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I think EIA needs a reminder of what was going on around that time.Ford was unhappy that Coventry had managed to keep Shamek at reserve for so long, IMO they used the very same criteria that Ford himself used many times (ie they played Ford at his own game)and he didn't like it .Pawlicki's 16 +1 did for Poole on the second leg meeting and Ford reacted by taking in his firework display, turning off the hot water to the visitors shower room & removing the Champagne from the bar area. Hardly the reaction expected from a mature person. Then came the sudden rapidly arranged meeting by a select few who connived a change in the conversion factor for lower league riders moving up, effectively screwing up bees deals for two riders already in place. I've seen comments that the teams shouldn't be selected before the AGM but we all know that it was the accepted way of doing things for years ,and probably stilll is now. We also had the re assessment of Pawlicki's average, another very unfair decision. Despite all the protests to the contrary it seems blatantly obvious that Ford was the Prime Mover in all that went on in the winter of discontent, & to add insult to injury he then proceded to register Kildemand as a poole rider whilst the bees were in the middle of a team shuffle mid season 2011. Kildemand went public and stated that he had no knowledge of his transfer to Poole as he hadn't even spoken to Ford. But it did have the desired effect as it stopped Coventry using him again.Those are just some of the moves of a very underhanded & bitter man.

Ford was a major player in what was decided at AGM,s because he had the rider assets that a lot of clubs wanted for the next years Speedway, you would have to be incredible naive to think otherwise. i can also remember a certain Poole match at Swindon and another involving Poole at Peterborough when averages were manipulated, both incidents were investigated by the SCB at the time. I certainly have no wish to see Poole or any other speedway close but to paint Matt Ford as some kind of UK speedway saviour is a bit rich and just insults peoples intelligence. As I said before Matt Ford just cared about Winning Titles and Making money at Poole.

Spot on. It was downhill from there for the Elite League, culminating in the closure of one of the sports longest running, most successful and best supported teams.

That's strange, i thought winning titles and making money was the name of the game, or is the other way round, lose money and couldn't care about winning trophies

The PL conversion change was a typical Ford move. He used it to his benefit for Chris Holder and Darcy Ward. After missing out on Kenni Larsen and Sundstrom, he was bitter and the conversion rate was moved to 60 percent.

Lol perhaps he didn't need to, I expect he'd sorted everything to his liking beforehand

I realise that some people will not like Poole. As a Coventry fan I understand that. In football depending on who you support you may not like Man Utd or Liverpool. But I will say this, I have been disgusted by the comments I have read on here and social media from so called fans who seem to be gloating at the fact Poole may close. Poole have been the best team for years. Love em' or hate em' hats off to Matt Ford. If Poole go under any true speedway fan should take heed.

Gorzow top four did a great job. Well impressed with Jack Holder, better than his brother now I'd say.

Their closure was down to their “saviour” Avtar Sandhu - who turned out be a very unsavoury character in his antics with the stadium!

Numbers and figures are often manipulated by various organisations. Indeed on average 1300 people die in England every days of all causes. Unfortunately the government chose not to make that clear. I draw my own opinions and not what 'our' media wants us to believe.

It's what is called jealousy, Poole have been the most successful team in this country for the last 20 years by far, and people hate it, if most of the promoters in the country were as switched on as Matt, things wouldn't be in the mess they are now

Methinks Shovlar doth protest too much.

Imagine being a major company who wanted to get involved sponsoring the league and gaining access to this thread and reading about the way the sport self governs... Fred Karno's circus would be a better bet for them.. Did Matt Ford manipulate the situation? Well, if he did, (and who will ever know?), it was because he could... And that is the biggest nonsense in all of this.. A local Darts and Crib league would be embarrassed to run itself the same way..

Making Cov weaker quite suited Ford and of course that was the main point . Ward being under 8 was also perfect once the one rider over 8 was brought in, a point made by many at the time . We all know that rule would never seen the light of day if Ward and Holder were both over 8 . it also allowed bjane to go to Eastbourne if i remember what of course is very handy when you want another club to vote for the same rules as you .

