mikebv

Against the same four (maybe three), teams ad nauseum all season...? For what? Maybe another year? Two years? It isn't Brady's fault the likes of him and others are not affordabe for more teams to join the "top league"... And it isn't the Championship Team's fault that some in the "top league" have such a one dimensional business plan, that they seem unable to change...

In last weeks Speedway Star, Danny Ford specifically mentioned the tangible negative impact on the crowd level that any home defeat brings to the next meeting... Regardless of how well they are doing overall in the league, it can be an immediate drop... Hence, Poole winning is essential to their business plan, and as they "pay their mortgages" off the profits, rather than run it as a hobby, it has to be profitable... Maybe that is why they see no plus side to "moving up" as they could easily spend six figures more to win less home meetings... Let's face it, they are currently the biggest fish in the biggest pond, given the "puddle" that is the Premiership... So many Promoters want so many different things to ever make it succesfully work I would suggest... Therefore the majority who are quite happy with what they have got, and can deliver, will always hold sway.. Ritchie Hawkins mentions in the piece that the sport needs some "independent" leadership.. Is that a "new thing" amongst some Promoters "all of a sudden?"... However, given so many want so many different things from running a Speedway Team, if has gone well beyond that.. Maybe if an independent person/entity could fully sponsor the league, it could happen, but any promoter bank rolling their teams losses each season isn't going to let someone with zero financial input dictate the direction they should be heading.. Turkey's don't vote for Christmas.. The sport is knackered (over here), isn't it, (from a bona fide "serious sport" perspective)... Far too much to unpick, far too much self interest to allow radical change, far too many different needs and wants to get any general consensus as to a fit for purpose, future fit plan.. In last weeks Speedway Star, Paul Burbidge mentioned the legacy that a previous generation of promoters could have left, as, when the going was good, they didn't invest in purchasing tracks, which has left the sport threatend by land developers... 50 years later, however, these people would no longer be with us, and maybe their families would have taken over, or someone else had bought the track.. With these people possibly quite happy to sell up to developers given they would have seen, and been part of, the allowed, condoned, unchecked decline over the past two decades in particular.. And just imagine trying to deliver enough riders for Coventry, Peterborough, Birmingham, Swindon, Lakeside, Somerset and Wolverhampton today? Each meeting would need to be a "Best Pairs"!! It feels like its almost time for "snookers needed"...

Let's hope the Aces keep going too so that's at least two threads that can be contributed to....

There must be far too much to unpick now with regards to "one league", given pretty much all the Championsbip teams will be sorted and a five team top tier surely cannot be an option, given it will be a disaster..

And lo.... It came to pass... 3 Wise Men from the East (Anglia), named Chris, Ritchie and Buster, saw a bright light in the sky, and the bright light did then (when it dropped a bit in the sky, as it was getting in their eyes, meaning they had stop the journey for half and hour or so), leadeth them on to Rugbethlahemy.... Where they did find "12 Disciples of the Speedway" who were already gathered, with much furrowed brows and foreboding.. "Do not fear", said the Three Wise Men, because upon us today is the "Spirit Of Speedway", and "King Of The Shale", who will guide us from our current woes and tribulations.. And lo it came to pass that "The Speedway" did becomath, from that very moment onwards, hath one, and never again to be untwained or torn asunder... And the many followers of "The Speedway" did rejoice... (Well, at least until the next year any road)... Amen...

100%... I will go to Buxton next year, (several times if its not Arctic up there!).. I won't care who wins, but it will be an afternoon out watching Speedway.. However. I have zero emotional attachment even to the Aces due to the Mickey Mouse way the sport is ran, but still enjoy "my Speedway" and attend the NSS when something is either riding (pun intended), on it, and will attend various places around the country as a "day out"... Who is there is pretty much irrelevant just as long most of the competitors are of a "decent" level.. Poland provides the "utopia" which the UK sadly "bent over" for, (instead of ploughing its own furrow), and a weekend out there is great for any Speedway fan...

The Junior Championships and NDL meetings are akin to me paying to watch the United U23 Academy... And. I wouldn't do that... The NDL play offs would barely get 500 there, so no "big match" feel that at least you get (sometimes) with the top league play offs.. Edit. I have attended several Youth Cup finals at Old Trafford down the years with over 30,000 others each time, paying a minimal entrance fee.. The "Big Match Atmosphere* that such a crowd (which was expected to be "big"), got me there.. Every sporting occasion should aspire to be an "event" that encourages repeat visits... As has been mentioned on other threads, other minority sports seem to do more than OK in their UK domestic leagues without "World Class" talent...

