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We've heard for weeks that Lynn are dragging out the release of the team to maximise media exposure. What happens they announce a team member on the same day as they announce a new team sponsor. Can anyone explain how this maximises media exposure

I make it 22 weeks from the start of November until the first week in April before the first meeting of the 2019 season. That's plenty of time to get at least 30 decent news stories into the local media. I'm no comms expert but came up with this in 15 minutes, took me longer to type it out than think of it. If this was my job, it should be even easier. Now I'm sure some of this has been done but to be honest, the whole build up to this season has been so non-existent, speedway has hardly featured in my thoughts (and that off the back of a decent season). Might be off on some dates/timings but this is back of the fag packet stuff on a dull afternoon at work Not all of this is for the media but for things such as social media, keeping fans engaged and wanting more. Week 1: Determined to build on disappointment of last season, defiant message, we'll be back blah blah Week 2: Build up to the conference Week 3: Conference news, team manager thoughts, confirm pricing, season tickets etc. Ex-Young Stars and our assets getting rides in the Championship Week 4: Many team building options, looking at different riders blah blah. Hope to have signing news soon Week 5: Announce rider 1, thank Tru7 group for their sponsorship. Looking for new team sponsors/appeal to businesses to get involved etc etc Week 6: Announce rider 2 Week 7: Just before Xmas, push season tickets, merchandise etc as last minute gifts. Christmas present for fans with announcing rider 3 Week 8/9: Christmas period so lots of other stuff, taking people's attention. Do short sharp stuff. 12 days of Xmas (great old riders, race highlights, famous meetings, build up to announcing rider 4) Week 10: Announce rider 4, Week 11: Update from either rider 1, 2 or 3 on pre-season prep. Built up about training camps, equipment builds, hopes for the season. Ex-Young Star Josh Bailey being in Australia (future Star etc) Week 12: Announce rider 5. Have video footage from training camp (showing one or all of the 5 announced riders rather than p*****g most fans off by saying the team was there but we won't tell you who it is yet) Week 13: Update from rider 1, 2, 3 or 4 (not same one from Week 11) with the same kind of pre-season update. Week 14 (this week): Announce new team sponsor giving them full coverage for that week Week 15: Announce riders 6+7 (maybe reserve duo). All team announced and done now. Details of a fans forum/meet the team night before start of the season Week 16: Training camp update showing all the riders present Week 17: Team manager thoughts on pre-season prep. Got the team I really wanted, looking at team riding order, partners blah blah Week 18: New team logo with new sponsor, hint at racesuit design (if having them) Week 19: Announce team & vice captain/team bonding session update Week 20: Final pre-season round up, start to build the local derby meetings. We've been top dogs in East Anglia last few seasons etc etc, want that to continue (all good natured stuff but get people talking) Week 21: Press practice, fans and sponsors meet the team evening and then coverage and sound bites after the event Week 22: Build up to first meeting Tie in things like competitions for maybe a season ticket in conjunction with local media (KLFM, Free Paper, Lynn News) and should get you plenty of coverage. Team announced by mid Feb. Plenty of build up, bit of variety but mainly a speedway story of some sort every week from the end of the season to the start of the next.

Never fulfilled his potential?!? British Champion, GP Rider, GB International, top division rider in Poland and Sweden. Apart from being World Champion (which only 1 person can be each season) I'd say Scott has had a top class career. Way better than most other Brits in this modern era from the turn of the century. Most definitely NOT one of those Brits to not reach maximum potential. He's had a career many Brits today would wish they could replicate.

Nail. Head. Hit. All this talk of maximising exposure yet they name a rider and a team sponsor at the same time. That's two good news stories that would get good coverage but one will get less coverage than the other. That will probably the sponsor story as more people would be interested in the team. If you were a sponsor, you'd want maximum exposure for your £ rather than being relegated to a sub-story. This is just basics

Happy Friday everyone

Agree top post, but have to disagree with the second part, someone with so many positive thoughts would not fit in promoting Speedway...

Somerset should of just come out and slaughtered him, not tried to protect him about struggling to find a mechanic. Berge simply couldn't be assed and that's that, and in the process completely destroyed Somerset's team further.

Ricky Ashworths progress to be aired on BBC1 Breakfast show next Thursday 14th at 6.40, 7.40 & 8.40

Colin Pratt is a widely respected and very experienced organiser within speedway but not someone who is bringing the younger dynamism with marketing knowledge that is likely to bring in a new generation of fans. In fact, he has been at the core of speedway administrators who have allowed UK speedway to dimish and dwindle over the last twenty-five years.

