The League doesn't need a strong Bradford any more than it needed a strong Widnes or Wakefield,both clubs with excellent tradition.

I really am struggling to understand this move.

They are setting a precedent that is absolutely certain to come back and embarrass them.

Having said all that,there may be more to this than we are being allowed to see at the moment but ,if it does happen,they need to offload it very quickly indeed to a new,safe home.

The Governing Body of the sport cannot be allowed to end up owning one of the member clubs. In those circumstances the Governing Body could not make any disinterested decisions as it would always have a vested interest.



Any future decisions would always be seen to involve the question, "What's best for Bradford?"

Looks very much like something of a power struggle at RFL after Lewis's leaving. First Watkins report, unsolicited and off his own bat, now this.



Whatever the logic those in charge hardly have great credentials for sorting out financial matters. First the Crusaders, then a total lack of control over the SL clubs finances as part of the franchise review less than twelve months ago!!!



There are those at the RFL/SLE who want to turn things over. No objection to that but as John Kear said in the RL Weekly, decide where you want to be before you decide how to get there.



The worry is that they will be in so much of a rush that they will destroy the SLE set up, faulty though it may be, and lose Sky sponsorship!

Taken from the BBC website.



Bradford Bulls are approximately £1.5m in debt, it has been revealed.

Just think, all those fans that stumped up £500k could have waited 3 months and owned the club after it debt-defaulted, rather than see their money go up to smoke.



What's happening at Bradford is symptomatic of wider society, where nobody and nothing is allowed to fail due to their own bad decisions - whether it be banks, governments or people taking on stupidly large mortgages. Ultimately it just ends up smearing the problem across all the people and entities that did nothing wrong, and leads to all sorts of moral hazard.

And effectively we are now standing behind that debt, as well as our own..

I wish some posters had gone to the Bratfut board to read exactly what has happened.



1. It's not a precedent: the SLE clubs input money into Gateshead/Hull to keep that entity going: they all received sheres in GHull which, afaik, were sold at a loss.



2. The SL clubs have made no promises of what will happen after September: it is very likely that Bradford may end up in the lower leagues. They are trying to avoid liquidation while some of the season still has to be played with huge disruption to points and fixtures. So bratfut continue to meet their fixtures.



3. The clubs have gambled on a buyer being found to buy Bradford as a going RL club - not a going SL club - if this does not happen, expect Bradford to be forced to sell off players etc.



I have no torch for the Bulls. I also feel salford would not be so nicely treated but, unlike the Bulls, we have Sharks ready to take over.

Why not buy all the teams in the league? All the monies could then be distributed evenly between the franchises and we'd get a fairer, more exciting, competition.

Then we could have a league where no-one can fail.



Glory!





What a mess.

Are you insinuating here that if we fold Sale will take over the running of the club? If so I think your becoming delusional

As I have said on the "cheated" thread Super League (Europe) Ltd are setting a serious precedent with the purchase of Bradford Bulls, will they do exactly the same for Salford and my club London, yes in a perfect world it would be right that SLE own all the clubs, but can you ever see the Top 4 clubs going with that? every club having the same monies to spend!



I don't fully agree with the comparison with Gateshead and The Bulls/SLE that was the game being controlled as always by clubs at the top and such as the Hetherington's didn't it keep Hull on the top league of the game?



My serious concern is that the RFL have just appointed one of the people who has controlled the game over the past years Nigel Woods to do a review of the game & Super League, I see that as a white wash as I am unsure what Woods has to offer the game any longer, we need change and people with drive!

We are after investment so if sale were to make offer to buy club it as to be better than situation we are in now. So why appose it