Make or break to keep Bulls going

After months of difficulty and uncertainty, he revealed they are edging ever closer to a deal that will see owner Omar Khan hand over his shares.

Legal work should be completed in time for the new Super League season on February 16 and Moore, along with directors Ian Watt and Andrew Calvert will then be able to take full control.

Furthermore, RFL chief operating officer Ralph Rimmer said yesterday that the club’s business plan gave the governing body “some confidence” in what they could go on and achieve.

However, after all the financial problems of recent years, with the ridiculed former Super League champions in and out of administration and facing a third new owner in 18 months, Moore knows there simply can be no more mistakes.

“To keep the brand going it is make or break,” he said, as players posed for a 2014 squad picture yesterday, which some feared might never happen.

“It is that crucial. After Sunday’s game (a 30-18 friendly win over Hull FC) we’re very confident we can compete.

“It was a cracking match and result. If the boys carry on doing that then we don’t have to do too much more as the supporters should start coming back to us and that will help us massively from a cashflow point of view.

“However, from the business side of it we still need patience.

“We still need three to six months to get this turned around. We’re starting to see light at the end of the tunnel – it’s only small at the moment – but we’ve a plan in place to see that light.”

Moore, Watt and Calvert had made major cuts since taking over from Khan in September, but surprisingly quit on Christmas Eve after revealing they found further unexpected holes in the club’s 
finances.

The RFL pacified the situation, however, and brought them back to the table with Khan.

A deal in principle was agreed 12 days ago and should be rubber-stamped soon.

“We have to say thank you to Omar and Gerry (Sutcliffe) for actually helping us get to a conclusion with the situation,” added Moore.

“At the moment, the documents are going through the legal process. There’s quite a lot of them, but we’re hoping before Super League starts those contracts will be signed and the shares are then issued to the relevant people they’ve been agreed to.”

Watt added: “There’s been too much bad news for Bradford over the years for the supporters, club and everyone.

“It’s imperative we get it right now. We’ve got to run it as a business and that’s the problem with this place; it hasn’t been run as a business for a long time.

“Yes, it is a sports club and people run sports clubs with their hearts, but unfortunately it’s got to be with your head. That’s why we made those cuts.”

Bradford coach Francis Cummins has only seen one of his first-team players released so far as part of the clothcutting and Watt is hopeful no more materialise.

“At the moment we’re not in the process of trying to do a deal on anybody,” he added.

“Nobody’s ready to leave or anything. Time will tell but we hope to keep hold of everybody.

“We’ve already made a lot of cuts across all business sectors and we are now going to let that settle down for now.”

Meanwhile – for legal reasons – though Moore is effectively acting as chairman, he will not officially return to Bradford as a full director until after the deal is signed off.

On that handover being completed, Rimmer said: “I think it’s very close. We had a series of meetings which everyone is aware of which took place between the ownership from 2013 and the incumbent directors.

“They were pretty productive over a period of time and I think we’ve got it into a position where the club will go forth and hopefully have a successful season.

“They played on Sunday and had a very good result. I’d imagine that it has got to be dealt with fairly quickly because it would seem unreasonable that they could begin the season without some clarification over it.

“It would allow the new people in charge the opportunity to move the club forward.”

The RFL bought the lease to Bradford’s Odsal Stadium two years ago to help ease the club’s financial problems and have, at times, advanced them central money to aid cashflow.

However, Rimmer believes they can now be self-sufficient.

“It seems like the club is going in the right direction,” he added.

“As a part of the transfer of any ownership in the competition, clearly we would look to review a business plan, which was submitted and did give us some confidence in what was achievable going forward. That hurdle has been negotiated.

“The business plan that they have submitted basically indicates they can have a decent season. They certainly seem to have some commercial partners in the pipeline, which would allay some of those fears that seem to be out there.

“We’re pretty confident with the way they have approached this exercise.

“Andrew Calvert and his fellow directors have been very professional with the way they have approached this.”