New owners "under no illusion" about Bradford Bulls turnaround

The new owners of rugby league side Bradford Bulls have been confirmed and have acknowledged the “enormity” of their task in turning around the beleaguered club.

The Rugby Football League had announced that it had come to an agreement with an unnamed consortium to buy the liquidated club last week.

The new owners, now confirmed as former New Zealand Rugby League chairman Andrew Chalmers and Graham Lowe, former Wigan and New Zealand coach.

Andrew Chalmers said: “I am delighted that we have been given the opportunity to create what we hope will be a strong and stable club in Bradford.

“We are under no illusion of the enormity of the task that is ahead of us and that it is our job to win the trust of supporters of supporters and deliver a club that they are proud of.
“One of our first commitments to the RFL was that all season tickets for the 2017 season that have already been purchased by Bradford Bulls supporters would be honoured by the new club.

“We understand that there has been some criticism of the process and others are of course entitled to their views, but I want to make clear that at every stage the RFL have provided us with the detail and scrutiny that we expected for such an important decision.”

Lowe said: “We do not see this as a quick fix and we will work through the immediate issue of offering full-time playing contracts to the team.

“This is expected to be accomplished in the next 48 hours and following that we will look at bolstering the playing squad as necessary to replace those players who have secured contracts elsewhere.”

Chalmers added: “We are both really excited about the strength of the high performance academy and the long term pathway opportunities that flow from this.

“We understand that this is a frustrating time for fans who want to know what is happening but I can assure you that we are working long hours with all interested parties to cover a lot of ground.

“We are aware of the hunger for information and we will update our position on a daily basis as and when we are able.

“A lot of work is required in a short space of time and we anticipate a lot of exciting announcements to follow in the coming days and weeks.”

Bradford Bulls entered administration for the fourth time in as many years in November 2016 and a sale process got underway with administrators predicting a sale right up until Christmas.

It was placed into liquidation earlier this month and the RFL was negotiating with four bidders for the club before it reached its agreement last week.