The rocky £300,000 sponsorship deal between Bradford Bulls and Skylark has suffered a new blow after a cheque to the club bounced.

Solicitors acting for Skylark owner Brendan Larkin wrote to the Bulls' legal team confirming the dramatic twist, just 72 hours after the businessman had handed over a £176,250 cheque for the outstanding amount of his deal with the club.

Bulls boss Chris Caisley must now decide whether to keep chasing the cash direct, or resume legal action. The club issued a winding-up order in the High Court against Skylark to get the second sponsorship payment, including VAT.

Victory in Sunday's Challenge Cup semi-final against Warrington Wolves, when the Bulls wore the Skylark logo on their jerseys, has been marred by Monday's blow.

In a letter to the club's solicitor Simon Franckel, Mr Larkin's solicitor Andrew Hill said: "My client has been contacted by his bank and told that the cheque he handed to your client will not be met.

"I am instructed that this is in direct conflict to the indication given by the bank to my client (and confirmed by my client to the bank in writing on Friday).

"Obviously my client is taking the matter further with the bank. If there was ever any advantage in handing over a worthless cheque (knowing it would be presented for express clearance) it was minuscule compared with the damage done to the cheque not being met.

"For this reason alone, I hope that you will consider that the cheque was handed over in good faith."

The Telegraph & Argus has reported how Mr Larkin said he had sold assets in south Leeds for £1.55 million. Mr Hill's letter said Mr Larkin had asked him to confirm that asset sales are going ahead.

Mr Franckel said: "Our position is that it would be entirely wrong, from the club's point of view, to just walk away from this. For any rugby league club this is a sizeable amount of money.

"The ball is in Mr Larkin's court. He knows what we can do, and knows what we intended to do, until he gave us the cheque on Friday, in terms of legal proceedings. It's up to him to tell us what the position is. He hasn't given us any clues as to the timescale and we haven't discussed a deadline."

A spokesman for Mr Larkin said he had no comment to make.