Bradford Bulls insist current financial crisis does not stem from Iestyn Harris settlement

8:20am Monday 2nd July 2012 in Bulls Photograph of the Author By Ross Heppenstall, Bradford Bulls Reporter

Iestyn Harris trains with the Bulls soon after his switch back from union Iestyn Harris trains with the Bulls soon after his switch back from union

Stephen Coulby has ended the uncertainty surrounding the cost of Iestyn Harris’ move to Bradford by revealing that payments to Leeds amounted to £550,000.

The Rhinos, who allowed Harris to leave them in 2001 to pursue a career in rugby union with Cardiff Blues, returned to the 13-man code to join the Bulls in 2004.

In May 2008, Bradford paid compensation to the Rhinos in an out-of-court settlement, in addition to their legal costs, and also apologised for their part in the transfer saga.

By agreement with Leeds, Coulby has now revealed there was a compensation payment to the Rhinos of £550,000 – spread over three years, inclusive of interest and all of their costs.

Bulls director Coulby said: “Following the restructuring of the club’s board in May, it has been our intention if possible to reveal the true facts with regard to the settlement made with Leeds in May 2008 concerning Iestyn Harris.

“Discussions have taken place with representatives from Leeds and we are now able to reveal the actual detail.

The (Bulls) directors are grateful to Leeds for allowing the true facts to come out and to indicate that their stance in this matter and the resulting settlement have not ultimately led to the problems which face the club at the present time

Stephen Coulby

“At the time of the settlement, both clubs were tied in to a confidentiality agreement. It was, however, made clear in 2008 that settlement had been reached and that chairman Peter Hood had also made an unreserved apology for comments which he had made relating to the Leeds club in January that year and to which they took exception.

“Both clubs now feel that at the present time the best interests of everyone are served by the full details being revealed, in the light of continued speculation since the actual time of the settlement.”

Harris signed for Bradford in July 2004 in the face of tremendous competition for his services from a number of top clubs both here and in Australia.

Having kicked off his career at Warrington, he spent four years with Leeds, during which time he became club captain at the age of 21.

He led the Rhinos to a Challenge Cup victory and a Grand Final appearance, in addition to winning the Man of Steel trophy, before switching codes to rugby union.

Coulby said: “Iestyn was signed by Bradford in full knowledge that Leeds had an option to secure his services but that the option could not be enforced unless Iestyn gave notice to terminate his contract with Cardiff RUFC.

“Bradford were told at the time by his solicitor and agent that Iestyn had not terminated his contract with Cardiff but that Cardiff had dismissed him – ie that the option could not therefore be enforced – and on that basis the player signed for Bradford, his chosen preference.

“It subsequently transpired that Iestyn’s agent had in fact given notice to Cardiff without Iestyn’s apparent knowledge, thus triggering the Leeds option.

“The point was reached by 2008 where it was in the interests of both clubs to settle the matter out of court and Bradford agreed, after a number of amicable meetings, to pay Leeds an amount of £550,000, such amount to cover all costs and interest.

“The agreement was for the money to be paid over a period of three years and was so arranged because a new Sky TV contract was about to deliver to the club an additional £200,000 per annum.

“The board at that time, under the guidance of the newly appointed finance director – who was not on the board at the time of the signing – was confident that this was affordable and the club were able to budget going forward without this settlement having any great impact on the business.

“The club’s books show that, over a period of three years from 2005-2008, legal costs of £79,032.13 were paid out in connection with this case, making the total cost to the club £629K.

“The costs to the club had, however, been absorbed by the business prior to the settlement being reached, leaving £550K to be covered going forward, and the budget for 2009 was prepared on a break-even position and full salary cap spend after allowing for the first payment to Leeds.”

Coulby stressed that Harris was a great ambassador for the club. He explained that the dual code international, who represented his country in the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup, undoubtedly helped the Bulls to gain considerable income from the sale of merchandise, procure sponsorship revenue and reach two Grand Finals in 2004 and 2005, with a World Club victory in 2006.

“Iestyn was a virtual ever-present during that period and, in scoring 17 tries in 2005, stood only behind Lesley Vainikolo in the try-scoring list,” said Coulby.

“At that time transfer fees were more common than perhaps now and the club would undoubtedly have paid a transfer fee for a player of Iestyn’s calibre.

“It should also be pointed out that in the region of £700K came into the club around that period from outgoing transfers and that the club continued, after signing Iestyn, to pay out additional transfer fees for players.

