Former Sports Minister and Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe last night demanded crisis-hit Bradford Bulls ‘come clean’ with fans and reveal exactly what the club’s future holds.
The Super League club says it needs to raise £1 million by the end of this month to avoid going into administration.
On Saturday, club chairman Peter Hood extended a deadline to collect the first £500,000 of that to midnight today as he disclosed that about £480,000 of cash and pledges had come in.
The initial amount is needed to pay bills, including a substantial tax demand by Revenue and Customs, as well as the club’s players’ and staff wages for April which total about £200,000 a month.
The Telegraph & Argus understands that the Bulls are losing about £100,000 a month.
In January the club did a deal to sell its lease at Odsal to the Rugby Football League. It is thought that brought in about £1.2 million but that sum was immediately swallowed up by repaying an RFL loan to the tune of about £700,000 with the remaining £500,000 going on other outstanding debts.
Mr Sutcliffe last night urged the club’s directors to have an “honest discussion” with its loyal fans about the problems they face.
He said: “It’s superb that the fans have responded in the way they have. What we need to know now is, is there a feasible plan to keep the club going?
“They have to get it sorted and work together to make sure there’s a long-term solution. Thousands of people in Bradford want the Bulls to survive. Over the years they have moved from crisis to crisis and it needs to be resolved.”
Mr Hood said the momentum created by people pledging £480,000 led to the decision to extend the self-imposed deadline for monies to come in until midnight tonight. However, he admitted the Bulls were not out of the woods yet and more funds were still needed to get “over the line”.
Mr Hood was speaking the day after a bumper 20,800 Good Friday crowd witnessed the Super League victory over rivals Leeds Rhinos and helped pour tens of thousands of pounds into the coffers.
About 40 Bulls fans turned out at Odsal on Saturday to hear the club’s latest pronouncements. They were spoken to by chief executive Ryan Duckett in a private meeting while Mr Hood dealt with the media.
The chairman remains upbeat about the club’s immediate future but was unwilling to make any predictions about the longer-term plans and security of the former world champions.
“The momentum is continuing and that’s why we’ve extended the pledge deadline until the end of the Bank Holiday,” said Mr Hood. “I’m confident that if the momentum continues we will break the £500,000. Where it goes and how far it goes I can’t predict.
“I know Ryan Duckett spoke to people who’d turned out and answered questions and the fact he was in there for half an hour tells me there were a lot of questions.
“I think people were positive and motivated and energised by being part of something we’re doing at the moment.”
Despite getting close to the target, Mr Hood said he could not know what will happen next as the club’s self-proclaimed “Quest for Survival” continues.
“It isn’t black or white. It’s a continuing process and we are in an ever-shifting environment.
“We’ve made huge steps forward but we need to keep the pressure on and in rugby league jargon we’re on the line and we need to get over the line and get the ball down and that’s what we’re focused on now.”
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