Guilfoyle: Consortium do not wish to move Bradford Bulls to Bradford City (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Guilfoyle: Consortium do not wish to move Bradford Bulls to Bradford City

8:00am Friday 20th July 2012 in Bulls By Sports Desk

The consortium seeking to buy Bradford Bulls have no intention of moving the club to Valley Parade, administrator Brendan Guilfoyle has revealed.

Guilfoyle confirmed he had received a £3 million offer from the ABC consortium, a group of local Asian businessmen, for the financially-stricken Super League club.

But Guilfoyle, partner at Leeds-based The P&A Partnership, says the offer is conditional on the prospective new owners buying back the lease of Odsal Stadium and the Bulls retaining their Super League status.

The Rugby Football League bought the lease for £1.25million in January to help the club pay off debts and safeguard the stadium's future as a rugby league venue.

The conditions laid down by the consortium, which is thought to contain property developers, led to speculation Odsal could be sold and the Bulls could once more move in with Bradford City but Guilfoyle tonight insisted that was not the case.

"I asked them about it yesterday and they told me that suggestions they were trying to lift the restricted covenant were wrong," Guilfoyle said.

"Inevitably there is speculation from fans but I don't see any evidence of anybody trying to move to Valley Parade.

"They are quite comfortable with playing at Odsal. They are looking at how they can increase the revenues at the club because that's what is necessary to stop the losses and they see the Coral Suite as an under-used asset."

Guilfoyle confirmed he is to meet the RFL today to update them on the offer.

"The consortium has made an offer that is a basis for negotiations with both the administrators and the Rugby Football League," he said.

"The next few days are going to be critical for the club. I can't speculate on what the outcome will be.

"The ABC consortium, the RFL, the administrators and professional advisers for all parties will be focused on trying to get a deal over the line."

The club effectively relinquished the three-year Super League licence that was awarded last July by going into administration and the new buyers would need to satisfy the governing body of their intentions before the franchise could be transferred.

The other 13 Super League clubs will also have a say over any re-issuing of the licence and views are thought to be mixed.

The RFL's board of directors have a meeting scheduled for today, when they are expected to announce Bradford's points deduction for breaching the league's insolvency regulations.

Guilfoyle last week extended the deadline to find a buyer until Friday, July 27, which will enable tonight's Super League fixture at Leeds to go ahead.

A total of 16 full-time staff were made redundant in a major cost-cutting exercise, although most have returned to work on a voluntary basis to enable the club to continue in the short term.

Bradford were four-times Super League champions until going into decline from 2006 and Guilfoyle revealed the club had budgeted to lose £100,000 a month.