Strategic review needs completing before RFL can help map out Bradford Bulls future

6:40am Thursday 17th May 2012 in Sport Photograph of the Author By Ross Heppenstall, Bradford Bulls Reporter

The Bulls will be given time and space by the RFL to complete their internal review The Bulls will be given time and space by the RFL to complete their internal review

As Bulls fans anxiously await the outcome of the strategic review currently being undertaken at Odsal, the Rugby Football League similarly wait with bated breath.

Stephen Coulby and Rowland Agar agreed to rejoin the board of directors last week, effectively replacing Peter Hood and Andrew Bennett, and the club’s accounts are currently being scrutinised by a chartered accountant.

This is part of a major strategic review by Chris Caisley and other leading shareholders to ascertain the depth of the Bulls’ woes as they battle to avoid administration and attract the investment needed to save the club.

It is understood the Bulls’ financial position is considerably worse than was originally thought.

Blake Solly, the RFL’s director of standards and licensing, said the game’s governing body would meet with the Bulls’ majority shareholders once the review had been completed.

“What the club need is a full picture of the financial position before they can start telling us what the plan is for the coming months and years,” said Solly.

The potential investors that are being lined up probably want to know the full and accurate picture of the financial situation before they commit to investing

Blake Solly

“The new directors are currently undertaking their review and we’re offering them any support they want. Until they’ve completed the review, it’s too early to say what they believe they can do.

“Any decision over whether the club remains a going concern is one for the directors. They need time and in some ways a bit of space from us to complete the review and work out what they think the future holds for the club.”

An announcement on the outcome of the review and the Bulls’ subsequent next move is expected early next week.

Although the salaries of players and staff were paid this month, the pressure to attract further investment is mounting. Solly is hopeful the Bulls can avoid entering administration.

“At the moment it’s far too early to speculate on what might happen because all the noises from Ryan Duckett, Chris Caisley and others have been that they will do everything they can to avoid an administration,” he said.

“At the end of the day, the shareholders have shareholdings that they want to protect. If it goes into administration, that could be wiped out straight away.

“Administration then becomes a matter for the RFL board as to what happens with the club’s Super League licence. If there is to be a sporting sanction, such as a points deduction, the RFL board will look at that too and see what needs to happen.

“The potential investors that are being lined up probably want to know the full and accurate picture of the financial situation before they commit to investing.

“Once the review has been concluded, and the board feel they have an accurate picture of what the numbers actually are, they can match that to the means of investors.

“Clearly if the investors have billions of pounds at their disposal, it won’t be an issue, but if they have more limited resources they may baulk at the financial input they need to make.”

In the meantime, the club remain in ‘special measures’, which prohibits them from registering players’ contracts.

Solly explained: “Like I say, before anything else we need a full picture of the financial position of the club and a way forward. Once the club have provided that, they will be out of special measures and be able to start registering contracts again.

“The Bulls have had no problem with that and realised that when you’re having to ask supporters for £500,000, it’s very difficult to be signing long-term contracts with players.”

Solly also said the RFL would have no issue with Caisley, a player agent and practising solicitor, returning to play a pivotal role at Odsal.

“Chris has worked as an agent in rugby league since he stepped down as Bradford chairman in 2006,” he said.

“There’s nothing stopping him returning to club management and, as the club’s major shareholder, he’s going to be playing a pivotal role whether he’s on the board of directors or not.

“He’s assisting with the review that is being carried out and is probably determining himself whether he has the energy or the resource to step in as a director and drive the business back into health.

“In the meantime, the RFL – like all Bradford fans – await the outcome of the review to see where the club goes from here.”

Comments(26)

Blackie-Lawless says...
7:00am Thu 17 May 12

"It is understood the Bulls’ financial position is considerably worse than was originally thought."
This does not really come as much of a surprise, If there was one thing Hood was at, it was keeping everybody in the dark and telling half truths. That said the fact that things are worse than originally thought explains why potential investors would not work with Hood, i just hope that once the full picture is clear that it wont permanently scare of any potential investment. The fact we cant register players makes sence but as the season draws on the players who are coming out of contract will have started looking else where for next season, they can't afford to hang around too long waiting to see if they will or wont be offered new deals. and of course we wont get any fees if they go. Worrying times for the club, players and fans. I just hope that the new board are honest about the situation and by doing so can find the investment needed to keep the club going in the long term.

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flashdonut says...
7:08am Thu 17 May 12

Administration is looming. Caisley you disgust me.

