Francis Cummins believes the Bulls will be in a stronger position both on and off the field heading into the 2014 campaign.

With the club now finally ratified by the Rugby Football League following their recent change of ownership, Cummins is looking forward with a renewed sense of purpose.

The Bulls’ training headquarters at Tong have been significantly upgraded and Cummins believes his young side will have learned lessons from the past season.

The Odsal head coach said: “We’ve had to deal with stuff that professional athletes shouldn’t have to deal with this year.

“But when you step back you can see that we’ve actually done all right.

“On the rugby side, we weren’t good enough to get into the top eight. We had some opportunities, losing some games that I don’t know how we lost, but as a club we’re in a good position.

“There are people wanting to come to Bradford and we know we’re on to something really good here.”

Cummins recently met newly-appointed finance director and shareholder Andrew Calvert and is now looking forward to the players returning to training.

The Bulls boss said: “It’s looking very positive as the club have backed us with staff and with equipment, which we didn’t have for pre-season last year. We’ll take a big step forward in the next few months.

“There are some good years ahead for the young lads and also the slightly older guys like Luke Gale and Matty Blythe, who are in their mid-twenties.

“We’ve got a young squad here and it’s going to happen for us.”

* The new Bulls board of directors will hold a fans’ forum in the Coral Stand at the Provident Stadium on Wednesday at 7pm.

Mark Moore, Andrew Calvert, Ian Watt and Ryan Whitcut, together with chief executive Robbie Hunter-Paul, will be available to answer questions from supporters and introduce themselves. Some Bulls players will also be attending.

Anyone who can’t attend can e-mail their questions in advance to: sarah.williams@bradfordbulls.co.uk.