MANAGING director Steve Ferres believes the Bulls are sailing into calmer waters after notching another membership milestone.

A rush of sales has seen the 1863 Members Club swelled to 1,500 and the Odsal regime can sense a more positive vibe among the fanbase despite their relegation.

Ferres said: “Sales are progressing very well and we’re happy with the way things are going.

“We’re quietly confident of getting to where we want to be – 4,000 is the target and, if we continue at the rate we are doing now, that should be achievable.

“We’ve turned the ship round and we're setting a course to take the club into the next era. It’s fair to say that the problems are behind us now and we’re only looking forward.

“I think people are aware that the momentum-swing has changed and the landscape looks better than it did six months ago.”

Jimmy Lowes has transformed the playing squad for their assault on the Championship with over half his personnel new to the club. Expectation levels will be high.

They resume pre-season training on Saturday as the countdown begins to the campaign’s curtain-raiser at Leigh Centurions on February 15.

Ferres added: “We hope to give the supporters something that they dearly want – a winning, sustainable team – and I’m sure we can deliver that.

“We’ve got positive people in place and we hope that the team is strong enough to compete. There’s a good feeling within the club.

“Jim’s not fazed either way. He knows the job in hand and will have the players focused on that.

“Everybody is looking forward to next season and what comes after that. The by-product for all the hard work we’ve put in will be our reward.

“We all know it’s not going to be easy but everybody here is up for the challenge and I hope our supporters are.

“I’d like to thank everybody who has put their hands in their pocket. I know it is difficult in these times. We’re going to try to give you value for money throughout.”

The Bulls will play three warm-up games and details will be announced shortly. With so many new faces, Ferres feels that every spot in the team will be up for grabs.

“It’s a pretty untested squad. We’ve got 15 new players within the 29.

“Everybody is trying to work out what’s going to be our strongest starting line-up and bench and beyond that, how the results are going to go.

“On the back of those pre-season games, we will all be speculating on where we’re going to be. It’s going to be very interesting.

“If we picked two starting line-ups today, we could put one up against the other and it would be a very competitive 80 minutes. You’d be hard pressed to pick a winner.

“We can’t dwell on the past. We are looking forward to the start of the season again and having a look at what we’ve got.”