THE administrator of Bradford Bulls said he was determined to get the club back “where it belongs” after a meeting today with the club’s playing squad and the Rugby Football League.

Gary Pettit, managing director of PBC Business Recovery, said plans were now in action to speak with the six parties interested in buying the club.

He held a two-hour meeting with the Bulls’ playing staff, accompanied by the RFL’s welfare officer, to outline the situation and answer questions, and also met with the club’s non-playing staff and the Bradford Bulls Foundation.

As players left the meeting, Mr Pettit said the players were laughing and joking, which showed the future looked positive for the club.

He said: “It was a very positive meeting. Until you actually get told about the situation you make up your own mind on what is happening, so the meeting has helped put their minds at ease.

“Now they can just get on with training and preparing for next season.

“We have six interested parties, and we want to get non-disclosure agreements out to them and back by the beginning of next week.

“Then we can get a sales pack together and get on with things because we don’t want to be in administration any longer than we need to be.

“We want to find a person who will put Bradford where they used to be. I come from a rugby union background but I know about Bradford, they are a historic club in the sport.”

Mr Pettit also praised the RFL for its support throughout the process.

“It has a constitution to follow and has to treat all of its members fairly, but equally it wants to help the club, the players, the fans and the stakeholders. It’s very encouraging.

“For them to come along to see the players not knowing what they might say, I cannot criticise the RFL, they are going out of their way to save the club and are looking at this the same way we are. It has been incredibly supportive.”

Mr Pettit said he was proud to have been tasked with saving a club of the Bulls’ stature.

He also said going into administration was the only way to save the club, and if it had not happened then the Bulls would no longer exist.

“We have got a good idea of the size of the debt, there are lots and lots of issues behind it.”

The prospective new owners will all have to submit CVs to show their credentials to own a sports club to the administrators, who said they would look carefully to ensure the right party took control of the club.

Mr Pettit also said he would work closely with the new owner to find out what went wrong in the past when the Bulls previously went into administration to ensure those practices were not repeated.