Bradford rugby league teams have played at Odsal Stadium since it opened in 1934

Former Super League champions Bradford Bulls have been liquidated after the club's administrator rejected a bid to save the club.

The Bulls entered administration for a third time in four years in November.

The administrators hoped to have a deal agreed by Christmas but turned down a bid from a consortium on 29 December.

Despite the liquidation, the Rugby Football League has confirmed that a new Bradford side could compete in the second-tier Championship in 2017.

The new Bradford team would start the season, which gets under way on the first weekend of February, with a 12-point deficit.

They would also get the lowest funding of all Championship clubs from the RFL, receiving just £150,000.

The RFL said in a statement: "To clarify the next steps for all concerned, the independent RFL board has met to determine how the future of professional rugby league in Bradford can move forward in 2017.

"While a number of alternatives were considered the board were most mindful of the planning already undertaken by all other clubs in the competition structure, the season tickets already purchased and the players and staff who will now be seeking employment in and around the sport in 2017.

"Accordingly the board has agreed that the wider interests of the sport is best satisfied if it offers a place in the Championship to any new club in Bradford and that such a club start the 2017 season on minus 12 points.

"Any interested parties should contact the RFL directly."

'Everybody has been made redundant'

Bradford Bulls general manager Stuart Duffy told BBC Radio Leeds: "The Rugby Football League have said they have contingency plans in place and someone could buy the club from the liquidators but at the moment everybody has been made redundant.

"Everyone is very disappointed because we were led to believe that things would come to a successful conclusion on Tuesday. Nobody has been paid their wages for December and we had been hoping to be paid on Wednesday, so this is a bombshell.

"This is a nightmare for everybody involved."

The RFL said it intends to "offer support to all staff and players who have had their employment terminated".

Smith up for Bulls challenge

Head coach Rohan Smith, who joined Bradford on a three-year contract last May, and the entire playing staff were among those made redundant.

But the Australian said he and many of the players would be willing to stay on under new owners to try to revive the club's fortunes.

"I would love the opportunity to continue on if the new owners and the new management and I have the same beliefs and can work together," said Smith.

"I imagine the vast majority of players would want to stay. Many have told me today they are not interested in going anywhere else."

How it came to this

Bradford Bulls, who have won the World Club Challenge three times and the Challenge Cup five times, last lifted the Super League trophy in 2005

Bradford Bulls were one of the most iconic names - and clubs - within British rugby league, having led the way when the sport switched to summer in 1996.

However, the Bulls' downfall has been swift. In March 2012 they revealed a £1m shortfall and the club was placed in administration in June. That August, Bradford Bulls Holdings Limited was sold to OK Bulls limited, a consortium led by local businessman Omar Khan.

In 2014 a second administration followed, along with a six-point penalty deduction, and they were relegated from Super League at the end of the season.

Despite reaching the Million Pound Game in 2015, the Bulls lost to Wakefield and failed to reclaim their top-tier status.

In 2016 they failed to reach 'The Qualifiers' altogether, finishing fifth in the Championship.

Analysis

James Deighton, rugby league producer for BBC Radio Leeds:

"It's an incredibly sad day for the sport both locally, and nationally, with the news of the Bulls' downfall. We can only hope that there's a will, and a way, to attempt to reform the club as happened in the 1960s.

"Having said that, when you consider that the recent administration is the club's third in four years, Tuesday's news may be an inevitable consequence of the instability at Odsal of late.

"There was a large window in time during which the Bulls led and everyone else tried to follow - however, the path that the club has trodden in recent years will be one that others will look to avoid.

"There's no doubt in my mind that Super League has been the poorer for the Bulls' relegation in 2014, and the sport will be the poorer for the club's demise in January 2017."

Reaction

Bradford Council leader, Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, said: "This is a difficult time for Bulls employees, players and fans.

"We know the RFL worked hard to support a positive outcome which would protect the interests of rugby league football in Bradford.

"I'm glad they are now taking steps to quickly re-establish the Bulls in time for the 2017 season. Everyone, including the council, is keen to get behind a new owner who can deliver a secure future for the club."

