IT was sad to see the latest episode of the Bradford Bulls soap opera end with the club’s liquidation.

Obviously it is felt hardest by those members of staff who have been thrown out of a job, the players now shopping around for new clubs and the supporters who not that long ago were watching a star-studded team lift every pot available.

But Bulls’ demise is a bitter body blow for a game that can ill afford to lose a big city club capable of bringing in five-figure crowds.

It has been a pretty spectacular demise.

In their pomp, from the outset of Super League, Bulls got it and they had an energy and a dynamism that was key to the early years of the switch to summer.

Maybe some folk in Keighley see a degree of karma here, after their Cougarmania ideas were cadged by their city neighbours before being denied a spot in the inaugural Super League.

The transformation of Northern into Bulls saw Bradford expand their supporter base and turn Sunday afternoons at Odsal into an event.

And with that they could scour the world for talent — with the likes of Henry and Robbie Paul and Lesley Vainikolo joining homegrown giants in Leon Pryce, Stuart Fielden and Jamie Peacock in a turning them into a force.

Not content with winning the Challenge Cup, Super League and World Club Challenge, the Bulls went into rugby union and even won the Middlesex Sevens.

There may even be plenty in St Helens who will mourn Bulls’ demise - for old time’s sake. In the first 10 seasons of Super League the Bulls were arguably Saints’ biggest foe with the big games ultimately ending in silverware heading to Knowsley Road.

Saints tethered the Bulls at Wembley in 96 and 97, and again conquered them in a dour clash at Twickenham in 2001.

And twice they beat them at Old Trafford, edging them in 1999 and that never to be forgotten 2002 Grand Final classic.

It was not just the finals — Wide to West and the 2004 Easter Monday fiasco were also against the Bulls.

That rivalry at the top helped Saints at a time when traditional foe Wigan were struggling.

To see Bradford in this state must be heart-breaking for those supporters, but their fall from grace raises so many questions.

If the new Bradford can get a team together, they will start next year in the Championship on minus 12 points.

It would have been better all-round if they were to start at the Championship 1 instead and their spot should have been given to relegated Whitehaven.

Surely that will have helped Bradford assemble a team, within their means, that could battle for promotion.

Instead they go into a division where they not only don’t deserve to be but will probably be out of their depth.

They will still get a reasonable level of support and that will be galvanised by the back-to-the-wall spirit.

After years of floundering, it is important that whatever club arises from the ashes builds on solid foundations.

They would be able to that that better, with more general goodwill, if they start again from the bottom and earned every single climb back up the table.