A perfect opportunity to do a 14 team league to "whatever" standard, (as long as it can bring 14 competitive teams together)... And, if it doesn't work, and there is too mcuh of disparate difference between the top and bottom, simply run 2027 with the top seven being "Div 1" in 2027 and the bottom seven being "Div 2".. If

You can certainly tell Ipswich had one top tier winning season in 27 years can't you?

Speedway as far as I know, is the only other "Professional" sport in Ipswich... With the other not being "too successful" since the early 80's, indeed, it ended up in "Div 3" quite recently... Therefore, it is a huge opportunity to gain sponsors, and attract fans if successful, and Ipswich, traditionally, even when not winning anything for decades, could deliver the UK's largest crowd of the season on Easter GF, with over 4,000 in attendance, so historically there has always been a much more than average following.. Many other UK tracks have many much popular and larger pro sports on their doorstep... Edinburgh, Glasgow, Sheffield, Belle Vue, and Leicester in particular are places who face massive competition for the "sports dollar" local media coverage and publicity.... Poole is similar to Ipswich with a decent conurbation and not much in the way of pro sports fighting for the same followers.. With the other common denomination being that both Promotions have pro actively taken every advantage to maximise their opportunity.. Some other promoters, but not all, who don't have Pro Basketball, Netball, Ice Hockey, Rugby Union and League and top two tier Football Mens and Womens teams around them, obviously are not doing what the likes of Ipswich and Poole do so well.. Plymouth and Workington, in particular, last season seemed to improve their business just by changing when they opened their business, which meant they could attract more families... Who would have thought such "whichcraft" would work for tracks?

Given the amount to "unpick" I would be amazed if we now get one league at such a late stage.. If it were any other year, by now, pretty much all discussions and negotiations with riders would have been completed, and I cannot believe that this hasn't already been done this year. With each Championship team pretty much ready to announce their septet.. They won't be able to accommodate so many teams into their division at this late stage I would think, (even if they were happy to do so), especially as so many riders "dropping down" are already there!!!

Of maybe running a season with 14 teams and then deciding if it works or not is worth doing? The top tier, in its current guise, as is proven by all the evidence of the last decade, clearly doesn't work... From eleven teams down to seven teams, it hasn't worked.. So five has zero chance, and two more teams added in 2027 will have the same zero chance.. So. How many times are they going to try and revive that dead horse by keeping flogging it?

They have some jeopardy, and you feel that you are at least attending a "proper sporting event" given the size of the crowd delivers atmosphere.... Maybe the play off semi not so much as the crowds are only a "bit better" than the normal meetings, but at least the meeting has some consequence... One league would have seen me attend a fair few times, home and away, given the novelty factor.. I will still get plenty of Speedway though as planning a few trips to Poland, and some other GP's.. Sport without jeopardy or consequence isn't really sport, but more of a pastime...

Because they exepct riders to have at least two good bikes, a mechanic, and a van.. And turn up ready to race regardless of how many meetings they have had in the same week.. Often even at NDL level... Hence the riders expect renumeration to buy and maintain (minimum), two good bikes, pay a mechanic and run a van... All so one promoter in each league can end the season basking in the glory of winning such incredibly prestigious competitions...

A five team top tier definitely won't generate extra interest, and, I would suggest, actually reduce attendance's at those five tracks... Whereby, given nothing else but just using the novelty value alone, a fourteen team "British League" just may get some extra punters through the doors .. With a perfect world being many of them being competitive enough to make a play off challenge, rather than it being pretty much set in stone by the end of May.. Even with five riders per team, there will probably still need to be guestsfests every week, just like now, and the race format, depending on the breadth of capability levels, may need to be rewritten.. A five team top tier just says that the sport is solely being ran for riders to Double Up, rather than being ran as something to be taken seriously under a team sport concept...

