I am 99.9% certain that Mr. Khan will already have been promised the retention of Bradford's SL license. The "no conditions" stance is simply the RFL's public sabre-rattling.



I don't believe for one minute that he has bought the Bulls without assurances and no-one will ever convince me otherwise.



As to the mini-licensing round - purleeeeaaaassseee!!!



Now that the Bulls have been bought there is not a snowball's chance in hell of a license being given to Fax, Fev or Leigh in preference to the Bulls so just give them the bloody license and stop wasting everyone's time!

He's not really lying.It is too early to say.That is,too early to say yes,the club will remain in the top flight next season.Got to go through all the charade first and in a couple of months time,say it then.

The question that really matters, IMO, is:



Have they bought the old club (taking on the historic debt) or have they only bought the assets? If the latter, then handing them a licence would be borderline paradoxical. A mini-licensing round could well be the most embarrassing thing EVER. Worse than calling your primary school teacher 'mum'.

I really hope (if it is a newco) they (the governing body) bite the bullet and put licensing out of its misery. Interesting experiment, but this would mean it has failed. Why would anybody ever take it seriously again?

Has anybody ever taken it seriously before ?

P+R isnt the default position for the game, however much the vocal minority with their vested interests pretend it is.

Shame on any of Fev, Fax and Leigh if they participate in the farce of a mini-license bid. Why waste much needed money to give the RFL the veneer of going through due process, knowing full well that there is even less chance than ever of being awarded the franchise.



The RFL would probably state that the teams were unsuccessful in their application because of the short time-frame needed to step into SL (i.e. 2 years early)



Surely, even the most blinkered of VT'ers would admit that there is no prospect of Bradford not being awarded the license?

The trouble with this sort of conspiracy rubbish is that the conspiracy theorist has a 50/50 chance of the outcome being what he or she said, but would take that outcome as being "proof" that the conspiracy was correct.





The alternative of course, that the RFL will actually consider the matter and actually make a considered decision is a touch too radical for conspiracy theorists.



But with regard to this poster, what comes across loud and clear is that GSF obviously feels that the only sensible decision is for the Bulls to remain in SL. Well, he is probably right, and I hope they do, though I am by no means confident, I don't think anything is cut and dried. No behind-closed-doors decision has already been made, and no conspiracy exists.



The RFL's main problem is that - for obvious reasons - they really do need to push on and announce their decision urgently, in fairness to all. Just for one example, people have been asking about season tickets; how can we even start that process before we have confirmation in which league we will play?





If you mean does the decision almost make itself, yes, it makes far more sense for the Bulls to be in SL than any of the clubs mentioned. But that would only mean that a right and "obvious" decision had been made, not that there was a conspiracy!

At some level im pleased about this, but mostly i stopped being interested about 2 months ago.

Cracking post, and I'll bet you managed not 1 single giggle, smile or grin while you did it

There are other options and variations. Which is good, because we're going to need one if they let a newco Bradford into SL. You can abandon your principles [ior[/i you can stand by them, you [ican't[/i do both simultaneously. Sometimes you have to make a choice. They could [ipretend[/i that they'd retained licensing but it would be untrue and the worst choice available.

I've had reservations - but P+R wasn't working so it was worth a go perhaps. [iAssuming a creditor-ignoring newco[/i, this is the first time, [uIMO[/u, you could say [iincontrovertibly[/i it isn't as advertised.

Celtic Crusaders