The problem is that people who are upset at the team tend to lash out, and very commonly want "everything" changing, everyone from chairman to most junior coach sacking, and a complete change of personnel to the current Origin squads.



Despite the sorry state of first team playing affairs, the fact (for those who have an interest in it) is that Hood & Co. have (a) worked like trojans to save the club and (b) done (and continue to do) a huge amount of good work - on any view- such as the new training facility.



One thing the Bulls seem to do very badly indeed is communication with the fans. It is grossly unfair that they should be slagged for the setting up of the brilliant new training facility, when the facts as explained above should surely merit applause rather than complaint; but then again why don't all the fans already know, from some loud blowing of own trumpet, exactly what we have done and are doing and why in relation to the new facility?



And its hardly just that, despite promises in fans forums etc really the fans are largely kept very much in the dark, about most things, and have to rely on the occasional one line quote in the T&A, or identikit-change-the-date banal paragraphs, about most subjects. The current one of course being the new coach situation, and I don't suggest we should give away trade secrets or whatever, it's just that total silence leads to discontent and increases that mushroom feeling.



There is communication breakdown by club, and a 'can't be arrsed to check facts before whingeing' mentality by some fans.

The "state of the art training facility" was built 10 years ago as a classroom block. It was known as K block of the old Tong school!



the pitch is not the greatest as it is on what was the main building of the old Tong school site, and about 12 months ago was rubble. It appears uneven and in need of bedding in. Much of the bulls on field training is done on the School pitches at another part of the campus.



i would have happily had another player or two in exchange for this!!!

Would you prefer a 150 year old mill? Or sharing public gyms? Or having to trek all over the place for different things? Or the expense of a complete new build? So what if its in a ten year old building? Where a load of work has been done on converting our ground floor into what - as others from other clubs have said - is now probably the best such facility in the competition? And where the upstairs has been converted into the offices for Integrated Bradford - they have no problem in it being a newish big ex-classroom block.



At least I have had the opportunity to go round the place and report what I saw first-hand.



You might have got a player or two more this year, but you'd likely get far less junior talent for the future. If you were a junior living in say Wakefield or Cleckheaton would you (or, more likely, your parents) fancy the trek to Apperley Bridge out of hours on a regular basis? And to a facility that the Bulls used but was not their own and tailored to their own requirements?



Sorry, but that attitude just comes across to me as the same short-sightedness that got the club into the situation when Caisley left and we had no money AND sod all left of the junior development.

I think the money has been better spent developing the infrastructure to take the club forward. Surely we'd all agree that it's better to have a few years of pain now for sustained success in the future, especially if the majority of the talent that will take us forward comes from home grown talent?



Look at Whino's - would they have had the success they've had if they hadn't been forced to develop their youth structure after relying on big named player after big named player and ending up skint? Though it ires me to say it, they have to be the blueprint to follow for the majority of teams as the money to buy players or pay for a team of superstars simply isn't available. We're lucky in that we still have decent sized crowds compared to many in SL so can invest in this type of project.



As I've said before - the training ground is where the majority of players spend their working days, with the exception of 80 minutes a week. If we're looking to bring players in either at junior or senior level and we can offer them a working environment that is better than our competitors it will work in our favour. Look at Leeds Utd and the number of players who cite the training facilities at Thorpe Arch as one of the major influences when it comes to signing for the club.

Adey,



It is about balance. I understand and mostly agree with your argument, but as i see the outdoor facilities every day, and have been in the building, I would rather have a slightly less brilliant facility (the indoor ones at least) and one or two better players using it.



Attracting young players to a decent location, (Its lovely here today, looking over the valley to Pudsey,) is one thing, but we need to show the kids a pathway to success. At the moment it is one step forward, and two back. the priority is what goes on on the pitch for the first team. If we keep losing supporters, then sponsors, then the training ground will be the first thing to go! fans and sponsors dont want a great youth team and a poor first team. they want a successful club. and if we keep being dubbed as in financial strife, then large corporates wont want anything to do with us.



the club needs to be positive, proactive and speak to the people more. the "no news is good news" argument does not wash. either witn the walk up fans, or the large businesses using the corporate facilities.

Can see your POV obvioulsy, and yes its all about balance.



