BULLS answered some tough questions at the club's Supporter Liaison Meeting earlier this week, and have been told by club CEO Jason Hirst that the club will never accept coasting.

There is also talk of a potential major upgrade at Odsal.

Bulls have published their notes from that meeting, with questions being answered by Hirst.

FANS: Stadium - what work is actively being done - upgrades or moving/long-term plans of stadium?

HIRST: The lease is soon up – we are certainly working hard and are in regular weekly discussion with stakeholders, Council/RFL staff who will ultimately make decisions.

Looking at Bradford 2025 and levelling up opportunities. Ideally looking at a 21st century, modern stadium at Odsal. Will provide a further update at the upcoming fans forum.

FANS: Fans seem be expected to accept that club is coasting along and not progressing.

HIRST: It is not acceptable to fans or anyone at the club to coast. We’re not where we want to be.

Leigh and Featherstone are spending heavily and are where they are expected to be. We want to win every game there is. Everyone wants the highest place finish.

There have been improvements in performance since Mark Dunning became interim (now permanent) head coach and there are further improvements to come.

There is no coasting and that is not something that will ever be acceptable. It is not something I will ever accept as CEO.

FANS: Is it fair we are in a holding pattern and likelihood of two divisions of 10 next season?

HIRST: No, there are 10 games left. Two divisions of 10 is a rumour, we’ve heard it along with many others.

We’ll see what happens and once there are definitives we’ll be positioned to maximise any opportunities accordingly.

Top eight is another rumour for new structure and our aim is to finish as high as possible.

Playing budget, can’t commit to a number as we are yet to discover what our central distribution will be.

Fans can have a direct impact on our 2023 playing budget as the more people that come through the gates, the bigger the playing budget.

Recruitment and retention for 2023 is underway.

FANS: Any progress on being transparent with fans about costs and different causes and showing fans?

HIRST: We are an ambitious club, we want to be in SL sustainably. That involves good quality players, scholars, 18’s, our community clubs are doing great work and our young teams are performing well.

We lost central funding of £100k. As a club we had to make a decision whether to run an academy or not. We’re only club not SL in heartlands who choose to run youth set up.

Difficult when you lose 100k, we are trying to fill that shortfall, fans, sponsors, businesses.

We need that help and it’s easier to sustain an academy.

Again, you can help by signing up to the Friends Of The Young Bulls initiative for as little as £10 per month, which can be done via a bank transfer as seen on our website.

It’s about the next great player and we don’t want to lose them. Whole other side and supporting community clubs and them supporting us with players. It costs money.

Grateful for any help to fill that void. There will be different initiatives. Need to be smarter about those initiatives and communication to fans.

FANS: Explain the difference between BullBuilder/Squad Booster/Friends Of Young Bulls/Foundation.

HIRST: Bullbuilder is an Independent Supporters Trust designed to help pay for equipment, courses, qualifications for the Academy.

Squad Booster is also an independently run organisation that supplies funds for recruitment and retention for first team players.

Friends Of Young Bulls is designed to help fund the £100k shortfall in funding from the RFL and the club feels it is unfair to ask Bullbuilder to take on that task, the club needs to generate income of that size.

FANS: Why does it cost £2 more for a burger on the stand side than terrace?

HIRST: Need to look into it and will share the answer.

FANS: Is there a plan to close terracing on low crowd games?

HIRST: Problem relates to cost of ST and different prices. Makes sense on cost/atmosphere but forcing into stand is not ideal.

It’s been considered but not actioned. We believe in freedom of choice, wouldn’t be a long term option but there are benefits for Monday night game and TV.

FANS: Any progress on free tickets to schools/community clubs?

HIRST: Creating a flyer for foundation to give out at camps/schools etc for free tickets.

We have offered free ST to under 18’s. We are looking to make connections with schools, education places.

FANS: Seats - what is the situation with the seats? Whose job is it to clean them?

HIRST: Difficult to keep clean. Probably need to be cleaned on the day. Looking at possible tarpaulin covers in sections not used for stock cars so less to clean.

We appreciate it is a problem and we will continue to work closely with our valued partners, Yorstox, to ensure the seats are cleaned to a suitable standard moving forward.

FANS: What about crowds?

HIRST: Looking at pricing structure for next year’s season tickets.

Options and ideas to think differently about the approach.

Winning games will ultimately help attendances and will encourage fans to renew season tickets.

FANS: Is there a survey going out to fans on database about games/experiences etc?

HIRST: Club want to gather information and use it to make improvements.