The majority of Bulls fans are behind Chris Caisley in his fight to win a "fair deal" from Bradford Council.

That is the verdict of the Bulls chief after the club were inundated with calls following his controversial comments in midweek suggesting that a merger with neighbours Halifax and a move away from Odsal might be the best way forward for the club.

"It might surprise a few people but 63 per cent of the calls we have had via the telephone and our website have been very supportive," said Caisley.

"The fans who have contacted us seem to understand the predicament the Council have put us in and feel it is about time the club were recognised for all the good work they are doing throughout the community.

"I am very ambitious for this club and want to reach the stage where we are attracting average gates of 20,000. But to do that we need some assistance from the Council. Despite all the problems I still believe we can achieve all our goals by staying in Bradford but we can't do it all on our own."

Caisley's call for merger talks with the Blue Sox to re-open have hardly been welcomed with open arms at Halifax and the move already appears doomed.

"That is up to them," said Caisley. "They may be happy with crowds of 4,000. That may be the limit of their expectations. But I still don't really see a way for them to progress beyond where they are now.

"We are certainly not going to stand still though and if the merger is a non-starter then we will continue to push back the boundaries. There is already evidence that we are pulling in more fans from traditional Halifax supporter areas."

Meanwhile as thoughts turn back to the field, coach Matthew Elliott has only one injury doubt ahead of tomorrow's clash with Sheffield Eagles at Chesterfield soccer club's Saltergate ground.

Prop Brian McDermott pulled up with a back injury at training yesterday and faced a fitness check today.

"Brian is a little bit of a doubt at the moment so I have added Neil Harmon and Nick Zisti to the squad that were on duty against Huddersfield last week," said Elliott."If Brian comes through though I will probably stick with the same 17."

Bernard Dwyer had a full 80-minute run-out with the Alliance side in their 20-8 over the Eagles second string at Odsal last night when Zisti (2) and Steve Pickles scored tries and Lee Radford kicked four goals. Dwyer will not come into contention for the trip down the M1.

But provided he suffers no reaction after missing the last six games due to knee surgery he seems sure to figure in either Wednesday's re-arranged clash with London Broncos at Odsal or the visit of Hull four days later.

Elliott visited Saltergate yesterday to get a feel for the venue and believes the atmosphere on a tight ground will be an advantage.

"The Don Valley is not the best place in that regard so I'm sure our fans will prefer it.

"It just made sense to have a look at what we will be faced with in advance.

"The pitch will be pretty narrow as they have brought the touchlines in.

"We have to be on our guard because Sheffield seem to save their best performances for us.

"I know we weren't at our best last week and I obviously wasn't happy but we have done a few different things in training this week.

"I am expecting them to have a positive effect in tomorrow's match."

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