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Compared to many on here I am a recent supporter of the Pirates. I started going to speedway in the early 1970's supporting Oxford Rebels as they were then, following the team to White City in '76, then back to Oxford in the lower division and on to the glory years of the mid 80's with the likes of Nielsen, Wigg etc. Poole were always my "second team" looking forward to seeing them at Oxford and always going to see them if I was on holiday on the south coast. When Oxford sadly folded in 2007 I became a Pirates supporter despite a trip of 105 miles each way. Obviously I don't get down there too often, usually managing about 5 or 6 meetings in a season. It saddens me to hear of people who would not support the Pirates in a lower league, do you not realise how lucky you are? Ask the supporters of say, Cradley, Reading, Rye House, Wimbledon, Lakeside and countless other now defunct teams how they would feel about about Championship League racing. I now have my Buckinghamshire home on the market and an offer accepted on a house in Poole, hopefully I will have relocated in time for next season and I will be there to support the Pirates every week.

From a Wolves perspective, a bitterly disappointing night. Nothing more to say other than congratulations and well done to the Robins ( we are not like Poole/Shovlar) . May the best team in the final win be it Robins or Witches.

My company Medicare sponsors Poole not for any main reward but we love the sport and I go back many years working with the Knott family. it must be hard trying to balance books in a sport that has so much potential but continues to shoot itself in the foot. i have posted before that I have asked for fans involvement and to listen to some really good suggestions but the bspa turn a blind eye and work in their own universe of make believe. i could not run my business like they run our beloved sport. With a tv deal in place the powers that be should look to bring in more teams perhaps look at 6 man teams sort out the guest and rider replacement issues to allow for fairer racing and start marketing the product. Alas this won’t happen and each promotion will want to look after their asset which is understandable but we really need some joined up thinking. as for Poole next season who knows II don’t blame Matt if he decides to drop leagues or even quit he has done his best for Poole not everyone’s cup of tea but at least he has provided us with years of entertainment and his work with us has always been top draw.

You haven't got a clue who I am so you will never know when/if I attend. I have been going to Poole regularly since the mid 70's and have always remained loyal to them. IF Poole dropped down to the Championship I will continue to attend and support them. That's what a TRUE fan/supporter does! p.s. FYI - We're currently in the PL (Premier League) DOH!!

Funny isn't it. We see all the time how in the "good old day"s riders used to ride in the wet because those were, like, the "good old days". Then, when it happens now, everyone complains about it.

Just watch it and shut up your getting fecking boring now.

I supported them when we were in the lower league, where we had a considerable amount of success, would never turn my back on them what ever league they were in

Your a glory hunter Team is winning and you can come on here an be all high and mighty......Poole get knocked out by the leagues weakest team and you throw your dummy out. So what if you go every week!!!! I hope the Poole promotion read your crap and are glad that if they do drop down you wont go............. And your not a fan of lower league racing ...............wobblers!!........well i hate to tell you this......Ipswich had 6 riders who ride in the lower league and those wobblers smashed your team in the second leg because you had prima donnas like Kurtz and Holder being shown up............................so glad we had wobblers rather than Aussie tarts Poole have 4 riders who ride top league only.....Ipswich 1....Swindon 3 and Wolves 2.........perhaps you need to sign a few more of those lower league wobblers ...you might actually win something!!

And you say you're Poole through and through!?! Back supporting Swindon next season if we do drop down to the Championship then ay? Us REAL fans will follow our club through the good times and the (potentially) not so good

P155 poor camera work (or production) last night Majority of starts were missed, trying to get arty-farty views, too much follow the leader close-ups Was it a crew not versed in speedway as it was a rearranged date?

So, presented with a totally unacceptable situation, we're supposed to meekly change channels and keep quiet? No. It doesn't work that way. Anyway, this isn't about the TV audience, it's about those who were relieved of nearly £20 on the night to watch a fiasco. When something is deeply wrong you do the sport a disservice by simply ignoring it. Those responsible have to be told quite firmly that this is NOT acceptable. We've had too many people either 'switching off' - for good or giving up attending live matches while those who are driving them away go unchallenged. There are 22 days left in the speedway season. Plenty of time to run four meetings without imposing last night's rip-off on increasingly disillusioned customers. If you spend a whjole season hyping up the play-offs to the detriment of the main season you HAVE to deliver, even if it takes six postponements before you get a usable track. I've seen 49 speedway Octobers so far and while you do get the odd run of bad weather I've seen plenty of clear months. I've even happily paid my money to watch speedway in November, once even for a challenge match! Forcing a farce through for TV is far more damaging than calling it off. We have people constantly banging on about the sport being ruined by bad decision making yet we're supposed to just shrug our shoulders and turn away from last night? Forcing meetings through on unfit tracks was all very well when speedway was cheap. It isn't now.

