MD

They are, as long as they retain their enthusiasm. Hopefully a lack of silverware and an amateurish governing body dont dent that.

Summers seized his main engine that night and struggled thereafter.

AS has been major league poor this year. He was immense in 2015 & 2016 but has gone back to being the rider he was prior to joining Glasgow. Time to move on.

And that sums up our season since July. Cant rely on any part of the order, top, middle or bottom. End of the road for most of this team. I think we regret not making a mid season change, 12 months ago Bach for Barker moved our stuttering season up a gear.

Sedgmen now steps up into the main event at the Melbourne GP to replace the injured Fricke and is guaranteed 5 rides, should his shoulder hold out of course.

Cos he can consistently outrun Summers on his home track who is an 8.00! The points saved could bolster the lower and middle order.

This season has shown we cant run with such a weak tail. We need to sacrifice one of the top three to free up some points. The middle order needs improvers starting with averages around 6 points, Jake Allan, Lunna etc. Who knows what will happen at the top, too many variables and a bit of politics to be any certainties. I do think we will keep Lawson for his home point scoring.

Tough one, Harris and Starke usually excellent at Ashfield. Lambert was superb on his last visit and Holder knows the fastest route if he can gate. Sarjeant is a bonus for Perry if he can sit still at the tapes. Should be a good one.

AS putting himself in the shop window, cant knock him for that. Looks like our fixtures will go to the wire, annoying when we had 5 blank weekends April to June.

Berge has moved on from every club he has joined. If he was such a talent Sheffield wouldn't have let him go, even for Bjerre. Should he join Scunthorpe for 2018 that'll be his fifth team in four seasons. After that I suspect he'll have run out of clubs and we wont see him again in the UK. As for Glasgow recovering a transfer fee, forget it. There is less risk with Brexit than buying the registration of this petulant but perhaps misunderstood individual.

Stuart Robson 7.20, Aaron Summers 8.00. Thats almost a point saved for starters. If Sarjeant is a shoe in to start at reserve, the next averaged rider must be close to him so they can interchange over the season, like Pijper 4.23 or Garcia 4.34. Sarjeant cant cut it at No2 for a prolonged spell. With the league structures currently unclear, decisions will have been made as to who isnt returning more so than who is coming in.

Wonder if Sedgmens' shoulder injury will have healed enough for the Australian GP in 2 weeks.

Lost them at Berwick in July, rarely been the same since. Habit of finishing meetings poorly.

"I could quite easily have walked away ....but I've got too much repect for our fans to do that." So you let your top rider go abroad when the Fours were held at your own track and then subsequently let the same rider do likewise on several further occasions and could only be replaced by an NL guest! This guy seems quite selective in showing respect to his customers but is now bizarrely seeking their sympathy. He is the sole reason for this sorry mess and should face up to the consequences of his seriously flawed decision making.

He is solely to blame and cant possibly be trying the sympathy ticket.

Next weekend we are hosting the Riders Championship on the Saturday so thats out and should we progress in the KOC we need another home meeting date.

Still to find a date for Workington which has been rained off twice.

We would just have to join the big league. Its pretty much the same as ours anyway with a couple of exceptions. With only 2 defined race nights though it could create wage inflation as each team is pretty much chasing the same bank of riders.

Judging by the team we are putting out its not just the fans. Is there a reason we arent riding on the Saturday, again? Lack of continuity drives lack of interest!

Doubling up restricted to two riders, one of whom must be British In preparation for restricting EU nationals in 18 months, establish a strategic policy of attracting riders from Australia and NZ, removing the minimum entry criteria and allowing them to race in the NL. That way they can ride at home during our winter, come here in the summer, riding regularly against a higher standard of rider and become better riders who can increase the pool of available riders in our league. They speak our language, are culturally similar and dont run off home at every opportunity for nothing meetings. Occasionally like a whinge but I can see past that. Might also extend to the USA. Two minute warning is ready to race at the tapes not trundling round at their own pace Tapes infringements without exclusion should be a 1 minute warning again ready to race at the tapes Riders with two on the trot should get an additional 2 minutes only then standard 2 minutes on Warnings given to riders for jumping should carry forward resulting in exclusion if they do it again just like GP's Additional training given to referees to consistently apply the rules and establish best practice (Dishington to be re-trained at the first opportunity) Minimum entry level to our league is 3.00 - nowhere near enough successes at 2.00 to justify continuing with it. Its just watering down and cost cutting! Guests bookings and r/r should reflect a riders home or away average e.g. a Sedgmen on 6.5 but who's actual home average is 8 and away average is 5 should only get a guest or r/r up to 5 on the road and his equivalent at home - too much piss taking and its a grossly unfair advantage even though everyone uses it Teams should ride every week on their race night with rain offs to be run on their alternative night Visiting teams subject to a rain off should be offered three dates then via a Management Committee mechanism told what the date is should they decline all three Drawn meetings in the KOC should go to golden heats or countback and be dealt with that night. This year has been a farce. Some BSPA shared events to be run on Bank Holiday Mondays and weekdays during summer holidays. Weekend clubs are already disadvantaged by the Cardiff GP, World Cup etc. Reintroduce the Premier Trophy - its too long a season with only 10 teams to play everyone twice when by June you could clearly see the play off contenders and strugglers Playoffs to be six teams and not four Make better use of the NSS as a training facility Non serious injuries requiring a visit to hospital but not an ambulance should result in riders being driven to A&E not delivered by the track ambulance and creating unnecessary delays (I did say non serious). Rider sick notes to be for a minimum of 7 days regardless of the reason, to stop the picking and choosing free for all Bring in a range of rules to restore the balance of power back from riders. Whilst no riders means no clubs, no customers means no riders are required. We seem to have lost perspective that speedway is there to entertain the paying punter who also has plenty of other options for their dollar.