“The directors are grateful to Leeds for allowing the true facts to now come out and to indicate that their stance in this matter and the resulting settlement have not ultimately led to the problems which face the club at the present time.”

* Bulls joint-captain Heath L’Estrange could feature for the Exiles as they prepare to face England on Wednesday.

Comments(39)

birkybull says...
8:39am Mon 2 Jul 12

How about the T&A doing some real reporting and telling us who is behind the consortium that have come forward? Is it Peter Hood and the chinese owner of Greenwoods... Come on do some real reporting. everyone knew years ago how much the deal for harrise cost us so Caisley could boost his Ego against Gary Hertherington.

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Schoey 2 says...
8:59am Mon 2 Jul 12

So, why not then counter sue Harris' legal representatives at that time????

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Adeybull says...
9:17am Mon 2 Jul 12

I can surmise reasons for these "revelations" coming out precisely now. Indeed, its pretty well a re-run of that very strange statement from Mr Caisley last autumn, which seemingly appeared for no apparent reason. Funny old world, eh?
.
I'd heard a considerably higher figure for the legal fees and other costs, which makes me wonder about the rather odd wording "...the club's books show that..." - bearing in mind Coulby was a director over all this period, so you would expect him to be able to state with rather more assurance the cost? But no matter, I'm glad the settlement detail is in the public domain now. Much angst might have been avoided had such disclosure been able to be made earlier, so whatever the motives I am very glad that disclosure has now been agreed.
.
I suggest it is a tad disingenuous to say that the current crisis does not stem from the settlement, and extremely disingenuous IMO to say it was offset by other income streams that the club would or could have received anyway. Clearly (and as some of us have been saying for ages) the crisis had no single cause. The poor on-field performances and then the onset of the Great Recession, which was always going to hit a club with no rich owner in a rapidly-declining city especially hard, have played a very big part too. But IMO Harrisgate cannot be dismissed as being one of several significant causes which, I suggest together, go a long way to explaining the current mess.
.
But, in other breaking news, a cracking job is being done of rearranging the deckchairs on the sinking Titanic...

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mines a pint says...
9:22am Mon 2 Jul 12

Schoey 2 wrote:
So, why not then counter sue Harris' legal representatives at that time????
My thoughts exactly

It is clearly implied here that the bulls were negotiating for Iestyn's services via his solicitor & agent

His agent knowingly missled both the Bulls & Iestyn's solicitor in order to do the deal

Whilst it may be argued that Iestyn's solicitors were equally duped by an agent no doubt motivated by driving up Iestyn's value & therefore his own commision, they were responsible for due dilligence ensuring that all information provided to interested parties was accurate in all ways

Incompetance does not excuse them from their responsibilities

It beggars belief that an agent can deliberately act in such an apparent fraudulent manner & not face prosecution let alone financial accountability

Just goes to show how capable the bulls legal team were in not pursuing all avenues both legal & financial

Seems we just rolled over & coughed up

On another note looks like Caisleys spin doctor is clearing the way for him once again

Wasn't Caisley (a trained solicitor) the man that did the deal for the Bulls & also the major shareholder when the legal wrangles were on going

Just another unpleasant smell eminmating from the Caisley era

He may yet save the club from extinction but he will never again be able to look the fans in the eyes & claim to be "the peoples team"

I hope to God we are not relying on Caisley & the first act any new owner undertakes is to rid the club of Caisley & his cronies & install a competant board with a fans representative & greater transparency so we are never conned again!

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raisemeup says...
9:24am Mon 2 Jul 12

Personally I am glad that the figures are available at last:

I had a basic idea that the sum was under the 750k or near that figure..but speculation has been able to run riot? With it turns out Leeds being the 'secret squirrel' in the scenario.

But if they wish, to make amends now they can, as a gesture of good will, give us the £550k back, but we can leave them the costs??

Those flying pigs are amazing creatures aren't they?

Seriously though the saga has been allowed to overshadow our efforts for too long, for it to be anything else but destructive, and Steve Coulby deserves a lot of credit for getting it out into the open.

If we are to move forward transparancy should be the order of the day.
In fact the BULLS haven't done the PR scene well over the years since Peter Deakin have they? Daily reports in the T&A and the Nationals have been for the wrong reasons of late!
Let's hope the "New Dawn" is not too late?

