topsoil

It's the usual story, anybody who pours a lot of money into a project, improving facilities, will want to see a return on their investment. Look at football, whenever all-seater stadiums came in, prices rocketed. It's exactly the same with cinema complexes. We will soon see the results, if people feel like they are getting value for money, they will return, if not, they wont. Not been to Ashfield since all the improvements have taken place. Hopefully in 2016 I will.

Agree with a lot of this post, but, as you say, there is very little possibility in promotion / relegation in speedway. When you look at other sports, such as football and rugby union, the one thing that strikes you is the massive incentive to get to the top league, in the revenue from TV deals. There is no such incentive in speedway, in fact, there is more incentive to stay in the Premier League, because of reduced costs. If there was a big TV deal in place, or if you could guarantee bigger attendances in the Elite League, then there would be a bigger possibility of promotion / relegation coming into place.

This is basically the hole which speedway has dug itself into. The sport has failed to move with the times, in terms of promoting the sport, in terms of providing spectators with improved facilities, in terms of shooting itself in the foot on numerous occasions and with very little thought to the public. Spectators / customers / public in general these days demand so much more, because there are so many more alternatives.

Isn't the reduction in meetings more to do with rider availability? I too would like to see more meetings each season with 4TT and test matches etc but we keep getting told that fans are not interested in these meetings and crowds go down.

I actually enjoyed the Swedish meetings. I got to see tracks I would otherwise never have seen, I got to see riders (Sayfutdinov, Woffinden, the Lagutas, Hancock, Lindback etc.) in league racing I would otherwise not see. The commentary was never an issue for me, I don't pay that close attention, but I never found it a problem. It'll be a miss to me in 2016 if it doesn't run. I know there was an issue with some weeks it was shown late, or not at all, but let's face it, speedway is a niche sport, Swedish speedway is a step further. We should be thankful for what we get.

Unfortunately, Berwick (and other teams in this part of the county) have found it difficult to persuade British riders to travel up here on a weekly basis, therefore it is often easier to sign a foreign rider (Michal Makovsky, Adrian Rymel, Josef Franc, Steen Jensen, Coty Garcia spring to mind straight away) to live in the area. It would be great to see Premier League teams with 1-7 British line ups, but for that to happen the sport must try and find a lot more young British riders. That is not going to happen overnight. Hopefully, the expanding National League will act as a stepping stone and new Youth initiatives being set up by Chris Louis will help. This needed to be done years ago and the sport is seeing the consequences of this now. By bringing in more young local riders, this will hopefully go some way towards cutting costs and the more riders a country produces, the more likelihood there is of becoming a leading nation in the sport again. Personally I would like to see some of the money invested being spent on a promotional push / advertising campaign, call it what you will. Hopefully the money will be used wisely to try and attract new fans and win back lapsed fans to the meetings. Hopefully by getting more fans in, this would stop the losses which got the club into financial trouble.

In an ideal world I would like to see six or seven man teams, with a two team meeting, rather than the current four team tournament style meetings, but I realise that isn't going to happen a) because of the disparity between the top five or six nations and everybody else because the tournament would cost too much to run c) would meetings between two teams not the host nation attract a crowd and d) it would be very unpopular with the domestic leagues if it lasted any longer than a week.

Matty Wethers, the chosen one?

You don't agree with my opinion so you want me to stop posting, priceless. Never have thought my opinion should be taken as written in stone, people will always disagree with opinions. But I've said my piece, so just for you, I will stop posting. Until I find another topic I have an opinion on>

if it is "bang average" then I must be happy with "bang average" because I can see scope for improvement in at least three of the riders, given that injury has affected previous averages (Melggren) and their obvious liking for the track (Pijper and Wethers).

The appointment of a proper team manager makes a lot of sense. Fans should be positive, given that only a month ago the club's future was in jeopardy. Now that is secure, a decent looking line up is in place, the thought of next season is a hell of a lot brighter.

