Stan Duppcomic

Its not too far to Leicester.

I feel really sorry for Jason and the Rebels here but having read the Border Agency site, my understanding of a tier 5 visa is that it is for temporary workers, and that each time you change job you need a new one. So a rider in the PL all season could use one if they stayed with one team, but if they went to work for someone else then the sponsor needs to be transferred and a fee of (i think) £412 needs to be paid. Then if they go back to the original sponsor another £412 needs paying and so on. SO. A rider doubling up needs to change his visa each time he rides for a different team or rides in an open meeting. Over a season that would be tens of thousands of pounds to keep within the law. In reality is a rider going to do that? No. So i can see perfectly well why the Tier 5 status cannot be supported. It could throw the whole sport into SERIOUS trouble with the government. Surely the issue with the Tier 2s is only if a rider lets it run out whilst he is out of the country. DON'T let it happen! From reading the Border agency website it appears you can get a 3 year visa. Wonder why Doyley didn't have a longer one?

Wondering how long it'd be before the voice of doom reared its head. Where's private frazer when you need him? Don't confuse the role of team manager in Speedway with the role of football managers. Seen it being done so many times but its a Completely different job. Sure its a learning curve for Joe - that's a statement of the " bleeding obvious" but he's only got to focus on reserve substitutions heat 15 and giving out the black and white helmet cover at an appropriate time. As a senior rider over the years he's no mug. Hes not picking the team, signing riders, dealing with off track politics etc etc. that's what promoters do. Surely Joe is there to coach and motivate, and that comes from ability, personality and life experience rather than anything else. Joes got bundles of both, and when it comes to handling "pit stop prima donnas" whatever they are, all he has to do is bring out his medals, and a few videos(!) and show the oik in question that he knows exactly what he's talking about. Dont forget to the young riders of today Joe's career is current and in HD. Go back three years, and despite Eric's trophy cabinet being crammed with championships, he was in scratchy black and white to the kids of the 2011 team: an irrelevance. No wonder the bloke spent most weeks red in the face. I like almost everyone else, am feeling very optimistic. Bring on the final 4 signings and see what weve got. Bet you a pound to a penny its a million miles from the past couple of seasons.

Stead Kildemand Morris Batchelor Gustafsson Roynon Worrall Bates Just been tipped off by Rosco Not only have Sheffield tapped up all the rest of Swindon's team, but they're going to use 8 riders as well Klindt refused to come

So there's a mystery Swede, a mystery consortium and Tony Mole. Tony has been the saviour at so many clubs but Why does his interest make me think its a convenient way of having a ready made club to move to Bradford when the time is right?

No but Benji's didn't go across the Centre green, whereas in this case it did which is right where the cars would be !!

I am sure that if anyone had any bright ideas Hel n Back, they would sign someone. But WHO? Anyone they sign will probably be less effective than Stead = fans slaughter management, and as for trying to bring in a "Rider for the future - the fans would DOUBLY SLAUGHTER the management if they did that! Sheffield are bad enough as it is without bringing in a sub standard permanent replacement for Stead. Guests are the best option IMO. Only a month until we find out anyway as they can't change the team after 28th August unless they bring a rider back after injury.

Hope whoever thought of this crazy idea has seen this!!

Sheffield had to go into damage limitation after Glasgow went public. Presumably to keep the lid on it so it didn't get out before they spoke to Hall. Glasgow probably thought it wasn't their problem!

Seems to me that it is the result of a series of unfortunate events. Firstly Rich injures his shoulder in a crash that wasn't his fault, then probably comes back too early. As a consequence his points scoring isn't as good as it had been. Meanwhile his Long Track performances are improving. 7th in Finland I think, 4th in Norway. Has a storming meeting v Newcastle at home in the League cup (hooray!) then goes to Newcastle, slides off in his first ride and withdraws with said shoulder injury again. Then his facebook page is full of pictures and the story of his road trip to Marmande for the Bastille Day GP which he wins (hooray!). Now 3rd in the Long track standings with 3 to go. Returns to Sheffield with a fanfare, and promptly gets excluded for exceeding 2 mins when allegedly his clutch lever drops off before his first heat. Manages to get to 6 points and Sheffield lose. To Rye House. Again. He then takes the P155 by showboating on his long track bike after the meeting. Next he "injures" himself unloading his bike and withdraws from the away trip to Rye House. Meanwhile there's a popular rider, keen as mustard who WANTS to ride for Sheffield available who will do as good a job, without the grief of Long Track, a niggling injury and a complete disregard for the fans'/promotion's feelings when their team loses. I suspect that this season may see a couple more changes, with another under achiever injuring himself falling off a mountain bike surely on the radar. With a new number one required , and the likes of MPT on the sidelines, surely there have to be more changes soon???

