that felt like the club was taking the mick when they wheeled out Robbie and Sam to encourage us to pledge? If we still had the players of the quality of those two, then we wouldnt be scrabbling around trying to get people to buy season tickets!!!! fab... When Sam's career hits the skids, or he needs to top up his pension, he'll come back! We need the likes of Robbie and Sam on the field!!!!! We've tried the "lets have a big squad of half decent players" approach, we now need a signing or two to excite us, and make us think that we might have a chance of getting into the top 8 (dont get me started on my feelings that we should scrap the top 8 and go back to the top 5)

Next marketing ploy will be mailing all the fans of the clubs in the top eight under the strap line of
"Bradford Bulls, providing players for all 8 playoff qualifying clubs!"

I am fuming! can you tell?

Robbie, no. He's a Bulls legend full stop and good on him for always talking the club up and getting behind us.

Sam, sorry but to be told to support the club by a 22 year old who demanded to leave before his contract was up? And this 'if I come back to UK it'll be to the Bulls'. Yeah I felt the same way.

i dont think the club ever expected to reach the target this year.it has been rushed and not as well marketed as last year.cant remember the closing date for pledges last time around but thought it was well after the grand final,could be wrong.it all seemed very half hearted this time.or have they got a something up their sleeves?

The only thing they have up their sleeves seem to be a stack of bills that need paying and that's why the pledge was rushed in (according to Andrew Bennett), to get some cash coming in.

The thing is, being able to demonstrate to sponsors and other corporate sources of income that we have a minimum assured fan base of x has a significant bearing on the income the club is able to generate from such sources. And being able to pull in cash earlier than might otherwise be the case has a massive impact on the club, since they do not have to leave a load of cash from the previous season sat in the bank to cover the lastr few months of the year - and so can spend more, earlier. Add to that that the club has far more certainty of it s gates income this way than just waiting to see who walks up on the day.

All those issues are relevant to the club being able to sign and retain talent like you said. If enough of the fans decline to do their bit, its catch-22: the club has less to spend (or less to feel safe in spending) so you are LESS likely to get and retain such players.

All those people who declined to pledge, for whatever reason, might want to think about that?

And as for this "committing to an indeterminate amount" business - that was not the case, was it? the pledge wording is "You must promise to buy one or more Membership Packages[u=#800000 at the entry point of just £75[/u..." - you were only promising to pay at that price point. You were NOT giving any commitment to pay at a higher price. I thought that was quite clear?

TBF Adey I think the whole pledge scheme is a bit of an alien concept to most people, and it kind of needed spelling out a little more simplistically. The whole "membership" as opposed to "season ticket" I think confused a lot of floaters last season, but, you would think this second time around people would surely appreciate this now.



(Sorry can't quite phrase what I mean to say)

If it was me, I would be tempted to state something like that "...the pledge total is disappointing, but can understand reasons why (even if some of them might be misguided). However, now people can see the "final" total, they can see the "final" prices. And, the following are some additional consequences of not hitting the target that the waverers or refuseniks may not have appreciated..."

And then say that if those who hesitated want to make a difference, we will leave the pledge open for a further seven (?) days, and all further pledges received in that period will count to the total. And this is what the prices will fall to at each additional x pledges. And make it clear that you are NOT helping the club one tiny bit by saying you'll not pledge but pay full price on matches you attend, thinking you'll actually HELP the club by paying more.

I just hope things are not so time-sensitive that the Club could not even allow that long.

And yes, Steam Pig - if there are people who felt that they WERE committing to an unquantified amount then the club has fekked up the explanation of the scheme?

I love this discussion malarkey!

I get the whole thing about why we need the money. I am educated enough and read enough of Adeys posts to realise the financial situation our club finds itself in. I also under stand (now that ive taken more time and been guided by fellow fans) that the pledge was a committment to the £75 level. the point of my posts is not about me giving excuses about why i havent pledged, or seeking some approval, which I wont get on here because in the main people on here are the "die hards" of which so much is spoken.

the point is that the die hards will by season tickets at £75 or £175. Its the less dedicated that make this scheme work or not. Had the product matched the hype, then more people would have pledged again, simple as that.

When Bradford City started their cheap season tickets it was not sold to them as the start of a new era, it was sold to them as "lets get as many bums on seats as we can to support our team". to that end, no promises were made or broken. Like many on here, I feel very let down by the performances on the pitch in the last 8 months, but had we had the pledge sold to us as "one step along the road to success" perhaps we could have stomached it more than all the Harry Potter rubbish!

Having Sam Burgess and Robbie back the pledge was pretty pointless. like the end of BUllseye (the tv show not the mb member) "Let's have a look at what you could have won"!

I understand that every budget the club has is lower than it was under CAisley. I also understand that Hood's frugality has saved our club, from itself. However, Bradford BUlls exists as a rugby league club, and that means people will judge its success by results and the league table. Our club's performance has been in decline since 2005 and a much hyped and heralded "new era" brought about the most minute of improvements, one single point.

also,

is there anybody on here who thought that 12000 season tickets / members was attainable?

10000 would have been sufficiently challenging. how many people didnt pledge because they kind of knew that it wouldnt happen this year? HOw can a season like our attract more new members?

Last season the reaction I received when I tried to sell the pledge to non-rugby work colleagues was "what's the catch?". You'd have thought this season those doubters would realise there wasn't a catch.......apart from woeful on-field performances.
In my view the whole situation we're in now falls squarely on the shoulders of the playing staff.

Agree 100%



Agree pretty well 100%. Except we'll likely never know the extent to which you have to add in the coaching staff too? I wish more of the semi-fans had pledged; but the rubbish we saw all too too often on the park last year was bound to put more than a few off doing so.

Yep,I was including the coaching staff. I should have differentiated between on-field and off-field staff