topsoil

Nowhere near. This is going to be a very tough meeting tonight, even with depleted reserves for Glasgow. They still have a strong top end, Morris, Lawson, Summers, David Howe decent even though still a bit rusty.

Beautiful day for first day of pre-season training (oh joy) and hopefully it stays this way for tonight, can't beat speedway in the sunshine

Answer is there isn't an answer, not in the short term. Possibly go to six man teams next season to reduce the number of riders needed? Long term solution (speedway doesn't do long term thinking) get more young riders involved (eg NJL) but these boys will take a few years to come through. Until then...?

Jeanzi, one rider who has been talked about in the Speedway Star is Jye Etheridge, who is supposedly coming over to Britain this summer to put himself in the shop window. Have you seen him? what sort of level would you rate him? Any other good riders coming through in Australia, who have hit a rich seam lately?

Very dangerous to bring in a new "asset" who may be untried at this stage of the season and given the current state of the club. Far better to continue with guests, or a proven rider like Seb Alden. The club can't afford to have a "settling in" period for any riders, too many fans would vote with their feet, this could be fatal. I see in the Speedway Star Jake Allen won an individual meeting in Australia last week, beating Mason Campton and Ty Proctor in the final. In an ideal world it would be nice to bring in the likes of Jake Allen, building the asset base for the future, but the club can't afford to take any risks.

In the Speedway Star today that Richie Hawkins has been released by Ipswich. Not suggesting him as a replacement for Ben Barker, but he's an ex-Berwick rider and was impressive when Ipswich were up here in the Cup. A decent rider to have lower down the team?

Thought Seb had retired? Is he still riding? Really good round Shielfield in his day.

Why are the Glasgow reserves missing, is it the World U21s? If that is the case then Alex Edberg should pick up more points this week. The way Palovaara and Berge were going last night at Peterborough I think they would have a massive advantage at reserve if they are here.

If that's true about Richard Hall missing that's a big blow, especially with r/r and if Edberg isn't on form. Hopefully Ryan Fisher will re-produce his form from last week and TJ will be over his injury, otherwise this could turn out to be a long night. On another note I always enjoy Glasgow coming down. There is a big group who always come into the Brewers Arms before the meeting and I've had a good crack with them.

Sounds like good promotion for the sport in the area. I've never listened before, decent coverage?

Good, close meeting, some fast racing, not a great deal of overtaking but the track got better as the meeting went on. Good advert for premier League I thought. The only disappointing aspect for me was the size of the crowd. I realise it was on TV and it is the middle of three meetings in a week. Are the crowds usually bigger? I thought things had picked up at Peterborough this season, that's why I ask. Those races between Morris, Kurtz, Ostergaard and Lawson have whetted my appetite for the Pairs.

Yip decent idea, cheap form of advertising and spreading the word to locals.

Three or four years is a lifetime for any club not just Berwick, but that's been the problem with the sport in general, too much short-term, week-to-week thinking and no planning for the future.

Glad to hear the club has signed Keiron Douglas. For me it shows the youth policy the club is running is paying off. Currently you have Liam Carr, Luke Ruddick (yes I know he isn't an asset but he's came through the system) and Stephen Farnaby in the National League. Small steps I know, but it's the natural step from NJL. Three, four years down the line who knows? Berwick and speedway in general desperately need to promote young, local riders from within. It shows the club are on the right track and those involved are doing a fine job.

Supporters got what they wanted, good to see promotion listening to supporters Reading on the updates that Kevin Doolan signed as a Berwick asset tonight, but I've also been told Keiron Douglas signed tonight. Anybody clear this up?

my memory isn't great but I'm sure that's exactly what happened the year Poland won it in Prague.

Agree that promoters over here could learn a lot from meetings like this. Okay some of the entertainment on show here wouldn' t be to everybody's taste but there are a lot of things to consider. Doesn't have to costs a lot either (which is just as well) but if it keeps fans occupied between races, all the better.

I reckon the riders themselves could play a big part in promoting the club. Whether it be school visits or the market stall idea or something in between, riders could help. Young kids seem to very impressed by the sight of riders in kevlars and a bike. After all, they will be the beneficiaries in the end. The more money the club brings in, the more likely they are to get paid on time etc. Surely it's not too much to ask for them to turn up a couple of hours earlier than normal. There was actually a good idea in the Speedway Star last week as well. A meet and greet with riders and the fans outside the turnstiles. Even if the riders take a turn, again kids could be very impressed meeting the riders.

Anybody underestimating Plymouth tomorrow night only need look at their K O Cup win over Peterborough. The latest in a line of unexpected results in the past couple of weeks.

I'm not a Newcastle fan but I read with interest the complaints above, regarding a lack of information coming out of the club. This is a downfall with a lot of speedway teams in my opinion. In this day and age it should be easier than ever to bombard fans with information, press releases and so on. I "follow" a few professional football and rugby teams on Twitter. Granted, these are bigger sports than speedway, but I think that speedway clubs could help themselves by getting the message out there to the public, by facebook, twitter, internet, e-mail, whatever.

The role of commercial manager in an ideal world would be a full time appointment, simply because I think it is vital in this day and age. The sport is very expensive and unless you have a very rich owner with money to spare, the only way it can be funded is through sponsorship. I can remember reading a few years ago that the only way Peterborough survived as long as they did in the Elite League was because of the excellent work done by their commercial manager, who managed to sell a lot of corporate nights and sponsorship. Take Berwick for example. There are big national companies with businesses in the town, McDonalds, Travelodge, Morrisons, Asda, Tesco, for example, along with some large private companies (e.g. grain merchants). A full time, experienced commercial manager may have the nouse how to work with these companies, who may not be willing to directly sponsor the club, but there could well be way to "work with" these companies. To ask a part time commercial manager to do this type of job is asking a lot. A lot of these people are doing it on a voluntary basis and should be thanked for giving up their time to carry out the role. Yes, I am aware that full time commercial managers will not come cheap, but speculate to accumulate? Or perhaps a few clubs could pull together to hire one? I honestly think this role is as vital as anybody in a club going forward.

Hopefully the promotion or somebody will see some of the suggestions on here and take them on board. One positive note is that there are plenty of ideas coming forward. Plenty of food for thought for the commercial department and promotion.

If the club aren't allowed to promote within the camps, how about catching the tourists when they are in the town centre by taking a pitch or a market stall on the high street on a Saturday morning / afternoon at the market? I've made a suggestion to the club saying as much in an e-mail. I must admit I have little or no knowledge how much the stall pitches cost or how to go about getting one (council?) but during the summer the high street is usually busy with shoppers. Get a couple of riders in kevlars over there with a couple of bikes? It might spark off a bit of interest.

I know he's not a Monarchs fan I probably phrased that wrong. What I was trying to say was that I thought it would be a Monarchs fan to bite first, I was wrong.

Thought the first dig would come from a Monarch fan. Didn't think it would take somebody long to question why Sky are covering a meeting at a "processional" track. There must be something they like.