No offers yet for Bulls

Bradford: Friday night's game at Wigan could yet be the club's last unless buyers are found

Brendan Guilfoyle admits there has been no concrete offer to buy Bradford over 24 hours on from the club being placed in administration.

It was announced on Tuesday that the Bulls had gone into administration, leaving them 10 working days to find new investment or be liquidated.

Guilfoyle and Chris White, from insolvency firm The P&A Partnership, were appointed to try and save the club and there was some early interest.

However, with just nine days left to avoid the Bulls becoming extinct, there has yet to be any firm bid to help save the financially-crippled Super League club.

Withdrawn interest

"Understandably, the fans will be asking what happened to that money now the club has gone into administration. The answer to that is for a later day."
Stephen Coulby Quotes of the week

"I received one unsolicited offer which buoyed me up but the expression of interest was then withdrawn," he said.

It is understood Bradford owe £98,000 in PAYE tax from May and the same amount for June, plus an outstanding VAT bill of £250,000 from the sale of their Odsal Stadium lease to the Rugby Football League.

There are also wages to pay although with no overdraft facilities, the club are virtually penniless and Guilfoyle has warned he may have to make redundancies.

"I've not had any approaches from other clubs," he added. "My preference is to have a buyer alongside to provide a guide to the future. I am not soliciting offers."

Bradford director Stephen Coulby, who returned to the club in May in an effort to find fresh investment, admits there are still questions to be answered over the handling of the club's financial crisis.

Desperate

With wages to pay as well, the situation is desperate for a proud club that won four Super League titles between 1997 and 2005.

"Understandably, the fans will be asking what happened to that money now the club has gone into administration," Coulby said. "The answer to that is for a later day.

"I don't know the answer because my efforts have been in trying to bring new money to supplement the £500,000 raised by the fans but the administrator has given an undertaking that it will come out in time, along with other matters which he will be looking into as part of his administration."

The Bulls are set to lose up to six points after breaching the RFL's insolvency rules, which would end their lingering play-off hopes for this season.

However, of greater concern may be their long-term future in Super League - the RFL would have to agree to transfer their licence to any new owners.

After meeting with the RFL at Red Hall, Guilfoyle said: "They were supportive of what I'm trying to achieve, as you would expect.

"It was a good exchange of information. I've never worked in this industry before."