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You’re posting pics of the track before any work has taken place and declaring it a death trap! They know what needs to be done to make it a speedway racetrack and like every other track in the country it will be subject to a full independent inspection before it’s granted a license from the SCB. It amazes me, most people said this had no chance of happening, even suggested the 6th team was made up for the BSPL press release. And yet when it is announced, rather than be happy that we have a new team in the league and we have a premiership of 6 teams, everybody can’t wait to mock it or tear it to shreds before it’s even opened. And you wonder why there isn’t a lot of people willing to run/keep a speedway track going for us?

I’m not about to read every post on this thread, and I apologise if this has been covered and discussed by you on previous posts, but I’ve seen enough to know that the silence coming out of Northampton is staggering. Unless someone who uses this forum that lives or works in Northampton can say any different, there appears to be absolutely zero noise in the local area. We are now in late March—barely five weeks away from the season starting for Northampton — and what have we actually heard? No confirmed team name, no full rider line-up, and next to no presence. How on earth do they propose to build a fan base from a standing start without drumming up any local support? Are they telling the Northampton public that they have a new Speedway team to follow? They will no doubt get a decent crowd level from existing speedway fans around the country at the beginning of the season for the novelty factor, but that won't last if they haven't done the groundwork locally. It feels like the management is just relying on disenfranchised Coventry and Peterborough fans to fill the void because we’re missing our own tracks, and the few Leicester fans that exist to pop along. I’ve personally started three different offices for companies from cold starts, and I can tell you now: this is not how you do it. You don't just open the doors and hope for the best. When you're launching in a new territory, you must be aggressive. You must get out into the local community, pound the pavement, and actually sell what you’re providing. If the person walking down Northampton High Street doesn't even know there's a world class sport (I use the term World Class loosely in the UK) appearing on their doorstep in five weeks' time, the marketing has failed before the first heat. And when those involved directly in the running of the sport and the decisions read things like this, they'll no doubt accuse me of being disruptive and moaning. They’ll claim we don’t understand the "complexities" behind the scenes. But in reality, there are plenty of Speedway fans who actually know how to run successful businesses, how to start a business from nothing, and how to keep it successful. In any other industry, if you launched a product this quietly, you’d be out of business in six months. You must create a "local anchor" — give the people of Northampton a reason to claim the team as theirs. If you don't build that local identity from day one, you aren't a club; you’re just a nomad team at a neutral venue. If they don't start shouting about this soon, they’re going to be racing in front of an empty stadium once that initial novelty wears off. I’d like to be proved wrong and see it be a massive success, and I might be wrong and all of the above is actually happening behind the scenes. But if the actual Speedway world doesn't know anything about it, I highly doubt it is.

Thank God we're back.... I almost had to start a conversation with the Missus!!!!

And the final nail in the coffin of the Northampton venture 🤐

And yet, here you are. The amount of moaning that five teams is not good enough, makes a mockery of the sport...a sixth team looks likely to appear and STILL moaning. 🤦‍♂️

Welcome to all of their fans... it's only fair they have their own topic thread 👍🏻

The Brafield team of the 1950's and 60's were called the Badgers. Given that Badgers are mostly seen dead on their ar$es they do share some other similarities with those who run British Speedway. They have very poor vision and they are creatures of habit who will follow the same paths for generations despite the dangers and do not adapt well to changes in their territory. Badgers would be ideal. All we need is a Bodger to manage the mashed potatoes.

Majority on here seem very negative towards this new venture. A shame really as they need to have fans behind them. Peterborough, Birmingham and Coventry are lost and fans could easily head over to Northampton to give their support. I wish them all the best in this venture. It’s going to be hard to start from scratch in a town not known for speedway. Hopefully the locals will come out to see what it’s all about and a fanbase can be built. Good luck to them.

