WHEN the tragic news emerged that Debbie Charlton had died in a car crash last weekend, the reaction on social media said everything.

Not many of the current Bulls players would have known Debbie – perhaps only a handful at the most.

She left Odsal after losing her job when the club went into administration in 2012.

But she did so much to help make the Bulls the force they were during their pomp.

Thus former Bradford stars such as Jamie Langley, Andy Lynch and Leon Pryce, who posted a heartfelt tribute, made their feelings known via Twitter over the weekend.

Leon and his wife Carly were particularly close to Debbie and her passing will have hit them hard.

Suddenly the Bulls’ opening-day loss at Leigh did not seem so important after all on Sunday evening.

It was a game of rugby for goodness’ sake, whereas Debbie had lost her life at the age of just 44.

Debbie had worked at Leeds Rhinos and then made a name for herself at the Bulls as being extremely efficient, professional and successful.

There was an unmistakeable pride in everything Debbie did on behalf of the Bulls, where she worked for 15 years in a commercial and marketing capacity.

I remember once asking her for a contribution to a raffle for a fayre at a special school in Bradford.

Straight away, she sorted out a couple of signed Bulls rugby balls. Brilliant.

That was typical Debbie and you remember things like that.

She had a heart of gold and did so much to help overseas players settle when they arrived in Bradford.

She would help to organise where they would live, emailing players with pictures of properties and making sure they were happy with their new house, so that when they arrived everything was in place.

Debbie would sort things such as players’ cars, bank accounts and mobile phones.

She would even make sure that when a new player arrived, his house was clean and tidy, the fridge was stocked and the heating was on!

Debbie also looked after players’ wives and girlfriends and was the go-to woman at the club for so many things.

I have interviewed dozens of players from the halcyon days of the not-too-distant past.

Men such as Jamie Peacock, Stuart Fielden, Paul Deacon, Lee Radford and many more.

A typical soundbite is this: “It wasn’t just the success of the club we enjoyed on the field, it was the team behind the team off it. People like Debbie Charlton, who was brilliant for us as players.”

Stuart Duffy, the club’s long-serving football manager, is in that category too, and made a salient point this week about Debbie.

He suggested that the Bulls reaching £500,000 in their Quest for Survival during 2012 was 90 per cent down to Debbie’s relentless drive.

I can well believe that. There was a brilliant afternoon when Debbie had asked Stuart Fielden to help out in the administration offices at the height of the financial crisis in 2012.

They were taking pledges of cash from supporters, while Peter Hood was hot under the collar in his office fending off bids from Warrington for John Bateman!

With the pair hugely instrumental in helping the Bulls to reach their target figure of half a million quid, it felt like the spirit of old had returned to Odsal.

Fielden was a Wigan player at that point and injured, but turned up on crutches on his day off because he wanted to save the Bulls.

So, after a conversation with Debbie, he helped to do just that.

He could not drive due to his injury but Debbie picked him up at Bradford Interchange and got him working in the main administration office.

“I was speaking to Debbie Charlton at the Bulls on Tuesday and said ‘is there anything I can do?’,” Fielden said at the time.

“She said ‘yes, come and man the phones’, and I thought she was joking!

“She wasn’t, so here I am. It’s my day off at Wigan and they were more than happy for me to help out in any way I can.”

That office was never quite the same when Debbie left the club, but her contribution to the Bulls will never be forgotten.

Rest in peace, Debbie.