Daniel Smith

With regards to Ben Cook: I was very critical of him but I'll happily say i was wrong. Ben said he didn't want to return until he was fit enough to deal with UK tracks. He came back & delivered, showing excellent form. For me, he showed the right attitude of a committed rider. Didn't want to turn up, score 2-3 points & collect a minimal pay cheque & damage the club as a whole further. His absence allowed King's Lynn the opportunity to select where possible, adequate guests that 'could' do better than him. If the lad didn't give a 💩 he wouldn't have returned at all. He was well aware of comments being made about him also, he could have said "fook the lot of them", but he came back & got his head down. Commitment is not just about turning up week in week out. Commitment is delivering the best possible outcome to the individual & team. Any rider with that type of attitude I'd rather have than one turning up injured not scoring points. Give me 7 Ben Cook's in my team & I'd be more than happy.

Has it happened before where a rider has a testimonial at a track they don't ride for?? That seems odd to me, I do think it will affect the attendance too unless he signs up some proper big names.

Tom Brennan has to be one of the oddest dislikes in Speedway. Doesn't seem to have that horrid, big headed type arrogance the 2 Holder's carry around & the Sheffield lot loved them. Very odd

Thought Poland were tightening up rider restrictions?? Kurtz in Denmark surely has to be a worry does it not?? Would he not also do Sweden??

What makes you think in a 5/6 team league, that's an awful team?? Doyle, Sayfutdinov & Kurtz already gone. Both Holder's up in the air. There's others I've probably forgotten walked away. That is not an awful septet in the current climate

Where it deserves to be?!?

I would be happy with all kinds of match fixing as long as King's Lynn finally manage to break it's top league duck, crowds double, it looks like a well run professional outfit. A bit of fraud & scandal has never really done any other sport harm.

☝🏻

Swings & roundabouts. Since Speedways inception the UK had the stranglehold over everyone. Raced every day of the week, asset system etc. From the mid 2000's Poland came in to some serious money and have built a product and rocketed past the UK, Sweden & Denmark & left them all for dead. For me, as the Ekstraliga has all the 💰 available, it has every right to dictate. BUT........... The UK just needs to sit tight for a bit, as the bubble is slowly deflating in Poland too. Some clubs are really struggling with their numbers over the last couple of years

Surely not - Ipswich 'Houghton Hams Ltd' Silver Machine

Keep the insults coming, love these 😘 True though what I've said isn't it?!? Sheffield & Ipswich are almost a parallel over the last few years with the same sponsor but different owners.

Do I seriously have to answer this?? Seeing as you asked, Guy Nicholls is a local business owner with a multi millions turnover, who is/was a fan of the sport/club. He chose Ipswich because that's where he's from. Zero to do with Ipswich being 'well-run'. I hear you ask, why did he sponsor King's Lynn & then Sheffield?? Because it was his best route to try & expand he brand, who are also located in Loughborough. The same questions can be asked of Sheffield, it's no coincidence with the standard of rider's signed under the TruPlant sponsorship. Without them, Sheffield could never afford both Holder's & Woffinden. Sheffield was well-backed, not well-run. Nicholls pulls his sponsorship, then all of a sudden Sheffield is up for sale. Could be coincidence but is it though?? Ipswich are not the Real Madrid of British Speedway. Ipswich are (to a point Sheffield) lucky feckers to have TruPlant around. If Guy Nicholls wasn’t a fan of the sport/club, the size of his business would go nowhere near it.

Again, it's nothing to do with how Louis, Hawkins & others work for Ipswich Speedway. They have done what needs to be done, they all worked bloody hard. That's not in dispute. The issue for me is this belief (mainly by the fans) that it's 'well run', rather than the actual fact that Ipswich is fortunate to be 'well backed'. They're not one & the same, especially in British Speedway.

That highlighted part, but sorry 🤣🤣 I suppose it's great to know that Jason & Emil put themselves out for £20 per point then because they were ravaged with their treatment 🤣🤣 In terms of sponsorship in more professional sports, it cannot be compared as these sponsors are getting something back from it. 99% of British Speedway sponsors are throwing money away because they're fans & no they'll get nothing in return. It is not the same at all.

Jealousy of what exactly. There's nothing in British Speedway to be jealous of. Hate towards Louis?? Nobody is hating on Louis, Hawkins, Nicholls or Ipswich as a whole. People are just highlighting the delusions of Ipswich fans, believing that Ipswich is well-run, where, in fact, it's just well-backed. How do we know it's about backing rather than the running of the club?!? Seeing as you asked, here's some basic maths to wrap your head around. Let's say Ipswich has around 1400 through the gate every meeting. 700 at full (£24), 600 at concession (£22), 100 at child (£1). That's £30,100 per home meeting. Half that to also cover the away fixtures (£15,050). What's the chances that Sayfutdinov & Doyle almost swallowed that up between them?? Highly likely isn't it?? Now it's about guesstimating the costs of Brennan, King, Ellis, Thompson & Edwards. Would £10,000 seem a fair guess for those 5?!? That's a basic 30% needing to be covered by sponsorship in salaries. None of the above has taken in to consideration the costs of medical cover, insurance, track materials, staff etc, all the costs outside of the septet. When 30%-40% of expenditure needs to be covered by Sponsorship, that's not a well run club, that's a well backed club. I'll say it again. It's in no way "Chris Louis hate", it's just to highlight this best-run, well-run nonsense. It is absolutely fact, Ipswich would be also-rans (like King's Lynn) without TruPlant.