Halifaxtiger

Crap track, yes - although Coventry isn't that much better. The rest - facilities, viewing, cold, parking - are nonsense.

Belle Vue running, Leicester running, Coventry running. All three open to serious doubt at the end of 2016. The BSPA and, in particular, Buster Chapman must take a great deal of credit for that.

Simply have to move on from that, however true it maybe.

Its 'rubbish news' that the Bees survive and could well be back at Brandon ? I'd like to hear your description of the news had it been complete closure. Compared to the situation we had three days ago its both fantastic and incredible.

Isn't anybody actually happy that Coventry Bees are continuing to ride and there is the aim of that being at Brandon ?

I think we all do. I think it also highlights the stark contrast between the reaction to Jon Armstrong (who is older) signing for Mildenhall and Mason signing for Lakeside. That is just about the only justification that I (and, I suspect, others) would accept.

Very true - although, to be fair, its not just promoters that spout that but fans too. 'Use it or lose it' has been heard many times on the pages of this forum. It doesn't matter that the stadium is a dump, the customer service aggressive, hostile and abusive, the surface dreadful, the racing worse and the team awful, you still have to go. Passionate fan that I am, I have never accepted that. As is the case with any business, it is for the speedway promotion to attract people by making their product and the customer experience as good as it can be. I have yet to be convinced that that is the case in quite possibly the majority of tracks across the country.

As a matter of fact I was. Both. Not one of those who stands on a corner and does nothing but lean on a flag.

Hopefully long before then but if its good news March would be OK. Part of the problem is the setting of deadlines. I am all for that, but you simply can't keep extending them. If there was a chance that the stadium would be saved but it was not clear at what point that would be sorted, no dead line should have been set.

The point is everything - and I mean everything - should be done to put the paying customers needs first. Not after the promoters, or the track staffs, or the riders. Far too many tracks put what their customers want below the needs of others and then wonder why they don't come back. Scunthorpe never have an interval. Do they have stronger bladders in Lincolnshire ? As has most accurately been pointed out, when it suits intervals are dropped. What you are saying is that your paying customer will be forced to stand around for 15 minutes in potentially freezing cold conditions getting bored, dispirited and fed up so the track staff can go to the can. This thread is full of people - quite rightly - complaining about unnecessary delay and yet you agree with it. That's extraordinary. Ask yourself this. Is a person more likely to attend again if he isn't standing around getting cold or not ? You must surely be having a laugh. Most are volunteers (I was). They also get to watch the meeting free and I am not aware of a track that has ever had a major problem recruiting them. I can certainly say that I have been to around 700 meetings across the country in the last 10 years or so and I have never known one postponed or delayed due to a shortage of track staff. The paying customer comes first, every single time. My apologies. You are absolutely right. Thing is, though, is that the matter of unnecessary delay is extremely important right across the sport.

As far as I am aware, in many cases there is no obligation to do so but some do as a matter of good will. On the other hand, tracks that own their stadiums - Eastbourne & King's Lynn come to mind - have them. Bad enough putting riders interests over fans but track staff ????

I think some delay is inevitable - football doesn't need to have work on the pitch undertaken during the match, for example. Having said that, two hours is the very maximum it should take to run and a norm should be 90 minutes. Every effort should be made to cut down unnecessary time lapses, intervals being the main one. No fan likes them and there are many - including me - who can't stand them. We can only hope that at some point in the future promoters learn that what they take at food bars they lose at the turnstiles. I went to a meeting at Birmingham last March. On an absolute freezing night, we had a 20 minute interval. That's just ridiculous.

And yet if Coventry run in 2017 there will be more stand alone tracks in operation than there were in 1987, and even if they don't there will be the same number. Lower leagues, maybe, but there will be. Sort of flies in the face of an argument that the sport is 'all but finished', doesn't it ? As to being an ex-promoter, you mean that he is one of the very few people on this forum who put his money where his mouth is and ran a speedway track (including a PL championship winning team). An ex promoter who now runs a free training school, funded entirely out of his own pocket. Who sponsors riders year in, year out. Do we need more people like Tsunami involved, or less ?

My point is that if someone of the financial means, track record for success at speedway tracks and passion for the sport like Tony Mole won't take the club up it says a great deal about why they are in the NL.

Someone like Tony Mole, for instance ?

Do you need to be reminded of what happened the last time Birmingham were in the top flight ? They, and others, are in the NL for a very good reason.

I think everyone can accept that a person has a right to retrieve their own assets. But until someone can explain how ripping out seats, smashing them up and dumping them in a skip is 'retrieval of assets' I don't accept in anyway that that is what Sandhu intended. The intention was to render the stadium unfit for racing of any kind.

My understanding is there is a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest that's true. I'll await the outcome of the police investigation. I think its pretty clear whose men went into Brandon and trashed the place. If Sandhu gets done for that (as you would think he would), we'll know he has no connection or influence over Brandon Estates. If he doesn't, you would have to ask yourself just why that was the case. I really don't get that one. If Brandon hadn't been trashed this issue wouldn't have arisen. It wasn't Horton who sent people in to do that.

How many said that in 2010 ? (and by the way that is 7 years ago). I'd say the problems at this stage of the year were far, far worse then but we're still here. The funny thing is that I'd say they are created at least in part by the same man. The situation with Belle Vue, Leicester and Coventry is not symptomatic of the sport as a whole and the fact that they are having difficulties at the same time is coincidental, for the simple reason that the principal difficulties are all different. At Belle Vue, it was the losses run up by the promotion. At Leicester, it was just the promotion. At Coventry, the stadium. As to the BSPA, I have on many occasions been extremely critical of them. This time, however, I totally agree with Tsunami that Buster Chapman has 'played a blinder'. Belle Vue are running. Confirmation awaiting, but they are. I am not sure of Chapman's role in that but he has definitely played a part. At Leicester, he has almost single handedly saved the speedway team by purchasing the lease to the stadium himself. If he is involved in trying to sort Coventry out I for one am thankful for it and, to me, it defies reason that anyone is being critical of the part he has played. I think Mick Horton has a case to answer here but, lets face it, it wasn't his workmen that went into Brandon and did so much damage that they made it unfit for purpose. Had that not happened, Coventry Bees fans would be talking about the new season, not talking about the finish of their team.

Come on, Phil. I can't think of anyone better qualified to show you how not to do it

Dave Tattum.

In truth I thought there were fewer in 2016 than 2015. Doesn't affect just how fantastic the racing on Sundays is, though.

Someone who hasn't been to Scunthorpe. Yes it is. A great speedway is a great speedway race and it doesn't need music, others around or anything else to be just fantastic. Having said that, you are absolutely right about creating an atmosphere with the right music and effects. It makes a difference for certain.

Championship released tomorrow according to Ipswich.

Spot on. When he left it went from being one of the best racing tracks in the country to one of the worst and has never really recovered.