Bradford Bulls half-back Leon Pryce reacted to the news on Twitter

Yorkshire and former England cricketer Ryan Sidebottom has his say on social media</s>LONDON: English rugby league side Bradford Bulls have gone into liquidation after years of financial struggle, with administrators rejecting a bid to save the indebted former Super League champions.

"The Administrator of Bradford Bulls (Northern) Limited has confirmed that the club has ceased trading," the Rugby Football League (RFL) said in a statement on Tuesday.

The sport's ruling body added that the move was "not an entirely surprising development given the scale of debt incurred by the previous management of the club and the debilitating level of financial commitment already entered into for 2017".

The Bulls went into administration for the third time in four years in November.

An offer for the club was rejected last week and the RFL said "further late interest" by another party was withdrawn on Monday.

The RFL said, however, that a new club from Bradford would be allowed to compete in this year's second-tier championship which begins in February, but starting with a 12-point deficit.

"The RFL believes that Rugby League needs Bradford and that Bradford deserves a strong and stable professional club and will work with all interested parties to deliver that outcome," it said.

The Bulls won the Super League four times but ran into financial difficulties over unpaid taxes in 2012, when fans raised around 500,000 pounds (US$611,000) to keep the club going after banks cut their overdraft facilities.

The club was known as Bradford Northern until the launch of Super League in the 1990s led to a rebranding.</s>Four-time Super League champions Bradford Bulls have gone into liquidation after failing to secure new owners.

MORE: Todd Carney close to deciding his next move | Brett Stewart set for Manly return |

The Yorkshire club, who won the World Club Challenge on three occasions, entered administration for the third time in the space of four years last November.

Administrators turned down a bid to buy the Bulls that emerged last month, with late interest from a different party withdrawn on Monday. The Rugby Football League (RFL) is willing to offer a place in the Championship to a new club in Bradford, though they would start the 2017 season with a 12-point deduction.

An RFL statement read: "The administrator of Bradford Bulls (Northern) Limited has confirmed that the club has ceased trading.

"While this is terribly disappointing and sad, it is not an entirely surprising development given the scale of debt incurred by the previous management of the club and the debilitating level of financial commitment already entered into for 2017.

"Accordingly, the RFL, through Rugby League Cares, intends to offer support to all staff and players who have had their employment terminated by the company ceasing to trade.

"To clarify the next steps for all concerned, the independent RFL board has met to determine how the future of professional rugby league in Bradford can move forward in 2017.

"While a number of alternatives were considered the board were most mindful of the planning already undertaken by all other clubs in the competition structure, the season tickets already purchased and the players and staff who will now be seeking employment in and around the sport in 2017.

"Accordingly, the board has agreed that the wider interests of the sport is best satisfied if it offers a place in the Championship to any new club in Bradford and that such a club start the 2017 season on minus 12 points.

"The RFL believes that rugby league needs Bradford and that Bradford deserves a strong and stable professional club and will work with all interested parties to deliver that outcome."</s>Bradford Bulls, the troubled rugby league club, have gone into liquidation but there are hopes the club can be reformed in order to start the new season in the Championship with a 12-point deduction.

The former Great Britain and England player, Leon Pryce, who began his career at Bradford and re-joined them for the 2017 season tweeted: “Sorry for players staff fans - everyone involved @BradfordBullsRL we have been liquidated. For the first time in my life I’m lost for words.”

The four times Super League champions entered administration for the third time in four years in November and last week had an offer from a consortium led by the former New Zealand Rugby League chairman Andrew Chalmers rejected by the administrators, despite gaining approval from the Rugby Football League.

The former world club champions were relegated from Super League in 2014 after being docked points for going into administration.

They remain on the 2017 Championship fixture list, despite having their membership withdrawn by the RFL, but face a points deduction if they do begin the new campaign.

Press Association Sport understands the Bulls players did not receive their monthly wages on Friday, but they did resume training under head coach Rohan Smith on Monday after the Christmas break.</s>Former rugby league supremo Maurice Lindsay has called the liquidation of Bradford Bulls as 'mind-numbing'.