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Holmesy says...
7:53am Thu 17 May 12

I dont know about Caisley disgusting you it seems to me that the due diligiance that is vital is being done.

This is why Hood held on for so bloody long.

This is very worrying and suggests a lot of players will be now actively looking for other clubs.

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Blotto says...
8:02am Thu 17 May 12

The investment would have been there early on, till Caisley spat his Dummy out, and now trying to justify it by saying via the new board thats the situation is worse than they thought, the situation hasn't changed its just the politics and the usual muppets believe everything!

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Archie's Ghost says...
8:33am Thu 17 May 12

Blotto wrote:
The investment would have been there early on, till Caisley spat his Dummy out, and now trying to justify it by saying via the new board thats the situation is worse than they thought, the situation hasn't changed its just the politics and the usual muppets believe everything!
Yeah, there was so much investment we owed the RFL 700k and had to give them the lease on the ground as well as doing bucket collections outside opponents grounds to pay the wages. Who in his right mind would invest in a board who announces we need £1million or we're bankrupt in a fortnight?

Muppets? Change your name to Kermit mate.

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Steam Pigs says...
8:40am Thu 17 May 12

Blotto wrote:
The investment would have been there early on, till Caisley spat his Dummy out, and now trying to justify it by saying via the new board thats the situation is worse than they thought, the situation hasn't changed its just the politics and the usual muppets believe everything!
Correct - all the noises coming from the new super dooper board has been about REVIVING investment interest that Hood started......

Caisley will take the club into admin for his own personnel gain

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Archie's Ghost says...
8:50am Thu 17 May 12

Steam Pigs wrote:
Blotto wrote:
The investment would have been there early on, till Caisley spat his Dummy out, and now trying to justify it by saying via the new board thats the situation is worse than they thought, the situation hasn't changed its just the politics and the usual muppets believe everything!
Correct - all the noises coming from the new super dooper board has been about REVIVING investment interest that Hood started......

Caisley will take the club into admin for his own personnel gain
Is this a joke? He was Chairman 6 years and even by his own admission we're on the brink of liquidation.

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theviking62 says...
8:53am Thu 17 May 12

Who actually said that the finances are worse than first thought. Look at the word understood. That should tell you something. Another thing not one of you has mentioned the rl, yet they seem to be doing all the talking in this article, not caisley. I would suggest you all read beyond the first two or three paragraphs before making assumptions.

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Potter for the sack says...
8:54am Thu 17 May 12

Steam Pigs wrote:
Blotto wrote:
The investment would have been there early on, till Caisley spat his Dummy out, and now trying to justify it by saying via the new board thats the situation is worse than they thought, the situation hasn't changed its just the politics and the usual muppets believe everything!
Correct - all the noises coming from the new super dooper board has been about REVIVING investment interest that Hood started......

Caisley will take the club into admin for his own personnel gain
How do we know Hood started the interest? Could it not be new interest Caisey has genereated? How is it Caisley benefits from Administration? I cannot judge either way and neither can you Pig, unless you have a crystal balls !

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Old Dave says...
8:55am Thu 17 May 12

Nobody is telling us the whole truth, Caisley or Hood. Its all speculation; ifs buts and maybes!

Both parties are to blame pretty much in equal measure. Caisley for the biggest impacting debt in the first place, and maybe scuppering the pledge/ further investment. and Hood for not being entirely, or even remotely truthful! Time to look forward rather than back. I said 6 weeks ago that admin might be for the best, before the pledge, then the 500k could buy shares for fans! looks like we have lost that money, just to allow HOod to keep a dying beast alive for a month more!

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flashdonut says...
9:06am Thu 17 May 12

Potter for the sack wrote:
Steam Pigs wrote:
Blotto wrote:
The investment would have been there early on, till Caisley spat his Dummy out, and now trying to justify it by saying via the new board thats the situation is worse than they thought, the situation hasn't changed its just the politics and the usual muppets believe everything!
Correct - all the noises coming from the new super dooper board has been about REVIVING investment interest that Hood started......