But its surely a lot lot cheaper to bring your own youngsters through to the first team than to go buy in from outside? After all, our overseas quota is full and who realistically might we have brought in this year? A winger and a centre would be top of the list I guess...what British players of suitable quality/cost combination realistically might have been available? And would it have been worth it to compromise the future, since I don't think there was any "cheaper" option, just to stay at Woodhouse Grove - and those Bulls guys we saw seemed to think that was a defo no-no, for whatever reason.



Maybe we could have signed a couple more journeymen - but that is what the club has been accused of too much over recent years, and the reason we had to sign them was stated by Macca and Medders at the forum before last as being precisely because we did not then have the youth development pipeline.



As you say, its all down to balance. When we were sat in 4th this discussion was not taking place. Now we are languishing back in 8th it inevitably is. We seem to have had bad luck yet again with injuries - how much of our salary cap was sat in the stand until recently, again? - but there does seem to be something else too, as last year. Everything I hear suggests to me that without the investment in the future made this year the future would have been very significantly compromised. But only the history books will be able to say whether the club got the balance right, or whether they did not?

In my opinion the new training facilities will be hugely beneficial to the Bulls in the long term. The club tried buying a successful team on dodgy foundations, that's why we are where we are now. The club are in the process of trying to build success that is sustainable and created from ground up, and unfortunately that takes time which is something that a few supporters seem unwilling to tolorate.



Since the start of BullBuilder I have been in the priviledged position of being able to speak to various personel at the club, and they are just as passionate about rebuilding a successful team as any fan, it's just that they have to deal with the realities of making it happen. I have also visited the new training facility and whilst it may have once been a classroom block it has been gutted to its shell and inside it's basically brand new, and the Bulls have got the facilities they wanted that are the best in the league (which incidentally has been confirmed by a few players from other clubs).



The club need our support now more than ever. I would urge anyone who cares about building success at the club to contribute to the youth development in some way, be that by buying raffle tickets, joining the lottery or by joining BullBuilder (where your contribution will be spent by fans, not the club). They are the future of our club.



Just remember: in a few years this will all have been worth it. Just keep supporting our team.

I would just add that someone who whined about the actual building being "10 years old not new" really would be nit-picking at Olympic level. I mean, give me a break; is that meant to actually be some sort of a [icriticism[/i of the building or its acquisition, ffs? Is it meant to imply (""icon_wink.gif that it [iisn't[/i a state of the art facility, simply because it was previously a classroom block? Words fail me. I really do have trouble understanding where some people are coming from, sometimes.

And with exquisite timing, here is Connor Murphy reporting Medders in the T&A saying...well you've already read it on here:

The commitment to youth is great and attracting quality young players is what we need to do. The question is, after attracting them can we develope a good mix of players to feed into the first team and are we prepared to give them their chances. In the last ten years we have struggled to do this, aside from Leon all we seem to bring on is Props, second rowers and centre/fullbacks. It's the creative players and speedsters we fail to nurture. If the new facilities and set-up addresses this then great but at the moment it's more of the same as far as I can see. Crossley, Burgess, Burgess, Whitehead, Olbison, Donaldson, Addy and Wardle. Southernwood had to be imported and we are relying on too many players out of position.

I think the latter part of this thread is very helpful and informative and involves a debate we're now familiar with, which to simplify it a little is - invest now for future success, with the risk of falling attendances and corporate sponsorship (a risk to the club) or invest everything in success now with the risk of long term unsustainabilty and possible insolvency and no guarantee of success (a risk to the club).



I admit that I am ambivalent on the training facilities against spending the full cap argument - there are arguments on both sides in terms of which is most likely to breed success and which is most attractive to juniors. However, I imagine Macca has been very influential in pushing new facilities as he has enormous confidence in 'technical' fixes including the much vaunted in game monitoring of players (Andy Lynch mustn't have a heart beat!). His belief in technical approaches also came out very strongly in his pitch to the RFL for the England post. It seems to me that this is his selling point - 'I've done the research and if we can get this or that it'll make all the difference'. I tend to have more faith in old fashioned team building, motivation and leadership skills, and I'm hoping that whoever the new guy is he can combine supporting youth with turning out a motivated, well balanced first team that shares the workload and gets people back through the turnstiles.



We might be able to wait for youth and we probably have little choice, but once people get out of the habit of turning up it requires a huge amount of effort to get them back.

At the moment only Whitehead & Donaldson look anything special to me, (not having seen the Burgii in action yet). And one of those was taken from Cumbria.