Four-time Super League champions Bulls, one of the most iconic names in the game, were forced into liquidation on Tuesday after their administrator rejected a bid to save the club.

Staff, who had not been paid wages for December, have been made redundant and, while the Rugby Football League has confirmed a new Bradford side could compete in the Championship this year, that team would start the season with a 12-point deficit.

'It's a very sad day for the sport,' said Lindsay who pioneered the advent of Super League and was chairman of Bradford's rivals Wigan in their heyday.

'When we began Super League, Bradford embraced it and embodied much of what we envisaged for the game,' he said. 'They had great players such as Lesley Vainikolo and Robbie Paul, a great fanbase that could match the likes of Wigan and Leeds and they had visionary leadership behind them with the likes of chairman Chris Caisley and the late Peter Deakin, who also made such a telling contribution to Saracens's success in rugby union.

'They had the razzmatazz on and off the pitch. To see this happen today is mind-numbing. I feel for the supporters and all those involved at the club. What's going to happen to them? Let's hope a white knight comes along for the sake of the supporters.

'It's a tough time for rugby league and we need to find ways of lifting the sport so this doesn't happen again.'

Bradford's interim general manager Stuart Duffy described the situation as 'a nightmare for everybody involved.' 'We found out on Tuesday afternoon. The Rugby Football League have said they have contingency plans in place and someone could buy the club from the liquidators but at the moment everybody has been made redundant,' Duffy said.

'I'm hopeful something comes of this but in what league I don't know.

'Everyone is very disappointed because we were led to believe that things would come to a successful conclusion today. Nobody has been paid their wages for December and we had been hoping to be paid tomorrow, so this is a bombshell. Everyone is in total and utter shock.' The RFL said it intends to offer support to all staff and players who have had their employment terminated.

Bradford's demise has been swift. In March 2012 they revealed a £1m shortfall and the club was placed in administration. That August, Bradford Bulls Holdings Limited was sold to OK Bulls Limited, a consortium led by Bradford entrepreneur Omar Khan.

In 2014 a second administration followed, along with a six-point penalty deduction, and they were relegated from Super League at the end of the season.

Despite reaching the Million Pound Game in 2015, the Bulls lost to Wakefield and failed to reclaim their top-tier status. In 2016 they failed to reach the qualifiers altogether, finishing fifth in the Championship.

Administrators rejected an offer last week from a consortium led by the former New Zealand Rugby League chairman Andrew Chalmers, despite approval from the RFL. Another consortium expressed interest but that fell through on Monday after the unnamed party withdrew. The club are understood to have debts of £1m and further funding shortfall of another £1m.

Several parties have already expressed interest in reforming the club with the RFL hopeful of a club being put together within the next seven days, with the hope they could begin the season as planned in the Championship. Bradford were due to begin their campaign against Hull Kingston Rovers on February 5.

Former Great Britain and England player Leon Pryce, who began his career at Bradford and rejoined them for the 2017 season, tweeted: 'Sorry for players staff fans – everyone involved @BradfordBullsRL we have been liquidated. For the first time in my life I’m lost for words.' Pryce and the rest of the squad are now free agents. They were scheduled to play their first pre-season friendly next Sunday, against Batley.</s>Bradford Bulls, the four-time Super League champions, have been placed into liquidation. The club entered administration for a third time in four years in November, although there remains hope that Bradford could be re-formed in time for the new season.

Administrators turned down a bid from a consortium last week with the club carrying debts of about £1 million and facing a further £1m shortfall. The Rugby Football League nonetheless confirmed that a new Bradford side could compete in the second-tier Championship, which starts next months. The Bulls were scheduled to face Hull Kingston Rovers on Feb 5, but any new club would carry a 12-point deduction.

The RFL said in a statement: “To clarify the next steps for all concerned, the independent RFL board has met to determine how the future of professional rugby league in Bradford can move forward in 2017.

“While a number of alternatives were considered the board were most mindful of the planning already undertaken by all other clubs in the competition structure, the season tickets already purchased and the players and staff who will now be seeking employment in and around the sport in 2017.

