New Ownership Model unveiled at Bradford : Wed Oct 23, 2019 9:28 pm  

Apparently Wood has thrown his weight behind a new venture, whereby the Chairman of Dewsbury will buy 25% of the Club and Perez will front it as Temporary Chairman. It is unclear if Wood will be an investor or just ad advisor.

A number of questions arise from this, but the one I am keen to explore first, is joint ownership of more than one club, especially in the same division,as Dewsbury Rams and Bradford Bulls will be in 2020. The last time something like this happened IIRC, was when Ian Lenegan wanted to continue to invest in Harlequins Rugby League as well as buying Wigan Warriors. I believe that Nigel Wood recommended that he not be allowed do this and the resultant mess ended up with London dropping from 4.900 fans to 1,150 and out of Super League. I wonder why 1 person can now own 2 clubs in the same competition when this was blocked a decade ago?

Next is conflict of Interest. Wood, apparently a lifelong Bradford fan, was up until recently an RFL employee. He now has a position at the IRL and therefore influence in same way at the RFL. If he's there as an advisor only, then I suspect Bradford will be gone by the middle of next season.

Then there's Perez?
He has said he is paving the way for a new owner.....no call me a cynic if you like, but this sniffs like another club being bought with an eye on moving it across the pond. If not, then why is Perez not spending 100% of his time getting his other project OTTAWA up to the starting gate? Perez hasn't a pot to pee in, Bradford have used and been used by a number of charlatan investors and Ican only assume (because we're never given the facts) that Argyle or one of his mates is the real financial muscle here.

I feel for the Bradford fans who have stuck with them, but surely this is the last throw of the dice?

Re: New Ownership Model unveiled at Bradford : Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:02 pm  

Last roll of the dice? We’ve sold the dice about 2 meltdowns ago...

It’s not admin which must be the only positive but yup it stinks to high heaven again but as fans all we can do is wait until February to see if we have a team to go watch. Gone passed caring now it’s not worth getting worked up about anymore because you know it’s only going to be stop gap and then come the next mountain.

Re: New Ownership Model unveiled at Bradford : Thu Oct 24, 2019 5:36 am  

AXE2GRIND wrote:

I wonder why 1 person can now own 2 clubs in the same competition when this was blocked a decade ago?

They still can't though they can be a minority shareholder in a second. From memory, didn't Lenagan hold shares at London for a while after he shipped out to Wigan?

Re: New Ownership Model unveiled at Bradford : Thu Oct 24, 2019 7:24 am  

I just hope it isn't some snakes scheme of moving the Bradford "franchise" to America and leave the Bulls fans high and dry.

Re: New Ownership Model unveiled at Bradford : Thu Oct 24, 2019 8:19 am  

Willzay wrote:

I just hope it isn't some snakes scheme of moving the Bradford "franchise" to America and leave the Bulls fans high and dry.

Perez did a great job launching Toronto and helping them get to where they are, a remarkable effort.
But, just what is going on ?

Bradford playing out of Dewsbury may be a runner in the short term but, surely, without a move back to Bradford in a 2-3 year time frame, their identity will just disappear and you wouldn't be surprised for the dreaded "merger" question to arise.
However, with Wood and Perez now apparently involved, just about anything could happen.

It could be great news but, it all looks just a little bit weird and you get the feeling that Bradford's place in the Championship may be "on the move"

Re: New Ownership Model unveiled at Bradford : Thu Oct 24, 2019 8:32 am  

Perez is only there for a few months to try and bring in sponsorship/investment. The whole consortium are actively looking for a permanent chairman after Brereton withdrew (for reasons as yet unknown).

And there's a reason Sawyer owns 24.99% of the shares, and the decimal point should give you a clue.

Re: New Ownership Model unveiled at Bradford : Thu Oct 24, 2019 9:18 am  

Nothus wrote:

Perez is only there for a few months to try and bring in sponsorship/investment. The whole consortium are actively looking for a permanent chairman after Brereton withdrew (for reasons as yet unknown).

And there's a reason Sawyer owns 24.99% of the shares, and the decimal point should give you a clue.

Size of your share holding is only one of the things that can make you a Person of Influence at a club (you can only be a PoI at ONE club) and I would have thought that some of the things Sawyer is suggesting that he's doing at the Bulls (eg negotiating budgets with the RFL) could quite easily take him into one of those definitions.

Re: New Ownership Model unveiled at Bradford : Thu Oct 24, 2019 11:11 am  

It wouldn't be an off-season without the latest tribulations of Bradford Bulls.

If I supported them I would be beyond jaded by now.

Oh well, I suppose a little light is better than no light at all.

Re: New Ownership Model unveiled at Bradford : Thu Oct 24, 2019 11:45 am  

The Devil's Advocate wrote:

It wouldn't be an off-season without the latest tribulations of Bradford Bulls.

If I supported them I would be beyond jaded by now.

Oh well, I suppose a little light is better than no light at all.

Yep, I thought to be a Trinity fan took some doing but Bradford in recent years have taken it to a whole new level. Under all the current crud there is a potentially decent RL club, not the super club some seem to think, not the SL monster built on sand, but a potentially good SL club all the same. At the moment though that looks a million miles away, its a crying shame.

Re: New Ownership Model unveiled at Bradford : Thu Oct 24, 2019 12:22 pm  

The Devil's Advocate wrote:

It wouldn't be an off-season without the latest tribulations of Bradford Bulls.

If I supported them I would be beyond jaded by now.

Oh well, I suppose a little light is better than no light at all.

Most Bradford fans have come to learn that when there's a light at the end of the tunnel, it's usually an on coming train.