Hard to understand why anyone would be anti a new venue being created per se, and i'm not seeing much or indeed any of that being expressed. However, there is considerable concern and scepticism over the chances of it being ready on time, and successful and sustainable, with time constraints being one of the main concerns over effective local marketing and publicity. These concerns and doubts can be expressed in humourous or serious ways, and are sometimes wrapped up within more general concerns about speedway in the Uk and the way it is being run. These are mostly perfectly valid concerns, made in good faith and with the underlying well-being of speedway in the UK at their heart. Whether the above could be justifiably deemed "moaning" is rather irrelevant, especially as the definition of what constitutes "moaning" is likely to vary greatly. I'd liken it to "complaining", and there doesnt seem to anyone complaining that a new venue could be happening. But there are doubts and concerns being expressed, which for the most part seem to be perfectly valid

I don’t understand all the cynicism here. GB was a joke of a team year after year but Painter, Blackwell, Allen, Stead, Vatcher plus the professional team around them involving fitness, psychology, physiotherapy and media profile have produced some world beating performances. No more pizzas and beer but pride in the job instead. And top class sponsors. It’s not been just a one day job either with qualifiers and finals in the same week resulting in the squad being together for 4 or 5 days. GB has team spirit, team uniforms and, allowing for 2025 being a hiccup, great results since it changed to the current management team. Olly and Simon have worked well together but they will acknowledge they are only one part of the whole set up. When domestic speedway in UK, especially the way the top league is going, is a clown show, and is working its way down and down, the national team has shown that we still have good people with great skills in this country. And Simon has been one of the key players. We should be thanking him and not making smart ass comments about his wish to devote more time to his family, his job and Sheffield speedway.

This northampton situation is the strangest business model I’ve ever seen annd I know I’m not alone,apart from buster and his digger what is going on ? Were they pushed into making a decision to run by the time scale but haven’t actually secured the finances to run yet ? How do they expect to attract a fan base from the local area when nobody knows it’s actually happening, opening a new sport to an area that’s not really got a history of it and making it a success is hard enough but they seem to be giving themselves the worst possible start to achieve it,

Not sure the size of track makes for good racing,, it's the room on entry and exits of the corners that make for good or bad racing.

This is literally the same as posting a picture of a field before the new Workington track was laid and saying "it's a bit bumpy at the new Worky track" 🤣

We must surely be approaching the point where they say it's too late to get this done. This waiting isn't fair on the riders, it's not fair on the other clubs who have declared they're running but can't get properly organised, and most importantly it's not fair to the supporters who can't be blamed if they decide that after the farce of this winter it's finally the time to walk away from the sport. I hope Northampton do start. The circumstances in which it happens isn't ideal but it would still be exciting to see a new track enter, and wouldn't it be great if we were all here in 7-8 months time looking back at a successful first season. But you can't keep everyone waiting around forever, there has to be a deadline.

Following up on my post from yesterday, I think it’s important to clarify one thing: some people seem to confuse concern with criticism. My comments come from a point of genuine worry, not just for the situation at Northampton, but for UK Speedway as a whole. In Northampton's case, I can only assume the deal isn't fully over the line yet. As Karlito mentioned in his video, why wouldn't there be at least some social media activity? It’s free advertising, yet there’s a total vacuum. Speedway has been the backdrop of my life and my brother’s for over 40 years. We’ve had the highs and lows following Coventry, travelling the country together when we were younger. Mum and Dad taking us to Coventry away meetings in the 80’s are great memories. When the Bees weren't riding and we could drive, we’d be at Cradley or Stoke on a Saturday. Dad would take us to Long Eaton and Birmingham Wheels. When I moved to Woking for my first job after Uni, I was at Reading every Monday. Now living in Lincolnshire, I’m at Scunthorpe for every home meeting. This isn't just a hobby; it’s a lifetime commitment. My Dad is 80 this year and has been a regular since he was a boy. Now, he has nowhere to go. The sport hasn't even got a proper TV deal for him to watch — and yes, I know BSN exists, but it doesn't solve the visibility issue. If I were a promoter right now, I’d be turning to the one big asset every club has: its fans. I’d be appealing to the fans in the Speedway Star and the club programmes for help, because some of us might just have some good ideas on how to actually run a business and turn things around. Clubs seem to treat us as the enemy these days rather than engaging with us. I can think of one fan who runs a very successful business: Alex Brady. Yes, he’s been involved before, but I believe someone like that has incredible transferable skills. You only have to look at his company’s social media output to see that they know what they are doing. Both himself and his business partner, Jamie Minors, have gone from strength to strength from a cold start all those years ago. They are young people who know how to engage with a young audience as well. In my view, promoters and speedway managers should stick to building teams and using their contacts within the sport to do that. Yes, the promoter also puts his or her money in. But seek out people who actually know how to drum up paying customers. Not just wait for them to magically appear out of thin air. At Scunthorpe, I think they get a lot right. The price point is spot on, and the programme is a no-frills scorecard that does the job keeping cost down. Their biggest bonus is the track itself, which serves up terrific racing. They deserve bigger crowds. But the social media output and the website are poor. They could put some great races out on their social media as advertising from the EWR. I haven't been into the town centre, but I can’t imagine there is much around telling people the Speedway even exists, or in any out of town shopping areas. There is a big sign at the entrance to the car park....... It shouldn't just stop at Scunthorpe looking for fans, either. Lincoln isn't far away, and I’d be heading straight to Lincoln University and other UNI’s nearby as Lincoln isn’t the only one. I’d be seeking out the Media and Graphic Design courses and offering those students the chance to promote the club. Give them access to the social media channels and let them crack on. When I was at school, we were taught to keep a display book of our best work for interviews; this would give these students real-world results for their portfolios. I notice my own football team, Coventry City, have let Coventry Uni Graphic Design students handle some of their social media content and it looks superb. They also have a "City Unseen" video on YouTube—watch it, it’s brilliant. You could do the same at any Speedway club on a smaller scale. I’ve heard the "wait until May" argument for Northampton, but I try to imagine that logic in my own professional life. If my directors asked for an update on my latest £1.75m project and I told them I was just waiting until May to see what happens without telling anyone about it, I’d be out of a job. It’s not criticism; it’s concern for something that has been part of my life for four decades. If promoters stopped treating the fans like the enemy and tapped into the skill sets, we have, we might actually be able to help this sport thrive again.