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Blotto says...
9:28am Mon 2 Jul 12

Wasn't Harris's Agent at that time also a Solicitor and though Caisly is a Solicitor he is also an Agent! Makes one think that................
.no! they wouldn't would they??

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mumbyfan says...
9:40am Mon 2 Jul 12

Schoey 2 wrote:
So, why not then counter sue Harris' legal representatives at that time????
I think he did....

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murphyslaw says...
9:57am Mon 2 Jul 12

At last the figure revealed. Hopefully people will stop blaming the Haris affair as the reason for the Bulls decline. Yes it was a bad move and yes it hurt the club but there are so many other factors. The club has been poorly run, Hood austerity has run the club into the ground, it appears he had no idea of how to blend austerity with keeping a saleable product. In his quest to balance ther books he allowed the team to it rock bottom, he then followed up with his stupid pledge idea which only served to ensure that once the pledge money was in and spent the club had little income on which to survive.

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Solomon Grundy says...
9:58am Mon 2 Jul 12

Can all the people bleating about how this cost the club millions now please put a sock in it.

Things somewhat opaque as usual, rumour going round about a consortium ready to bid ( Martin Sadler tweeting same ) but Guilfoyle is saying this morning that there is no bidder and no offers. It's going to the wire alright.

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Schoey 2 says...
9:58am Mon 2 Jul 12

Naturally this week will be very interesting as to how it unfolds for the Bulls' future.

We have a very diffucult run of games now, but I guess that counts for little after our emphatic victory on Friday.

On the money front - as a short term measure - and one that quite rightly will not be popular with fans but as we have we have no money we have to think 'outside the box' - if Bulls immediatley revoked all current season tickets and tickets have to be then bought by all those attending on the gate?????


Don't shout me down too much guys but can't think of another way of the club being able to raise short term cash to pay wages etc.

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Adeybull says...
10:00am Mon 2 Jul 12

Incidentally, this report will surely lead some to wonder if maybe some key players spent a bit less time on the blame game and a bit more time on solving the problem, we'd have a better chance of a solution? Since the "revelations" do precisely nothing to help solve the current crisis!!!

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stormingnorm says...
10:05am Mon 2 Jul 12

Well whats done is done , we can't go back now ! However we can thank the vile people at the pig pen at Headingley especially Heatherington ( T**t ).Just as he was as a player , a small time small minded cheap shot git .
I've been away on holidays this last couple of weeks , watched RL on tv with guys from other clubs. When asked who i supported my first reaction was to say " whoever Leeds are playing " , Hull Fc , St. Helens ,
Huddersfield , all agreed with me !
When I told them The Bulls every one , wished us luck and hoped we get through it , they need us !!
If only if only ...
We must survive , then move on !!
COYB .

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Solomon Grundy says...
10:06am Mon 2 Jul 12

What the revelations do give us though is a line under this, and a clear sense of how some of individuals sought to use the Harris affair to score points, blacken the names of other individuals and poison the air around the club with nasty spiteful bickering. It's good that this is over.

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Old Dave says...
10:15am Mon 2 Jul 12

So the fact is that the Total cost of the Harris debacle is the same as the Losses that the Bulls under Hood were happy to budget for this year!

And still people say Caisley is the only one to blame!

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Correctness says...
10:18am Mon 2 Jul 12

I would think that if 550k is the true TOTAL cot e would have known long long ago.

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Prycey says...
10:29am Mon 2 Jul 12

Agree Solomon, time to put this behind us. If this is the true figure then I got it wrong as I was told much more than this – but so be it – it is all over now. It is time for us all to move on.
The other article says we need £500k to survive the season. This really sticks in my throat as we had this figure two months ago from some of the supporters. If only we had that now!
I am also tempted to ask all season ticket holders to pay some amount at the gates. If it was £10 it would give us enough cash to survive with 4 home games left. I know this will not be liked by many but we do need some cash each fortnight to survive.

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Bone_idle18 says...
10:35am Mon 2 Jul 12

www.dailymail.co.uk/
sport/rugbyunion/art
icle-356458/Harris-d
isappointed-contract
-dispute-loss.html

according to this, legal fees after losing first round were £64k, that was before the full court case/out of court wrangling.

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birkybull says...
10:41am Mon 2 Jul 12

Dont forget on top of the figure quoted we also had to Pay off Matt Orford who was rumored to be on close to £250k a year, After him we had to pay out Glenn Hall who was also another top earner. That there alone adds up to quite some sum. Hopefully by going into admin if we had to pay Orford over so many years we wont owe him any more and the little grub can whistle.

