Bradford Bulls CEO proud of finances given Dewsbury debacle

The club’s financial score did not improve in yesterday’s IMG rankings from a year ago, a slight surprise given Bulls have been turning a profit while others are making giant losses.

But as Hirst said, while IMG is important, his main goal will always be having a sustainable club that continues to progress, one that is never at risk of administration or liquidation ever again.

He told the T&A: “We’d have liked that financial score to have been higher, but it is what it is.

“What’s more important to me than that is the sustainability of this club, and I say that for obvious reasons.

“We’ve had administrations and liquidation, so getting one point more for finance under IMG is not what’s really important, it’s that this club has posted a profit.

“We’re one of the few clubs that have done that and it means we’re currently on a sound footing.

“I only have to cast my mind back four years ago, when the chairman (Nigel Wood) came in, the club were playing at Dewsbury.

“It’s my opinion that if the chairman hadn’t delivered on his promise to bring the club back to Bradford, we wouldn’t be sat in this room now talking about the Bulls.

“My opinion is that the Bradford Bulls wouldn’t have survived at Dewsbury.

Bradford Bulls playing at their unwanted home of Dewsbury against London Broncos in February 2020. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

“We’ll be forever grateful to (their chairman) Mark Sawyer and the Dewsbury club for housing us, but we’ve come back to Bradford.

“The patient, if you like, was resuscitated and it’s now well on its way to recovery.”

Reflecting on the progress since his appointment as CEO, Hirst said: “I’ve been CEO for almost two and a half years, and thanks to the hard work of many people here, with all their effort, money, blood, sweat and tears, this club is unrecognisable from when I took that job.

“I defy anybody who knows the club to sensibly argue against that point.

“You might have the odd old person sat behind a keyboard at home who might have a different opinion, but I think if people are being honest and they take the time to reflect, they can look back to two and a half years ago.

“If you’d have said then, when we were about to finish ninth and there was a lot of apathy around the place, both on the terraces and internally, that in October 2024 we’d have just finished third two years in a row, I think people would have been sceptical, shocked and surprised.

“We continue to make strides forward and people will perceive that we’ve had a couple of blows recently, losing our head coach (Eamon O'Carroll) and dropping from 14th to 16th in the IMG standings, but neither of those are terminal.

York were miles behind Bradford in the indicative gradings 12 months ago, but have now overtaken them after a good year. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

“Eamon was a great coach who helped move the club forward, but that era is now over and it’s all about who comes in next to take us that step further again.

“We continue to get better on and off the field and while I appreciate there will be fans who’ve got some concerns over what’s happened in the past week.

“But my clear message to them is not to worry or panic and trust in what myself, my team and the owners are doing at this club.

“I firmly believe that 2026 will be our year, both in terms of on-field success and moving up the IMG gradings ladder.”

Hirst’s point about Bradford Bulls being on a sustainable footing taking precedence over their IMG financial score is a sound one.

But does it rankle with him that other clubs are all over the place financially and seemingly getting away with it?

St Helens finished top of the IMG rankings yesterday, yet last month they confirmed their losses for the year ending 2023 were an eye-watering £1.3million, more than triple the previous year, and they only expect things to get worse.

Hirst said: “You could reason that that’s a flaw in the system, but the devil’s in the detail and people will always find a different way to skin the cat.

St Helens are losing money at an alarming rate, yet IMG have them top of the rankings system. (Image: PA.)

“I think there’s something in what you say, but I’m quite calm about it all.

“The most important thing for me and our club is that we’re solvent and sustainable.

“As long as we continue to do that, we’re giving our fans what they want, a club that’s got a future and will go forward.

“IMG is important obviously, but there’s nothing more important to me as Bulls’ CEO than the club being on a financially secure footing.

“We don’t want the fans picking up the paper on a morning and reading that we’ve gone into administration or liquidation.

“If that does mean we stay in the Championship a little while longer, so be it, that’s better than the alternative.”

Hirst’s continued mentioning of Bradford’s supporters is because he knows how they give back to the club in earnest.

Bulls’ Fandom score increased markedly in yesterday’s rankings from 3.95 to 4.2, showing the continued engagement of supporters with the club both in person and on social media.

Hirst said: “I’m very proud of that score, and that’s thanks to people like our media manager Luke Mawson, who works tirelessly, he goes beyond the call of duty like everyone in my team, and he does it because he loves this club.

“I also want to shout out our fans themselves and I thought it was telling that Halifax broke the news of their IMG score a minute before we did on social media, and yet they’d had no comments on it within 15 minutes and we’d had 50 in that same time period.

“That shows the level of engagement with fans that we have, and it also demonstrates that the Bradford Bulls is a different beast to every other club outside of Super League.

There was a raucous atmosphere at Odsal earlier this month when Bradford saw off Featherstone in a play-off eliminator. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

“There’s interest in our club from our supporters, from fans of other clubs, there’s conjecture and there are conspiracy theorists.

“The expectations on our club’s staff, coach and players are far, far above what is the norm for other non-Super League clubs in this country.

“To work at this club, you need to be resilient, as while there’s pressure at all non-Super League clubs, I’d put every last penny I’ve got on there being no greater pressure than working at the Bulls.

“It carries a weight of expectation, but you have to embrace that, because if you’re frightened of it, it’ll consume and drown you.”

Explaining why the off-field team do what they do, Hirst said: “Every decision we make, no matter how large or small, is done for the betterment of this club, and to hopefully improve the experience and expectations of our loyal fans.

“Those decisions aren’t always popular, and they’ll divide opinion because we live in a democracy and people are entitled to their views.

“But as I said earlier, we’ve made giant strides in the last two and a half years.

“For us to be posting a small profit is a minor miracle, in rugby league terms.

“We thank all our fans for their support, and we understand some of their frustrations, but I’d just ask them again to trust me and my team.

“I don’t believe we’ve let them down over anything major in the last two and a half years, and while we get some decisions wrong, I think we get the majority of them right.

“I’m convinced that this club has got not only a sustainable future, but a successful one in the short term, over the next one to two years.

“In 12 months’ time, if we’re sat here talking again, I’m sure we’ll be talking about continued improvement in 2025.”