IT is difficult to know where to start with any appraisal of a season which saw the Bulls finish fifth in the Championship.

A season in which head coach Jimmy Lowes quit just two months in.

A season in which the Bulls failed to finish in the top four of a largely part-time league despite spending over £1million on players.

A season in which managing director Steve Ferres and Robbie Hunter-Paul both resigned in the wake of that catastrophic failure.

2016 will be remembered as the year when the Bulls went backwards and were overtaken by London, Batley and Featherstone.

A lot of money was wasted on poor recruitment and Bradford are now gearing up for a third successive season in the Championship.

It is easy to forget how close they came to reclaiming their place in Super League last year.

Facing Wakefield in the inaugural Million Pound Game, Danny Addy had a chance to level the scores with a penalty.

He missed, Wakefield advanced upfield and clinched victory with Scott Moore’s late try, leaving some Bulls players in tears at the end.

Nevertheless, at least the club were back throwing punches.

After a messy few years which included two spells in administration and a slide into the Championship, Bradford felt relevant again.

That was 12 months ago and 12 months is a long time at Odsal.

During pre-season, the Bulls came up with the slogan ‘We Don’t Quit’ in a bid to rally supporters.

For a club striving hard to return to Super League, such a belligerent philosophy was to be applauded.

Well, two months into the 2016 season and Lowes did the exact opposite. He quit.

Lowes cited “personal reasons” for his departure but it was clear all was not well.

It was no secret that Lowes found Ferres difficult to work with.

The recruitment of players – who identified them and who actually signed them – became a major source of contention and debate among supporters.

There were plenty who believed the squad that had been assembled for the 2016 campaign lacked genuine quality in key areas.

As the season unfolded, those fears were realised.

After Harry Siejka and Jake Mullaney left the Bulls at the end of 2015 – despite both being under contract – Lowes was short of a half-back.

Bradford went into the 2016 campaign without a recognised scrum half.

Make sense of that.

Richie Mathers was brought out of retirement as a replacement for Mullaney at full back.

Once again, the squad became too bloated in numbers and it was another case of quantity over quality.

After a bright start, results gradually worsened as the Bulls were dumped out of the Challenge Cup at Dewsbury and stuffed at home by Sheffield Eagles.

In mid-April, Lowes finally threw in the towel.

He looked a broken man at that point.

That is the effect that managing Bradford Bulls – a club to whom he gave so much as a player and who he clearly has in his heart – had on him.

Into his place came Rohan Smith, the son of Brian Smith who had played a pivotal role in making Bradford the force they once were at the advent of Super League.

Smith junior fizzed with positive energy following his arrival from the Gold Coast Titans, where he served as assistant coach, his latest role as a number two during a 15-year apprenticeship.

He had 11 games to make the top four – the minimum requirement for a club of Bradford’s resources and size.

He was significantly backed in the transfer market, signing Kieren Moss and Dane Chisholm from the NRL, Stuart Howarth, Joe Philbin and Lewis Charnock on loan from Super League clubs, and Joe Keyes from London.

Smith won six of his first ten games but the most crucial one was the final-day trip to Featherstone, with the winner clinching fourth spot.

The whole season was on the line.

It felt like Wakefield and the Million Pound Game all over again.

Another huge red, amber and black army filled one end of the ground. Featherstone’s players and coaches had billed the game as their grand final, which was only a slight exaggeration.

But it was Rovers who performed when it mattered most and a 20-0 scoreline in their favour was an entirely fair reflection of the game.

Smith admitted afterwards that leaving out Adam O’Brien was a costly mistake.

A few days after the Featherstone debacle, Ferres quit. Later that month, Hunter-Paul also resigned as chief executive.

All this, remember, from the club who do not quit.

Before the 2016 season had ended, two more key figures in the Bradford Bulls saga had gone.

Rob Parker left his role as commercial manager earlier this year and Davide Longo – recently appointed as his replacement – quit after barely a week in the job.

It is two-and-a-half years since Marc Green came from nowhere to be the Bulls new owner.

He hadn’t even set foot inside Odsal before he lent the club money to pay wages in the autumn of 2013.

That sparked a shambolic ownership saga which led to him buying the club for around £150,000.

Under Green’s stewardship, there has been a relegation from Super League, failure to come back up, three coaches (Francis Cummins, Lowes and Smith) and the indignity of the Championship Shield.

Okay, so beating Sheffield last weekend marked the Bulls’ first silverware since the memorable 2006 World Club Challenge win over Wests Tigers.

It created a feelgood factor on a day when so many players said farewell to Bradford, but it did not disguise the failure to make the Qualifiers.

Bradford had a soft underbelly in 2016 and saw their line breached all too easily and all too often.

Even during the Championship Shield, they conceded plenty of tries: Halifax (five), Dewsbury (four), Swinton (five), Workington (five) and Dewsbury (four).

Losing to relegated Workington was a particular low point and the fitness of the team, or at least certain players, has been lacking at times.

Players and staff were paid late at the end of July, August and September.

There have been a number winding-up petitions issued against the club.

Significant financial cutbacks have been made since the Featherstone defeat and continue to be made.

Despite everything, the club still intrigues.

Smith is patiently writing a new chapter on the field and, with over 20 members of the 2016 squad having left, the rebuilding process is well underway.

Leon Pryce is returning and will provide class and leadership in the heart of the team.

Significantly, there are other proven quality performers who are staying such as Adam O'Brien, Kris Welham, James Clare, Alex Mellor, Moss and Chisholm.

The core of a very good side is there.

Mellor and Ethan Ryan came of age this year and the likes of Welham and Clare proved they should probably still be playing in Super League.

Six academy players have been promoted to the full-time senior squad and the youth ranks at Odsal are thriving.

The onus is on new recruits Jay Walton, Ross Peltier, Jon Magrin, Alex Foster, Iliess Macani and Phil Joseph to prove their worth and get Bradford back into the top four next year.

It will be their third year out of Super League, remember, and the ambition of newly-promoted Toulouse is not to be sniffed at, while Hull KR will surely be a major force in the Championship.

Do not overlook the success that Leigh have enjoyed this season, either.

That showed what can be achieved with ambitious recruitment.

Talk of a change of ownership at Odsal is never far away but it seems implausible that anyone will buy a club who do not own their stadium or training ground and are losing money.

After the season that Bulls supporters have just endured, though, there is now a renewed desire for less chaos and more progress.

FIVE AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT:

Make recruitment more focused: Sign players with a proven track record or noted potential. Avoid handing out a two-year deal to someone who may not cut it, as has happened all too often in the past two seasons.

Stop conceding so many tries: The Bulls have struggled all season to defend their line and conceded an average of three-and-a-half tries per game. This is as much about mental application and a willingness to put your body on the line for the cause.

Pay players and staff on time: For the past three months, there have been wages delays. That causes resentment and anger among a workforce and leads to de-motivation. Rugby league is a small world and players talk all the time about goings-on at clubs.

Be open and transparent with supporters: Lines of communication with fans seem to have been eroded amid the chaos of the past season. The Bulls have a large and loyal fanbase who should not be ignored.

Make finishing in the top four a priority: The Bulls seemed to take for granted the fact they would finish in the top four of the Championship at the end of the 23 regular rounds. They should target top spot and aim to be the benchmark in the division next term.