Ok, This is madness. But I'll post anyway
Given the season so far I should be feeling that the world is about to end and that NL1 Rugby is coming and a lifetime of mockery from the Loiners is about to start.
Strangely this is not the case. At the minute I am likening my mood and outlook to that of Steve Mac earlier in the year when the masses were calling for his public and summary execution in Centenary Square. The fact that the Sack Mac barrage has subsided to a disgruntled mumble seems to suggest that quite a few people can actually see there is some direction now.
I am not sure what's contributing to this optimism but am willing to cite the fans forum responses, the OSV looking like it may actually get underway, we've already signed a decent prop for next year (and some bloke called Hall from Manly - haw haw haw) and the promise of more signings for next year seems to be real. On top of this it looks like some deadwood will be leaving us at the end of the year.
One thing for definite that is cheering me up is that the fact our desire seems to have lifted a hundred fold and we are seeing the team giving 100% each and every game.
We've witnessed some scintillating attack and some quite brutal and dogged defence and to use slaphead's words players putting their bodies on the line. Going off track only the fitness of the team is a question for me at the minute.
Looking at recent performances it's hard to see just how we ended up in this mire. In fact it feels like we've had two seasons so far. The whooping by Warrington seems eons ago.
But is the future really looking bright? For me this season will come to an end this Sunday should we lose against Cas. We've a game in hand and a win against Cas and then away at the Quinns will put us back firmly amongst the pigeons. Not bad when you consider the amount of obituaries written about us and the number of teams having great seasons who we'll be level with.
This is step 1 in the recovery of the Bulls. Getting into the play-offs would be a result in this dire season. Just a climbing of the table will make us happy at the minute.
Step 2 is the holy grail of Bradford Northern/Bulls...A new stadium! Previously we've fallen over at the planning stage because some numpty gets upset as it's not what they want eg Morrison with the Tesco stadium and Leeds/Sheffield Councils in the Superdome fiasco. This time, however, we are past this and into uncharted territory...we're good to go and we just need the money. And before all you cynical Bradfordians start and hold Leeds up as an aspiration we can't reach....
Leeds has grown at the expense of Bradford in the fact that Thatcher's government called it an 'Area of unacceptable deprivation'. They pumped millions into the area which was a total dump, gave land and rent away to attract companies into the area and lo and behold 25 years later it's leached the life out of Bradford and Bradford is now classed by the government as being an area of....you guessed it. Shame central government can't actually see they've caused the problem as all commerce moved from Bradford to Leeds to take advantage. Look at Bank Street....they all moved to Leeds...Hopefully it won't be long before this works in reverse as Leeds becomes vastly overpriced!
But I digress. Leeds was a sh1thole and to the greater extent it still is but when land was dirt cheap people invested to make money. This is the reason I feel reasonably confident that the OSV will come off. No-one would have dreamt that Brewery Wharf in Leeds would attract so much investment as it was derelict. The same is true of Bradford today and with all respect in the world it needs the Hoods of the world to kick start it because BDMC couldn't kick start a 50cc moped.
Step 3. This seems to be happening. With Lynch signed up, Hall signed from Manly, hopefully another year of the Beaver and a strong halfback we could propel ourselves back into the top 4 next year and start to rebuild our fanbase. I say top 4 purposefully as in the glory years we were top 2. Leeds have take our place in this and it'll take a couple of years to get this back but top 4 would be nice. We need to rebuild the team.
Step 4. This is down to us and the Bulls. We all need to market the Bulls. The organisation needs to give us something to be proud of and then we need to become advocates again rather than falling prey to the cynicism and self destruction about the place.
It appears that Steve Mac knew all this loooong ago. Just how he kept his enthusiasm going when all was crashing around him and trotted out the two or more things to work on line lord knows. Now we know more about the direction of the club I can see why he said this.
Just why they didn't give us some good news rather than pulling the Bird stunt to appease us I don't know!