Adams speedway teeth were cut on the uk. He’d done grasstrack in France and a few practice speedway meetings but his first “real” speedway was the British youth championships at Eastbourne and Scunthhorpe. It’s a pain that young UK riders struggle for kit but clubs seem to find sponsors for several brand new engines for the latest foreign “superstar”... even these days

Good to learn of the young Bandits, and Academy riders such as "oor wee Luke" getting pointers from the greatest Australian rider of all time. The GHT Academy at Duns is running on Sunday August 23rd, open to riders of all classes and experience. £35 per rider, must have your own equipment -- social distancing will be observed (of course).

As was Luke Harrison and a top day it was

Madsen, another rider who's never heard of team riding

The Elite League was already on the way down before that. Ipswich was already dropping to the lower league , and as I said before allegations of Poole cheating were in the air a year earlier when the SCB completely failed to investigate in any meaningful way, plus the TV meetings that got to heat 10 with Poole in front when the track “suddenly “became dangerous . They were appalling decisions and nails in the coffin which were unrelated to the winter of discontent. However there were other things that contributed, like Belle Vue lying about their flooded track, and Kings Lynn cancelling a match because it was supposedly going to take 3 days to change a fuse. Most of them played a part in the decline, which got even worse when Chapman and especially Godfrey got control. As for Coventry Sandhu’s game always was to shut the place and in his words “ cover it in tarmac”

Responding to 25 Year Fan's query about Bordesley Green, the venue has recently been taken over lock stock and barrel by a new owner who happens to be the original stock car promoter from when the site opened in 1984 - Phil Bond. Apparently, Mr Bond has made it known that he would be more than interested in staging other motor sports as well as stock cars. The old speedway track has been tarmaced over for the cars for many years, but there is plenty of additional unused room available on the site, so it might be possible at some future date to perhaps put down a training track like Northside. Very much a long shot at the moment I agree - but this is an option that hasn't been available to us in the past, so who knows? I'd certainly second the opinions that several people have made regarding the merits of third division racing. It was Birmingham's salvation in 2015 after the Alan Phillips shambles, and fortunately, Birmingham folk didn't turn their noses up at the entertaining fare on offer -and hopefully, Workington supporters won't either.

Is this the same bloke who has sat back and watched his track deteriorate until it bordered on being dangerous. Seen his fan base shrink before his eyes and overseen his clubs demotion to the second tier of British speedway.

and you have proved that your opinion is worthless

The bar that has been set means there can never be crowds in stadiums again. Until the government admits they were wrong.

Poole currently are in the best league. As you'll hopefully find out.

Unfortunately we are all now prisoners in this totalitarian state!

He was helped too by his reserve partner on the back straight who held up Wozniak while madsen had a free run round the outside, then madsen just pressed on

Not initially, probably in second half of season.

Yes this is the same bloke who is trying to save them from dissappearing for ever

Correct.. the pts limit was not even an issue. It was Pawlicki.. and the conversion for riders moving up.

There are three possible scenarios here: - 1.Ford decided to somehow punish Coventry because of the play- off result on 4th October 2010 2 . The decision to weaken Coventry was taken at some point before 2010 3. Coventry and Peterborough decided to drive a coach and horses through the points limit that meant less financially sound clubs couldn’t field competitive teams. The points limit in 2010 was 40.95 . Most clubs were already struggling to stay afloat with rider costs even at the level. We know from Stuart Douglas interview in he wanted more transparency about what clubs were paying and to stop riders setting one club against another to see who would pay the most. So, take scenario 1. If Ford wanted to punish Coventry as a result of the play offs it would have mean only out of pure malice and going against what had previously decided and therefor a second best option. However, we know that most clubs wanted a 40-ish points limit anyway. Personally I dont think that scenario stands up. So we come to scenario 2. Why would Ford specifically want to punish Coventry, when they were hardly even play off contenders until quite late in the season, and only just managed to scrape in the top 4. Nobody gave them much chance on paper and to be fair, 5 of them didn’t ride all that well and they only won on the back of great performances by Kasprzak and especially Bomber who rode one of the best meetings of his life. Coupled with that , when Dave Watt was interview half way through he said “ we are choking “ and Poole , frankly under performed on the night. So, now onto scenario 3. Coventry and Peterborough were talking about a points limit of 45, which nobody else wanted but Poole could still have built a strong side on a 45 point limit by replacing Dave Watt with Kasprzak. In effect it really seems to me that taking into account everything we know about Trump and Sandhu they wanted to buy success. In fact they still had a pretty good side as it was, with Sayfudinov and Pawlicki, neither of whom came cheap. So, all in all this is one occasion I wouldn’t lay the blame at Matt Fords door.

