topsoil

First of all I respect your reply, my pet hate is posters who just flat out moan but don't offer any solutions themselves. That said, this is where I disagree with a lot of your post. I would be heavily against any reduction in the length of a meeting. I certainly wouldn't be happy with a meeting which finished after 45 minutes. Would riders be happy to turn up for a meeting knowing they would only be getting two rides? "Open up bars and snack bars". Good idea if you get the proceeds from these. A lot of clubs run at stadiums who keep all this money. The big screen would be a great idea, to replay incidents, show interviews, give sponsors more exposure. But i) these would be very expensive and ii) would stadium owners allow a club to bring a big screen in? If you had to remove it where would you put it? I know Berwick had a couple of promotions in 2019 where they gave away a free drink / programme with each entry. There wasn't a noticeable increase in attendance. I honestly think speedway promoters have a near impossible job . Facilities are sparse, very few actually own their own ground, costs are escalating all the time. This is where Poland has a huge advantage. Facilities are council owned and those authorities are willing to spend to improve these. Any clubs in trouble are often assisted financially by local authorities. Compare that with the attitude towards clubs in this country. I really wouldn't knock promoters over here.

See my post above regarding darts and T20 cricket. Speedway could attract a similar audience by just offering cheap alcohol. Where the free admission is scoring, as far as I can see, is adults are coming along with children, knowing that it won't cost them too much. So I wouldn't call it a "failure".

So your solution to speedway moving into the 21st century would be?

If you want to attract riders from Ekstraliga good luck trying to pay the signing on fees

Isn't this a case for all sports though, other than football maybe? I know going back to my own experience, I was speedway daft when I was a teenager, Then I started to go out, alcohol and girls took over. Then you settle down and lose interest in the "chase". Then you go back to what you used to enjoy. I would bet that the only sports which attract teenagers in any amounts are one which also have alcohol nearby? Football (because it is media wall to wall), T20 cricket, darts nights out (sold as a night out rather than a purely sporting attraction). So if you want to attract teenagers, maybe you need to turn speedway meetings into a stag party atmosphere?

Berwick allow under 16s in free. As a result you get a lot of younger fans going as part of a family. But that side of promotion very seldom gets the praise it deserves. Far easier to be negative.

If I was looking to get a refund for tickets bought for the postponed Plymouth match and the ticket agency won't reply to my emails, who would you suggest I contact? Suggestions please Newcastle fans.

Summer night, shorts weather, gang of friends, good laughs, new riders (Sam Hagon impressive, Luke Crang paid max on debut, Leon who? ) last heat decider, Berwick win. What's not to like?

Claus Vissing will be chuffed to be called Swedish

Different team this week. Greg Blair definitely worth watching.

Will be interesting to see the crowd on Saturday, with this being the first stand alone National League meeting.

Aren't those his sponsors? If so, well done to him

Affordable? If so, then yes. Not sure what sort of average he would come in on.

The first three i would agree with, worth an enquiry. Pay rates could well be an issue, especially what they are used to in Poland. And fixture clashes. Would you get any cover missing meetings?

Some interesting ones there. Out of those I would consider Bellego and Vissing. Don't really know the situation with Josh Grajczonek. Is Bradley Wilson Dean still injured? I feel that any young Danish rider could be a gamble. Would they come in on a 7 point average? You could find a gem, but you could also bring a young rider into a struggling team and ruin his confidence. Milik and Lahti strike me as being out of Berwick's pay scale? How many of the Polish meetings would clash with Berwick's (genuine question because I have no idea when Polish teams ride). Do you remember Ludvig Lindgren's last meeting at Berwick? I don't think Danny Phillips or any other two pointers would score many, if any, points in the Championship. There's a big gap between National League and Championship.

A result like this has been coming. You can't rely on a number 7 to get you out of trouble every week.

If you suggest changes then yes, I would be interested in who your replacements would be.

I can see you winning by 4. Drew Kemp a big upgrade on Joe Lawlor. Berwick are consistently inconsistent. Heats 13 and 15 could swing it your way. PS castlegate chippy on the way back out of the town.

You want to replace a rider, fair enough that's your opinion, bit until you can come up with a replacement it's pointless.

So you want Aaron out. So who would be your choice as replacement?

A far better Armadale performance than you got in the Peter Waite era

Surely the clubs cannot survive on crowds like that (the figures quoted for last week in the Speedway Star, despite restriction being lifted, were disastrous). I would think that the wages bills would be much higher than in Britain as well, given that the Swedish clubs still use some of the Ekstraliga riders. Seeing that riders like that cannot attract a crowd makes me think Britain is doing the right thing, ignoring Ekstraliga riders in the main and concentrating on riders based in this country. Use local riders and build up from within again.

That's the spirit

I appreciate there is a huge shortage or riders and I can see things getting worse because through time I think Polish clubs will want a total monopoly on riders. Clubs seem to be realising that they need to rectify this by bringing through young riders.

If I supported one of those teams yes. I don't seem to get as hung up on the guest situation as others. If somebody is representing my team, I support them. I must just have a different mentality.