First meeting of Bradford Bulls’ new powerbase (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

First meeting of Bradford Bulls’ new powerbase

7:00am Thursday 10th May 2012 in Bulls By Ross Heppenstall , Bradford Bulls Reporter

Chris Caisley and Stephen Coulby will today hold talks with Bulls chief executive Ryan Duckett as they plot the next move for the crisis-torn club.

Following the resignation of chairman Peter Hood and fellow director Andrew Bennett, Duckett is currently the only board member left at Odsal.

He is expected to be joined on the board of directors by Coulby, Caisley and possibly Rowland Agar, who could also be at this afternoon’s meeting in Leeds.

The group of majority shareholders, led by the aforementioned trio, will explore opportunities to revive interest from potential investors who had spoken to Hood and push forward negotiations they have previously held with parties themselves.

Today’s talks will be the first step in the undertaking of a strategic review of the club and is expected to be the first of several meetings between Duckett, Caisley and Coulby.

It is understood that an independent auditor will also be in attendance at today’s talks in order to ascertain the scale of the club’s financial woes.

Bulls coach Mick Potter, meanwhile, believes the club remain well-placed to move forward on the pitch provided they can survive the current financial crisis off it.

“Whoever takes over at the top here, I think the club will only go one way,” said Potter.

“I think they will come in at a time when we are moving forward on the pitch. Off the pitch it seems like there is a process which is just starting to kick in and evolve.

“It’s beginning to move forward so I think the wheel is starting to turn again.

“It froze for a month and now we’re beginning to get those cogs working again.

“Hopefully we can now start to re-sign the players that we want to retain and potentially look in the market as well.

“There’s more to do here and I think the way forward for the club is up.”