These would have been good contributions if the title of the thread had been "The Name's Not the Same"

Amazing !.......Speedballs suggestion sounds great however let me get this right, he is suggesting at week 15 we announce the last two team members, week 15 is as far as I can see is mid to late February, which has not happened yet, with four riders already announced it is likely that by the end of February we will know the full 1 to 7, more or less in line with Speedballs timescale, this is exactly what KL is being continually critisised for, but is now being praised........by the same people !

According to this week's Star (07 feb) josh has a british grandmother. Therefore he is entitled to an Ancestory Visa which is valid for five years. All he has to do is come over and collect it. Presumably it enables him to do just about any job he wants (?) and as such he doesn't need a work sponsor.

Yeah, he's only represented GB in the under-21 SWC, and was runner-up in the British Under-21 Championship, so he's not that well-known. Oh, and a British grass-track champion... Sreve

Haha, I don’t know about the first bit. There really is nothing earth shattering there. It’s all basic stuff that takes hardly any thought. But there on lies the issue, there is very little thought to speedway fans in general. All the media stuff, just like the promoters is like an old boys club, controlled by the same faces giving the same rubbish to fans across up and down the country. How many times did we see cut and pasted tweets across clubs twitter feeds for live updates. Just embarrassing and amateurish. Most club websites look like they are from the 1990’s. Speedway in this country is dying on its arse and they are helping drive in the nails. The only club’s who do it well are Glasgow and the IOW in my eyes.

Speedball you are far too intelligent and well qualified to be media consultant for Lynn speedway Enjoy your footie ground hopping and occasional speedway outing

So basically just a way of drumming up a bit of interest on a dull friday in the off season. Potentially adding a few more bums to seats to for practice and encouraging a few more riders to actually turn up to practice.

Agreed, they could have announced the full team before now, unless there may be a team change, and had each rider and sponsor put out a report, one a week or fortnight so there was continue news about the team. Information about each rider, his history and thoughts and hopes about the new season would have kept up some interest.

Precisely this. He isn’t going to intentionally build a crap team which will lose home meetings and nobody will come and watch. The management obviously saw how well these riders worked together in 2018 and wanted to keep as many of them together as possible. Really like the look of Peterborough, can understand why people think Buster has splashed out on them and scrimped on Lynn but I don’t see there being too much between them come September based on the starting line ups.

PERSONALLY think this is something that will appeal to the riders more than the general public, most of whom won't see the time trials anyway.

Agree Czech golden helmet is a big accolade scotty finished in the top 10 in the world on 4 occasions and has a record number of British titlesI really don’t see that as underachieving

Doesn't explain why they did two "big" announcements in one day

Just read the article myself and I think it’s a load of crap... Being going to speedway 40 years and I think it should be all about skill not who is the fastest... I think Formula 1 Grand Prix is like watching paint dry.. Hopefully speedway Grand Prix wont be going the same way

He certainly has form on that score, considering similar departures from elsewhere, when you consider his ongoing Longtrack commitments etc and the varied race days in the Championship, I'm surprised he agreed to sign in the first place. with that in mind, I'm not surprised he is still in the BV line up, with the fixed race nights. Maybe in the future, Championship clubs with give him the very wide berth he deserves, based on his history. Blotted copybook and all that

How do you think non-KL fans find out this news??? Try checking social media, local news sites and websites - and sometimes even the Speedy Star?!

Because he had already committed to Scunny and the loan had been agreed with the promotion, before they made the decision to step down.

Eugeniusz Blaszak.

Opportunity missed yet again (if correct ) thought this delaying to announce the team was to max out media exposure but when you find out via a forum it says it all

I'm so glad YOU said that, and not me or iris123... Steve

Translated as - Have no opinion about what decisions we make " in the best interests of the sport". We offer no information as to how those decisions were reached and anyway it is nothing to do with you. Purely a business decision. We are handling the managed decline of UK speedway as we see fit ( as it belongs entirely to us ). What remains of the sport in the UK after crowd numbers and sponsors fall to an unviable level is equally of no concern of yours. How many clubs are owned by or under the control of any BSPA member is a private matter for themselves only. Yes, please pay by direct debit, whether you intend to go to matches or not - Oh, and bring a friend ( as our dependable marketing scheme has long directed ). You know it makes sense and offers you a stress-free way to enjoy speedway racing.

