IT IS difficult to know where to start with any appraisal of a campaign that began with administration and ended in relegation.

When the Bulls marched on Old Trafford year after year at the beginning of the millennium, nobody could have predicted such a catastrophic fall from grace.

Not in a million years.

The reasons for their downfall have been well documented.

They spent big in their pursuit of that silverware and lived beyond their means, something which gradually caught up with them.

That painful decline will culminate in the club plying their trade outside of the top flight for the first time in 41 years next season.

Under the game's new structure, it is difficult to know how feasible an immediate return to Super League will be, even with the squad that has been assembled and the desire of head coach Jimmy Lowes.

If the Bulls do spend the next few years in the relative abyss of the Championship, they will look back at the past 12 months as the most damaging in the club's recent history.

At the end of the 2013 campaign, when the Bulls finished a respectable ninth, the club looked ripe to continue making steady progress.

Then things began to unravel in spectacular fashion.

After Omar Khan left suddenly last September, a deal was struck to sell the club to general manager Ryan Whitcut and Mark Moore, a club sponsor.

Whitcut soon turned to Marc Green for a loan to enable them to pay wages.

Green, who would go on to take control of the club, had never even been to Odsal at this point.

His loan, thought to be around £150,000, was secured against the club in the form of a debenture.

Meanwhile, two more local businessmen and staunch Bulls fans in Andrew Calvert and Ian Watt came on board as investors.

As Khan waited to be paid for his shareholding by Whitcut and Moore, it became apparent that Whitcut would not pass the RFL's fit and proper persons test.

Last November, shortly after prized asset John Bateman had been sold for just £71,000, Whitcut also left the building.

Moore, Calvert and Watt then sought to take ownership of the club themselves with the apparent backing of the RFL.

In early December, they announced at a fans' forum that they had to "implement tough cost-cutting measures in order for the Bulls to survive".

They said that savings of £400,000 had to be made.

Jobs were lost, both in the administration and football departments.

The battle for ownership continued to rage as the RFL's Blake Solly and Ralph Rimmer attempted to mediate.

Several teams of solicitors were also involved. All to no avail.

Moore, Calvert and Watt walked out on Christmas Eve.

Less than a week later, they were back, after agreeing to continue running the club following a request from the RFL.

Pantomime season was in full swing, although no-one was laughing.

On January 31, OK Bulls Ltd was placed into administration.

Bradford Bulls 2014 Ltd, the company headed by Moore, Calvert, Watt and chief executive Robbie Hunter-Paul, secured a 28-day Super League licence.

That 28-day period, however, meant other bidders could make an offer to administrator David Wilson for the club.

Wilson was duty-bound to accept the highest offer.

Richard Lamb, a London-based businessman, headed a consortium which included former Bulls chief executive Abi Ekoku.

There were also bids from key figures at Bradford City and Bradford Park Avenue.

In the end, Bradford Bulls 2014 won the day, with the news breaking during the Bulls' win at Wakefield on February 20.

It felt like a seminal moment.

Five days later, when the RFL docked the Bulls six points for entering administration, Moore, Calvert and Watt walked out. Again.

Only this time for good. A bitter war of words erupted.

Moore claimed the six-point penalty made relegation a certainty.

They were prophetic words.

Meanwhile Green, who had remained involved behind the scenes as he sought to recoup the money he had loaned, finally took on the club himself in March.

Head coach Francis Cummins, a picture of dignity throughout this whole saga, hoped to see his threadbare squad bolstered with several new signings.

Garreth Carvell, Jarrod Sammut and Nick Scruton all jumped ship when the club entered administration.

But instead the Bulls relied largely on loan signings, such as Greg Burke, Liam Sutcliffe, Anthony Mullally and Antonio Kaufusi.

They were recalled to their parent clubs before too long but Jay Pitts and Joe Arundel proved notable successes after joining on loan in April until the end of the season.

As Cummins fought to make his desperately small squad competitive, at times going into games with only one recognised prop, he came under scrutiny following an 84-6 loss at Wigan on Easter Monday.

It was the Bulls' seventh straight defeat and a scathing statement issued by managing director Steve Ferres followed.

Cummins then presided over two stunning wins in succession as Catalan were dumped out of the Challenge Cup at Odsal before Warrington were sent packing a week later.

In the next three games, the Bulls lost to St Helens, Huddersfield and Catalan, conceding 150 points in the process.

The defeat in Perpignan was particularly depressing but the Bulls' survival hopes were kept alive by a win over Wakefield on June 1.

Two matches later, Cummins was gone.

Lowes took over with ten games remaining and with talk of a possible appeal in the High Court against the six points still looming.

In the end, that never happened and the Bulls were relegated with six games still to play after losing to Huddersfield in July.

The shackles came off thereafter, with the Bulls beating Wigan, Leeds and Hull to win three successive games for the first time in two years.

Bulls fans filled their boots at Headingley. It was the kind of night supporters live for.

Lee Gaskell, who scampered clear late on for the winning try, will head a squad that should certainly finish in the top four next season.

Then come the play-offs and Super League opposition.

Whether Bradford can then topple top-flight teams - who will be more battle-hardened and armed with a spending power almost double that of Championship clubs - remains to be seen.

But if following the Bulls' fortunes has taught us anything, it is this: never rule anything in or out.