Apparently Harman?? Apparently??? You know full well! Come clean!!

Very much like Richard's Heat 15 against Workington. Top drawer stuff!

I'm a Big Jake fan, and I agree the change was because of the others under performing, BUT to compare Jake and Ashley is laughable. The only similarity is their starting average.

There had to be 3 or 4 in the frame. But 2 of them have had good meetings (at home) in the last 3 weeks. Otherwise I think young Jake would still be there. Right attitude, Right people. Now there's another 4 weeks until Andre's contract runs out at Glasgow. Pressure is on in the middle order now!! As for Jake taking a break - there's more to life than Speedway!

Well that's this week's winner sorted!

Because they need to have te team ratified! If they announced it and thenit wasn't ratified, guys like Dickieboy would be licking their lips as they slagged off the promotion! would " New Heat Leader" qualify? Think maybe not. Hope Im wrong!

Helen Sharman, Jessica Jane Clement, Chloe Newsome, Ashley Birks(!), Gordon Banks, Barry Hines, Reginald Dixon, "Dick" from Dick and Dom.

Great move by Sheffield. Gives them an option in case the fixtures are disrupted and the rider they have lined up loses patience, AND if the upturn in form of certain riders is temporary.

And he gets better gates earlier on riding at 2

http://www.sheffield...php?extend.1358 All systems GO! Must be that dry weather in Halifax! thanks for the update HalifaxTiger!

Dry

He wasn't a paying customer. He has said himself, was watching on Updates and makes his assessment of Damien's Heat 2 performance on the basis of a Youtube clip. Spot on Shaun.

I agree with most of what you say, SK, but changing the team order right now is akin to shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. The Management know they have to change things and I am sure they will. They are going to have to wait until mid to late June to act unless they see the first move is to replace Joe Haines, who, lovely lad that he is, is really struggling at the moment and will do whether he rides at 2,3,4,or 5. A reserve can get away with popping out of the gate once a meeting for a win and hoover up the odd third; your top second string can't. At the moment both Facu and Joe are doing that. For me though it's a case of drop a reserve (or both) and bring in what will effectively be a fourth heat leader with the points we will have. That will drop Facu to reserve and with Joe as the second second string you can put him at 2 and see how he fairs. I know Neil was going on in his notes about how much it would cost to bring in Andre (or I suppose someone similar), but the cost of not bringing in someone of his calibre to keep the fans that we have could be far more than the lay out needed to secure a new rider. Either way a lot of thinking to be done in the next couple of weeks befoire definitive action is taken. Expect to lose to Berwick and then see the changes. Depressing times but I hope they act appropriately to rescue what is left of the season. It can be done as we have a strong foundation to build on in the three heat leaders.

Don't build your part up Odsal boy, the announcer's comment (it wasn't a rant or a slating) was over this misguided post but as usual the accuracy level was about as close as you normally get so I certainly ignored it. As for limiting your activity - don't bother. Be forgotten next week - just hand your notice in at the MET office.

Firstly, Odsalboy you have excelled yourself again when it comes to going into print before thinking. You clearly have a very short memory. If you believe that David Hoggart is solely responsible for the team building then in 2011 he built one of the best teams on paper that Sheffield has ever had. Unfortunately the riders didn't deliver and we STILL finished second. They made a massive error in 2012 letting Ashworth go, but there are several rumours about why that had to happen. The year before In 2010, they won the pairs and reached the final of the fours. so I don't think it was too shoddy then. Yorkshire Tyke, I think your right about Neil Machin losing interest, so would I if I was losing money and getting sh** every week from people. I could cope with one of these if I was him but not both. Expect the shutters to go up if both continue. Sadly it is the vocal minority who Messrs Machin and Hoggart listen to. There is no doubt things need to change. So far all 4 of the gambles have not delivered regularly, so any or all of the bottom 4 are vulnerable. But they need to wait for the averages to change. I am sure they will change things as soon as they are able because if things don't change the inevitable would happen. Hopefully they will have had their eyes peeled over recent weeks and will have some ideas as to who they need to bring in and who to drop. As for all the positive noises in the press (if it's true), the promotion knew they couldn't change anyone until the assessed riders had proper averages, so they're hardly going to slag them off whilst they still needed them to try and at least score some points are they?