IS THE plight of Bradford Bulls, along with the sacking of coach Mick Potter and a number of staff, something that hurts the English game?

To be honest I think all it highlights is the state of the world economy, and the fact that almost everywhere is in a recession and times are tough.

Most sports need crowds to generate their income and ensure their turnover and unfortunately, in rugby league, some clubs get really good crowds but others don’t.

With the salary cap, clubs need good crowds if they are going to be able to compete.

If as a club you haven’t got a very kind chairman – not everyone is lucky enough to have someone like Huddersfield do in Ken Davy – you can end up where Bradford have ended up.

But it’s tough for everyone, and at Bradford you have a whole load of people who work there who have been told that they are not getting paid any more – while the evidence shows they have been doing a good job.

For a start, if you picked a coach of the year in Super League at the moment then it is Mick Potter hands down.

When Mick took over Bradford they were in an absolute mess and stuck down at the bottom of the table, but he has picked them up and taken them on from there and it looked as though they were comfortably going to be in the play-offs this year.

They have been playing well this season and they showed that when they beat Wigan at Wigan the other day.