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yangyeight says...
10:48am Mon 2 Jul 12

Bone_idle18 wrote:
www.dailymail.co.uk/

sport/rugbyunion/art

icle-356458/Harris-d

isappointed-contract

-dispute-loss.html

according to this, legal fees after losing first round were £64k, that was before the full court case/out of court wrangling.
its over, move on.
they tell you the cost and still you doubt it.
jeez, give it up.

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batleybull says...
10:49am Mon 2 Jul 12

Personally I do not believe this is the true figure and was lead to believe from people within the bulls and within the solicitors office dealing with it that the sum was considerably more than that, running into millions not hundreds of thousands, however nothing is going to change and people are correct lets put it all behind us now and try and look positive for the forthcoming week, but to answer someones previous post yes Caisley is a solicitor and a senior partner is a very prestigous Leeds law firm, and this is the reason he couldnt put Bradford into admin before and thats why he left as against law society regulations to be associated with bankruptcy and the like, I believe he is now retired, thats why Stuart Fielden was sold or we would have been in admin back then

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Adeybull says...
10:54am Mon 2 Jul 12

I think you will find we only had to pay Orford what he had already earned but had not yet been paid, especially regarding image rights because of all the tax issues. I believe the club had sought to retain such monies in compensation for his breach of contract. Or something like that.
.
Anyone see where those deckchairs went? Or have they slid off into the sea yet?

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Ralphie says...
11:07am Mon 2 Jul 12

For me the annoying thing about the Harris signing was there was no real excitement when he was signed. We had a great side and did not really need Harris.
His salary must have cost us so much more than the legal bills. A salary that spent elsewhere could have kept us at the top.

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beardedclam says...
11:17am Mon 2 Jul 12

Seems that many of the bulls fans were wrong regarding the cost of Harris. I even saw some muppet fan claiming the figure to be 1.5m last week.

Who or what are you planning to blame next?

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MrStephnCoulby says...
11:54am Mon 2 Jul 12

forgot to say in my statement guy that im looking for a good time from guys only that is also aswell looking for offer for my good friend m.potter will take offers from as little as 10 pence he is very good but as i am unable to rape your club of any more money i can no longer keep him sorry

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Bingley Bull says...
12:01pm Mon 2 Jul 12

MrStephnCoulby wrote:
forgot to say in my statement guy that im looking for a good time from guys only that is also aswell looking for offer for my good friend m.potter will take offers from as little as 10 pence he is very good but as i am unable to rape your club of any more money i can no longer keep him sorry
This makes no sence what so ever! I'm guessing it is an attempt at hummer. Try posting again so we can read it!
I agree paying on the gate would be a way of raising cash and I would do this willingly IF we knew the money was going to pay players.

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bullybullman says...
12:14pm Mon 2 Jul 12

Another smoke screen what Coulby does`nt tell you is how much the directors took back out of the club in the last 4 years to re-pay their loans ! especially a certain Butcher ! We got £400,000 for Fielden we got cash for Lesley & compo for Nobel so this whole Harris saga althougth it did`nt help its by no means the reason for all this mess.

The directors of our club have been greedy & have not done what was required instead of investing when the club need this the most the took back their loans leaving us further in the swomp ! go on line £5 buy the accounts its all there to see.

There has been more falling out in our board room for the last 5 years that there hasbeen in the middle east ! the whole board are to blame from Caisley through to Hood.

This is not made up it is fact the there is not one person on the board who will pull us out of this they will protec themselves If investment comes I hope they put a complete new board together & along with our great supporters we may be able to forge a brighter future.

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bullybullman says...
12:15pm Mon 2 Jul 12

All the staff have just been sacked Potter has gone along with whole coaching staff.

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nosher says...
12:18pm Mon 2 Jul 12

Harris was a waste of space like most things that have owt to do with leeds.

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Mike Strutter says...
12:18pm Mon 2 Jul 12

stormingnorm wrote:
Well whats done is done , we can't go back now ! However we can thank the vile people at the pig pen at Headingley especially Heatherington ( T**t ).Just as he was as a player , a small time small minded cheap shot git . I've been away on holidays this last couple of weeks , watched RL on tv with guys from other clubs. When asked who i supported my first reaction was to say " whoever Leeds are playing " , Hull Fc , St. Helens , Huddersfield , all agreed with me ! When I told them The Bulls every one , wished us luck and hoped we get through it , they need us !! If only if only ... We must survive , then move on !! COYB .
Ahhh so it's Leeds's fault now is it ?

