cowboy cookie returns?

It’s a sad day for UK speedway & a measure of how the sport is failing over here. The attendance has been poor since Covid & to be honest embarrassing when on live tv so probably the right decision.

His brother was a far better rider & more entertaining!

Kenyan wasn’t offered a new contract as he wanted more than Louis was prepared to offer. As some have already said the boy had his head turned by offers from elsewhere let just hope they are concrete offers. A big shame really as another year at Ipswich in a settled environment alongside Emil & Jason would really have seen him kick on. If he is Birmingham bound I can’t see that being an upgrade on Ipswich. If Rew had stayed then one of Ellis or King would have gone & reading Kings interview I think it would have been him.

I’m quite excited to be going back into battle with the same guys. Obviously, Keynan is one change, for his reasons mostly, which is fine and it’s certainly not closing the door on his Ipswich career. The next paragraph in Louis’ interview

Louis found out how high his demands were last summer.

You guys need big bucks for Dudek.

After taking all the announcements that have come over the last couple of week in I have to say that the class of 25 looks great. Yes I was one of those who wanted to see us part ways with King & retain Rew instead. However Emil Jason & Tom should take the pressure off the rest so hopefully they can enjoy their speedway. Reading the interviews again last night I think it’s clear Danny was close to the exit door however something appears to have changed with Rew at the 11th hour & King kept his place. If the rumours about Rew wanting more than Louis was willing to pay is correct, that was a misjudgment on Rews part trying to force more more than Louis was prepared to pay when Louis in effect had 8 riders to fill 7 places. Hopefully we’ll see Rew back at Foxhall in the future & I wish him all the best. However I’m not certain if Belle Vue is the right place for him if that’s where he ends up. Roll on March!!

How could Brum afford 3 go riders when budgeting on 500 attendance figures

It’s taken Ipswich years to pin Doyle down to Foxhall as for Emil Louis saw an opportunity & went over time to get his signature over the line. Question is was there any other competition for Emils signature prior to 2023 or was it only Louis who was prepared to fight to secure him. Louis has certainly learned a lot over the past few years not that long ago our number one was a out of retirement Crump.

Nearly as popular as his biggest fan 😂

The issue here is the sport simply isn’t popular enough. We have had 40 years of the product being watered down in terms of lowering points limits to try & even things out however that has been totally unsuccessful in halting the decline in attendance figures or the number of tracks operating. Granted some tracks have been lost to housing but that’s not the case for the vast majority. The only way to save this sport is a proper plan & a rebirth, it needs to become more popular to survive.

To be honest it’s to far gone to save now, what are there 17 tracks now which half the riders in the top league doubling up/down. I had several years away after giving up on the sport & returned as an occasional supporter in 2016. To be honest the combo or Doyle & Emil got me back as a full time supporter to my local track Ipswich in 2023, I’ll be there again next year but I’m just going to enjoy it as long as those two are there.

If the sport was ran properly in this country there would be more tracks around the fundamentals of the sport are broken. Football wouldn’t be the multi billion pound industry it is if it had been ran like speedway has been. That said speedway would never have a chance of being as big as football even if ran properly but don’t forget at one point it was the second biggest attended sport in the uk before the promoters cocked it up.

Whatever team we end up with I’ll be there supporting them every week next season regardless if it’s the same side as 24 or with the addition of Brennan. I am one of those who wanted to see King replaced this winter & I know not everyone agrees but you pays your money and as a supporter you are entitled to an opinion. Personally I can only see Danny’s form dipping further next season we should done as Sheffield have with Howarth & said thank you for your service but it’s time for a change. The above doesn’t mean I’m not a true supporter & I will always get behind the riders that pull on the Witch. Now if Danny proves me wrong I’ll be the first to say I was wrong on here & take the stick for it. Lets see who the final 2 are over tje next few days!

The problem is we might walk the league & finish top going into the play offs but then we have to beat Belle Vue at some point over two legs. We would have far more chance of that with Brennan for King. Overall if it is the same side as 2024 we can’t complain to much however we would certainly have missed a golden opportunity to strengthen with one change.