Bradford relaxed about IMG as lease part of long-term focus

Many fans were left disappointed, frustrated and angry this morning, after the grading announcement only saw Bradford’s score rise from 12.02 12 months ago to its current 12.15, putting them 16th.

For now, it has left them way off Salford’s 13.97 in the 12th and final Super League spot, and even dropped them below London Broncos and York, who were well below them when the indicative scores were released last October.

Asked for his initial reaction to the news, before diving into the ins and outs of the Bulls’ score, particularly around their grim-looking 0.7811 out of 3 for Odsal Stadium, Hirst said: “I’m relaxed and calm about it.

“Our score has gone up, when there are at least 13 teams in the top three divisions who’ve gone down.

“Why am I relaxed about it? Because we were never going to score enough to get into a 12-team Super League in 2025.

“It’s always been about the longer term for us, with next year being a critical one in terms of on-field, off-field and IMG for how we rank before the 2026 season.

“I also know for a fact that if we were to be scored again in five weeks’ time, we’d be scored an additional point to move up to 13.15, which would immediately move us from 16th to 14th.

Bulls can be expected to tuck in just behind Toulouse again in the rankings very soon. (Image: Frederic Speziale.)

“The reason I say that is because, for anyone who comes to Odsal regularly, they’ll have seen we’re building a new facility behind the main stand, which is a directors’ box with seating on the halfway line.

“More important to us than that is that it will double up as a community facility that fans can use on matchday, after games and during the week for Andy’s Man Club, birthday parties etc.

“That work will be completed in four to five weeks, while on the Western Terrace, the extended TV gantry we need for IMG will be finished in two to three weeks.”

It sounded like Hirst was saying that Bulls will take things steady when it comes to stadium improvements, compared to the rapid growth on that front from the likes of Wakefield and Castleford over the last 12 to 18 months.

He essentially confirmed that by saying: “People will rightly say other clubs have made big improvements.

“And while I take my hat off to them, they’ve done the lot in a short space of time.

“We believe we’ve got longer, another full season now where we can make even more improvements than other clubs have done this year.”

Hirst conceded that Bulls are all too aware of the problems Odsal brings them though, saying: “All of this serves to highlight that the biggest obstacle for this club moving forward and getting back to Super League is this stadium and its facilities.

“That comes as no surprise to anybody who follows the Bulls and that’s why it’s important that we continue to engage and have dialogue with the public and private sector about how to take this facility forward.

“The fans deserve a modern, 21st century, seated stadium and getting the lease next week will play a part in that.”

Hirst says the club have spent the last few months with one main focus.

He said: “The majority of our fans want us back in Super League, as all of us do internally at the club.

“But what fans want primarily is to be entertained, to see winning rugby, to talk about players and on-field aspects.

“They won’t get excited about a TV gantry or a community facility, they want to come and see players doing well and winning games.

Jordan Lilley flies in to score in the play-off eliminator win over Featherstone at the start of the month, and he will be joined in the halves by talented pair Joe Keyes and James Meadows next season. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

“We’ve purposely prioritised assembling a very good Championship squad and our recruitment isn’t over and done with yet.

“Fans need to come to matches on a Saturday afternoon knowing they’ve got a good team, who’ll entertain them.

“We need increased attendances to help get us back to Super League and we won’t get that by building a TV gantry, we’ll get that by signing the likes of Franklin Pele.

“We believe IMG is good for the sport in principle, because it’s wanting to improve standards, and who could argue against that?

“But do we think IMG in its current guise is the absolute utopia? No, we don’t.”

Expanding on that, he said: “We believe more emphasis should be given to on-field performance, but we also feel there’s an in-built bias towards existing Super League teams.

“If you look at attendances, say we were to host Leeds in Super League, we’d get a 10,000 gate at Odsal, but if we’re at home to Toulouse, we’re lucky if they bring 10 fans over.

 “How can Bradford increase their attendances to compete with Super League? We can work internally with our media and marketing team to attract more Bulls fans to the ground, but how can we bridge the discrepancy between Leeds bringing 5,000 and Toulouse having five.”

But at least Bulls are masters of their own domain in terms of the stadium now.

Giving the T&A an exclusive at Odsal this afternoon, Hirst said: “We will be leaseholders from November 1 this year.

“Nigel Wood and I spent three hours in Leeds last Friday with our solicitors and the RFL and their solicitors, ironing out one or two minor sticking points.

