Bulls players in the dark

The crisis at Bradford took a new twist when the players arrived for talks with the administrator only to discover the meeting was off.

Brendan Guilfoyle, who made 15 backroom and coaching staff redundant in efforts to cut costs, had asked the players to report for a 10am meeting at the club's training ground at Tong, near Cleckheaton but the players discovered, through a third party, that the meeting had been cancelled without explanation.

Joint captain Matt Diskin said: "We've all turned up with the impression that we were meeting Brendan Guilfoyle to find out some more news but 10 minutes beforehand we found he's not given us the courtesy of turning up."

He added: "We're in the dark, as we have been through the whole process. We don't know what is happening.

"We're heard rumours right, left and centre and some of them have come to pass now. It's very frustrating from a player's point of view to lose people we have worked very closely with over the last few years. It's been emotional as well.

"The pure lack of communication is quite disrespectful in our eyes."

Bradford are due to play London Broncos in their next Stobart Super League fixture at Odsal on Sunday amid rumours that former coach Brian Noble is set to take charge, but Diskin expressed grave reservations about the game.

"We turned up today ready to train," he said. "Everyone has got their kit but there's nobody turned up.

"There is a game scheduled for Sunday but, in all honesty, how can we fulfil that fixture without any coaching staff? We're not allowed in the gym because of health and safety reasons.

"I hope we can play the game but it's going to be very hard without any staff in place."