A source close to a consortium of businessmen vying to save Bradford Bulls from liquidation spoke of his “frustration” as the Rugby Football League continues to refuse a conditional offer for the club.

The man, who is linked to the group known as ABC, said its members are still waiting to hear if their latest conditional bid had been accepted, adding: “We’re the white knights with the cheque book, but nobody’s handing us a pen.”

The RFL, which threw out the consortium’s original bid for the struggling club, was yesterday still considering a revised offer from the group.

However, it has claimed it is “unlikely” to accept the new deal because it carries the same two conditions as the first bid – the club remaining in the Super League and the new buyers being able to buy the lease to Odsal Stadium from the RFL.

The ABC source, who does not want to be named, said the consortium had offered the governing body £1.5 million for the lease to the ground, which it claims is “open market value” and more than the RFL paid for it earlier this year.

“We’re not asking for anything unreasonable. We want to buy the lease because we won’t want to make any investment in the ground if we don’t own it,” he said.

“We gave the RFL until 5pm on Monday to get back to us, but we have not heard anything. It’s very frustrating.”

Joint administrator Brendan Guilfoyle, of The P&A Partnership, agreed the RFL’s unwillingness to accept a conditional offer was making it “difficult” to find a buyer for the stricken side.

He added he was still waiting to hear if the RFL could offer an advance on the club’s Sky television payments so he could pay the club’s £200,000 August wage bill and buy more time.

Yesterday, former Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe revealed a rival bid by Bradford curry house boss Omar Khan has now been formally submitted to the administrators.

The Bradford South Labour MP said the deal only carries one condition, that the club remains in the Super League, although Mr Khan would want to buy the lease to Odsal Stadium over the next three to five years.

The RFL last night reiterated it is unable to consider conditional offers and all parties had been aware of its position since the club entered administration.