BULLS chairman Marc Green has been “blown away” by the number of supporters who have bought season-ticket memberships for next season.

As the Bulls gear up for their first campaign outside of the top flight for over 40 years, around 2,300 packages for the 1863 Members Club have so far been sold.

The target figure is 4,000 but Green revealed that, unlike last term when hundreds of free season-tickets were handed out, nearly all of next year’s will be paid for.

Season-ticket prices at Odsal in 2015 are more expensive than some Super League clubs but the membership package includes additional benefits and discounts at over 150 local businesses.

Green told the T&A: “We’ve sold 2,300 so far and I’ll be honest, I’m blown away by that figure.

“Last year, the club allegedly had 3,500 season-ticket holders, for which we obviously received no revenue from, having taken over the club in March.

“However, what I can tell you is that of those 3,500 season-ticket holders, 700 were 'freebies' or complimentary.

“Obviously there are some season tickets in 2015 that go within packages to sponsors – but of the 2,300 members, less than 100 are complimentary and there will not be any more.

“When we put out our figure on members, it will be an accurate, true figure of the people who have subscribed to the club.”

Asked if he was confident of selling the 4,000 memberships the club need to break even, Green said: “I believe that we will be there or thereabouts.

“To be fair, if we hit the figure we reached last year, based on the fact that ours will nearly all be paid for, then we will have done well.

“But what is encouraging me more than anything is that of all those who have signed up to the Members Club, just under 14 per cent are new members.

“These are people who have distanced themselves from the club and haven’t held a season-ticket or been to a game for more than two years.

“So we are managing to bring people back into the sport, which has to be good for the stability of the club.

“I know for a fact that we are outselling a number of Super League clubs.

“Not only that, we are doing it having put our prices up.

“We’ve charged more for the membership but of course supporters get all the extra benefits that it entails.”

The Bulls also recently launched the Kick-Off Membership, which allows fans to join the 1863 Members Club for £60, which includes entry to one game next season and a range of discounts.

Green explained: “We want to hit 4,000 on the main membership and then have a sizeable number on the Kick-Off membership on top of that. One guy who works in Croatia has signed up.”

Green said shirt sales of the home and away jersey had exceeded expectations and said of the new away strip: “We wanted a shirt design that was strong, fierce, fiery and powerful which was unlike any shirt we had seen before.

“We also wanted to make sure that, as with the home shirt, we distanced ourselves from any of the designs of recent years.

“Supporters from other clubs have said on social media that we now have the best two shirts in the game, so in that sense we’ve achieved our goal.”

Halifax have announced a dual-registration agreement with Hull KR in 2015, enabling the Championship side to select Super League standard players as part of their squad.