Joined: Oct 26 2005 Posts: 3209 Location: Bradford
Scarey71 wrote:My own belief is that jumping into bed with stock cars was the first sign it was failing.
I assume the big idea was, acquire the lease, CBMDC sell the land in totality, pay out the leaseholder whilst putting a smaller more affordable stadium on Dickie Dunns and we're SL ready - home wise if not team wise.
Then - BoZo levels everything up - Covid strikes further levelling up - Putin has a brainfart REALLY levelling up - Someone decides Dickie Dunns should be listed - Mrs Wood decides enough is enough - JK bores the remaining fans away with the one-up fest whilst simultaneously losing the dressing room
I actually feel sorry for him...he must be under immense pressure.
This is the only plan that I could see at the time. And it’s gone now. The only plusses are we seem to be stable and keeping within a budget. And that’s it. The only remaining pipe dream is that somehow the City of Culture legacy will allow the council some leeway to trickle money into sport, including RL in Bradford. But that’s 2025…
Joined: Dec 22 2001 Posts: 31939 Location: The Corridor of Uncertainty
Highlander wrote:This is the only plan that I could see at the time. And it’s gone now. The only plusses are we seem to be stable and keeping within a budget. And that’s it. The only remaining pipe dream is that somehow the City of Culture legacy will allow the council some leeway to trickle money into sport, including RL in Bradford. But that’s 2025…
Being stable and keeping to a budget needs to be sold somehow. Difficult. Because if it looks like doing just enough to scrape into the play offs every year for the foreseeable future then you'll not get many takers which in turn hits budgets and makes even that basic aim harder to meet.
Capital of Culture legacy is quite tenuous and probably too far down the track for us now.
We need to back the new coach (whoever he is) so that finishing in the play offs actually happens. Winning rugby is what is needed. A tilt a promotion is probably out of the question at the moment but it should be the aim eventually otherwise people will lose interest. Fans want to see positives and a sense that things are improving - which isn't the case right now.
"If you start listening to the fans it won't be long before you're sitting with them," - Wayne Bennett.
After all the years of owners who have stolen money, not paid people, sent us bust. The club is now at least seemingly getting the fundamentals right. Progression might be slow compared to other clubs, but isn’t this better than the boom or bust we’ve seen in recent years?
I have spoken to Nigel and Jason Hirst a few times in hospitality, as a fan it’s painful to see us nowhere near the likes of Featherstone. But I admire the fact they aren’t promising anything and are just trying to make the club sustainable. Something we all wanted. Are things perfect? Far from it. But maybe better things are coming and we shouldn’t really be looking for scapegoats? The guy pumped 600k in of his own money clearing chalmers debts. Why would he have let that amount of debt get run up if he was involved?
I'm not sure which part of the 600k news is the more startling. That somehow a guy using the RFL's bank account found enough idiots to give him 600k in credit. Or that Nigel Wood, having previously had no involvement, arrived and pumped 600k in of his own money to clear those debts. Something tells me Wood didn't actually say this himself.
Joined: Dec 22 2001 Posts: 31939 Location: The Corridor of Uncertainty
M@islebugs wrote:I'm not sure which part of the 600k news is the more startling. That somehow a guy using the RFL's bank account found enough idiots to give him 600k in credit. Or that Nigel Wood, having previously had no involvement, arrived and pumped 600k in of his own money to clear those debts. Something tells me Wood didn't actually say this himself.
Very well put.
"If you start listening to the fans it won't be long before you're sitting with them," - Wayne Bennett.
Joined: Mar 04 2005 Posts: 5880 Location: Bradford
How do you sell this season to punters though? We all knew who the top 2 teams would be before a ball was even kicked. There's no excuse for some of the performances we've put in this season and we should still be competitive against the teams around us, but realistically we were never going to achieve anything this season and I think everyone knew that.
It's a really hard sell but I can't really blame Nigel for not wanting to spend any more than is necessary in a season where others are spending such astronomical amounts.
This restructure can't come quick enough because the Championship has been completely busted for years. Leigh will most likely win this division and gain promotion into a league where the side they are currently fielding wouldn't even be eligible under the operational rules. Make that make sense.
Nothus wrote:How do you sell this season to punters though? We all knew who the top 2 teams would be before a ball was even kicked. There's no excuse for some of the performances we've put in this season and we should still be competitive against the teams around us, but realistically we were never going to achieve anything this season and I think everyone knew that.
I honestly think we've got very modest aspirations as fans, which are more than achievable. We want to to see some graft, pride in the shirt and to look like they care. I view games against Feath and Leigh as a distraction like a cup tie to be honest. All I've aspired for has been for us to be competitive with all the "best of the rest" sides. That in itself would be an achievement. Our fans do not deserve to see us play a local derby against 12 men in the way we did. Its offensive. But the past is gone, and there's time to show pride and endeavour enough to cheer us up a bit.
Joined: Dec 22 2001 Posts: 31939 Location: The Corridor of Uncertainty
Pumpetypump wrote:I honestly think we've got very modest aspirations as fans, which are more than achievable. We want to to see some graft, pride in the shirt and to look like they care. I view games against Feath and Leigh as a distraction like a cup tie to be honest. All I've aspired for has been for us to be competitive with all the "best of the rest" sides. That in itself would be an achievement. Our fans do not deserve to see us play a local derby against 12 men in the way we did. Its offensive. But the past is gone, and there's time to show pride and endeavour enough to cheer us up a bit.
Nail on the head. I'd be happy to get 100% behind a side that was playing decent rugby and realistically aiming for 3rd. That would be an improvement on every season since 2015. I don't think I'm alone. That's what we should be aiming for.
"If you start listening to the fans it won't be long before you're sitting with them," - Wayne Bennett.
Joined: Oct 26 2005 Posts: 3209 Location: Bradford
My aims now are to make sure no team, apart from Fev and Leigh “do the double” over us. And if by some miracle we go to Halifax, Sheffield, Barrow and York and win - that proves to me that Odsal is a playing liability as well as a financial one.
M@islebugs wrote:I'm not sure which part of the 600k news is the more startling. That somehow a guy using the RFL's bank account found enough idiots to give him 600k in credit. Or that Nigel Wood, having previously had no involvement, arrived and pumped 600k in of his own money to clear those debts. Something tells me Wood didn't actually say this himself.
The debt was publicly known, I think I could’ve worded it better. I remember reading an interview where it was said he could’ve placed the club into administration and cleared the debts but the hierarchy felt for once the club needed to do the right thing. That was a big tick for me. Things are far from perfect but would people sacrifice good deeds and intentions for danger/higher % of success?
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