topsoil

Good idea and if promoted and priced correctly, this could be a big money spinner. Like nearly everybody else I'm against Peterborough being seeded straight to the final, I'm no Edinburgh fan either, but I can see the merit, when there are 13 teams, to having the holders seeded through. But there could be a different number of teams in the league each year, so it might not always work to send the holders through. I would also like to see the qualifiers return, but is there much point when there are only 13 teams in the league? Unless you are only going to do without the semi finals on "finals day". It was great to have the qualifiers back in the day when there was 16+ teams in the league. Hope this works out and the weather behaves itself. It has the potential to provide another great weekend of speedway for fans, a bit like the Cardiff weekend on a smaller scale.

I've said it before on other links but I don't think it would cost too much to keep fans entertained between heats. Here's some examples I have seen done at other sporting events:- fan quizzes, interviews with riders / managers on the infield, interviews with fans, fans running in zorba balls, kids running races (Glasgow do this successfully), junior tag rugby (a speedway equivalent could be cycling round a track once), live music (any up and coming local bands willing to pay for free publicity?). Interact with fans, have family days where riders mix with fans, have photos taken, speak face to face with fans, have autographs, give kids a ride on the bike (is this allowed in the era of health and safety?). And each club employ somebody who can promote the club to death. Each week should be a big build up to the meeting, getting more and more attention in local and social media as the week goes on. The more the public is aware of a club, the more chance is they are going to come along.

Enjoyed the article in Speedway Star this week about the 1981 K O Cup run. I can remember being at the first leg of the final at Brough Park. The bit that I can really remember was sitting in the grandstand and there being a landline just in front of us and Edinburgh fans queueing up to use the landline to phone their mates with the score. Compare this to today and live match updates, twitter and facebook pages. The bit that really made me laugh was Mike Caroline revealing he was hit by a can of beer thrown from the crowd in the second leg. Can remember Berwick having a decent record at Powderhall, winning a few times. Polar opposite to their record at Armadale! It said in the article that planning permission for a new proposed track close to Shielfield was turned down. Can anybody remember where the proposed track was supposed to be?

What is left of the track / stadium? I know about the fire, obviously, but has anything been built on the ground or is it just left empty?

Peter Waite would still have the bowser going round :-)

I would really like to see every Elite and Premier League team to have some sort of junior team, so that second half racing follows every meeting. It would be a long term project if you like, to bring more riders into the sport. Look at the riders who came through the SJL in the 70s to go on and ride for National League teams. Some sort of National League team in the Borders / Central Scotland area would be a natural stepping stone between the junior leagues and the Premier League and again would be a great boost for the sport in this area.

I can only speak for the club which I follow Berwick, they allow under 16s in for free and they get a lot of youngsters going. Two young boys live next door to me and they ride their pushbikes around doing speedway commentary. It needs more that like to secure the future for the sport. They (and especially Dick Barrie the presenter) do a great job with them as mascorts and get them totally involved. Also agree with the music, we have a running joke amongst the group I stand with how old the music is. Just please give us some upbeat music. Any era will do. I like the idea of the mini track which youngsters can ride around on the pushbikes while it is not being used. Like you say they can ride around pretending to be the riders. And could this be the cheapest way of introducing potential future riders to the sport?

Some very good points on here regarding cost cutting and paying riders. Here's a few of my thoughts:- Firstly, riders need to realise that there are very few places in the sport for full-time professionals, perhaps only at the GP level. There simply isn't the money in the sport. If that means cutting back on equipment then so be it. In an ideal world a pay structure could be brought in, whereby all clubs pay heat leaders a certain amount, seconds string likewise and reserves the same. But this is never going to happen as long as the sport is not policed. The Conference League was supposed to have a fixed pay structure but that was abused left, right and centre. The sport in general needs to look at reducing costs. I don't know the answer because I am simply not mechanically minded. Anything that reduces the costs of buying and maintaining machinery needs to be looked into. The sport needs to have a prolonged promotion to attract new fans. I hope other teams look at the example Glasgow were setting last season, as they seem to be doing a lot of good work and attracting a lot of attention to themselves. This will not happen overnight. A lot of clubs do good promotional work, then give up when they don't get overnight results. There will need to be a lot of hard work done over a long period of time.

Any Glasgow or Edinburgh fans out there that can tell us of any developments with the training track that Glasgow were looking to build if they got the land next to Ashfield or the one that former Edinburgh director Brian Gray was looking to build? Both projects would be brilliant for bringing on young Scottish riders, something that both clubs could benefit from.

Cheers. I did read in the Speedway Star there had been some sort of a fallout, but that was as far as it went. The piece also said he had tried to sign for a number of clubs, he mentioned Newcastle specifically, but none had wanted to sign him. Bet they are regretting that now. I can remember thinking at the time that it was strange that Workington were letting him go, him being a local lad and an obvious talent.