“Accordingly the board has agreed that the wider interests of the sport is best satisfied if it offers a place in the Championship to any new club in Bradford and that such a club start the 2017 season on minus 12 points.”</s>Four-times Super League champions Bradford Bulls have been forced into liquidation after over seven weeks in administration.

The troubled Championship club’s administrators were unable to agree a deal with the final bidder for the Bulls, having seen several other potential takeovers fall through in recent weeks.

There are now hopes that new owners can reform the club quickly enough to start the new season in just over a month’s time - and Mirror Sport understands that could be in the Championship.

Any new club would, however, be set to be deducted 12 points.

The full RFL statement reads: “The administrator of Bradford Bulls (Northern) Limited has confirmed that the club has ceased trading.

“While this is terribly disappointing and sad, it is not an entirely surprising development given the scale of debt incurred by the previous management of the club and the debilitating level of financial commitment already entered into for 2017.

“The RFL is aware of significant interest shown in the club by a number of potential bidders and one bid for the company emerged shortly before Christmas.

“This was rejected by the administrator and subsequently the further late interest shown to the Administrator by another party was withdrawn yesterday evening.

“Accordingly the RFL, through Rugby League Cares, intends to offer support to all staff and players who have had their employment terminated by the company ceasing to trade. The RFL is contacting all staff to advise them of the support it will provide.

“To clarify the next steps for all concerned, the independent RFL Board has met to determine how the future of professional Rugby League in Bradford can move forward in 2017.

“While a number of alternatives were considered the Board were most mindful of the planning already undertaken by all other clubs in the competition structure, the season tickets already purchased and the players and staff who will now be seeking employment in and around the sport in 2017.

“Accordingly the Board has agreed that the wider interests of the sport is best satisfied if it offers a place in the Kingstone Press Championship to any new club in Bradford and that such a club start the 2017 season on minus twelve points.

“The RFL believes that Rugby League needs Bradford and that Bradford deserves a strong and stable professional club and will work with all interested parties to deliver that outcome.”

Bulls player Leon Pryce, a former Super League winner and World Club champion with the club, was among the first to take to Twitter over the liquidation.

Pryce had only just returned to the club after spells at St Helens, Catalans and Hull FC.

He wrote: “Sorry for players staff fans - everyone involved @BradfordBullsRL we have been liquidated. For the first time in my life I'm lost for words.”</s>When the sport switched to a summer season in 1996, the old Bradford Northern reinvented themselves.

As the rebranded Bulls they came kicking and charging into the new era and anything seemed possible.

Odsal Stadium, an inhospitable giant hole in the ground in the winter months, became rugby league's summer hot-spot.

Crowds doubled and tripled as the fabulously successful Bulls blasted their way to silverware success to a back drop of memorable matchday entertainment.

There was live music, fire-eaters, light shows and fireworks. It was rugby league rock and roll, on and off the field.

Multiple Challenge Cups, Championships and World Club titles were won and Odsal's capacity was frequently tested by a booming, bouncing fanbase.

The club was colourful, noisy and wonderfully good fun.

But those good times weren't to last.

The 2006 World Club Challenge was their last major success.

Suddenly the Grand Finals at Old Trafford, the showdowns against the best of the Australian clubs and a powerful presence at rugby league's top table ended.

A temporary slip in playing standards, part of the cycle of sport, was magnified by colossal mismanagement. It was the start of the plunge down the Super League table, into a string of administrations, relegation to the Championship and now liquidation.

The first of the crises became public knowledge in 2012 when Peter Hood, the then chairman, revealed a £1m black hole and the club went into administration in June of that year.

Coach Mick Potter was made redundant but carried on unpaid until the end of the campaign.

Fans rallied around to raise the £1m, but saw every penny disappear in a desperate but futile attempt to steady the ship.

Instead, a new consortium fronted by local businessman Omar Khan took over the club in August 2012, the first in a series of ownerships by different groups that have come and gone as the club continued to slip towards its current state.