Agree with a lot of this. I doubt very much if Tai would have been world champion this season had he rode in the Elite League. Let's face it, his earnings potential is far greater in Poland, he can test machinery almost every day, he picks up far better sponsorship deals in Poland. You only have to see that Sky Sports documentary to see he was absolutely knackered flying in and out of the country while riding in the Elite League. By missing out he is much fresher and can put in more physical training. And how many Grand Prix and World Cup meetings are held at tracks which are similar to Lakeside, Wolverhampton and (the old) Belle Vue? You need to ride regularly on continental tracks. Much as though I would like to see him and other top riders over here, I can certainly understand why they decide to give it a miss.

Okay, I will try to explain. By taking the "inanimate object" of the race jacket, you are representing the country. That was his choice. That, frankly, is all I am interested in. The debate about how you determine a person's nationality doesn't really interest me, because it is never ending, where you are born, parents place of birth, grandparents place of birth, how long you have lived in a country, every sport is different. Whether a sportsman is patriotic or not means nothing to me. If they are representing my country, I will support them, simply because they are playing for my team. Why would Greg Hancock race with a British race jacket? He's American, wouldn't qualify for any other country as far as I'm aware, he's already represented America. Fail to see the parallel with Tai Woffinden.

First things first, so glad Berwick are back in 2016 and now I've seen the line up, I'm happy with that. On a personal note, I would like to have seen Claus Vissing back, but there was always that fitness doubt. The 2016 line up shows potential for improvement, Mellgren, Wethers and Carr especially. Doolan and TJ deserved to be back after their 2015 performances carrying the team. Impressed with the signing of Pijper, as he always seems to score well at Shielfield. Alden is the big unknown. Will he be rusty? Will he pick up where he left off? Only time will tell. Had a great season in 2014 when we went for strength in depth, with the number 6 position being the key. Went for more top end strength last season and it didn't pay off. Will the return to a strength in depth team bring back the good times? Can't wait to find out! Bring on March!

I would imagine everybody is thankful and probably said so when the promotion announced they were running next season. I'll say thank you in my own little way by turning up to as many meetings as I can next season (as usual).

No, it means your bike is Japanese. Tai's race jacket says Britain, he is representing Britain, therefore he is British and as I am supporting the British team, that's all I need to know.

???

My own personal opinion is that national anthems are a waste of time and I don't see what purpose they serve at sporting events. Tai is British, it says so on his race jacket. That's all that matters to me. You can debate the technicalities of his qualifications all you like. Looking forward to see him trying to become BRITAIN's first three time world champion next year and leading the World Cup campaign. And I would also like to see him and a GB team in the Pairs events as well.

I was disappointed in Richard Hall last season. When he was signed I really thought he could be a good signing at reserve. I always thought he would be suited to Shielfield. But as with most of the Berwick riders last season he suffered badly from machinery issues and injury and you are right, while Alex Edberg seemed to get most of the blame, there were times when Richard Hall was equally culpable.

Only time will tell if he makes the grade, but I'm just glad to see another British rider gaining experience of riding abroad, as it can only benefit the national team come World Cup time. So few of our riders have experience of riding abroad or in big events.

Would really like to see Emil, the Lagutas or Vaculik given a shot, but given the history of the Russians in World Cups you can't blame the SGP selectors for not selecting them. And Emil has turned the SGP down before as well, really frustrating. If Vaculik continues his form however he could be hard to ignore.

Meeting (not meetings). And that was because of a bad injury.

Speedway hasn't moved with the times, the sport, after from mechanically, is stuck in the previous century. Very basic stadiums, very basic levels of entertainment apart from the actual races, very little, if any promotion. Look at the way promoters tried to ban updates. Every other sport embraces developments such as social media and the internet. Some promoters even wanted to ban live TV meetings. The sport has shot itself in the foot too many times to recall, with meetings postponed, abandoned, run in terrible conditions, without any thought given to fans. The sport isn't dying, Glasgow have proved that put on a show and fans will come. The sport will die out, however, if the status quo remains and heads are buried in the sand.

Has anybody heard how Claus Vissing is getting on in his recovery? Any idea if he intends to ride again 2016? Wonder if he figures somewhere?

Was waiting for a question like this. One year is a short term view, name a team who is in a better position than Glasgow going forward. They are growing the whole time, fan base, media exposure, own their own stadium. Nearly every other team has had doubts about its future. And I'm not even close to being a Glasgow fan. But I can see a successful club there.