mikebv

The Slough Sliders...

I think Dan knew riding at Foxhall as a home track would only regress his career... Like it has Jason Doyle's...

You can't see why anyone would open a track these days given the massive costs to open it and then run it, and the lack of public interest in Speedway.. Maybe a "Buxton" could work at NDL level with 300 or so fans per week, and it got ran very much as a development team, with rider costs reflecting that... Renting tracks is now very much fraught with the threat of closure, even if you are doing well, which also means those who own their own stadiums have an ever dwindling offering to their own spectators as these tracks close... A five team league anyone?... It will be great I am sure.....

Could still be the "Mother" of all 4 Team Tournaments ahead then? 12 meetings at home for each of the four teams.. Five riders per team, which includes a reserve.. With, to add variety, the teams change helmet colours meeting by meeting.. ie, over the first segment of four matches, the home teams start with Red, but by their fourth meeting at home, they are riding in Yellow, having gone through Blue and White in the second and third matches at their track... This means every team has equal gate positions over a 48 match season.. Sounds exciting I know, but, even better than that. The top four qualify for a Final held at every track... With the top team over the season starting the final with three points, second two and third with one.. (Otherwise all the Qualifiers could be seen as meaningless if no reward for finishing top, and we wouldn't want that would we?) Sounds good doesn't it? Loads of meeting for riders... Loads of exciting helmet colour changes for the fans to follow.. Three lots of away fans at each venue (maybe even double figure numbers attending from at least one of them), and possibly a taxi full from the other two tracks, (not a seven seater one obviously).. And, (and this is the winner for me), you can flog "Quarter n Quarter n Quarter n Quarter" scarves, so lots of merchandising opportunities.. Charge around thirty quid a ticket, running on those hotbed of entertainment nights of Monday and Thursday, plus, (most importantly of all of course, riders can still then double up), and, I think we can all agree, the sport would be on to a winning formula... Maybe they could get a betting company involved to sponsor the league and, every meeting, they could run a book on "Who will Bomber ride for tonight?".. It could be a bit like the Masked Singer, whereby he stands on the centre green in a Wulf Sport Jacket, and the crowd shout "Take It Off! Take It Off'!, and as the crowd reach fever pitch he unzips the jacket to reveal his kevlars... Imagine the scenes?..... Making Speedway Great Again.. Ho! Ho! Ho! Happy Christmas All... It’s a time for miracles so lets hope those in charge can come up with one now, and a few more over the next few seasons..

I think the fact they didn't speaks volumes....

And it is that ignoring "the inevitably" rather than embracing it and planning for it, that is the most frustrating thing for many fans... As soon as 20 teams got hit then I would suggest "one league" should have been the plan.. One season in the planning of it, and then a complete reset and relaunch of the sport... With the aim of every team being competitive for the restart of the sport... Maybe they will do it in 2026 for 2027?...

100% agree, however... A fair few Ipswich fans, three weeks or so ago on here, were, post after post, calling out the Glasgow and Poole promoters for not running in the top league and being prepared to potentially lose money in doing so... I presume these people will now be urging Chris to do the same?....

Like chalk and cheese though... One has jeopardy, consequence, relevance, resonance, credibilty, and delivers a reasonable level of publicity and financial reward... And the other, which delivers none of the above, is British Speedway... Fans stay away from the POQ's because, well, without being too harsh, the whole shebang isn't too far short of being meaningless... Other than to provide riders, and some promoters and managers, with another job, and other promoters an expensive hobby to spend a budgeted amount of money on...

And, you would have to think, put the P+L account looking quite healthy... However, no guarantee of the same this season, or any season, going forwards, so any potential purchaser would not be including those numbers in their bid.. And. No Emil and Doyle? Maybe sponsors money will drop too without the star names?... And with the stars missing, and the same teams on repeat, maybe the average attendance could also be hit? Any buyer would probably need to be a fan with an outside business, and be happy to spend what is needed...

That won't help any bargaining position when selling then.... I would offer £100k less knowing this....

Did Oxford get fined £100k for dropping out?

They should wrap it in red and green sparkly paper during December... That way the Royal Mail will prioritise it....

Jem Doncaster at No2,...... The Lanhams at six and seven.... Only three more riders needed.... Maybe Chris himself at four?

Sweden and Denmark were more his reference I would think.. And, looking at the Danish league next season it does look like they are trying to make a play for 2027 to see if they can attract those riders that have only one league to ride in, outside Poland, come the time....

Jason Doyle in his Speedway Star inteview said... "I need to be racing against the top boys, and it doesn't look like that will be the case in Britain for next season"... Not sure beating the Speedway equivalent of "makeweights" each night over here will appeal to too many at the very top of their trade...

You do have to consider the logistics for these top riders... Having to have machines and mechanics over here, and also just to get here themselves, when they could live in Poland and ride at the weekend there, Sweden on Tuesday, and go into Denmark on Wednesday, and back across the sea into Poland ready for the weekend.. And, over here, all to ride against much lesser opponents than they would find in Sweden and Poland, (and looking at Denmark's level of signings for next year, Denmark too)... They will want to go head to head against the best as often as possible as it keeps themselves sharp.. And, without the TV money coming in, it would be quite conceivable that their pay rates over here will also be "different" next season, from the recent seasons just gone...

With many of the same being those who questioned the Aces fans for supporting Brady Kurtz by not calling out his play off final performance in the 2nd leg of the final, but instead, the Aces fans said he was right to put his focus on the GP taking place 48 hours later..... I think what Ipswich and Sheffield have both shown is that selling a Speedway club isn't an easy thing to do in the current state, and trajectory of the sport...

Or even not turned up when they should have...😄

Did someone mention that over 70 riders were contesting the Polish U21 Championship? When you are laying out £1000 a point, and upwards, you will never be short of riders...

He paid twelve hundred quid.. The restaurant only wanted eighty..!!

2027 is the ONE other team rule that is coming in...

In this weeks Speedway Star, Doyle confirms the Polish rules re "two other leagues only"... As he is at Vastervik and Esbjerg, that would suggest no UK for him... He also goes on to say that there are "other riders" who will follow suit if nothing is confirmed sooner, rather than later...

So April then..?😄

Quite a complex sale then you would think, given so many intangibles... The "fixed assets" would be pretty simple (ish) I would think, although with Stox there too, there may be some "cross over" and the landlord owns some fixtures and fittings that Speedway uses? Eg the fence around the track maybe (?).. But "goodwill" will be something widely open to negotiation you would suggest... Presume it would be based on average income per meeting, with just KO Cup and PO Qualifiers included as they are the only guaranteed meetings..? (Reaching finals not being guaranteed, and, possibly, less meetings due to a reduced number of teams).. And any sponsors already committed to next year would be, presumably, brought into the equation as "guaranteed income"...? Operating costs though, next year could be less given Emil won't be riding, and, again, possibly less meetings to pay out for overall... You have to hope it all gets worked out and Ipswich come to the tapes...

Be a good night to hold a testimonial on, a bit better than a Monday or a Thursday... And. If he brought in a few "Prem Only" riders, and even non UK riding riders, it will give the Plymouth fans a bit of a novelty event to go and see.. Would give anyone who is a big fan of him personally a nice weekend away on the South Coast too...