“We shook hands on that and said, subject to the lawyers drawing up the slightly amended contract, we’ll be leaseholders from the start of next month.

“I know there have been murmurings from people wondering why this process has taken so long, and speculation that things had gone wrong.

“But that’s categorically untrue, as it’s just like buying or selling a house.

“You’ll have an agreement in principle, but then lawyers and solicitors get involved, there’s paperwork getting sent back and forth, and that takes months.

“That’s all that has happened with the lease.”

Guardian journalist Aaron Bower, posted on social media this morning that Odsal is “a millstone around Bulls’ neck” and questioned the logic behind the club ‘burdening’ themselves with the lease.

Crazy that Bradford didn't get the IMG score The Game Caller said they were going to get. He was so sure and everything.

Odsal forever a millstone around that club's neck: and they've just bought the lease

— ᴀᴀʀᴏɴ ʙᴏᴡᴇʀ (@AaronBower) October 23, 2024

Many others will have the same view, to which Hirst responded: “I think it’s a fair opinion and we will have to find additional money to take on the lease and maintain upkeep and make improvements on this stadium.

“We are fortunate that our four co-owners are willing to put their money where their mouth is and help with that, but we don’t have a sugar daddy here like other clubs do, so it will be a challenge.

“The bigger picture is that this has been our spiritual home for 90 years, and this has been predominantly a rugby league venue that whole time.

“This is our home, and as leaseholders, we have a degree of protection and certainty, being masters of our own destiny to an extent.

“If the lease had gone to a private investor, who’s to know what the future would have been for the Bulls?

“Now we’re the leaseholders, we can start to plan for the future.

“That being said, anyone who believes us getting the lease will lead to a revamp, with a 20,000-seater, undercover stadium any time soon is sadly mistaken.

“We don’t have that sugar daddy who can spend £50m on that, so we need to keep talking to the private and public sector.

“For this stadium to finally become what it could and should be will take a hell of a lot of money, so will probably need private and public sector money.

“That’s a big challenge for myself and others within the club, to look at how we do that, but it won’t happen soon.

“Overall though, us acquiring the lease from November 1 is positive news.”

Hirst mentioned Odsal as Bulls’ “spiritual home”, but does that nostalgic view really hold any weight compared to the cold, hard reality that it holds them back?

There is little doubt that Odsal looks tired and outdated compared to the vast majority of stadiums of the top rugby league clubs in Britain. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

The T&A put that to Hirst, citing Everton moving to futuristic grounds in the Premier League, as well as the likes of St Helens leaving Knowsley Road for a far better facility at the Totally Wicked Stadium.

He responded: “It’s frustrating, as almost every historical rugby league team in this country has moved on to a new stadium, which has been supported by the local authority, as well as public and private money.

“The fact Tottenham were able to redevelop the old White Hart Lane gives me hope, as if you’d said that to me 20 years ago, I’d have laughed

“But I’m a realist, there’s not a lot of money out there for most people, but there are still some about.

“The change in government might change the dial around Odsal, it might not, so at the moment there are more questions than answers.

“We work tirelessly behind the scenes, constantly talking to people, but there’s nothing imminent in terms of major redevelopment of the stadium.

“In the meantime, the hard-working owners, staff and volunteers will do all we can to upgrade Odsal, not just for IMG purposes, but to benefit the fans who part with their hard-earned money every other week to come here.”

Finally, Hirst has mentioned in the past how he would love to work with Bradford Council on redeveloping and revamping the stadium, but they have well-publicised financial problems.

Asked if that avenue was closed off by the T&A, he said: “I’m a great believer that you never say never.

“We know the challenges and strife Bradford Council find themselves in, but equally, the Bradford Bulls is an historic name.

“Bradford as a city hasn’t had many world champions, the Bulls have managed that three times.

“The economic boost that brings to the city cannot be ignored and the council are aware with that.

“The ball is in the council’s court on that and while they have a lot of other priorities and we won’t be top of their list, we keep exploring that avenue.

“But there’s also public sector money from central government, and I don’t know where we are with the Levelling Up Fund with the change in government.

“I think most northern and Bradford folk would agree there needs to be money spent by the government.

“Could that be at Odsal? Who knows? But we work tirelessly to try and find solutions and opportunities.”

• THERE WILL BE ARTICLES RUNNING THROUGHOUT THE WEEK BASED ON HIRST'S INTERVIEW WITH THE T&A AT ODSAL.