...but it nearly is... Thanks to that splendid comment yesterday in response to gustix posting different names in a thread about the same names, it gave me an idea! In addition to the names posted by Mr. Hyam, let's see what other "nearly identical" names (one letter different) we can come up with. Bob / Rob Jones (Swindon / Wimbledon) Kevin Brice / Price (Canterbury / Exeter) Ron Johnson / Johnston (New Cross / Belle Vue) Andy Fines / Hines (Rye House / Peterborough) Steve Naylor / Taylor (Crayford / Ellesmere Port) Ole / Ove Olsen (Coventry / Birmingham) Mark Ferry / Terry (Stoke / Hackney) Garry Hay / May (West Ham / Weymouth) Steve

I quite agree. I'd imagine the teams that don't start well will be looking to Wilson-Dean, Worrall (although unlikely to fit anywhere) and MacDonald to make big improvements so some clubs will end up missing the boat. FWIW I think Bagpuss' predictions are pretty close to how it will finish albeit with Glasgow lower down.

Cannot see Poole, Swindon and belle vue ahead of Ipswich ,as long as Harris starts as he finished in18,on the gas

Great post,love a bit of news each week to keep most interested. I can't believe though,some don't like the idea of spreading the announcement of riders as the club have done this season,but actually like yours when spread over 10 weeks.Some really are fickle

Good news for the club with Lee being appointed co-promoter

And get allocated the draws no one wants- Woffinden etc are going to be well pleased at that thought !!!

With no back up for Lambo and the worst reserve average wise in the league 2.55( but still on the 4.00 he came with last season) I certainly don't.. But you could be right Sid. Who knows what goes on in Busters head these days.

Maybe they didn't consider one of them to be that 'big' or unexpected??

Leonard Raba had. six official meetings for the Budgies three of them at home. Reading (h) paid 2 from 4 rides ( two falls) Bristol. (h) 1 point from three rides beat Sjosten. Bristol (a) paid 2 from four rides. King's Lynn (a) 0 from three rides. Wolves (a) 0 from two rides. Leicester. (h) 0 from one ride pulled out of meeting. Six matches 17 rides paid for 5. points i do think given time he would of been ok but Swindon in 1978 were pretty weak.

Frank Richt kicked right off at me about that!

Cant speak for other people, but my own view is that despite being a nearly ever present at central park for what ever level or format of speedway was on offer since day 1, fear that if at Kent we get Saturdays I will miss more in a season then I have in the previous 6... Already have 2 gps booked to attend, and hoping to do two more if finances allow. So potentially 3 missed meetings (I am pretty sure I won't miss a meeting when I am at Cardiff) I am not trying to be negative about the project, the way forward is for all upper league clubs to have either a NL side or at least a development league side. It's the only way to bring on a consistent and steady stream of young talent through. I think most of us expected Sunday afternoon fixtures which I think would of worked well. I remember reading Horton saying he needed about 200 people to break even I assume that figure will be less for the Cubs as they won't have the rent to cover. One thing they do have is an attractive team and hopefully that will be enough to entice people in and balance the books.

BMR are only the leaseholders - as far as I know the Lee Valley authority actually own the stadium

Does seem sad that I find out this news (assuming its true) via this Forum, and not on the Official Kings Lynn website. Nothing like keeping it from the fans is there, to heighten the suspense.

Welcome back Kevin

Scotty may be in the twilight of his career, but could still be a valuable asset to any club. He probably wont put his life on the line anymore, (who could blame him) but he's still capable of winning important races. His experience and knowledge in the pits could be massive to his fellow riders, and his interpersonal skills with the fans should not be forgotten. He may not be a No 1 anymore but make no mistake, he can still be a decent heat leader.... We seem to be desperately short in that department......

Couldn't disagree more I'm afraid. I always read more into a rider than an average or age because there are so many factors to that. If a team wants 100% commitment and a rider who engages with the public, is visible to armchair fans and is able to properly race & pass people then Scott fits those criteria. Maybe it is financial but I struggle to see others like Harris for example riding for less money than Scott. I agree with you that I expect he'll get fixed up somewhere during the season.

Apparently the FA have decreed the rugby pitch is below size for a FA registered team and must be lenthened and widened, taking approx 18 feet of either side of the speedway track. Looking like the best supported team in the town have been kicked in the b*llocks AGAIN!!!

Thanks for the invite but rough park is one of my least favourite tracks, it was bad enough going to watch comets beat the diamonds, never mind coming to watch any team beat the diamonds no offence

i dont think Newcastle is a fav track for any workington fans . . now Redcar is a totally different animal ..

FFS Geoffrey. Give it a rest.

I came on here (for the first time in a while) to read what the dwindling Monmore faithfuls had to say about the predictable final signings for my now only local team. Oh well. I might come back in two weeks such abuse was only normally reserved for Bees v Pirates threads.