With six points deducted for another financial calamity in 2014, the club was relegated.

A year later, defeat by Wakefield in the Million Pound game prevented an immediate return to Super League. And more financial woes followed.

Now the club is at the lowest it has been in the modern era. With the old club liquidated, there is even a chance that the name of the Bradford Bulls may cease to exist.

That's unlikely to happen, though. More probable is that a new club will be formed, maybe even rebranded, and launched again in the Championship this year with a 12-point deduction.

The Rugby Football League reports plenty of interest in breathing life back into the currently defunct club, but that would be on the buyer's terms. No debts need be honoured.

That will leave a bad taste in the mouth of those owed money by this most recent business collapse. And many will be disappointed that a succession of owners have not been held to account for their mishandling of the club.

The RFL's role in being part of the process of approving some of those owners must also be questioned. To get it wrong once is forgivable, but three or four owners have come and gone after satisfying the scrutiny of the RFL and all have failed the Bulls' fans.

For the sake of the reputation of the governing body, the next owners must deliver something other than failure. This time it will be the RFL alone who decide who the new custodians of the club will be, so they will be accountable for their authenticity.

Nor does it feel entirely comfortable that a new club should be placed straight back into the Championship. Even with a 12-point deduction they still have a chance of immediate promotion in the game's new Super 8s set-up.

There are several clubs in League One, who, having lived by the financial rules, possibly wouldn't mind being elevated into the higher league, even at this late stage of the pre-season.

Putting Bradford right back where the last club failed has a scent of flippancy around it; a disregard for those who have lost heavily investing in the previous failed venture.

But all that said, rugby league does need a buoyant Bulls to come bouncing back.

The game as a whole has gone a little grey over the last few years for all sorts or reasons - a sense of lowered playing standards, international failure, big stars exiting for the brighter lights of the NRL.

If someone could take Bradford back to those Friday nights of glitz and glamour and gladiatorial rugby league, it would reinject some of the sense of excitement that we had in the first 10 years of Super League.

Some of the biggest and most memorable games watched by the largest crowds in the summer seasons have involved Bradford Bulls.

The sport is getting something very new this year with the coming of the Toronto Wolfpack. But a little bit of the exciting old being restored would be very welcome too.</s>IT IS “essential” a new club rises from the ashes of Bradford Bulls, Leeds Rhinos chief executive Gary Hetherington says.

The four-time Super League winners ceased trading yesterday following the collapse of a last-gasp attempt to buy the cash-strapped club.

The Rugby Football League are hopeful a reformed club will be up and running in time for the new season next month and have confirmed any new Bradford outfit would take a place in the Kingstone Press Championship, beginning with a 12-point deduction.

Rhinos and Bulls were fierce rivals – meeting twice in summer era Challenge Cup finals and two Grand Finals – until Bradford’s relegation in 2014.

Responding to news Bulls had been liquidated, Hetherington said: “One can only hope the club finds new owners who have got the ability and vision to restore it to preeminence as a leading club in the game.

“That’s essential for the game as a whole, not only in Bradford. The game wants to see a vibrant and successful club in Bradford.”

Bulls were placed in administration, for the third time in five years, two months ago.

“It is clearly a very sad end to what has been a really traumatic period in Bradford Bulls’ history, Hetherington added.

“That extends now to probably the last five or maybe six years. The club’s had a succession of different owners and each one has ended up in difficulty.

“It’s a sad reflection of what’s gone on at Bradford and sad that a once-great club can find itself in such difficulty.

“One feels particularly for the club’s army of supporters and volunteers.”

Castleford Tigers have confirmed their support for Bradford.

In a statement issued before liquidation was announced, Tigers chief executive Steve Gill said: “Our position must be made clear on this issue.

“We are in full support of the Bradford Bulls club and sincerely hope that they continue to be part of the RFL and although we have been offered players who are still contracted to Bradford Bulls, we have declined them, as it doesn’t fit in with the integrity we have as a club.”