Richie Worrall is poor in the slick. Tracks this time of year are prepared that way to cope with the rain. Put a bit of dirt down and you've got a different rider.

Track was slicker than ive seen it but perfectly raceable. Sheffields' falls were all self inflicted. I would speculate Bates and Grajczonek were because they were too hard on the gas turning in and Bjerre looked an EF when he inexplicably came off when comfortable in front. Tonight also showed why we cant sign Sarjeant next year. Two tapes offences when we really were desperate for any points we could get. He was unlucky in ht2 when Graversen locked up whilst trying to pin him down on the first turn and the Grand M excluded him. If we have any sense we'll stick a 2018 contract under Bowtells nose. Passed his entrance test tonight with flying colours in only his second visit. Got stuck in and wasnt scared to keep the throttle on with those big runs off gate 4 round the first and second bends. We have really suffered at reserve this season and shown we cant carry a weak No7 and underperforming No6.

Thats a comprehensive reply, and I thank you for taking the time to do it and for taking my comments on board. For the benefit of doubt I dont do Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc but view your content via the Tigers Twitter page. If someone has copied and pasted my posting from here I have no control over this. I am a long standing supporter without agenda. Its not possible to always be objective but if you select my profile and view my posts you can judge if my credibility fits with yours. I do not post anywhere else other than a rare foray on Easy Tiger. I am however frustrated at the lack of reality in the quotes/postings (articles published on Tigers Twitter for clarification) I mentioned previously, and the rider I have quoted. If our captain cant see that we have floundered week after week and comes out with what we have read I question why it needed to be published. It makes him look delusional. 'We need to lay down a marker' No, you need to work on your own issues and score the points you did April to June.'We need to lay down title credentials'. No, you need to accept we peaked in June and mention we have to pull out all the stops, ride to our potential, make gating crucial, avoid last places, say how much a challenge it will be etc but overall recognise we are on the back foot and that things might not go our way. I travelled on the summer fixtures to Ipswich and Sheffield where we were pretty woeful, with the odd exception. I will scan the programme covers if you require 'evidence'. Our nearest title challengers turned us over without effort and arrived on our patch a month later and did the same, along with Peterborough yet still the same lack of recognition that it happened, that it was just the reserves, that we arent the team we were early season and are struggling big time but not to worry we are in the play offs anyway. Thats my gripe, not with you but the absolute lack of reality of our situation in these quotes.

Ouch! Cage rattled? By PR I specifically mean press releases not social media. Example - Up until four weeks ago we were still putting out about going for top spot when Stevie Wonder could see the wheels had come off the bus. Last week after our third home defeat in four meetings Summers is quoted as saying job done and our form isnt a problem. Oh really! The week before Summers again in a release about laying down a marker against Ipswich to signify our play off credentials. Really? Completely belied our form, and his at that point and utterly delusional to say it that way but again suggests and creates expectation that we win everything. Everyone I stand with had it predicted an away win and no doubt that press release pinned to the Ippo dressing room wall would have motivated them no end. Its only after a proper humping at Sheffield on Thursday that it seems the penny has dropped and a bit of decorum has broken out in the after meeting report. Its part of PR to accentuate the positive and deflect negative headlines but also to make press releases appropriate to the circumstances. Regarding the names you've quoted, what exactly were they praising? Number of followers, pictures, exposure for sponsors, links to other clubs, videos? Or did you just list some well knowns and hope that would kill it? As in all things in life and in sport people can and will have opinions, how they perceive things is their view to have.

Thats the thing though, most of the money has gone on the stadium, which isnt just used for speedway. We built a team to the same points limit as everyone else. Part of the issue is the rampant PR machine which greatly increases the expectations of home fans whilst getting the backs up of the visitors making them more determined to ram it down our throats. It is what it is though. Its still a pleasure to turn out at a superb venue every week. This time three years ago we were bust. Since then we've made the play offs each year though admittedly this year has been the poorest. Still it could be worse, we could have accepted the invite to join the big league for 2017.