Bradford try to put financial concerns to one side

The news that Australian centre Adrian Purcell suffered a heart attack after last Sunday’s loss against Leeds Rhinos was seismic.

It then emerged over the weekend that the club’s financial woe is far worse than initially thought with Bradford apparently now requiring £1.25m to see out the end of the year.

None of this, allied to the three other major injuries suffered at Magic Weekend, is ideal preparation for tonight’s televised home fixture with Castleford Tigers but Mick Potter’s resilient squad have learned already this year how to deal with unexpected pressure.

With regard to their money issues, Stephen Coulby, recently re-elected to the board of directors, says a sizeable sum – understood to be around £500,000 – is earmarked from one potential investor but that still leaves around £700,000 to be found to avoid the very real threat of administration.

For long-suffering Bulls fans, all of this may sound like deja vu.

It was they who rallied magnificently to raise more than £500,000 when the crisis-torn club originally revealed their plight in March, making a desperate plea for donations before a Good Friday deadline.

Back then, they said the same amount again would pay off current liabilities but an independent review of Bradford’s books, instigated by former chairman Chris Caisley once his successor Peter Hood and co-director Andrew Bennett stood down last month, has apparently unearthed further alarming holes.

Coulby says Bradford are currently leaking £100,000 per month and revealed Hood and Bennett had budgeted to lose more than £1m this year.

A tax bill of £250,000 following the Odsal deal with the RFL apparently remains unpaid and he also says there is a six-figure loan which he and fellow major shareholders, including Caisley, had previously been unaware of.

However, Coulby maintained encouraging progress is being made with further potential investors to steer them clear of danger although the clubare still unable to register new contracts with the RFL until they can prove their stability. For their part, the players are just doing their best to concentrate on the game in hand.

Scrum-half Luke Gale told the Yorkshire Post: “A lot of people ask us this and it is unsettling but I don’t think the boys really think about it. We just try to turn up to training and do our job every day ready for the weekend and it’s the same now.

“It could do with getting sorted sooner rather than later – the club needs to be signing players for next year – but we’re just thinking about getting two points against Castleford. I think it’s a must-win game.

“We can’t hide away from that fact.

“Castleford are coming in off the back of a loss to Wakefield and they’ll be pumped up, but we’ve got to concentrate on our own game.”

The Leeds defeat saw Bradford fall out of the top eight to be replaced by Hull KR, albeit only on points difference.

Gale, meanwhile, admits he was stunned after seeing what happened to Purtell following that defeat.

“I was sat next to Purts in the changing room and he was alright,” explained the 23-year-old.

“But on the bus on the way home it was obvious he wasn’t feeling too well and it had to stop twice before we took him to the hospital.

“It was a strange one seeing him there on the bus on a drip but I’ve spoken to him since – not about what happened – just to see how he is and he’s doing good. He’s come home from hospital now and his family is over.

“It was a shock what happened but thankfully he’s alright now.”

Super League clubs have recently agreed to a new heart-monitoring test which should, in future, detect the sort of problem which afflicted Purtell.

Many players are considering getting scanned immediately after witnessing what happened to the Bradford player and Gale admitted: “I’d not really thought about it but when something as serious as this happens it does make you think.”

Forwards Craig Kopczak (ankle), Matt Diskin (shoulder) and Chev Walker (rib) are the Bulls players who endured injury at Manchester and they are replaced in the 19-man squad by fit-again second-row Ian Sibbit, Phil Joseph, Tom Olbison and young hooker Adam O’Brien.

Goal-kicker Gale, meanwhile, insists there is more to come from himself as he continues his first season at Odsal since joining from Harlequins.

The Yorkshireman’s bright start to the campaign was blighted by an ankle problem which required surgery and he only returned last month.

“It’s been slow really and I’m still not back to full fitness,” added the former Leeds Academy player.

“Each game it gets a little easier, though, and the specialist said it’d be six weeks down the line before things start feeling back to normal.

“I was disappointed with my performance against Leeds – I thought it was poor – but I’m ready to bounce back.

“I did actually think we were unlucky against them.

“We lost three players during the game and Leeds are a hard team to beat with 17, let alone 14.”