Could you see the RFL doing this with Bradford Bulls if they go bust???

No they will put them in SL end of story, at least football have the bottle to punish clubs that go bust and start up again as a new company so technically a new club.

They did it with FC Halifax Town, Goole FC, Chester FC and Scarborough FC plus lots more clubs who have gone bust.

Why should a NEW club be allowed to take the place of the old club?



Bradford should go down to Championship 1 and start again if they reform if things were done right in RL. The Scots have been bold enough to do it to Rangers who are a huge club and compared to Bradford this is a bigger decision that they made as Rangers dwarf Bradford in every department.

SL isn't some gimp soccer comp...



If SL loses teams from key markets then the tv contract with Sky will decrease. That would affect every level of the pro game in the UK.

Soccerball can survive without its top clubs. Rugby league can't.



However, Scottish soccerball is considerably different. Losing the 2nd most high-profile club in its ranks to the 3rd division will only speed up the process of decline in the domestic game up there.

Yeah, but most people don't accept the fact that SL and by extension RL is a minority sport that doesn't have the finances that football has and that the loss of a big club like Bradford would hurt the game. I'm not saying that as a Bradford fan and making claims that we have some divine right to be in SL, but Sky, who are the major reason we have a professional game in this country, have just thrown a billion pounds at football for the rights to show it. So you're going to have a lot of bean counters in that company asking why so much money is being thrown at this regional sport.



And I'm not sure that Rangers being dropped will have that much of a detrimental effect on Scottish football. Rangers fans are a pretty loyal bunch and if the club is able to hold on to most of it's playing staff (which seems to have been the case) then it's likely they'll only be out of the top flight for 3 years, 3 years of lower division crowds getting bumper crowds from the visit of Rangers as well as the Champions League and UEFA cup money getting a larger distribution among the top flight clubs allowing them to attract better players and therefore become more competitive.

What rules have Bradford broken? This is down to bad management. It is not the fault of the players, fans, coaching staff, or the staff in the offices. They don't deserve to be punished.



I'm not sure Rangers fans do either but their club has not paid tax. Something had to be done.

How is losing Bradford losing a team from a "key market"? West Yorkshire is stacked with clubs.



A newco should start from the bottom, no matter who it is and the next best club should get the franchise that has been vacated.

So you feel that Bradford are a special case and should be dealt with differently to how other clubs in this situation have been dealt with?



Why is that?

I can't recall any other club being liquidated during the franchise era?



If they get taken over - points deduction.

If they liquidate and a newco is formed - C1...if the member clubs vote in favour of allowing them.

The SPL tried everything in their power to keep rangers newco in the top division but the clubs told them no chance. Then they tried to bully the SFL clubs to allow them into the Scottish 1st division and again the clubs said no chance.



The clubs put sporting integrity first ahead of commercial gains and should be applauded.



Rangers newco deserved to be in the 3rd division as they broke the rules. Also Scottish football will still survive.

It strikes me that a lot of the arguments about Bradford Bulls as of late have been entirely gleeful.



They've been ran badly, staggeringly so, and I should know because I've supported a team who were in much the same position, but people need to remember that the people who will suffer the most are the fans, and it is they who use these boards. They've done nothing to deserve this, so let's have a bit less of the gloating.

The game of Rugby league generates millions of pounds a year in the UK, a large proportion is divided between a small number of clubs



If one of these clubs es it all up the wall and goes bust then the town they are in shouldn't be able to make a new club to keep getting such a big slice of the pie, make them start again at the bottom and have to get in line with the rest of the have nots

i agree with you on this in regards to bradford starting in the next league down but if the rfl want bradford in super league what would stop them giving bradford a franchise next time around?...with a franchise system in place the rfl can in reality pick and choose its teams

I hate to say this for Bradford fans, But the club should have their SL license revoked if they are liquidated.



I wouldn't put them in Championship 1 though, Just drop them to the Championship, And they can re-apply for a license again, Back when Cas got relegated, We actually made profit in the National Leagues. So it would also give Bradford the chance to, If their fans remain loyal, They will easily make profit down a division, And be a much stronger club for it. Then when they apply for their license, They can be safe in the knowledge, They didn't get special treatment, They did it the hard way.



Albeit, They may lose some players, Many of their stars. But they have spent money they couldn't afford signing these players up, And the players could try and work with the new clubs, To have a clause in their contracts, That if in 2 years Bradford returned to SL, They could leave to Bradford only on a free (Or for the same fee paid by the club, If they pay one now), If the Bulls wanted them.



It has to be done this way for me, Cas lose money every year, Jack Fulton has a small fortune in loans owed by the club, But we lose less than most, And still own our own ground, Yet we are at risk when the SL licenses come around, Due to the RFL been retarded, And forcing clubs into a financial mire, Just to try and achieve new stadiums.

Back on topic.

Rangers not being in the SPL means crowd averages down = less revenue for clubs

Rangers not being in the SPL means less TV money in they are not there when the TV deal comes up for renewal = less revenue for the clubs.

In 2 years time go and ask the Scottish clubs whether they regret it or not.