Only just read last weeks copy of the Speedway Star and they do a two page spread on Northampton... Mark Lemon is quoted as saying that they needed a sixth team for the "integrity and credibility" of the sport... I do hope when he used those words, he managed to do it with a straight face... Fair play if he did....

https://workingtoncomets.com/kids-go-free-for-2026/ Well done to the Comets management kids go free for 2026 these are the future supporters of speedway 😀 UTC 🏁🔵⚪

100%, I agree. . Utopia... But a pipe dream.. Crowds of 1400 wouldn't support an "Elite" level as the riders to make it "Elite" would need to be paid enough NOT to DU... And the second tier "developers" simply wouldn't want to sell to their fans a "lesser product" with no DU riders in their Heat Leader positions anymore, and their fans simply wouldn't pay £20+ to watch a lesser standard than they have been used to.. The current operating model has gone on for far too long now to ever be unravelled, and, to be honest, I doubt there is any enthusiasm at all to do so, from any of the promoters... Why? Because all can pick and choose what they want to do, and, with the current model, all teams get subsidised by others through sharing rider costs, therefore, all are content with what they have and deliver... If Poland next season do insist on "one extra league only" then DU'ing could even become a real advantage in getting riders. As, instead of less than 20 meetings in Sweden and Denmark, "journeymen" foreign riders could have circa 40 over here.. It is only the fans, (mainly the tens of thousands of ex fans who still closely follow the sport), I would suggest, who want changes to be made, and see potential in the sport should it ever get ran with authenticity, jeapordy, consequence and reward for success.. With the many "wear the club shop die hards", who attend each week, happilly colluding with the Promoters that the sport is a bona fide team sport, with the other section of regulars, being quite content in just watching the racing with no particular emotional attachment to the outcome.. Promoters know that they will never be able to deliver "Utopia" without a huge influx of cash from a major sponsor or/and a massive TV deal, as attendances won't ever be high enough to deliver it.. Therefore they are quite content to carry on with what we have, as it ticks a lot of boxes for them to remain as Promoters...

I look at streaming as an opportunity to see away meetings. I’m self employed so taking a whole day plus fuel to attend an away meeting is quite costly. Streaming has its place, I don’t think I can justify travelling away but I’m happy to pay to watch it on my tv.

Depends what levels you set the leagues and how many riders in a team I guess. doubling up is killing the sport in this country. We have to either limit it to uk residents first and then get rid or the whole system in say 5 years time. for the sport to grow it has to have credibility.

I saw him at Scunny at weekend. I tried to take a photo, but my phone was stuck on zoom and I only got his arm

They have their reasons for the delay in releasing full details of the “new” club. And, as they are the folk making it happen it is their prerogative to decide when that will be. Meanwhile let’s be grateful for this positive step in the current tough times for British speedway and wish the promoters and all concerned all the best of luck in their endeavours to make Northampton a long term success.

