The future of financially-crippled Bradford Bulls still remains "in the balance", according to administrator Brendan Guilfoyle.
Administrators still waiting for prospective buyers
The future of financially-crippled Bradford Bulls still remains "in the balance", according to administrator Brendan Guilfoyle.
The cash-strapped club are still waiting for any prospective buyer to come forward and Guilfoyle now has just a week to prevent the club from being wound up.
"I have nothing to report, which is disappointing," he said. "I think next week I'm going to have to start banging down a few doors to try and convince people that the Bulls are a good proposition."
Bradford went into administration after failing to find the £1.2million they say is required to see them through to the end of the season and they have no money to pay the players and staff their wages for July.
That puts their next scheduled Stobart Super League home game against London Broncos on Sunday week in jeopardy, although one short-term solution might be for the Rugby Football League to advance the club money from central funds.
The RFL are prevented by law from funding the wages of a club's players, but chief operating officer Ralph Rimmer and director of standards and licensing Blake Solly met the Bradford squad and coach Mick Potter yesterday to offer practical support.
Meeting with players
Solly said: "Ralph and I had a constructive meeting with the Bradford Bulls players at their training ground on Thursday evening at which details of the support the governing body is able to offer them were outlined.
"The players are understandably very concerned at the events at Bradford and the way the club has been managed and, whilst there remains a lot ofuncertainty, they were receptive to what we had to tell them.
"Because of the confidential nature of much of the information we discussed, it would be inappropriate to give further details but suffice to say, the RFL will continue to do all it can to minimise the impact of this administration on the players at Bradford Bulls."
The RFL are organising through their player welfare financial partners, Yorkshire Bank, a series of workshops and one-to-one interview sessions next week when players can receive confidential financial advice on how to deal with investments, mortgages and debt issues raised by the uncertainty.
The League has also put the Bradford players in touch with Sporting Chance, who have made their counselling service available to anyone whose health is suffering due to the stress and anxiety caused by the problems at the club.
No bids
Meanwhile, Guilfoyle insists he has yet to receive any offers for players, but is aware of interest in Bradford's England academy captain John Bateman and is planning to meet the player's manager Andy Clarke to assess the situation.
"I need to understand what his feelings and intentions are," Guilfoyle said. "I would ideally prefer to have a potential buyer alongside me for those talks because he is clearly a player of rich promise and someone you can build a team around."