For the weekend away legs the clubs can just use guests to replace their missing riders, just as they do now, and have done for pretty much ever... Does it look a "bit Mickey Mouse" and "contrived"? Of course it does, but no different from now, as it is an integral part of the current chosen operating model, hence teams riding, for example, on a Wednesday, sign Danish riders knowing they will most likely miss some of their meetings.. The optics of a five team top league wont bring anyone extra in to watch it, as it will look ridiculous.. It is getting to the levels of those football leagues on the more remote islands dotted around the UK, where the same two teams play each other every week in their "Island League".. They also share players. If one team doesn't have eleven players due to work commitments, injuries, holidays etc then the other team lends them players.. (Maybe that is where UK Speedway got the idea from?) A 14 team league running from Scotland to the South Coast will at least look like a it's a "National Sport" that is being ran... And, with 14 teams, you would hope, that eight or nine at least would remain in play off contention to late into the season, meaning some jeopardy and consequence to a good many meetings..

It is summising, (due to the lack of transparency from those who run the sport), if it was £60k they got last year from TV... Over 13 guaranteed home matches that worked out at just over £4600 a match... Meaning, at £25 a pop, the same as 184 paying punters.. I would suggest the lack of teams in the league, therefore meaning a lack of jeopardy and variety, (even last year with seven), kept more than 184 punters from their track very regularly... They will need a hell of a TV deal this year I would suggest, as I reckon you can add another 100 minimum to that 184 who will give plenty of meetings a miss with just four different teams.. And if they don't get a TV deal...? Then heaven help them... Get the prayer mat out!!!!

It certainly won't interest all the considerable amount of punters who used to go regularly and now either attend "now and again", or not at all... I will stick to the PCMM, the two GP's and (maybe), a Play Off meeting... And not bother going anywhere else to watch, as I have been to the other four tracks several times... Just imagine the euphoria though in the town or city of whoever wins the prestigious title of "Speedway GB Premiership Champion"?..... (Be like winning the Meat Raffle in the local Legion)...

Unlucky Kings Lynn... So close to the play offs again...

Not paying his electric bill? I remember one night at Kirky Lane v Coventry when Colin Pratt and several of his riders complained about the track being "too heavy' which ended up with a track inspection and work done on it, which seemed to be lasting forever. Pratt and a few of his riders were on bend one, pointing out various issues to the track team as they made changes, and whilst pointing this out, John Perrin emerged from the adjacent pits with a bucket full of shale, and presented it to Pratt.. When interviewed by the centre green presenter Perrin told him that he had told Pratt that he could take it back to Coventry with him to use on his track, given his track didnt ever have any shale on it... In an interview with the Speedway Star the week after, Pratt got asked what his response was... He said that he told Perrin that he would never tell him how many onions to put on the burgers that John sold from his many burger vans, so Perrin shouldn't tell him how to prepare a Speedway track...

Not sure Gorzow's issue... There always has been different payments to run a GP event.. The bigger venues always had more to pay due to the obvious fact that they had more seats to make, (if they could sell these seats), more money for themselves.. More restricted venues therefore pay less to host the event... The NSS, it has been said, needs two nights to make it viable, presuming therefore, that they pay more to host it, than the income possible from just one GP... Some venues, eg Cardiff, were ran by the GP owners themselves given 40,000 paying circa £35 to £40 on average, made them plenty of profit .. Hence they bailed out when 20,000 and less became the numbers..

Dont waste your time mate.... The last time I went to see him I asked for a real 12ft Dragon, one that flew as high as the clouds, and could breatlhe fire... He told me that there were certain things that even Father Christmas couldn't promise to deliver so, just in case he couldn't get me a real, flying, fire breathing Dragon, he asked me what my second wish was... So I asked him if he could make UK Speedway affordable, popular, exciting, ran with integrity and credibility and relevant as a sport in the 21st Century... He pondered this for a while, looked away, and thought intensely for a few moments, then looked me straight in the eye and said... "What colour would you like that Dragon lad?"...

I, personally, cannot wait for one league... Loads of new tracks to visit, several weekends away... My concern is we end up with two leagues of Mickey Mouse, contrived, same old/same old, bollox.. Like we have had for 20 Years and more... What an opportunity for the sport to reset itself, relaunch itself, and make a UK Speedway Brand...

I would if the play off four weren't set in stone by the end of March...... Your promoter has thrown his toys right out of the pram by the looks of things.. I had huge respect for him but he has shown he is as inward looking as the rest of them, when I had high hopes for him to lead the sport... Cometh the hour. Cometh the man... He, seemingly, has "ran off".... Which. Is a huge shame for the sport, given that Chris was genuinely one of the few who could see the potential of it, if it could be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 21st Century... A sad loss...

Just put some Popcorn in the Microwave mate...