News that the Bulls had to fork out £35,000 to fix a toilet was one revelation that emerged from the club's annual meeting.

Chairman Peter Hood used the point to illustrate the crippling costs of upkeeping Grattan Stadium -just one reason why they are so desperate for the Odsal Sporting Village to finally get the green light.

"This site as we see it today is not viable in the longer term," he said.

"This is 1930s, 40s and 50s concrete. By way of example, we had to manage the repair of a drain earlier this year. It cost £35,000. It was just a broken drain in the ladies loo in the office block.

"That's 35,000 quid but the drain's 14 metres down.

"We need new concrete to make a viable and modern environment here. We'll deal with that if we have to do but we need and we want the sports village to happen.

"The business case for building it here on this site I believe is unassailable, the capital for funding has been identified and it's desperately needed for a host of reasons not just to do with Bradford Bulls.

"I'm hoping it will go to a council vote, maybe in February, but who knows what the result of that vote will be?"

After rubber-stamping the 2006 accounts, in which Hood confirmed the club made a profit for the first time in eight years, he was asked a series of questions by shareholders.

Giving his thoughts on whether the Bulls will back a 2009 Super League franchise bid from another French club, he admits they are unlikely to support such a move.

"I have no doubt there will be a very strong bid from Toulouse - I understand they are the richest club in rugby," Hood explained.

"I have no doubt what Super League could bring to the Toulouse club but I'm not persuaded they will bring sufficient benefits to the Super League.

"Catalans have brought interest and flavour to the competition and clearly have improved their performance on the field significantly.

"No doubt they will continue to do that but whether its business case will is another question.

"At this juncture, our position with regard to another French club would be negative.

"It doesn't mean it always will be but our position would probably be to secure the heartland and expand from there rather than sacrifice parts of the heartland worth keeping, such as Salford."

Under the new three-year license franchise system, from next spring all Super League clubs will be classified into one of three categories based on their performance and structure both on and off the field.

Grades run from A to C with such factors as facilities, finance and solvency, player production and competitiveness and attendances taken into account.

Hood, handed an impromptu ringing endorsement by long-serving director Jack Bates on behalf of the entire board, predicts no problems for the Bulls in their bid to win a place. He said: "We tick a lot of boxes. There's one or two we don't tick but we think we'll receive a B+ grading - nearer A than C."

Meanwhile, Hood admitted that the size of the claim being made by Leeds Rhinos with regard to the Iestyn Harris affair could potentially put the club's future in jeopardy.

But he insisted: "That's a worst case scenario. There is always a litigation risk. Judges are only human and we do see it going all the way to court but that won't be until possibly 2009. The size of Leeds' claim might also take some justifying, while we have a very strong case and an excellent prospect of success."

After being docked points in the last two seasons for salary-cap breaches, Hood insisted there will be no such problem next year and that the Bulls will be under the limit for 2007.