mikebv

I think a League with UK Sweden and Denmark just could be an answer for the sport over here .. The "professional teams", could join and let the "hobby teams" ride in their own Championship... If only 3 teams currently want to ride in a top tier then they can join up with the 16 Scandinavian teams, giving 18 home matches, plus any play offs... And that would leave a 12 team Championship with non Poland contracted riders.. Using Denmark's system would mean just 15 riders needed over here.. It would create strong interest from the many who no longer attend regularly I would think, and also likely get TV coverage, and some decent sponsorship... Pay rates are not too different in either of the three leagues below Poland, so rider costs wouldn't be much different, with travel and accommodation being the only add on, however, many riders fly in and out now from country to country so even that wouldn't be too much of a big difference.. You would also get to see every top rider in the world over here, once, or twice if reaching the play offs.. A bona fide sporting league that has kudos, with different teams of only riders contracted to them, some you only get to see once, with regular meetings, ticks a lot of boxes that UK Speedway currently doesn't..

He should have called, latest by 2:55pm...😗 😁

I see Rune Holta is Norwegian again..

That'll teach Poole a thing or two, I'm sure....

And someone else will snap him up.... Self policing works really well doesnt it??

The current way of running the sport has ended up with more ex fans showing zero interest in the sport than still attend... In short. This unfit for purpose operating model and business plan doesn't work.. What amazes me is that almost every season the conference is said to be, by at least one promoter, "the most important ever", and "we all need to work together to improve things"... Which, suggests, just by using those phrases, the promoters know that what they currently do isn't working... Yet, by the end of each conference hardly anything fundamentally gets changed!!! With the changes that are made being things like "riding across the centre green now gets you excluded"!. And obviously we have "the best conference ever", "we are all on the same page" etc etc etc, upon conference close.. Baffling that we end up with pretty much the same operating model and business plan each year, which naturally, and obviously, will deliver pretty much the same results each year, and, at the end of the season the promoters recognise the issues, then do nothing to sort them.. Using the same plan will only keep the sport going the same way it has so far...

So much actually goes back to that lack of independent strong leadership for the sport... Riders can get bans but still have every possibility that even before they ride for either of their teams again, some promoter will call and ask them to guest... Riders, of a certain level, know they are far too much in demand to have any real sanction against them... And, in a sport with so little to "play for" I am not sure why bans are in place, given it is the rider who hasn't earned money, so he is the main loser due to the situation.. And some bans can mean the rider misses no meetings...

The race to the bottom began a fair few years ago but, sadly, no one would recognise and accept this, therefore fudging and making do and mending became "the only plan", with zero clear direction and growth strategy... It comes across as each season ends then the next season is then planned in, which is probably down to tracks only confirming then that they will run... Which will be no doubt down to the costs incurred, something which has never been focused on and driven down to levels that don't risk the clubs' future.. Big, tough, and probably unpopular decisions, should have been taken a long time ago, resetting the sport to hopefully take several steps back to move several more forwards, however Promoters decided to keep doing the same old, same old, until we (inevitably), have ended up where we are today...

All conjecture... Maybe he did have a solution and that, for whatever reason didn't happen? Hence he then had to call later in the day?... When my wife was ill the night before I was at work, I always waited till the next morning before making a decision given she may have improved... I don't get fans almost taking a rider missing a meeting personally, no one will lose out more than the rider himself, both on the night and possibly whilst serving a ban...

Why would anyone link it to taking drugs???.. His baby needed looking after and he had to do it due to nobody else being available... A very common occurance when I worked, several times myself I had to do it, and I went in work later once I had found someone to look after my kids.. Hard to go in later if there isn't the opportunity to do so.... These lads simply ride Speedway to earn money, it isn't some kind of emotional tie in for them, eg Kyle Howarth said he didn't miss not riding in the Final of one of only two competitions when he stopped riding before the second leg... Some people seem to take UK Speedway very seriously, which baffles me...

UK Speedway is getting like my lads Sunday League Football team... ie. You wait to see who turns up before naming the side... I was having a bet on 365 then read about Lawson, lord knows what a multi billion pound business like B365 must think of UK Speedway, laying odds must be a nightmare... Still, as John Campbell said in the Speedway Star... Doubling up (which is self inflicted),, and laydowns have ruined UK Speedway.. Really?.... Finger on the pulse!!!!

Has he got some bonding that hasn't dried?...

Riders with Polish contracts, as it stands, cannot DU next season... And not too many of them will decide DUing over here is better than accepting a Polish contract I would suggest. Especially as the signing on fee helps them fund their racing outside of Poland too...

Whatever it is can it be any worse than the current "Donald Ducked", unaffordable system?... In the Speedway Star John Campbell also mentioned more teams want to go to Fridays... Don't let a certain Promoter know!!!... The bottom line is what we have simply doesn't work, and, given where we are now hasn't for years.... No matter how many times the dead horse gets flogged by certain Promoters... The UK version of Speedway is almost in a position to just forget what has gone before and completely start again, with affordability and ultimately growth being the sole initial aim. Ipswich v Belle Vue v Northampton would make a good tri team tournament, but 10 times each per season, with all reaching the final, and I am not sure it would be a grower, and TV might not be interested......

The money, which used to be circa double the UK, also isn't the same now... Jason Doyle said a couple of years ago that it wasn't worth the hassle of getting out there for what the difference was, and that season chose the UK instead. And he only went to Sweden this year I would think due to the delay in setting up the top tier over here... One league, home and away once would give 28 matches, plus KO Cup, plus Play Offs.... And maybe use something similar to the Danish Play Off system where each team in the top four holds a round and use the SWC format. Meaning more meetings and maybe bigger crowds given three sets of away fans can attend..? Many more meetings than Sweden and Denmark would offer currently.. Might need five rider teams, might mean no GP riders, will mean a reduction in talent levels on show... Might also mean a max salary cap paid centrally by the BSP to ensure it is stuck to. (I am sure it will be)..😗.. Eg. £1.5k for No1, £1.25k for No2, £1k for No3, £500 for No4, and £250 for No 5.. £9k for two meetings home and away.. John Campbell mentioned Dan T virtually sitting it out in Poland this season but having to travel there, and suggested some may not take the risk next season out there, however, Dan T, and the others, would still have got a decent signing on fee, which, as he said in his Vlog, was much more than the two combined he got over here.. And one race win over there would get him more than a 15 max in the Championship over here given the £700/£800 per point quoted by him over there, and the £90/£100 a point on offer over here he quoted for a No1 in the Championship.. Therefore, can't see too many turning down a Polish place... Some pride might need swallowing by some promoters to ensure 15 teams come to the tapes next year... But the same old/same old simply won't cut it, and clearly hasn't for the past decade, especially post COVID.. The optics of a 15 team league at least make the sport look like a "national" one, with relevance, and also look reasonably sized, which just might be easier to sell to sponsors and TV?..