Halifaxtiger

We'll see - I genuinely hope you are right. I have a few mates down there and they are top lads so they deserve it. Just got my programme out for the last meeting of the season at SBA. The team was: Barker, Hawkins, Kristiansen, Starke, Wells, Franchetti, Cockle. Discounting Cockle & Barker, Boxall is clearly better than Starke, and Ashworth will be better than Wells. Hawkins (albeit a guest) is better than Holder and Kristiansen is better than Werner. Accepting that Glanz and Franchetti are the same, that doesn't amount to a massive improvement in my view. I think the point is how good the side might have been with the financial resource available to the club (they do, after all, get the biggest gates in the PL). To accept a team that in comparison with the others certainly doesn't look to be anything above bottom 4 (I haven't seen anyone predict that they will make the play offs) would be difficult if I were a Devils fan to stomach.

We'll agree to disagree on that one. I have no doubt Somerset or Berwick would have liked to see him in their team; whether Rye House would is another matter. I think you are right about the team being strengthened (just) but the point is it could have been so much better. Any Plymouth fan has a right to feel disappointed, and I think that is reflected in the opinions on this thread.

'Sadly' for a few others, I suspect. Mind you, you might be wrong. After all, a track that loses money, has just £4,000 assets and a valuation of -£31k can't be worth much, can it ? I am not sure Barker speaks for himself. Glanz will be better than 3.00, and Cockle was averaging much higher at the back end of the year than what he is on now. Boxall could do well on a track that isn't that different from Rye House. Holder seems to me to be better on bigger tracks - good at Isle of Wight, poor at Newport - and he appears to be going backwards. Werner is supposed to be the third heat leader but he wasn't that before he took two years out and Ashworth is a somewhat of a gamble. Lets not forget he went to Plymouth because there wasn't anywhere else, that he faces a 700 mile round trip for home meetings and that he has always been a big or fast track specialist - and SBA is neither. I think the thing is that Plymouth fans could justify feeling disappointed by that team and that they deserve something better.

I don't think you are - in fact I think that is a very good guess indeed. It certainly comes close (taking in higher PL pay rates) to what I heard he made during the first few seasons. As Mikeyt says, its complete nonsense to suggest he is losing money. Nobody believes a word he says, anyway.

One thing about Plymouth is that there is never a dull moment - I have regaled fans as far away as Redcar and Newcastle with the happenings at SBA. It must be said that if Mr Bowden does leave things won't be quite so entertaining, even if that is not always for the right reasons.

Small, but on my experiences last season its one of the best racing tracks in Britain

Things might be looking better for 2013/ later this season. Sittingbourne are marking the track out and there has been some more good news about the track in Cornwall (just had a text that there do not seem to be any problems with the noise issue). Add in the possibility of Weymouth and Bristol.................

R*ger me with a prize winning leek: A Bowden fan. Why not start a fan club - in a year or so you might find someone else. I don't think anyone has stated that they want to buy the track. That does not prevent them from saying that they want someone else in charge at SBA if the circumstances justify it and here most would say they undoubtedly do. It remains to be seen whether Plymouth Speedway will be sold or if Bowden is just throwing his toys out. Word I have is that there are at least two groups interested. I also can't help but wonder how much he wants for it. Based upon his own confirmation that it makes a loss (he says in Speedy Star he pays to go to work), has only £4,000 in assets and a valuation of -£31k, how much do you think ? £5,000 ? £500 ? 50p ? Further word I have is £100k. I am no expert, but that sounds a little pricey given his assessment of the financial position. The thing is Mr Bowden has created an exceptional situation: he is despised by almost everyone in speedway. The BSPA have no time for him, and that was the principle reason why they were initially excluded from the PL. Read Tsunami's posts and he has apparently had the hard word about future conduct from them. As I have said before, I haven't heard a good word about him from anyone at SBA, so he has created a unique position where the BSPA and the fans are united in their views. I genuinely hope that new buyers for the track are found and that Plymouth go from strength to strength. There are some terrific people there and they deserve nothing less.

I think that is precisely what should be done. It is unreasonable to suggest that the double up clubs run 14 home meetings so a competition for stand alone teams allows them to have some meaningful meetings towards the end of the year.

Be interesting to see how much he wants for it, but I doubt it will bear any relation to the valuation he himself has stated. I'll get hold of some of my contacts down there...........

