Bennett added: “If we get over the blip, we’ve got a plan that actually takes us forward long-term that physically works as a business.

“Therefore we wouldn’t need to go back to our fans in 12 months’ time asking for them to bail us out again.”

[hindle xiii]

second article from today's T&A

Mick Potter and his players will today learn the full extent of the crisis engulfing the Bulls as the cash-strapped club battles to stay in business.

Bradford were last night drawn at home to Co-operative Championship One outfit Doncaster in the fourth round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup.

But of far greater concern is staving off the threat of financial ruin facing the Odsal club amid a desperate cash shortage.

Potter’s squad had yesterday off but were set to be hit with the news when they arrived at the club’s training HQ at Tong this morning.

Chairman Peter Hood said the wages of players and staff had been paid for March but the club are now searching desperately for new funds to keep the club afloat.

He said the initiative launched today – aimed at every 2012 member donating £100 in a bid to raise up to £1million – could save the Bulls.

Hood – who revealed the club are actively looking to cut costs throughout the club – said: “We pay wages on the 14th of every month, so we’ve already paid salaries for March.

“The next payday is mid-April, which is far enough away to be on the other side of this initiative.

“Make no mistake about it, we’re under pressure and without cash we cannot operate. There is an immediate short-term crisis which needs to be put right.

“If we got £100 from 10,000 people then that would be £1million.

“The more you think about it the more you think it’s a reasonable proposition.

“We’ve got people going out face to face to see every single sponsor.

“We’re not putting the total onus on our fans – it’s about every one connected with the club.”

Ben Jeffries, meanwhile, is set for at least three weeks on the sidelines with a hamstring injury sustained against Salford.

Chev Walker was struck down with a nerve problem in his arm during the game and is expected to miss Friday’s trip to Hull.

Keighley Cougars, meanwhile, were celebrating last night after being handed a plum home draw with Super League leaders Warrington in the Challenge Cup, a competition they won in 2009 and 2010.

[westhuller]

That does not sound good there are not many people with a spare £100 in there pockets. When you think a lot of familys support the Bulls and will have multiple season passes in the house then is a big ask. Will be hard for the Bulls to keep hold of Crookes and Whitehead if a club comes in with cash.

[1976PMJwires]

Will be hard for the Bulls to keep hold of Crookes and Whitehead if a club comes in with cash.

This is the other issue, vultures.

Wires, WIdnes and FC will be lurking.

[hindle xiii]

I'm still in disbelief, I really feel like I've been had for an early April Fool.

I've never been one to besmirch other clubs for what they have, and this problem at the Bulls isn't "my" problem, but for those clubs who have a rich backer; be thankful.

[shrek]

I hope the Bulls survive, I really do, but what a shocking way to run a business.

I'd want assurances myself that my £100 didn't flow out the door paying down directors loans and the like before I coughed it up and even then I'm not sure I'd trust this lot with a penny of my money.

Might almost be worth taking the hit and doing an AFC Wimbledon re-formation, if fans are being asked to dip there hands in there pockets they might as well do it whilst getting a say in running the show.

[FullFat]

This is terrible news for rugby league as a whole. If one of the most successful heartland clubs of the Superleague era cannot survive then what hope is there for the rest? The local MP should get on to the government about why RBS has pulled/reduced the overdraft.

Hopefully the club will pull through it but it sounds very very serious.

[terrywebbisgod]

Shocked.How has this happened?

[hindle xiii]

Shocked.How has this happened?

I thought you'd twigged (geddit?) from your post on the Cup thread!

[terrywebbisgod]

I thought you'd twigged (geddit?) from your post on the Cup thread!

Good effort.
At least we now know why the RFL bought Odsal.

Edited by terrywebbisgod, 27 March 2012 - 07:04 AM.

[gingerjon]

I'm not one to say questions have to be asked of Red Hall but ...

[Old Frightful]

Usually when you hear about clubs in financial trouble you feel confident that they'll blag their way out of it because nearly all manage to. In this case however, it's difficult to see how. Not sure of Andrew Bennett's words either. "We've got a plan". Well, you should have implemented it before it got this bad.

All the best to the club, obviously hope they can pull through, but I can't help but wonder if this was the reason behind Sunday's remarkable result, with due respect to the Reds.

[shrek]

The local MP should get on to the government about why RBS has pulled/reduced the overdraft.

Why? We're talking about a business that seemingly sold its biggest asset in January and didn't realise/understand the payment terms of a loan that seems to have formed part of the deal. Sounds sensible risk management from RBS, shame they didn't do more of it prior to having been bailed out themselves!

I'm not one to say questions have to be asked of Red Hall but ...

On what grounds? (no pun intended)

By lending money to the Bulls and stepping in to help cash flow buying the ground sounds like they've been bending over backwards to help the Bulls, one can only guess at what assurances they were given in exchange for there cash.

[PC]

Bloody marvelous.