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Would be interesting to know who was responsible for wording the statement! It was pathetic! Anyway, at least it's all over now, welcome back Coventry and Peterborough.

I agree Tex. Eventually, we will drive out all the top riders completely and end up with a north/south Premier style division. That may be fine for a lot of people and I mean no disrespect at all to those who like Premier league racing, as I'm sure there are many good meetings. Personally, I really enjoyed seeing the top guys like Crump, Pedersen, AJ etc and we've more or less lost them in British racing. With the farce of an Elite we have now and the clowns we have running it, the rest of the best won't bother coming back either. Now we seem to be doing our best to balls up the GB team; it's almost like the target is to make speedway as amateur as possible.

I haven't seen another thread anywhere but apologies if there is one. I read in the Speedway Star that Lee has decided to quit the team. He sites his reasons as not being able to accept the terms expected from team GB, losing out on expenses and the team not realistically being good enough to win anything. According to Lee, team GB want riders to give up their main advertising slot on their racesuits for team use, costing riders money. He also says he was out of pocket by around £1500 after last years World Cup, with no explanation as to why his expenses claims were not paid. He went on to say that realistically, team GB have no chance of winning anything as there is only himself, Nicholls and Harris that are consistantly good enough and that it is hard to see where the next talent is coming from, as we are so far behind the likes of Poland, Denmark and Australia. To me, the future of British speedway seems to be declining by the day.

Didn't know anything about the crash until now. Best wishes go out to Joe.

Thanks for running it again Pete, makes the GP's more enjoyable. Much appreciated mate.

Steve, you are surely now just on a wind up. Firstly you congratulate Coventry, saying you had no complaints, which I pointed out to several posters who were mocking you in your absence and now because Ford has spoken out you have changed your tune. I'm beginning to understand now why so many can't wait to get their claws into you. I notice how you ignore all the posts asking how Poole constantly manage to get riders on low averages or why Screen famously missed a Poole match injured only to score well the very next day. Why can't you just admit that Coventry played the system better than Poole this season? You know that if the situation was reversed that Poole would have done the same. The vast majority of Poole fans can hold their heads up high, Poole have been a fantastic team this season and most have taken the defeat with dignity, including Middlo and Watt. As for real speedway fans, what does that even mean? I consider myself a speedway fan, I'm not sure what counts as real or fake but I'm definately a fan. I also feel Coventry played by the rules, whether we think the rules are fair or not, they were not broken. There are things we all think are unfair but if the rules allow then it's down to the rule makers. I certainly won't be looking at their victory with distain and I would guess that the vast majority of fans, Poole included, will be of the same opinion as me. I've stuck up for you plenty of times Steve but not on this occasion, as I'm not even sure you're being serious and I certainly feel you're wrong.

Sorry to say it Steve but you too are gullible if you believe Ford has grounds to stir it the way he has. He would have done exactly the same if the situation was reversed and you know it. It smacks of sour grapes and it's a shame he couldn't be a bit more dignified in defeat. Rosco has done absolutely nothing wrong. The rules have not been broken. It's the job of a promoter/manager to use his/her skill to find those riders on silly averages and protect them if the chance becomes available to keep the average down. Poole have played the averages game better than anyone over the years, which is why the club has a lot of jealous dislikers, we all wish our clubs were as efficient at doing it! This season, Coventry played it right at the right time and were deserved play off winners. Ford should have kept his mouth shut, it was bound to provoke this kind of response. Many would say that Doyle made an amazingly quick recovery from his shoulder injury after Havvy didn't do as well as expected, it works both ways.

Spot on post CM, agree with all of the above. I got critisized a while back when I said I thought Bridger had reached his level. In my opinion that still stands, he's done nothing to suggest that he will go on to be like Bomber, Richardson or Nicholls.

I'll change to Gollob for Captain please Pete, should have done it last time! Thought Crump was gonna fight back! Thanks.

I'll go for Crump as captain please Pete. Thankyou.

Old team: 1. Jason Crump £50k 4. Greg Hancock £25k 8. Kenneth Bjerre £50k 10.Hans Andersen £35k 13.Jaroslaw Hampel £25k OUT: 8.Kenneth Bjerre £50k 10.Hans Andersen £35k IN: 2.Tomasz Gollob £50k 12.Chris Holder £35k New team: 1. Jason Crump £50k 2. Tomasz Gollob £50k 4. Greg Hancock £25k 12.Chris Holder £35k 13.Jaroslaw Hampel £25k Total £185K Captain for today - Jason Crump Cheers Pete

I'll keep Crump as captain please Ballinger. Thanks.

Hi Ballinger, I'll switch my captain back to Crump please mate. Thanks for your hard work mate, much appreciated.

That's what I thought but I think Sandie was mixing up Shields and Watt, who Cooke referred to as Davey Tw*t I believe. I took it that she finds the whole thing a bit tedious aswell.

Fair enough! Although I could have sworn I'd been watching Shieldsy at Lakeside! I know what you meant though!