Caisley will take the club into admin for his own personnel gain
How do we know Hood started the interest? Could it not be new interest Caisey has genereated? How is it Caisley benefits from Administration? I cannot judge either way and neither can you Pig, unless you have a crystal balls !
How does Caisley benefit? He gets rid of a 25% share of a debt, and comes out with 75% of a debt free club.
.
People do not need a crystal ball. They just need to have some basic common sense in business. Caisley and his cohorts stated investment. Where is it? Why the 'independant account' too. What can paying this man tell Caisley? Caisley had a consortium. He wanted Hood out. He wanted to bring in investment. This 'independant accountant' should not change this. He won't say anything that Caisley's Gang can not find for themselves.
.
Unless, he says the club is in a worse state (the rumours have started - hence this story). caisley then goes 'well, it was and independant, professional that said we aint got a pot to pee in - not me'. And Hey Presto, Caisley winds up the Bulls, meaning he loses his 25% of a debt (i.e. Nothing) for a major share of a debt free club.
.
Nothing. Nothing at all, has come to light since Caisley stuck his oar in to make me think his plans are any thing but administration. 'Indepandant Accountant' was as some of always ALWAYS expected. He is folowing an obvious plan.
.

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Steam Pigs says...
9:20am Thu 17 May 12

Potter for the sack wrote:
Steam Pigs wrote:
Blotto wrote:
The investment would have been there early on, till Caisley spat his Dummy out, and now trying to justify it by saying via the new board thats the situation is worse than they thought, the situation hasn't changed its just the politics and the usual muppets believe everything!
Correct - all the noises coming from the new super dooper board has been about REVIVING investment interest that Hood started......

Caisley will take the club into admin for his own personnel gain
How do we know Hood started the interest? Could it not be new interest Caisey has genereated? How is it Caisley benefits from Administration? I cannot judge either way and neither can you Pig, unless you have a crystal balls !
Have a read of a few articles that have appeared inthe T&A since Hood stepped down - all talk of REVIVING interest.

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Ralphie says...
10:26am Thu 17 May 12

Perhaps I am a little naive but my understanding of the Bulls financial situation was that they needed to raise £1 million to take the Bulls forward on a debt free basis. £500k was needed immediately to secure the short term future, and this amount was raised by supporters and the Bulls were looking to raise the other £500k by alternative means.
If the financial situation is worse than was thought, where does this leave Ryan Duckett who is still at the club and who was putting forward the case for fans to pledge? He must know the true situation at the Bulls. We are talking about a rugby league club not Tescos!
If we do go into administration the money pledged and raise by other means was simply money down the drain since all it did was keep the Bulls playing a few more weeks.
If administration does happen I will be examining the statements made by Hood, Duckett etc to make sure that they were not misleading and could result in legal action.

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lttlewhitebull says...
10:29am Thu 17 May 12

can't believe all the comments on here. let's wait and see what the new board come up with or when they actually make a statement. As for Hood for god's sake are you related to the bloke at best he was out of his depth and didn't want to admit it. But this is not his or Caisleys club it belongs to the fans whoever owns the shares. It requires a good steward

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bullslass says...
10:48am Thu 17 May 12

no doubt as a players agent, Mr caisley has let all and sundry know which players are out of contract so when they sighn for other clubs, he gets a big fat agents fee that feathers his pocket and states the sale was for the good of the club

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Shipley Paul says...
10:54am Thu 17 May 12

I've been a fan since 1964, there's a certain feeling of deja vu about the whole issue. Fact is we don't have a big money backer, never had probably never will, it's Bradford as a city we're taliking about don't forget. Just look at the hole where Broadway used to be to see what an attractive proposition we are for major investment! However, what we do have is a five figure bunch of top supporters who have kept coming throughout the last few years of dross on the field. There will be more superleague clubs watching with bated breath for the outcome, wishing they had the same fan base. What Hood did or didn't do is history. We need to look forward and with the still huge crowds we can command, just hope that this will be an encouragement for any potential investors. If as they said, Halifax were going to take our place in superleague, remember, they went bust not so long ago after years of mismanagement, with lots of Aussie imports. We have assets in playing staff who are our own products and that augurs well for the future.

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MeccaBingo1 says...
11:16am Thu 17 May 12

Hood lied for years and took you all for muppets. Admin was the best option a year ago and still is, but now due to Hood asking for the £500k from fans its now a little more complicated and has to be handled carefully, Hood knew this hence asking for the money.