Don't forget there's a lot of bitterness at Rangers in Scottish football. And Scottish football isn't known to be the most forward thinking of leagues.



In the end even a newco Bradford will be a stronger club than any of the alternatives. Plus, the clubs will decide what happens anyway.

Errrrrr.......wasnt part of Bradford's problem brought to the forefront due to unpaid taxes?

The SFL/SPL would never recover from Rangers being forced to start at the bottom. It would destroy the game north of the border. There is not much integrity in that.



Rangers will be out of the top flight for one season and one season only, even with the creation of a brand new league to achieve that.

What I'm saying is that its no good SPL clubs moaning about lost revenue, which will happen until Rangers return to the SPL.

They have voted not to have Rangers in the SPL, which is there choice. The end result of that is that there will be less money overal in the SPL for the clubs due to their actions. To think they can make up the shortfall is stupid, they can't. The winners in this will be the 3rd division clubs who can look forward to sell outs when Rangers are in town.

the rfl certainly have some big decisions to make especially with the proposed new investers wanting several conditions to the bulls buy out including buying back odsal and a guarenteed super league franchise.



neither in my opinion should be given especially the guarentee of a super league licence,the rfl should consider selling them back odsal at the price they aquired it for and not a penny less.



i think the rfl should also be questioning the motives of the newco has it seems they are more interested in turning the coral stand into a giant curry house rather than a smooth running rl club.other questions they need to answer is why have they never taken an interest before

Some people are nuts i am not a Bradford supporter but don't they realise it could happen to them, lets punish Bradford by all means drop them to the bottom of the league now and points deduct next year but don't demote them

But ultimatly points deductions mean very little in a franchised competition, which strictly speaking should have been considered when the system was introduced, so all the arguments of what has happened previous to that arent really relevant, and whatever punishment is given will be used as benchmark in the future



So essentially if Bradford arent ' relegated ' , then no club will ever be removed for financial failure, whatever happens here will set the precedent for the future

I don't buy into this 'removing Bradford will weaken the game' line. There's no proof of that. In fact, in my opinion the complete opposite will happen.



With new teams coming in like Hemel Hempstead, Northampton, a team like Bradford would be a godsend to the Championships in the current state of the game. Big team, big crowd. The fans of Bradford have proved they care about their team so no doubt will get decent crowds down there and take decent followings.



It may be for one season only but financially to clubs that could be a big bonus and be a big marketing pull for the Championships too.



The difference with previous clubs are that they haven't gone into administration at the beginning through a licence cycle (i.e. year 1). Crusaders went into admin at the end of year 2 and Wakefield beginning of year 3. With only one year left - and half-way through that year licences were being decided, it was futile to kick them out for someone else particularly when there was no guarantee that those respective clubs would remain in the licensing system.



If Bradford come out of administration without forming a new club then they can continue with their licence with the admin as big black mark on their next application.



If they don't and a newco is formed, it should be that they are demoted. A new team then has two years of SL grace to build a side and put forward a deliver a decent business plan ahead of the next 3 year licence period.

Am I missing something here but Bradford haven't been liquidated yet.



If the club are liquidated the club ceases to exist so there won't be a club to demote end of. A new club stting up would have to start in C1.



If we are bought out of administration why should we be made a special case of and knocked down? It sets a nice precedent for when the next club gets into trouble.



The OP is nothing more than a miserable bitter Fax fan with a massive chip on his shoulder. It's our fault their licensing application wasn't good enough last year you know. For Fax fans to try and sneak into Superleague through the back door is pretty cheap to be honest. Put a decent bid together.



Similarly the absolute rubbish from Wakefield fans about special treatment is laughable. Remind me of what you told the RFL about upgrading your ground after you won that Grand final against Fev. If they stuck to the rule book you wouldn't have even been in Superleague in the first place. The fact is that the RFL have bent over backwards to keep Bradford in Superleague but they've done the same for every other club that's got in trouble.

It would be interesting to see if Bradford could actually survive in the Championships and pay the ' market ' rental on Odsal

And what about all that investment which has gone into developing the academy and community work? Getting rid of that wouldn't weaken the game? I can't agree with that. Losing the Bulls would risk undermining the work that has been done in those areas and set the game back years there, possibly even decades. I understand the viewpoint of putting them lower down the league but this isn't football. We don't run our sport on football's rules because [iwe are a very different game to them[/i. We are not a sport where, if one teams goes to the wall, there's an abundance of replacements available.



Sure, we can't afford to save every club and it is tragic that we can't but, as harsh as it is to say this, some clubs are more valuable to the sport than others. On what grounds does it make sense to purposefully undermine our premier competition? If we were a sport awash with money and resources then sure there's an argument to support demoting the Bulls. At the moment, I don't see what purpose it serves to demote the Bulls. The sport's focus should now be on ensuring that what has happened there does not happen again. If we want to move away from the mismanagement of clubs then that is done via infrastructure and policy not punishment. The Bulls have been managed poorly and you can even say they have undermined the credibility of the licencing process but that management team has gone and we can't allow unfocused moral outrage to force us into decisions which could seriously harm the game. It is, to me, an unnecessary risk.