topsoil

Berwick appearing twice in the "winners" section of the Speedway Star review of the year. Who would have thought, with all the doom and gloom on here.

The main reason why I think Edinburgh will always be there or thereabouts.

Probably. You always think the time before was better. You only remember the good parts. There is a Youtube video of Berwick v Ellesmere Port at Berrington around about 1985. Not a single pass in the whole meeting. As with every era, there was good and bad.

We tend to only look back with rose tinted glasses at the past. I'm sure if you look back you would find fans moaning about promotions back then as well (certainly the Berwick promoter at that time took his fair share of flak). As for entertainers, for each of the ones you have mentioned I would match them with, off the top of my head, Nick Morris, Craig Cook, the Worralls, Robert Lambert, Chris Harris, Sam Masters, Ben Barker, Jason Garrity, Josh Grajczonek, Lewis Bridger (when fit) probably more. I would say the standard of the Premier League, certainly at the top end, was a match for any year. I bet if you went back to 2000 you would find examples of bad track preparation, bad meeting presentation, meetings postponed at the last minute, everything that brings us to say "final nail in the coffin" these days. Mark Loram came to the Bordernapolis and was great, but what chance is there of attracting big names to individual meetings nowadays? You saw the number of riders who pulled out of the Kevin Doolan testimonial last year. Look at the Ben Fund meetings. Speedway has it's problems now, big problems. But maybe these problems may not have occurred had mistakes not been made in the past.

And there were so many complaints about the Premiership, one rider above 8 points rule. Ironic. The Championship looks like it is being split into two this season.

Far too easy for people to just moan on here

You going to give them yours?

Getting this number one hasn't been easy. Two basically signed, only to be gazumped by other clubs, then another lined up but can't afford to ride over here because he is owed so much by his Polish club. The search continues.

The 8 point rule is irrelevant. When you can compete financially with the Polish clubs, then you might attract some riders back. Until then, they will always be under the control of their Polish masters, who can request them to return for training sessions and miss meetings at the drop of a hat. So for now, concentrate of breeding young local talent to fill the leagues.

I don't, I prefer the pairs to the current format. More teams involved and for me it gets interesting watching teams taking points off each other. I also think the pairs format is a good way to get lesser nations like Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia etc involved as they might get a couple of riders to be competitive but not four or five. Much the same way as Rugby Sevens has brought more international teams into their game.

Sad to hear Lewis Bridger has retired. Understandable given his injuries. He was pure entertainment to watch last season, once he sorted the machinery issues. Baggage, personal issues, yes, apparently he had loads. I never knew him, so I don't know his history. But from a fan's perspective, great to watch.

Happy with that

You're right there

Well to be fair they did run the club for about five years, must admit I don't know exactly how many, but couldn't make it pay. They did bring a lot to the club though, FIM meetings, Ben Fund meetings, Sky meetings, all during their reign. Unfortunately it didn't work out and they had huge losses.

Some interesting words from Kevin Doolan on the BSPA website “The management at Berwick are building something special. They have got everyone pulling in the right direction, they need to look at five years down the line and improve gradually. “There’s no point trying to win everything and ruin the business in one year. We already have Aaron, David and myself signed up and that’s the basis of a decent side. I love racing at Berwick and I know I can always improve, that’s the target.” Given that most speedway clubs live week to week and hand to mouth, it would be great to think that we have a promotion who are in it for the long haul and are looking to build a sustainable model, which in this day and age will be a bloody hard task. A little bit of security and a commitment to the future is a huge boost to a fan base.

I find it ironic that the BSPA have been heavily criticised for bringing in a rule that Premier League clubs can only sign one 8+ point average rider. No such rule applies in the Championship, which now looks like being split between half a dozen clubs who are signing all the genuine heat leaders and the remaining four / five clubs who will be without, and who have to try and build "strength in depth" teams. All of which is leading fans of these Championship clubs to complain about "haves and have nots". Damned if you do.......

Looking forward to seeing Bomber at Berwick next season. Always good entertainment here.

Roy Clarke did a good job at Berwick last season. Had a bit of a baptism of fire, trying to get the crowd enthusiastic when the team was losing every week. I thought he did a lot of things that were quite new, like interviewing some of the fans. Very knowledgeable and kept the crowd entertained all the way through.

I thought it was a good idea. The BSPA get criticised for not communicating with fans. So now we know their thinking behind certain decisions. I think regular videos like this during the season can only be a good thing.

Genuine question, would crowd levels go up significantly if Berwick were, say challenging for the league? I was trying to think back to the more successful seasons of late. Three / four years ago Berwick made the playoffs. Then there was 2005 when we finished second. There have been a couple of cup finals, one in particular on a ploughed field against Workington, the other against Rye House. I honestly can't remember if crowd levels went up significantly during those seasons, or for those finals. Crowd levels held up well last season, despite ending up bottom. There is a core of fans who will go anyway, for the entertainment, for the night out with friends, for the racing, whatever. Can the club afford a successful team? Success normally costs, would the potential extra fans cover the cost? Don't take this as a defeatist attitude, I would love to see Berwick challenging for honours. I just wonder if the club would have to mortgaged to get there.

Hopefully this is a sign of positive news. I'm not a Newcastle fan (Berwick) in fact I've always seen Newcastle as the pantomime hated rivals, but I also realise that every club needs a rival. Berwick's crowd levels go up when Newcastle visit and vice-versa. And I've also been in the position Newcastle fans are in now with an uncertain future, not a good position to be in. Fingers crossed everything turns out well.

Just my opinion, but doing away with doubling up / down won't affect first time visitors to speedway, from my experience of people who have come with me before. It will, however, please existing supporters. First time viewers, again just my experience, don't want bored to death with talk of guests, averages, rider replacement, doubling up etc, they want entertainment, they want decent facilities, they want value for money, basically something which is going to make them want to come back. For me, that comes from decent racing, it doesn't have to be just down to passing, just seeing somebody challenging is enough. Keep the meeting flowing, keep the interaction with the crowd, whether it is music, interviews, anything to avoid long gaps between races. But the sport in general could do itself a big favour by doing a lot more to keep in touch with all their fans. There should be a gradual build up during the week on social media and a huge build up on the day of the meeting. Try and exploit every method of cheap advertising available.

Surprised at negativity on this forum? I'm surprised

"all you cash" has got them a city centre stadium, which is a million miles from where it was three years ago. So if nothing else the owners are sitting on land worth a fortune, a wise investment. They have increased their crowds a hell of a lot. Their PR is second to none in the sport, they get regular coverage in national newspapers, how many other teams can say that? They are spending money, but doing it in the right areas. It's easy to make lazy assumptions just because a team suddenly has money behind them.

And a 14 fixture a season league, way too short for me.