For a forwarding thinking promoter trying to develop assets for his senior side and prepared to accept a loss in doing so, maybe. Doesn't sound like Mr Bowden to me. One thing about Plymouth is that it is profitable so Bowden isn't going to shut it down because he makes a lot of money from it. You also have to understand that while all fans complain about their promotions from time to time, aside from the fact that he is undeniably responsible for the Devils being existence I have never heard a good word about him from anyone, and the closer you get to Devon the more vitriolic the criticism becomes. It is possible that the club will shut down because of the loss of their lease but, from what I have heard, that is far more likely if he is still there at the point that it is renegotiated because along with everyone else he has apparently upset the college that own the site too.

Brilliant Is it the licence to run speedway at a particular track that costs money then ? I know the one at Mildenhall was sold in 2008. I actually believe Bowden would walk away - providing someone paid him about three times what the speedway is worth. I somehow doubt that that value wouldn't be reflected by the figure that he has previously stated, either.

That's a question that has been interrupting my work all day. As I have said, I got told that Bowden has made a near 7 figure sum since opening Plymouth in 2006. The thing is, that's entirely believable on the gates I have seen at SBA. I have to say it also makes no sense that an NL club attracting around 1,500- 2,000 spectators every week is worth - £31k, and I suspect that the reason for the sale is probably made on the same basis and with the same motivation in mind as that ludicrous valuation.

From what I have heard, profits are a lot, lot higher than that (albeit based upon NL speedway). As to your first point, I have had dealings with directors of speedway companies paying themselves large salaries

While the asset valuation is about right, I'd say the £100k company valuation is more accurate that -£31k (although I'd accept the first figure appears to have been plucked out of thin air). How anyone can value an NL track (because it was that at the time) getting gates over the 1,000 mark every week as having a minus value is beyond me. I'm no expert, but surely the value of a company is reflected as much by its profitability as its assets ? Profitable or not, I'll be amazed if anyone buys any shares.

Plymouth doesn't have many assets, but I don't doubt it is one of the few profitable speedway teams in Britain judging by the gates they get when I have been (word I got was that Mr Bowden has made a sum approaching 7 figures since he opened the track, albeit mostly at NL level). In addition, I believe there is scope for even more growth. With a potential share of the profits to come, this could be seen as a reasonable investment (for speedway, anyway) but for one thing..................who you would be in business with.

I'm a bit too young to have seen these riders but the best single team ride I have ever seen (and I did see all the big guns of the early 80's) was, quite remarkably, at Scunthorpe in 2005 in an NL match. Richie Dennis was the Scunny star at the time and was, for his very young (17) age, an amazingly unselfish rider. Against Wimbledon in a league match he and an even younger reserve, Grant Hayes, gated in front of the Wimbledon pair. Dennis stayed with his novice partner and protected him for almost the entire 4 laps, slowing the race down to an astonishing degree that I have not seen before or since. Hayes unfortunately fell on the last lap and such was the Wimbledon rider's (I think it was Scott James) frustration that he went for Dennis after the race. It truly had to be seen to be believed.

Although I have said that Hart would be a better choice and I wqould maintain that now, it is very difficult to argue that Cockle doesn't deserve that place on merit. He rode superbly at the back end of the year (particularly at SBA) and was a match winner on occasion. Best of luck to him this season.

For a Devils fan, stomaching cheap riders (and I think you are right on that) must be hard. A comparison with Newcastle suggests that they have gates that are twice as big and a rent that is about a quarter as much. They should have much bigger team budget, yet I got told that their top man earned 20% less per point than the Diamonds number one last season. I think a team of Barker, Holder, Boxall, Hefenbrock, Ashworth, Glanz & Hart would fit. That's a very decent side indeed that would be extremely difficult to beat at SBA and be competitive away. Barker speaks for himself. Holder and Ashworth should do OK. Boxall & Glanz are better than their averages. Cockle did well, but Hart is better. The real failing is the third heat leader, because Hefenbrock would be one and I doubt very much if Werner will be. The thing is I sincerely believe that a team that looked like being up there at the start of the season would add another 500 on the gate at Plymouth. Mr Bowden could learn the lesson that people will not continually turn up for second rate teams the hard way.

According to Speedy Star, Werner has now signed. Ben Barker states that he might not be fit for the start of the season................then on the next page has signed to ride at Telford in the ice meeting in February

I'm the only one who can't see it !!!

Spoke to Ashley Taylor at Newport yesterday and he has a planning meeting regarding the new track in Cornwall later this month.

According to Speedy Star, only Holder, Barker ,Boxall & Ashworth have signed yet I was told by the same person that Glanz signed his contract 'weeks ago'. Not so much unprofessional as bizarre

Nielsen is a Scunny asset, June.. Its entirely possible that the Scorpions will benefit more from this arrangement than the Fen Tigers.

I got told yesterday by someone who had spoken to Bowden that Werner has not signed and the paper is talking rubbish