Murphyslaw is spot on with his post.

Say Leeds were to hand back the £550k tomorrow you'd still be half a million short of survival and that includes begging half a million in pledges.

Get real people, bad financial management has cost you dearly and it's not all about Harris.

Let's just say they are sticking to the cap, why not start asking where the other £1.4m in annual salaries has been going ?

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birkybull says...
12:30pm Mon 2 Jul 12

Potter, Medley, Kit man, St Hilaire... All made redundant today - WTF

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birkybull says...
12:31pm Mon 2 Jul 12

Ryan Duckett & Stuart Duffy as well

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Bingley Bull says...
12:35pm Mon 2 Jul 12

Where have you heard this?

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king karl says...
12:36pm Mon 2 Jul 12

Its true, whitehead just tweeted
"How can we train with no coaching staff!!!
"

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Solomon Grundy says...
12:44pm Mon 2 Jul 12

Duffy & Duckett were nailed on to go but the coach? er, how do square that? I'm a bit taken aback, to put it mildly.

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Bone_idle18 says...
1:15pm Mon 2 Jul 12

yangyeight wrote:
Bone_idle18 wrote:
www.dailymail.co.uk/


sport/rugbyunion/art


icle-356458/Harris-d


isappointed-contract


-dispute-loss.html

according to this, legal fees after losing first round were £64k, that was before the full court case/out of court wrangling.
its over, move on.
they tell you the cost and still you doubt it.
jeez, give it up.
Oh yeah, and we've been dealing in the truth throughout the crisis at the club haven't we?

This statement is released by a regime who lied about the backers they had on board, all it needed was Hood to resign.

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Mumby was the best says...
4:30pm Mon 2 Jul 12

Regarding the above story Isn`t it nice that Caisley didn`t make as big a financial b**** up as rumoured and Hetherington wasn`t as money grabbing as people believed!!!!! What lovely cuddly people they real are.
Another case of spinning to make Uncle Chris look better.
As usual keep the mushrooms (us fans) in the dark and feed them excrement.

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tyker2 says...
5:15pm Mon 2 Jul 12

so by all accounts the harris deal was done and dusted and paid up. I thought the club owed the RL big time hence the sale on the lease and now the bigger than normal VAT bill on that lease.

So if the sums due to the league were not in respect of Harris what other debt did the club have with the league
It is all very odd indeed and one wonders why the history of the harris deal is being released now? Is it a smokescreen and, if so, why is this happening when the future of the club is at risk?

If the club goes into liquidation then what then?

And do not the league have rules governing the financial affairs of every club in the league. So how can a licence now be issued to The Bulls or The Phoenix Bulls?

Worrying times indeed and, if the club were to disappear what would happen to the stadium. Step forward Bradford Park Avenue perhaps as tenants maybe

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Shelfrhino says...
7:41pm Mon 2 Jul 12

stormingnorm wrote:
Well whats done is done , we can't go back now ! However we can thank the vile people at the pig pen at Headingley especially Heatherington ( T**t ).Just as he was as a player , a small time small minded cheap shot git . I've been away on holidays this last couple of weeks , watched RL on tv with guys from other clubs. When asked who i supported my first reaction was to say " whoever Leeds are playing " , Hull Fc , St. Helens , Huddersfield , all agreed with me ! When I told them The Bulls every one , wished us luck and hoped we get through it , they need us !! If only if only ... We must survive , then move on !! COYB .
Spoken like a small minded fan of a small time club.
You tried to run with the big boys, but you were obviously only small time and now the chickens are coming home to roost.
Don't be shocked when GH's wife buys your championship club for a quid.
Oh how I will laugh if she does, bratfut, the lower league feeder club for the Rhino's has a nice ring to it.
Marching on together and all that.....

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OldNorthernFan says...
1:57pm Wed 4 Jul 12

Dear Adeybull,
I have enormous respect for you and have learnt muh from your postings but you are being unjust with your Titanic deckchair analogy. YOU were the first one to shout "iceberg ahoy" and cause panic below decks. Now, like most passengers, I am shivering beneath a tarpaulin and praying for rescue - if it can only be via a pirate ship then so be it, it beats Davy Jones' Locker.

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