BWitcher

All the information necessary is now in the public domain. It wasn't life threatening. Nor was it serious enough for either North to be bothered to find out more info, or his family to give him more info. Poole pulled a fast one.... again. Sad thing is, they didn't need too, they would have won anyway.

No it wouldn't, as there aren't many decisions appealed to the SCB.

To give you the answer you are looking for, Sky may have suggested the playoffs to the BSPA, given as they are so successful in every other sport they are used in. That then would have gone to a vote and the Elite League promoters voted to adopt them. Clearly the Premier League promoters, under no pressure from Sky whatsoever decided that the playoffs would be beneficial to them too. Indeed, as has been recounted earlier in the thread, they did drop them for one year before reinserting them for the following year as they realised their mistake.

I'm not bigging any part up. Just stating reality. It's not hard to be kept in the loop, it is not an excuse at all. Basically we now know his father suffered a non life threatening injury that wasn't really important enough for either him to be bothered to find out the details, or his family to inform him of the details. Yet we're expected to believe that this incident, that he couldn't be bothered to find more about left him in a situation he was unable to ride a speedway bike a number of days later. Yeah of course.

I can't believe you are calling one of your own riders a liar. He has stated he doesn't know, but you won't accept that. Shame on you.

You're not listening are you. Yes, they are the ice hockey play-offs, but they have created something different to the regular season, something to differentiate it, to make it a must see occasion. THAT is what you aren't grasping. As I have said, if speedway were to come up with something similar, then your idea has merit... but just some add on meetings, no different to the other meetings wouldn't work. That's already been proven. It basically either has to be for all the marbles or something very different.

We don't always agree Skidder, but we do 100% on this one.... although I will add, that whilst they are made to suit the weaker teams, Ford is very clever at ensuring they suit him also.

No, it isn't a comparison at all. It is a weekend long event, staged in the same arena. A totally different concept. Now if speedway were to come up with something similar, it may just work and the idea of a 'league winner' and a 'play off winner' would have some merit. As it currently stands though, it wouldn't work. Ice Hockey has thought outside the box, modernised themselves and are reaping the dividends. Such bold steps wouldn't be taken in speedway I'm afraid.

With respect I'm actually in a perfect position to judge, given that I am living in a totally different country to my Father and have been for quite some time, even before I moved to Portugal. He was taken seriously ill a year ago and it WAS life threatening. Strangely enough I was able to very quickly get a lot of information from relatives as to the situation.

I don't disagree with any of that Humphrey, just trying to keep it simple so it doesn't go over certain posters heads.... it didn't work though! You've misunderstood Colin's Dads Army reference though, he wasn't referring to the viewing figures for Dads Army in 1974, he is referring to a recent rerun being shown on BBC2 and comparing the viewing figures of that to a subscription based satellite service.

Dakota North's family.

Staggering analysis there! So Dad's Army with a potential audience of around 60 million gets 1.5 million. Premiership Football with a potential audience of around 5 million gets 890,000... Dad's Army 2.5% , Football around 18%. Advertising revenue for Dad's Army.. 0

There is no comparison between the two. The Ice Hockey play-offs are a big event, all staged over one weekend. Basically it's their version of Cardiff.

Speedway hasn't gone forward because quite simply it hasn't changed enough. It still markets/presents itself in the same fashion as it did 30 even 50 years ago.

It is difficult to debate with someone who really doesn't have the slightest notion of what they are talking about. This all kicked off when you 'challenged' my statement that Sky were a successful business. You way of doing that was to ignore the £1 billion + profits and to pick out the viewing figures of 1 unnamed football match and on the back of that declare they aren't a successful business. The figure you have quoted is only a rough guide as it is and of course does not include the thousands up and down the country who watch games in their local pubs. Nor do you take into account the advertising revenue that Sky generate from showing live Premier League football. Sky's financial figures speak for themselves, they are a mega successful company... it's not a case for debate!

Are you for real? Any caring son would be in constant contact to keep up to date with the latest situation! What a desperate post this is!

I'm not asking you to listen to me. I have helped you out by providing you with links and evidence to the figures from experts who know a lot more then either you or I. The figures being quoted were for Premier League football Ouch. Some folk were strangely trying to use them as evidence that Sky isn't a successful business. I'd quite happily accept being classed as a failure if I only made 1 Billion pounds profit a year

Awful for Dakota that his family don't even let him know what the situation is.

It's a joke starry. It must be great to be a poole fan with the success you have enjoyed in recent years.

Are we back at school? Gavans reply was hardly insulting, although perhaps it being insinuated you are a Poole fan was too much for you.

Sigh. 13 pts, 9 rides. 13/9 x 4 gives you 5.77. Every time you post you just make things worse. Kennet averaged 9.00. Of course if we look at North's average over the playoffs as a whole, we get 4.33. I think you are the only person on the planet who believes Poole weren't strengthened by including Kennet, even the Poole fans admit they were. Was it legal? Yes it was. Would it have made any difference if North had rode to the eventual result? Highly unlikely. Fact remains though, Kennett made them stronger.

Most likely yes.

We don't need to listen to people on a speedway forum who haven't the slightest clue what they are talking about and are not intelligent enough to understand when they are corrected. I'll believe this one:- http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jul/29/sky-profits-rise-customers-germany-italy Which tells us their annual revenue has hit nearly £11.3 billion and that in the UK their customer base has gone about 12 million for the first time. It also tells us the cancellation rate is at the lowest level it has been for 11 years. Revenues in the UK and Ireland were up 6% to £7.8bn with operating profit up 12% to £1.35bn. Maybe you think the Guardian is lying.. http://www.bbc.com/news/business-33699737 There's the BBC reporting an 18% increase in annual operating profit for Sky to £1.4 billion. Maybe the BBC are in on the lie too... http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/sky-profits-customer-growth-highest-decade-1513099 Nope, it seems International Business times is also telling us that sky customer growth is the highest in a decade. http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/sky-profits-6-per-cent-nearly-million-customers-added/1358002 And another one hailing increased profit and customers. So to summarise, we don't need to listen to Sidney and ColinMills. We simply have to use our intelligence and look to legitimate sources.

No the forum would be much better without fools clogging it up with nonsensical posts. I made a point that Sky are a successful business.. that is absolute bona fide fact, yet two folk decide because it doesn't fit their agenda to clog up the forum with ridiculous denials.

Ah the old 'you bore me' when you've made yourself look like a complete tool. We're not off thread at all seeing as you and Sidney blame the existence of the play-offs on Sky.. and now trying to make out Sky aren't successful. You really couldn't make it up.