Well, that'll have probably gone down like a turd in a swimming pool at BSPL towers. A few home truths delivered which historically haven't been listened to, most notably from the previous Ippo promoter and various other here today gone tomorrow promoters. The majority of the current crop just ain't up to the job, most notably the guy at the top. Coleman will have his work cut out to make any change but let's hope he can succeed where so many others in the past have failed. At the moment we'll have to take him at face value 🤞

Have had BSN for my elderly parents for the last 4 years and can't fault it for the cost, yeah had a few teething problems with some streams from time to time when it first came along but its got better year on year tbf, my parents who are both 85 love their speedway and have been going regularly to local tracks since the Norwich speedway days, and were season ticket holders at Ipswich, Lynn, P'boro and Mildenhall for many a year before Covid stuck, it's just an easier option for them these days then driving to a meeting and having to sit about in all weather's at their age.

This post is a classic case of demanding blind faith in a sport that’s already on its knees. The idea that fans should just "stop knocking them" and wait until May to see what happens is exactly how we ended up in this mess. In any other industry, if a business asked for your money but refused to tell you the name of the company, who the staff are, or what the product looks like until the last minute, you’d walk away.

Well you know the old saying? "If you're bored of Northampton, then you're bored of life". (or it could be London, i forget which)

And right there is why the sport is on its arse because you justify mediocrity, it matters, the little things all add up, if you want the sport to expand to the outside world it matters,?every little thing matters no matter if you think it doesn’t, at least Phil morris understands this, first impressions matter more now than ever

Could have been Luke Becker as the replacement if America hadn't started an illegal war with Iran 😂 ... I presume the FIM will be banning all American and Israeli riders from all of their events 🤔

It's certainly a strange thing to say. I re read it a few times, but am still wondering what he means by that! The other part of the article that struck me, was the explanation of why they were so desperate to invent the 6th team. In a 5 team league where the top team goes straight to the playoff final, riders may find it preferable to finish second or third in order to get 2 extra meetings. If that's the ethos of professional sportsmen that represent their teams, how can you expect fans to invest in it? I know I'll be accused of being negative or moaning, but while I sincerely hope that Northampton and the season as a whole is a success, it does smack of desperation.

While that might be true that doubling up is keeping the sport running it does nothing to make it credible. without credibility it won’t grow and the media certainly isn’t interested in it’s current guise. try going into your local pub and explaining how doubling up and guests work in our sport. It’s embarrassing

The application to build on the stadium has been rejected. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1A5dPxTP8J Not out of the woods yet, but this is a good start.

Good luck to all at Swindon. Planning meeting just started (6pm) but Blunsdon is item 8 on the agenda, so a while to wait

The answer indeed appears an obvious one.... However, they simply don't have the money to improve the standard, nor market the sport... Although I should say they do have money (a quite considerable sum will be spent), but they choose to spend all of it on riders rather than promotion and marketing.... The sport is now down to how many attendees? 20,000 average (at most), at the 14 clubs across the country, collectively, last year? That is too far off the radar of the general public now to ever deliver an "Elite" offering, given the considersble costs involved of doing so... The sport is basically set up for a few World Class riders to live over here, and top up their Polish earnings with a circa high five figure/low six figure package, and then let "experienced average riders" earn two salaries, which, combined will be a very decent sum. And, at the lower end of teams, give young UK lads and overseas young lads an opportunity to see if fhey can go further up the ladder.. With the Promoters being happy to run at the level all are, as they know "speculating to accumulate" won't provide much "accumulation" given the (lack of), rewards on offer... It is really only the fans that would suggest the sport is "broken", and make suggestions to improve it.... I very much doubt the Promoters, (who are all obviously quite content with their lot, hence nothing changes), think there are any issues at all...

That's the spirit...

Why on earth would they do that until they’re actually sure they’re running? I’d imagine the advertising and promotion of Northampton Speedway would commence ONCE they’ve got the green light to run, not before! Pretty bizarre gripe from you again which seems to happen a lot lately 🙄