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nowt fresh says...
12:58pm Thu 17 May 12

MeccaBingo1 wrote:
Hood lied for years and took you all for muppets. Admin was the best option a year ago and still is, but now due to Hood asking for the £500k from fans its now a little more complicated and has to be handled carefully, Hood knew this hence asking for the money.
Being a City fan I don't know too much of the in's & out's of whats gone on at Odsal but surely Caisley had some input as to the position the Bulls are in presently (re the Iestyn Harris debacle) if your club does finish up in administration I wish you all the best because we City fans know exactly what the cost of administration means,your best, and your most promising young lads get sold at knock down prices, look how long we have been in decline with no immediate out look of things changing, good luck as it looks like Mick Potter is starting to turn the playing side of your club around.

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theviking62 says...
1:40pm Thu 17 May 12

What has caisley, said in this article, precisely nothing. You are all assuming what's going to happen. Read the article it's a bloke from rl at red house doing the talking. Get a grip. The media are fanning the flames, but look at the word " understood". Meaning they have nothing concrete. I remember a teacher, a long time ago, always told me to read and understand.

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flashdonut says...
3:12pm Thu 17 May 12

I remember Hood saying the club was in a healty state when we sold the lease. That was from the Chairman, in black and white. I then read we needed to raise a cool one million pounds.
.
Words are only as reliable as the person that spoke them.

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Prycey says...
4:04pm Thu 17 May 12

The Viking is right here. Nothing has been said in this article other than a chap at RFL making assumptions. I also think we are forgetting one thing here. Put yourself in Hood and Bennett’s shoes. They may not be directors anymore but they are still major shareholders – just like Caisley. We can assume the independent auditor will tell the whole truth but many are then assuming CC will twist it to make things sound terrible. If you were Hood/Bennett are you just going to sit there and let that happen? Hood may not have been the best chairman but he works in finances and will understand everything from the auditor. I would hope Hood attends all meetings and is involved with all statements released to the press. If he allows CC to say what he wants then he is a fool – but I don’t think he will do that as his own reputation is at stake here. Not a good chairman but also not a fool! Wouldn’t you be sat next to CC all of the way to make sure the truth is told here?

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murphyslaw says...
8:10pm Thu 17 May 12

The club looks to be well and truly up to the neck in the brown stuff. People were saying how positive it all looked only a couple of days ago. In essence there is nothing to get excited about but plenty of reasons to be worried if you are a Bulls fan right now. Surprises are just around the corner!!

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theviking62 says...
8:27pm Thu 17 May 12

Murphys'law, read the article, get a grip, you doom monger, how do you and others know more than others on here.

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arhmen aleg says...
12:58am Fri 18 May 12

I was led to believe Hood was an Accountant.
It would take me two to three days to produce a draft Balance Sheet to see precisely what the position financially is.
here we see the fans have been kept in the dark for nigh on a couple of months whilst they cough up 500k.
And now we have the returning solicitor whose judgment cost the club dear legally ,a position they may (given also the downturn in the economy and the Bulls success)never have properly recovered from.
3 and a half million is a lot to blow on one Isteyn Harriss.
Maybe Hood did the right thing in trying to invest in young future taslent of the Bulls own making.
You cant carry on living the dream after the howler the Harriss saga brought.
But Hood appears to have been out of his depth if he cannot even produce a set of up to date figures.
Did he really say things were OKafter the lease went to red house?
Ok as long as they had their bankers continuing support.
The banks are clearly nervous.
You bullites just be ready to take over the club as a fan based club by investing another half a million if the end does come.
And next time give your money to an independent supporters group.
At the moment your money has granted a stay of execution.
Long term it could see CC and all the shareholders laughing that their investment was preserved.
Now who said it.Whose going to invest in Bradford?Westfield?
Jack?Ken?
Most people think the place is finished sad a comment as that is.

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Tricky Dicky says...
2:06am Fri 18 May 12

Too much speculation ad too much hyperbole. Deadlines have come and gone and the Bulls are still playing. The only comment that appears unfounded is the one Mr Hood made about going out of business at the end of April unless one million pounds was found. What is happening at Odsal all seems a little bit too "stage-managed", with your average punter kept in the dark. I will give Mr Caisley a little more time and not enter "Corporal Jones" mode until something more concrete emerges from Odsal. If we have to sell players to keep afloat then, alas, so be it - that's called business but the priority must be to cut the wages bill. So, I would think, it's goodbye to Mr Platt, Mr Diskin, Mr Jeffries and Mr Scruton.

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scandanavian's love child52 says...
9:10pm Sun 20 May 12

theviking62 wrote:
Murphys'law, read the article, get a grip, you doom monger, how do you and others know more than others on here.
Sorry no one knows more than viking lets all bow to his knowledge.

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