What can you say about the Bradford Bulls without turning it into a saga? It's a tragedy of epic proportions. They were one of the elite clubs, winning trophies. So what happened? We'll get there. Be patient.
Going back to 2000, Matthew Elliott completed his fourth year as coach, over 132 games in all. He moved back to Australia and was replaced by Brian Noble in 2001. The success continued, winning the league leaders shield in 2001 and 2003. Nobel moved on during the 2006 season and in came a youthful Steve McNamara.
Things were going downhill and after a mutual separation, Lee St Hilaire became interim coach. Then Mick Potter was installed as head honcho in 2011. In early 2012 the club announced it was in serious financial difficulty. Efforts to save the club failed and it was placed in receivership. Mick stayed on as an unpaid coach for the remainder of the season.
Francis Cummins came in for the 2013 season and in 2014 the club was deducted six points for entering administration early in the season. Two teams went that year with the reintroduction of promotion-relegation and Bradford left the top flight for the first time in four decades. Cummins was shown the door and in came new coach James Lowes.
In 2015, Bradford played in the Championship (division two) and then progressed to the qualifiers tournament. It ended up in a so-called Million Pound game to regain Super League status. It narrowly lost 16-24 and remained in the Championship. They failed to make the qualifiers in 2016 and by the end of the year, entered their third administration since 2012. Liquidation followed in January 2017.
A new club was formed still using the name and team colours but has not been able to regain Super League status. It even relocated and played out of town for a couple of years as the ground it was at was proving too expensive. It's back home now at its famous Odsal ground but is now only a shadow of its former self on the playing field. Sad.
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