Defending the decision to offer any new club a place in the Championship, rather than League One, an RFL statement said: “While a number of alternatives were considered the board were most mindful of the planning already undertaken by all other clubs in the competition structure, the season tickets already purchased and the players and staff who will now be seeking employment in and around the sport in 2017.

“Accordingly the board has agreed that the wider interests of the sport is best satisfied if it offers a place in the Kingstone Press Championship to any new club in Bradford and that such a club start the 2017 season on minus 12 points.”

The administrator turned down a bid to buy the club before Christmas. Another consortium withdrew their interest yesterday, prompting the decision to cease trading and make staff redundant.</s>It was perhaps the opening few words of the Rugby Football League’s statement regarding the liquidation of Bradford Bulls which struck the most telling chord of all. “While this is terribly disappointing and sad,” they said, “it is not an entirely surprising development given the scale of debt incurred by the previous management of the club and the debilitating level of financial commitment already entered into for 2017.”

But this was not the result of a few months of off-field troubles for the former Super League champions, more the culmination of years of mismanagement for a club who blazed a trail for so many at the start of rugby league’s switch to summer in 1996. At the height of what was dubbed Bullmania, it was not uncommon to see 20,000 people inside Odsal. When the Bulls played what has proved to be their final game in October, there were just 3,518 present. It was a telling indictment of how far the club had fallen.

Those who have played a part in dragging a club who were world champions just 11 years ago to its knees should be ashamed. Three administrations in four years, relegation from Super League in 2014 and a failure to subsequently gain promotion have all combined to lead the club to their lowest point – but what now?

The RFL has already confirmed that a new club should be formed within the coming days and will take the old entity’s place in the Championship this season, albeit with a 12-point deduction and severely-reduced central funding. On a dark day for rugby league and the city of Bradford, that is at least a rare glimmer of light in all of this.

Encouragingly, the RFL has already fielded several expressions of interest about starting a new club – and with that, there is hope. Any new company will start debt-free – rather than facing the £1.2m-plus the previous company owed to creditors – and it also has an opportunity to cut its cloth accordingly. In many ways, it is a blank canvas and the RFL will ensure only those with the club’s best interests at heart are afforded this opportunity which has now presented itself.

Placing the new club straight back in the Championship as opposed to the bottom tier, League 1, is a decision which will naturally be seen as controversial by some. But redevising fixture lists – which for League 1 clubs include the newly-introduced transatlantic trips to Toronto – were unfeasible, say RFL sources. Thousands of Bradford fans had bought season tickets on the assumption they would get Championship rugby – how would they be refunded? These are all problems which led the RFL to their decision, rightly or wrongly.

But as encouraging as a new start for rugby league in Bradford could be, it is a process which will be intertwined with difficulties in its infancy. How, for starters, do the prospective new owners begin to build a squad capable of competing and overhauling a 12-point deduction this season?

All the players are now free agents and many will sign elsewhere. Some, it is believed, already have and clubs already spending the salary cap will be given special dispensation to bring in former Bradford players. This is not a plan which can be carefully executed over a period of several months: Bradford are due to start the new season at Hull Kingston Rovers in four weeks.

Will their coach, Rohan Smith (who should emerge through this process which a huge amount of credit for the way he has handled it), decide he wants to stay? That should be any new owners’ priority: keeping the highly-regarded Australian would be a significant building block from which to start.

However that only addresses the problems on the field - which have to be solved with around £100,000 less central funding than the club were expecting for 2017. The RFL will offer the new club a chance to stay at their Odsal home on the same terms as the previous club, but there are a myriad of issues for new owners to solve to have a fully-functioning professional club up and running in just a few weeks, as well as the business-related practicalities of starting a new company from scratch.

For the good of the sport, this will hopefully not be the end of rugby league in Bradford, more the closing of a catastrophic chapter. History has taught us that clubs can reform and rebuild; Bradford did it themselves in 1964 after all. This, perhaps, is an opportunity for change and for a forward-thinking owner to start afresh but it will not be an easy road for whoever decides they want the sizeable task of trying to restore one of rugby league’s biggest names.
The English rugby league club the Bradford Bulls goes into liquidation after years of financial problems.