Call yourself a fan...your a joke of a supporter.....only interested when your team is winning....pathetic

To be honest that meeting should not of been on and hand on heart Wolves were very unlucky.The track conditions made it a real leveller for us,and despite the riders putting on a great show it was a poor spectacle game over now but Wolves will keep battling tonight.

So, all season long we're told to wait for the play-offs, it's all about qualifying for the play-offs, get your fixtures finished in time fpr the play-offs, risk your track's season finishing ridiculously early if you don't qualify for the play-offs, the play-offs are all, they're wonderful - and they're coming soon! Only two weeks to the play-offs. You change the team round, find new riders, and.....qualify for the PLAY-OFFS! Then you get tonight. And they expect you to pay nearly £20.......

The scoring system used at the moment works well. Is it broken ? Why change it ?

Or is it we (Swindon) are just that good, some credit must go our way & not “wolves don’t look interested” etc

The changes being put forward in this report sound bloody stupid. That, in itself, probably means that the report is accurate. And worse still they will probably happen After all, it is quite usual for FIM/BSI to act like complete mentalists and choose to spoil competitions that are working brilliantly.

Feel sorry for Wolves, given normal track conditions they would have been much more competitive last night but it is what it is unfortunately for them. Swindon deserve credit for doing their job though. Those people moaning about the track and the racing had the choice to turn off as soon as they saw how wet the circuit was once the broadcast began so don’t really understand why you would watch it and then whinge. I do agree however that these meetings should be scheduled early in September and the whole thing over and done with long before now. I appreciate recent Octobers have been decent weather wise but with damper, shorter and cooler days compared to 4-5 weeks ago I think you run the risk of encountering problems the longer things drag on. I just hope both legs of the final have good weather as the rain has affected both semis (although not the Ipswich leg where Poole crumbled).

Honestly Paulco I don't think he is (anymore than usual anyway) as when Cookie was at Workington; pre-season the promotion budgeted that he would bring in an additional 60 bodies through the gate (not many really) with him being a local lad, average crowds did not increase whatsoever. Then Alan Hedley at Newcastle brought in Danny King and then boy wonder Robert Lambert for two seasons and neither of these added any additional bodies through the door and to be fair to Alan he spent a lot of cash on bringing these guys in and he even said; he just didn't know what else he could do as a promoter as there weren't many better second tier riders around than Lambert and he (Lambert) added nothing to the crowd numbers at all. So it doesn't go to say that bringing in a big hitting number 1 will bring in the crowds as both Newcastle and Worky can prove, however I would concede that they may retain the people (or the crowd) you currently have and mitigate against some fan drift. Again 2018 Workington did not have a recognised "big hitting" Number 1 but won the lot however even having a super successful team it didn't increase the crowd numbers in that great a level so it is a bit of a conundrum to say the least... Finally Jenga may have a point when he says (in his own way) a big hitting number 1 probably doesn't bring in new fans it just brings back the fair weather fans who drifted away from the sport and their support can only be seen as temporary I would suggest; but fair play to the Monarchs; Sam and Josh are entertaining and quality riders and their promotion are trying to do something to reduce fan drift by bringing in quality riders, however bringing in these big hitters does not guarantee success and as Workington can attest a successful team does not guarantee new fans coming through the door either... However I am looking forward to watching these riders next season as a committed fan like yourself (and others on here) and thank the Monarchs Promotion for what they are trying to do as I appreciate watching good riders who can do something a bit special on the track however I feel we are becoming part of a dying breed... Regards THJ

Fun fact .... if you block Shovvy, this thread is only 15 pages and makes a lot of sense. Bitter or what eh ?

You are a 1 man minority, fact. I'd rather be a 'pillock' than what the majority of folk on here think you are.

Don't be so silly Lisa. The Poole gob just loves the sound of his own voice/keyboard.

More variety of teams in the Champ too! As long as the racing is good, does it matter who is under the helmet?

A team takes its lead from the top. Everytime the camera has been on Peter Adams he is chewing gum and had a blank look on his face. Did he have a labotomy recently? A passionless manager who has gone well past his sell by date. And his grit and pride has rubbed off on his team, half of who can’t even manage 4 laps. Absolute, utter rubbish. Not Swindon’s fault but Wolves have turned up with a white flag attached to their handlebars.

The racing at Ashfield this season has been excellent on the meetings I have attended.Well worth attending and the stadium and facilities are 1st class.Attendances look decent.