Wow, I wonder if he realises he has this much power! This thread is brilliant for entertainment value. I wonder if you all believe what you say. Worrying if you do!

I maybe the exception but I always used to love travelling around the country to see some of the big "Prestige" individual events... The Pride of the East, Barum Trophy, Golden Hammer, Brandonapolis, Coalite Classic, Olympique, Golden Gauntlets, Blue Riband and probably others... never made it to Ippo for a 16 Lapper or Star of Anglia, it's just too bloody far away Some of these were still being held until the late 90's/early 00's. I think the problem started around that time when riders would pull out, often at short notice, the BLRC is a prime example, where for whatever reason riders took the p1ss.

Those line-ups contain only one Pole (Adrian Gala - the man who rode in Vladisvostok and Vastervik on consequtive days last season) and just three foreigners averaging over six (= CRA of 1.50). Highest averaged rider appearing in round 1 is Ukranian Andrey Karpov (1.846). Only two other foreigners (Lambert & Fricke) and the top 4 Swedes (but no Fast Freddie) exceed a 1.50 CRA. With plans to restart the DSL stalled it looks like an opportunity for a lot of young Danes (e.g. Mads Hansen, Marcus Birkemose) to make their mark. Expect Phillip Hellstrom-Bangs to shine.

Repeats of the Dukes of Hazzard won't be the same with the flag air brushed out :-)

12 rider individuals is pathetic and I have cursed every promoter whoever has done this, always flatly refusing to support such a meeting like many others and then they the promoters wonder why the fans won’t come to anything but league meetings.

Enjoyed those two meetings. Sublime ride by Woffinden to ensure the win at the end there. Sayfutdinov a different gravy once again, surely he has a World Title in him.

No points are easy in this league!!

Brilliant stuff. Other riders need to look at Woffy's performance in that race and take note. Too many times in Poland I've seen a rider go after the lead and leave his team mate vulnerable and in the end they end up giving away a 2-4

400 km Long distance travellers... :lol:

The AGM was in November. The season didn’t start till March. Its the same every year. The team building rules are agreed at the AGM and then everyone has a level playing field to build a team within the rules set. Ford didn’t get a “little gang “ together. Every promoter left in the room after Cov and Peterborough walked out voted unanimously for the team building rules, including Ronnie Russell.

A couple of glances behind while half a lap in front constitutes team riding now

Very few good team riders nowadays.

Because of the precautions taken

Yes, very jealous of seeing crowds fall year on year with scandal after scandal, almost always involving Poole. As has been said, you reap what you sew.

OK I will bite Possibly due to the link being more than 13 years old...

Plenty of validity .. i was showed the text messages being sent at the time .. The dispute was about Ford being bitter after losing the final and then going out of his way to make sure Cov never could track the side they wanted . Pure bitterness and revenge at the expense of sport . .Boro sadly just got caught in the crossfire . That winter cause untold damage to the sport

Kemp requsted to race the qualifier as he hasn`t done any competitive Speedway.

Whilst not wanting to put them out of business, in Peterboroughs case under Rick Frost that season he made sure that the Panthers didn't track the intended team that was being lined up by them, rumours of sly rule changes that were being brought in specifically to stop the Panthers being to strong.

It's all good experience for him. From what I saw last year he is the most likely British rider around at the moment outside the big two to make it to international standard.

With Lambert already qualified and Woffy odds on to challenge for the title, Ellis is the only other Brit riding that’s anywhere near the standard needed. If nothing more, great experience for one of the younger Brits. logical and decent decision from the powers that be, for once!