The owners of the re-formed Championship side Bradford Bulls have acknowledged they must regain the trust of the club’s fans, saying: “We have to deliver.” They admitted they would be the only ones bankrolling the club, ruling out further outside investment, and claimed their determination to succeed was more vital than “financial sense”.
Bradford were liquidated earlier this month following a seven-week period in administration, leading the Rugby Football League to award ownership of a new club to the New Zealand businessmen Andrew Chalmers and Graham Lowe after bids were lodged by four separate parties.
Chalmers and Lowe have moved quickly to assemble a squad before a pre-season friendly against Huddersfield – a testimonial for the Giants’ former half-back Luke Robinson – on Sunday. Lowe said on Friday that 26 players – including the club’s new captain, Leon Pryce – have already been signed. The former Manly coach Geoff Toovey has been appointed as coach for the season, which Bradford will begin next month with a 12-point deduction.
Following years of mismanagement at the former Super League champions, Lowe conceded the new hierarchy have work to do to win over fans. He said: “We’ve purposely stayed out of the media and all the attention but we’ve understood what we have to do. We’re well aware of the unrest among fans and we completely and totally understand it. We can’t stand here and make false promises – we have to deliver.”
Lowe, who coached Wigan from 1986-1989 and is the co-owner alongside Chalmers, also rebuffed any suggestion they could be set to welcome further investment in the immediate term, despite Bradford set to receive only £150,000 in central funding from the RFL this year.
“I don’t see anyone else here other than me and Andrew,” he said when asked who would prop up the club. “It’s the people who are here. We haven’t even considered outside investment, we’ve just had our heads down in getting the job done and we’re very confident we’ve got a plan in place.
“It’s not a matter of financial sense, it’s a matter of heart. It’s about having the determination and we’ve got plenty of that – that’s far more difficult to maintain on a consistent basis than what money is.”
Toovey joins Bradford following a successful spell at Manly, where he worked alongside Lowe, having helped them reach the NRL Grand Final in 2013. He will arrive in the UK next week, while Leigh Beattie, a member of the club’s support staff, will take charge at Huddersfield. Lowe said there is no fixed number on the number of signings the incoming coach will be allowed to make.
“There’s 26 already here but there’s no set figure in mind for a final number,” Lowe said. “However, we won’t sign players for the sake of it. We want to leave as much as possible until Geoff gets here, because we’ve signed players in a way we wouldn’t normally. We’ve done it with only the people already here but we trust and believe their input and opinion.”
With their 12-point deduction Bradford would have to win at least half of their 30 games to reach the figure required for survival in the Championship last year, but Chalmers refused to comment on what would constitute success for the club this season.
Chalmers, the former chairman of the New Zealand Rugby League, also knocked back any fears the club could be subject to any enquiries from HMRC following their re-formation despite re-entering the Championship and using the same “Bulls” moniker as the old company.
“We’ve got to concentrate on a game on Sunday first before anything else further down the track,” Chalmers said. “There’s a whole lot of stuff that needs to be done. Bearing in mind this is a completely new entity we’ve got here, I honestly have no concerns about that whatsoever.”