Bit of a farce last night. Others have suggesting rushing through the season to ensure play-off in summer. I am not sure we need to go that far, but without questions play-off's should NOT be in October. Yes some years will be lucky with dry weather, but it will be cold. But this is the UK and October likely to give rain in October more often than not. I would suggest we ensure all league fixtures completed by the middle of August, with the play off's in late August/September. Yes it can rain in September too, but there's better chance of dry and warmer weather than October. October can be used for backup if September does prove to be a washout.

Totally agree and this is becoming the norm. One of the reasons we go to watch speedway is because we can see ALL the action at once.....so why, oh why on the telly do they insist on showing close ups, having us miss some of the close racing and passing elsewhere. It’s the same in the MotoGP.....Being televised, it allows us to see what the attending spectators can’t.....but when they show slow motion shots, close ups and riders walking back to the pits after a crash, we invariably miss an exciting change of position somewhere.

I have supported Poole since the 60's, and I would go on supporting them if they dropped down, to my mind if Matt Ford does drop down a league it makes a great deal of sense in this financial climate,

The rain did make the meeting a bit of a leveller but in my opinion it was the expected result from my point of view In July Swindon lost by 6 at Wolves........and had Bellego and Ayres riding and no Musilek In April they lost by 2 at Wolves and had Lampart , Zach and Shanes riding So yes i firmly believed that Swindon could and would win last night Its funny when the Poole fans moan about bad weather.......seem to remember they were happy when they got to heat 10 against Belle Vue one year

The man is a troll ..and a laughing stock but its fun reading the crap he posts

It isn’t only in speedway, that is how sport works. Think you can win at tennis, snooker or darts for instance without winning the majority of points?

It says BSI (Paul Bellamy I presume) thinks 'it looks funny when a competitor wins the competition, but has fewer points than the speedway rider who took a lower place.'

If course you had no interest, you were already eliminated. If it's not Poole it's not speedway.

Oh my, it's still such a good feeling

I'll never understand why these promoters continue to play dangerous games by having gaps in the fixtures in the Summer before making a mad dash to cram them all into September and October when the weather starts to turn for the worse.

I don't have an agenda against you; I have a distinct aversion to stupidity! Opinions don't matter - facts matter. Just because you think Tai "isn't committed to English speedway", you use that to devalue his ability and achievements. There is absolutely no correlation between the two, yet you continue YOUR agenda against a rider who has achieved far more than ANY OTHER BRITISH RIDER. I use FACTS, LOGIC, and REASON to show how good he is, and you counter that with an irrelevant opinion based on your dislike of him. How is that anything like an "agenda against you"? I don't feel that I am "above" you, but the facts I provide do far outweigh your opinion.

I think to criticise Peter Adams for his managerial ability is fine not that i agree but its all about opinions. To be personally derogatory about him is out of order .

He has made the same point 4 times in 30 minutes zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Is that the same white flag Poole used at Ipswich

See on the Peterborough Telegraph website the team manager/co-promoter confirming that the Panthers will ride in the Premiership next season. Let's hope, this time, contracts have been signed before names are announced......

100% agree with you

The meeting would not have been so late if the teams did not have gaps in the season, anything up to three weeks without a home meeting, during the summer.

While I agree with your general point I can name seven Poole riders that Rasmus Jensen could beat on a regular basis. After all Rasmus would be number one in the Poole averages if he were in their team

Will be happy to have a 6 point lead for Newcastle tomorrow then we can make the 2nd leg easier then we can concentrate on the 90th aniversary meeting

The current scoring system ensured that we had three riders still in with a shot going down to the last few heats this year. Closest we've got to replicating the drama of a one off Final for a while. In round one you'd have had Madsen squeezing into the semis on 8 points and walking away with 25 at the end of the night. That sort of swing can badly distort who the best rider is over a 10 round series. They should leave it alone. No issue with the other changes.

I remember Kent having built a team a few seasons ago and announced Luke Clifton among others in advance. When the agm happened and the points limit was lower than Len expected it meant that James Shanes was frozen out of the side as his average didn't quite fit. Had it not been announced in advance Clifton would have been quietly released Shanes signed with another 3.00 rider an potentially trophies at Kent before now.

I had them both in my 2020 team that I posted on here. Looks like someone hasn't been paying attention.

Craig Boyce first rode for Poole in 1988.....Leigh Adams first rode for Poole in 1989, although he did ride for the Poole junior team in 1988 when he came over for a month or so.

Or as we say in Swindon, an Ipswicher.

Why is the fact he's unpaid such an issue - should the ref ask every official that causes an issue how much he is paid before he writes his report ? The two incidents keep being mentioned when they have no relation whatsoever.