Bradford Bulls have secured another stay of execution, this time until 27 July, meaning their players should be paid on Friday and allowing them to fulfil their next fixture at Leeds.
But the longer-term prospects for the four-time Super League champions remain uncertain, even after lengthy talks between the Rugby Football League and a consortium of local businessmen who are exploring the possibility of rescuing the club.
The consortium, which is understood to include a former Great Britain amateur international and the Akbars restaurant chain, are seeking guarantees from the RFL about Bradford's future Super League membership, and the terms on which they could buy back Odsal, the club's famous old ground which was bought by the game's governing body last winter in an unusual deal worth around £1.3m.
But the league would need to be wholly convinced by the consortium to accede to those requests, and may not be in a position to do so anyway as the other Super League clubs would have to back Bradford's continued membership of the elite competition. However, the RFL has provisionally agreed to forward the Bulls their next chunk of the Super League television contract with Sky to allow the administrator, Brendan Guilfoyle, to pay the players their wages for July.
"We have approached the RFL to ask if they would advance payments to the club to enable us to pay July's wages for retained staff and players, on Friday," said Guilfoyle. "They have agreed in principle subject to due diligence. We are very grateful for all their support – they have seconded a finance team to help us respond to all the requests for information."
Guilfoyle added that the consortium "has not yet made a formal offer. They want to see the full extent of losses expected over the next 18 months and ensure they have sufficient funds in place before making a formal offer."
Bradford's players remain in a state of limbo. They have won their last three matches to climb to sixth in the Super League table, but as things stand they do not have a coach to lead their preparations for the local derby at Headingley on Friday week. Mick Potter, who was sacked with the rest of his staff by the administrator last Monday but returned on an unpaid basis for Sunday's win against London Broncos, had a meeting with the acting chief executive Gary Tasker on Tuesday, but no arrangements have been made for him to take charge again.ard."