Aces51

It seems fairly clear to me. He averaged 4 in the Premier League last year and rode in the NL so qualified for the 2.5% reduction.

You either believe me or you don't. You obviously have a higher regard for your opinion than I do if you think I would feel any need to justify to you what I have said. Maybe you have tried to negotiate a deal with Sky and been unable to match what I achieved. In that case I can understand why you might feel inadequate.

They didn't really take much persuading. I do have the full sky package but I wasn't threatening to cancel anything else.

I phoned Sky today to cancel Sky Sports and they have given it to me for £2.50 per month and that's legal.

You won't be joining my "Make speedway great again" campaign then. Whatever you want to believe about what I have said or however you want to look at it the quality of racing at the dog track was significantly poorer than at Hyde Road, I doubt you will find many who disagree with that and the crowd numbers dropped noticeably even during the first season. Last year at the NSS I spoke to people I had not seen at speedway since the Hyde Road days and it was the quality of the racing that had brought them back. There are also people on the Belle Vue Army site and the Aces Facebook pages saying exactly the same.

There were other factors but I think it's fairly clear that the drop in crowds after the Aces move to the dog track was due mainly to the poorer quality of the racing. Many fans have given that as the reason they stopped going and some who came back last year have said it was because of the quality of the racing produced at the NSS. I never stopped attending but the enjoyment levels last year were on a par with Hyde Road and must increase the likelihood that any first timers will return. Time will tell.

The BBC website states; Manchester City Council knew a week in advance about issues with the National Speedway Stadium track which forced the postponement of the grand opening, according to a document seen by BBC Radio Manchester. To me, knowing the issues that forced the postponement, means that they knew the real reasons. If they thought, as Belle Vue did, that the problems were with the top surface, then you would not say that they knew the issues which forced the postponement.

It is alleged that the council knew of the reasons which caused the postponement. Leading up to the meeting Belle Vue thought the problems were related to the top surface and that they had been resolved.

Won't the same restrictions apply to KK, so that can't have been a consideration in releasing Holder.

I wondered why I didn't get a reply.

The NSS has free wifi or at least did last year. The idea of an app to watch repays is an excellent idea.

Tara ra boom de aye? Or maybe just goodbye.

No rush. I'm sure that Mark Lemon has everything in hand. Plenty of time yet before the programme has to go to the printers. They could always issue free pens if necessary. 😂

The opening meeting, the Peter Craven Memorial meeting, has now been changed to Saturday, 1st April. Much better than running it on a Sunday afternoon particularly as it was on Mothers day. Saturday seems appropriate as that was our race night when Peter rode fir the Aces. Should encourage a bigger crowd as well.

Delighted to see the new improved slimmed down, simplified and unambiguous rule book we were promised. 🤔 At least that's three promises kept then. The rule book, openness and transparency and a league sponsor. 😆

It might be worth you having a word with them. I get all of the BT Sport channels. I had the same deal last year, although I think it was free for the first few months and only renewed about 3 weeks ago and it certainly still includes all of the channels. The £3.75 is a half price offer.

I have BT broadband and get BT sport on the Sky platform for £3.75 a month. I also get the BT app so I can watch BT sport on my phone or tablet. Be nice to get this news confirmed so I can cancel Sky Sports.

I've not seen anything to suggest he has. Personally, I wouldn't sign a Pole because no matter how committed they may be they are at the beck and call of their Polish club and I wouldn't as a matter of principle after their ruling to restrict how many other leagues riders who sign for their top league can ride in.

You're right that his away form could have been better but he is not yet 21 and improving all of the time. He showed his quality by the way he adapted and performed last year in Poland and Sweden and I am confident he will be a better rider here this coming season. King can also be inconsistent and is unlikely to improve. Much as he relies on his gating and is not popular with Aces fans after his previous spell in Aces colours I think he is better value than King on his current average.

I'm in two minds about signing King albeit I like him as a rider and have liked Belle Vue's preference for British riders. Assuming Fricke wants to come back then I would prefer him because he is an asset, a better rider and a better prospect. Alternatively, signing King in addition to Fricke, as a third heatleader, gives us a strong top 4 but a potentially weak bottom end. Against that, Bewley and Smith have tremendous potential so may improve over the season to become a good reserve pairing. Another factor is that it was reported in the Australian press that we had signed Sedgman. Thankfully, it is Mark Lemon who has to decide and after the winter we've had I shall be pleased to support whoever we sign.

Unfortunately, I think that Belle Vue and Coventry are two completely different situations. With Belle Vue the stadium owners, MCC, wanted speedway to continue and there were six prospective promoters wanting to take over. The BSPA didn't have to overcome any difficulties with the council or struggle to help to find people wanting to take it on. With Coventry, there is an existing promoter, a stadium requiring a large sum of money to make it fit for purpose and an apparent unwillingness of at least some of the parties involved to get together with a will to keep the Bees running. The BSPA could and may have tried to facilitate an agreement but it was a much more difficult task than they faced at Belle Vue. They do not have the money to purchase the stadium, assuming Brandon Estates really do want to sell and some of the parties are clearly being intransigent. If the BSPA have done little or nothing they deserve condemnation but if they tried but found they were facing people not prepared to listen or compromise there was realistically little they could achieve.

A tragedy that a club with the stature and history of Coventry should end like this. Others may have contributed but the real villian here seems to be Sandhu. There was genuine reason to believe that the Bees were safe for at least one more season until the stadium was vandalised. This is a sad, sad day for speedway and especially for Coventry fans. I don't know if more could have been done by the BSPA or, anyone else, but I hope that no stone was left unturned. The fans deserve at least that. We know it's never easy to resurrect a team once they have closed but I sincerely hope that some way can be found for the Bees to return.

I think that Billy and Peter Craven were of similar height. Billy was a brilliant rider, not in the very top echelon but capable of beating the very best riders and a good solid heat leader. Delighted to hear he is still going strong.

You misunderstand. The criticism of the BSPA was that they went behind the back of the promotion. If it was genuinely, as you suggest, to get more facts then surely they should also have spoken to the promotion to ensure that they at least had both sides of the story. As we now know the debts were largely, if not entirely, due to the problems with the track and the stadium. If the chairman had bothered to speak first to those he owed an allegiance to, as members of the BSPA, he may well still have been horrified but with the standard of work done by the contractors and the financial affects that had Gordon and Morton.

So you've not read the Speedway Star Star article and the documents that were published. Either that or you did not understand it. A loss adjustor assessed the cost to the promotion of the incomplete stadium and problems caused by the contractors with the track at just under £700k, a figure clearly accepted by the council. They have therefore done well if the debts they left amounted to £500k, just over 70% of that figure