The Bradford Bulls have been issued with a winding up order that the club says is the result of a misunderstanding.
The Bulls failed to pay players wages a couple of months ago and are rumoured to have not paid last months wages as well. Now the club have been issued with a winding up order and the club claims this was due to an oversight by the accounting department.
Lets go with the Bulls on this one for a moment….
If the club failed to pay players because of an administrative error, and the club also was issued with a winding up order because of an administrative error….who has been fired?
I don’t care what business you are running, if you have two catastrophic administrative errors of this caliber, one of which leads to a winding up order, you fire your entire finance department on the spot. You get rid of them before they ruin your business.
This hasn’t happened. Why not?
The Bradford Bulls can put out all the statements they like, it is what they are not saying that speaks volumes. This is a club that was run into the ground to the point of collapse in the past. There are dozens of people that were left out of pocket when that happened. The Bradford Bulls therefore don’t get the benefit of the doubt.
Either the Bradford Bulls finance department needs replaced, or there really are massive financial issues at the club. Its one or the other.
You have to also question the Rugby Football League over all of this. They were the ones that handed the Bradford Bulls and its assets over to the current ownership. No doubt the RFL apologists will say its not the responsibility of the RFL to monitor the financial health of clubs, but those people are naive and stupid.
Clubs across the competition are struggling to survive and nothing is being done to change that. There are no measures in place for clubs to cut costs. There are no moves to increase the amount of money coming into the game.
Meanwhile, Rome continues to burn….
Eventually we will get to the point where the entire sport is being wound up. Then and only then will some people admit that we have a problem that needs to be addressed.
Link: Companies Winding Up Order List
Link: Bulls Dismiss Wind Up Order