All valid points. We had a long dry spell with no one, other than Tai, coming through to challenge Bomber and Scott Nicholls for a place in the GB Team. And even with only three decent riders, we had boycotts and fall outs over pay as well as a lack of professionalism in preparation. But, over the last 10-15 years, we’ve had several initiatives to help bring the next generation through. Neil Vatcher with the British Youth Championship deserves much of the credit for this but Phil Morris and the late Graham Reeve were also heavily involved. Bev and Marcus Williams in Australia set up the scholarship - some called it boot camp - in their house and Ian Sinderson of ATPI and Richard Cotton of Rentruck got the No Limits training programme going. When the efforts of Vicky Blackwell and Rob Painter are added to this, you can see how individuals are the ones that have created a set of circumstances that have moved us out of the doldrums when it came to developing riders. From a very lowly position, as well as the GP stars, we’ve now got several decent riders chasing for success. Like Tom Brennan, Dan Thompson, Drew Kemp, Joe Thompson, Dan Gilkes, Leon Flint and several more. Each and every person who has helped to create this, and, of course, Simon Stead is part of this, deserves recognition and thanks. BSPL and many individual promoters are the villains in this - taking but giving little in return. Turning the Development League from amateur to professional was a huge mistake, driven by vested interest. The bottom league should have been a ride for expenses league, but who remembers the year Adam Ellis - and no slight on Adam intended - turned down a championship role because the NDL was paying him too much? For him, it was the right thing to do but it should have been a wake up call for the promoters. Coming back to the original point, the GB Team has been more than the individuals involved, whether that’s those that operate in plain sight or those in the background. But its strength has been because it has operated as a team and Simon was part of the team. Of course GB will regroup without him, but that doesn’t mean his departure shouldn’t be regretted.

The Abbey Stadium planning applications are scheduled to be decided upon next Tuesday (10th) from 18.00. The SBC Planning Officer's Reports recommend the applications are rejected.

Oh my,someone DOES need to calm down, another one that accepts and makes excuses for mediocrity and poor practices and wonders why we are where we are and because you obviously need a little help the post I made was sarcasm

Really I didn't realise Ouch had a pro Belle Vue bias!!!!

That's a whole season these days! 😂

https://tru7.com/a-new-chapter-ipswich-witches/

The first thing speedway needs to do is get in the public eye, no matter how small but getting there, something I saw a month a so back really brought it home to me how far out the loop we are, when Linda lusardi did her cup draw and it made the news papers, what was interesting was the comments about it from the general public and one stuck with me, it was guy from Essex around his 20s and his reply was what is speedway Genuine question ? Now that to me and you is ridiculous but he genuinely didn’t seem to know, now you would assume he would google it but up till that point it didn’t even cross his mind, how many other people are like this ? Last week I was talking to a customer who is massively into in fast bikes and I said I’d sell him an engine that would blow his bike out the water for acceleration and went on to tell him it was GM speedway engine and he said he didn’t know what I was talking about, as I went into an explanation he said oh you mean flat track racing like they do in the USA, speedway is just not in the public consciousness and that’s something we need to address

There should be no other meetings than the British final run on this date. It will maximise the amount of fans attending and free up all riders. It's not rocket science, we have so many free dates throughout the year it can't be that difficult can it?

Dan and Brady who? That would be the question from 99.9% of the 2.75 million who live within 45 mins of Manchester.. That's how well Belle Vue market them... However, even the "Best Supported Clubs" run with a pretty poor levels of punters in real terms... An average of 1500 or so isn't being "successful" really is it? My lad will play in front of many more than that several tines a season, at step six of football, and last week at Hyde Utd, two Amateur Sunday League teams played out a final in front of over 1000 spectators.. I am always amazed when teams do a "special" and reduce admission, or even let fans in for free, and then the promoters are quoted as saying "We did this and the week after the crowd was back to normal"... Of course it was... Clearly by definition of the increase in crowd for the "special" it shows there is a strong market of ex attendees out there who still follow sport, but don't turn up due to the normal price point... Laying out six figure salaries to riders who, whether there or not have little impact to crowd numbers, will mean you can never drop admission charges to a level that may regularly attract more of those who turn up for a "special"...

Back to Northampton, announce they running and then silence again, what a strange way to conduct a business

Sadly just had to put the latest person on ignore . I don't know or care if it was the same person but it was similar drivel as the other person please don't quote his posts as it means I can still read his

I want to share this disgusting comment for all to see before this individual decides to edit it or remove it. Name calling is one thing. Telling someone to go and kill themselves has no place on this forum. I had a friend who took their own life as well.

They would be new followers of British speedway to find that strange, us seasoned fans understand it to be totally normal for British speedway 😂

Kvech and PHB are very far from top riders but are the type of foreign riders that UK Speedway can currently afford. And as for having NDL level riders in a one league format meeting is the ideal way to develop young riders, that's not to say they should be riding against the likes of Kvech and PHB but certainly riders around their level. Monday and Thursday clearly doesn't work for the fans even though it may for the riders but the tail is wagging the dog.