I was judging it on the silverware they've won with him at the helm. Workington must regret letting him go. What were the circumstances? Obviously a fallout somewhere along the line?

Best signing: Tai at Rye House, Craig Cook at Edinburgh?

Berwick were originally not allowed to sign Michal Makovsky back in 2000 as he was a GP rider (wildcard only).

I've seen Carl Stonehewer almost unconscious drunk at the foot of the stairs of the nightclub in my home town. Before the advent of social media this made you a 'character'. Now it would be all over forums and the like, he would get slaughtered. We, as fans, want to have our cake and eat it.

how about Maciej Janowski EL Craig Cook PL Bradley Wilson Dean NL Zack Wajtknecht NL Niels Kristian Iversen EL Adam Ellis NL Jason Doyle EL special mention to Simon Stead who I think would have had a great season

How many times do you see this today as well, when riders are not fit enough to ride in league racing but are okay to compete in the GP? It's a part of the sport which I don't like, but Britain has fallen down the pecking order so much for these "top" riders.

My dad was a huge Kenny Carter fan. My mum, on the other hand, was a huge Bruce Penhall fan. It made the 1981 and 1982 world finals interesting! I was still in single digits around that time but I can remember their rivalry being huge for the sport. To answer the opening point to the debate, maybe there are a lot of fans of Kenny Carter the rider rather than Kenny Carter the person? Carter the rider had extraordinary levels of bravery coming back from the injuries he suffered, just look at the Youtube video of him having to be carried on to and off the bike because of his broken leg. Carter the person? The one word that springs to mind is tragic. I consider myself lucky to have seen him live, one of the great speedway riders of his generation. But unfortunately a deeply flawed individual.

I don't know for sure because I've never seen exact figures, but you hear stories that the TV deal isn't as lucrative as you think and also the riders pay rates are much higher in the Elite League. But if anybody has the definitive answer of how much say a TV appearance is worth to a club and if it leads to better sponsorship deals I would be interested to hear it.

There is no incentive for any Premier League team to move up. In every other credible sport each team aims to get into the top division because of the financial benefits from either a) increased media exposure and TV deals or huge increases in attendances. In each case the extra revenue would cover the additional costs incurred from paying higher wages. There is not much in the way of incentives to go to the Elite League. I don't know how much clubs get from a Sky TV apperance but I can't imagine it being that much. It might lead to the odd sponsorship deal from local companies but there's no way it will cover the huge leap in expenses from premier League to Elite League.

I can remember when England won the rugby world cup, the RFU took the world cup around all the clubs in the country, along with various players and officials, to promote the sport and inspire a new generation of players. Watching SPOTY Max Whitlock announces that since he became world champion, he is going round the country doing exactly likewise. It would be great if speedway could do something similar. I know Tai will want his time back in Australia with family and time away from the sport to relax, but maybe when the new season starts, it would do a lot for the sport to have him visit a few tracks, have his photo taken with the trophy and local kids. And even more, ask for a £1 donation a photo, split the proceeds between GOSH and the BEN Fund? Good publicity all round.

In an ideal world the club would be working hard at this time of year to get team sponsors, backing for individual riders, selling programme advertising and corporate hospitality, which unfortunately was empty most weeks last season. Obviously I don't know how much work the club are in fact doing in this regard, but it would be nice to think they are. I cam imagine it is very difficult to attract sponsorship in this climate and that's why the club has to work hard all year round.

Joking aside, I've only paid brief attention to the Jake Allen saga, is there a simple explanation why he is a 5 point rider this season but a 7 point rider last year? No doubt this has been explained elsewhere, but like I say I've not been on here much of late.

The incentive to invest in potential comes from each club in the country having a junior set up. Something I would really like to see brought in. Encourages clubs to bring more local riders to the teams in future. Fans will almost relate more to local riders.

I am probably reading too much into this but in the Speedway Star Rob Godfrey says the signing of Josh Bailey was in the "true spirit" of the rule. The cynic in me (it is speedway after all) thinks that he was having a pop at somebody with that comment. Any ideas who he was referring to? Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

The problem with having 'characters' in this era of social media and forums is that as soon as there is an incident, everybody has to have an opinion. Also, each sporting body is a lot more aware of image these days and any incident that they fear may damage the image of a sport is frowned upon. Take two incidents this year, the Greg Hancock / Nicki Pedersen clash and the Sam Masters / Nicki Pedersen clash. In years gone by these incidents would have been lapped up by the fans. Nowadays, look at the pages these incidents raised on here. And I bet if you trawled through the pages on the forum you would see each of the riders being abused or labelled. Had social media, camera phones, forums been around in days gone by, who knows what would have happened.