MD

Workington have gone right off lately. Whilst all the flak will be directed at Bach and Grajczonek, whatever has happened to Campton.

Another overdraft meeting for the Monarchs wage bill. Wonder if Rusty will recover for Sunday!

I've never met a fan who wants the 4's never mind another meeting date for qualifying. The appetite for these type of meetings has diminished rapidly in recent years. The Pairs has had an extended lease of life being attached to the British GP weekend but otherwise time has to move on. Ditch the league cup and straight on with the league from day 1 next year IMO.

Aye, in heat 2! Don't kid yourself its another 60 pointer though naturally with passing galore throughout the meeting.

No point wasting money we don't have, if Kasper wants it to happen it will regardless of who owns his registration.

Didn't we replace him with Jesper Olsen?

Ah yes, Katajisto also. True but you haven't mentioned Grajczonek, Morris, Bellego and Berge. I'm sure all of them achieved their assessed average or just about in their first season, though Morris was a 3.00 if I remember correctly. Thomsen has the ability just not the machinery or laterly attitude.

We are going to have some amount of reserves/second strings next year with Palovaara, Ringwood, Thomsen, Berge etc. Kasper should already have one of those positions secured. Bringing over yet more assessed riders still doesn't solve the problem of finding a No1 capable of holding their own.

Another point from Palovaara would have got us a draw however we can't blame the rider. It is frustrating that with even a 5 or 6 pointer riding at No1 we could have won this and have a much more robust team overall. Palovaara should get his average after Friday at the track that entertains like no other, and that will give us a team CMA around the 36 point mark!

Has he left? He should be a 3.00 for Glasgow's next home meeting assuming he makes it to PB and Edinburgh this week.

He should get an average next week after visiting Peterborough on Tuesday and Edinburgh on Friday assuming it is 4 home and 4 away, I don't keep up with the annual changes. If that's the case he will be on 3.00 down at reserve, pushing Berge back into the main body with presumably r/r. According to todays programme Palovaara is currently averaging 2.53. I've changed my opinion on Wolbert as the season has progressed from binning him to keeping him for next season. We've taken the hit for him dropping a whopping 2.5 points off his starting average and he represents excellent value on his current average of 5.86. However his parent club will also be blissfully aware of this. I would definitely keep Kasper, he has to be the find of the last 3 seasons for us, joining us as a last minute replacement for Ringwood when no-one wanted him, he has grown in stature the last few months and is starting to hold his own against decent riders. He has shown confidence to come off the inside line and can create phenomenal speed on the bends, his stalking and pass on the outside of Campton in ht14 was superb. Hopefully for the remainder of this season he can stay at reserve. I would also have Rusty back for 2015. Worky were poor compared to the same side that turned us over earlier in the season with their middle order of Bach, Campton and Howarth the prime culprits. Bach often rides Ashfield better than the home riders but wasn't on it today though he had a heavy fall in his third ride. Howarth was poor, ditto Lambert and Jacobs looked jaded compared to when he was here with PB. Campton wasn't great either and there is a sense of satisfaction in that when riders return to Ashfield having left to go somewhere better in their opinion, they are pish!

I've quite often wanted the meeting to end early when Glasgow have been visitors!

Too right and with potentially Eastbourne and Birmingham joining the PL it should be league racing from day 1 of the new season. There is also Cradley who could move up though I don't keep up with NL.

Qualifiers for the PL Fours would just another date to the calendar. As it is, Glasgow as a weekend club already lose fixtures because of the Pairs, Fours etc even when we aren't in it. Add in the British GP and we barely ran a meeting during late June and July. If we were to leave additional weekend dates spare on top of the early season rain offs we would be running triple headers next month. With the BSPA not recognising the European U21 event they have caused todays farcical situation.

Glasgow are now offering a free programme to season ticket holders or a £2 off voucher for next Sunday if you attend. The promotion have smartly recognised a wholesale no show from the home fans and whilst acknowledging the situation is beyond their control have offered an olive branch, albeit small.

I agree, it is completely unacceptable, so the match should be called off.

This isn't the fault of Glasgow Speedway though they will pay the price with a very low crowd. We have imported riders since time began and unfortunately if we were to avoid riders who have team places in the EL, Poland, Sweden, Long Track etc it would be NL speedway at Glasgow. Even mediocre PL riders can seem to pick up a place in Poland these days. Australian riders were once coveted as they didn't need to disappear off to their home championships mid season, though for many of them now they are racing in multiple leagues just like the rest. British speedway for a while now has been lowest in the pecking order of European leagues, we no longer get the crowds or sponsorship we used to and this is the situation we find ourselves in. The BSPA have no bargaining power to change that, in demanding riders prioritise Britain though some of their decisions over the years would seem to have contributed to the decline. As it is IMO the lower half of the EL could easily join the Premier and not look out of place. As for Sunday, its pretty unappealing, fans will vote with their feet and its Glasgow speedway that will suffer when they can least afford it.

A new low crowd for a PL match! For once the rain could save us from this rubbish on Sunday.

By heat 12! TR Pijper ht5, TR Rusty ht6 then its shooty in. With nothing expected from Palovaara or Aarnio I'd expect Monarchs to need an overdraft to cover the wage bill this Friday.

An entertaining meeting despite the long delays for Rose and Neilsen. We definitely profitted from Mills inability to complete 4 laps though he made up for it in ht14 with an excellent win. Wonder what the issue was with Rusty's bike in ht13, never seen 2 riders go off 15m in the same race. Lykke had an excellent afternoon, one of the most productive inside line riders we've had at Glasgow and smartly moves off it in later heats to follow the dirt line. Aarnio pretty much got what Anders would have. Think we are in for a pumping at Newcastle tomorrow.

Stewart Dickson pulled no punches about Anders in Speedway Star, frustrating lack of consistency and saying blowing 2 engines wasn't his problem. Also questioning if he is doing too much. Perhaps it wasn't just us getting frustrated.

Ya beauty! An inspired guest in Bunyan, r/r and Rusty. All the more astonishing as Aarnio never showed until half way through the meeting.

Just get the riders to pay their own airfares! Oh, and make sure no one is getting in the back gate for free. If only we could have Shawfield like facilities again.

Fans were disappearing long before we left Shawfield hence the move to Ashfield for cheaper rent. Some people never migrated up to Ashfield due the areas' notorious reputation. Whilst Ashfield is a depressing ramshackle, Shawfield or the main stand has been renovated. It became very run down during the 2000's, like the area round about it whilst the new route for the M74 extension was chosen. However the area to the north and west of Shawfield are being regenerated with new roads and housing, and it is now right next to the motorway. I'm sure we could generate better crowds if we moved back there. From marketing during Alun Biggarts season they found very few fans came from Glasgow, Lanarkshire was the main base. However there was animosity when Glasgow left Shawfield and if we couldn't afford the rent then could we now? During the housing boom in the mid 2000's Glasgow were given notice to leave Ashfield and got a flat no about returning to Shawfield. However that was then, Shawfield must only be running Greyhound racing 2 or 3 nights a week, possibly there could be mutual benefit for both parties in Glasgow returning assuming a deal could be struck on the rent. Or maybe I'm getting carried away with thinking about going to a home match with even basic facilities!

Home and abroad. We don't differentiate on dross.