mikebv

Too many teams racing on too many nights... Not enough riders to deliver the above scenario with integrity​ and credibility.. Fans therefore don't attend regularly enough to watch contrived, cobbled together nonsense masquerading as a Professional Sport. These issues are the starting point/root cause for all the issues the sport has in Britain... Fix those and the sport in this country can move forward.. Does it have the stomach though to make the radical, hard hitting, impactful changes required? And if it does, no point having a clear plan of action when those below you can veto your vision as it personally impacts their business in what they perceive to be a negative way.. Not seen too much in the way of improved integrity or credibility this season. Maybe next year is when Buster and his team's plan of action will start to be more obvious and take effect? Let's be honest, unravelling years and years of an unfit for purpose operating model won't happen overnight...

Woffy definitely in danger of becoming an 'also ran' such is the level now of the GP.. When up against three of the top eight in the same race you no longer see him as anywhere near favourite (especially if on the outside gates) and this year he is running lasts too many times against this level of opposition... Seems to find himself "unluckily" in the wrong place at the wrong time too far more than he ever did, which is usually a sign of a rider struggling to match up to his rivals... The tape exclusion from the inside grid last night is probably an example of the pressure he feels to get out in front. There is no margin for error this year given the talent on view... Should finish top eight but for him that won't be good...

Or a Kings Lynn heat leader shows up..😁 Well done Poole/Kings Lynn tonight. (Do they get a point each?)😀

Batchelor always seems to guest well for Poole... Kings Lynn must be pleased as they try to get themselves into the play offs..😂

His two watch words were also "integrity" and "credibility" and how he was going to bring both to the sport... 😅 😅 😅 😅 😅 To be fair to the BSPA though, they do take their role in protecting the environment very seriously, so lets credit them for that... Hundreds of thousands more air polluting journeys would have taken place, often of hundreds of miles, if the sport was ran properly over the years so we should all thank them for that....

Whose guesting for the fans who now won't bother turning up to watch Belle Vue v Poole Select? Will the 'fan replacement' facilty be in operation....? Three weeks without a meeting and now this bollox... As Fred Pontin would have said "Book early".... (One for the teenagers there)..😁😆

28 day ban for witholding his sausages...?😁

They all know that one day they will need Mickey Mouse to come their aid too....😁

I remember Phil Jones (now of BBC Olympic coverage fame) being very good at the old BV dog bowl circa late eighties/early nineties.. Where did it all go wrong for him?😂 I may have mentioned this before on another thread a long time ago, but this thread has just reminded me of one particular brilliant bit of presentation I saw at Bradford in 1990, first match of the season.. The presenter (I think Terry Hardaker) had seven cheerleaders all hold up a sign each to the Grandstand... In a line the signs all read out DUKES 90... He then asked the girls to turn round and show the crowd on the back straight where we were, who were obviously wondering what was written... The girls turned round and proudly held aloft... 09 SEKUD......😂 Speedway presentation probably hasn't moved on too much in the ensuing years at most venues!! Priceless😁

Hancock Woffy Pedersen Holder Gollob Rickardsson Jonsson Loram Havelock Crump Hamill Ermolenko Jan O Nielson Gunderson Penhall Lee PC Michanek Olsen Mauger Briggs Moore Muller

How often do a teams seven riders actually be in attendance? A Kings Lynn Select, Belle Vue Select, Wolverhampton Select etc etc simply cannot engender emotional loyalty.... Can anyone really get behind someone who a few weeks before rode against you and had led a defeat of your team? A 'club collective' in Speedway is often nothing more than 'a collective riding under a flag of convenience'...

Very difficult I would suggest to engender the emotional loyalty needed to passionately support 'your' team when it's very rarely all 'your' riders actually there...

Understand that Rob. But the reasons for the demise, in the main, just transfer from one team to the next... Teams drop down or go bust mainly because they cannot compete financially or simply there are not enough riders to go round to make them competitive... You can also then add the self inflicted issue of a poorly performing team not being able to improve their lot (even if they have the money to do so) due to some not fit for purpose average system. Meaning they continue to suffer as disgruntled crowds dwindle... Why should a team four months into the season, if they want to change riders, still have to measure up to the starting average when other teams in the league have spent four months making a complete mockery of it? . Simply there are too many teams with not enough riders to go round. Hence tracks will always struggle until the supply and demand equation is reversed.. When clubs can dictate race nights to draw the best crowds, rather than when their 'employee' can appear.. When clubs can dictate salaries rather than the employee knowing he is bomb proof and will get the same or more elsewhere.. And when clubs have excess riders 'waiting by the phone' desperate for a team place... Then, and only then can the sport move forward and businesses be ran properly... Too many tracks delivering 'poor value' actually impacts the overall brand detrimentally, so sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind and look after the many not the few... Less tracks means more riders available, more riders available means less 'no other choice but to pay' salaries are paid out and riders will have more pressure to perform for the club and fans to retain a team place. Which can only improve the competitive nature of the racing surely? Speedway, until it faces up to this will continue its ever increasing in speed 'race to the bottom'... On the plus side, when it does reach there, the only way is up!!

Agreed... This weekend next year at the NSS would deliver a much larger crowd and great racing. . It's the Great Manchester Run today too so thousands of people visiting the City to compete and support... Spring BH weekend would be a fantastic sporting festival in the City...

Yes.... If needs be for the greater good.. The biggest issue Speedway has is that evolutions theory of 'survival of the fittest' isn't followed.. Too many teams, not enough riders, and costs running out of control has resulted in a 'race to the bottom'... 'It's OK to fail as you can move down' is the mantra. But all this does is create issues for the League these teams enter as invariably they are better equipped to drop to that level than the ones currently there... You can see the positive rationale for dropping down, as all of a sudden teams can become competitive, crowds hold up, or even improve on the back of some success, and costs are slashed, however... As the 'race to the bottom' continues of course it will result in the same thing happening. ie as the 'bigger fish' continue to drop down as their 'sea' becomes too large, the current 'big fish' again become minnows, and as they then can no longer compete they once more need to find a home in 'another sea'.. Too many teams, not enough riders.... Until that is fixed then the Sport won't move forwards organically, ,,,

Unfortunately no title victory 'really matters' in British Speedway, hence its a major reason it is in the mire it finds itself.. Ironically of all the three League's the NL is probably the one with the most integrity an credibility when it comes to the way it is ran, and usually only becomes 'Mickey Mouse' when impacted by the two League's above.. Its Achilles heel is the very different objectives of its competitors, meaning too many 'haves' and 'have nots'.. Ironically by continually accomodating failing teams by letting them drop into the NL, the Sport actually puts pressure on other better ran outfits as rider demand is way higher than the supply. This simply means teams then are understrength resulting in regular (critical to crowd numbers) home losses, or, to remain anywhere near competitive, get forced into paying the way too high demands of riders who know they hold all the cards in negotiation... The 'bottom division' of Speedway should really be entry level which gives young (or not so young) inexperienced riders the chance to progress. Not a 'shelter' for destitute former EL and PL teams who fall on hard times.. The League above should find a way to keep costs down to keep these teams in their League. Bottom line of course is running so many teams nationally, all requiring seven riders, all having to try and reach a similar required set standard, without nowhere near enough capability of resource pool to achieve the objective, will always be doomed to failure...

Think your right for the shared events.. Noticed the £1 booking fee is back if using online too, something the Aces promotion did away with after feedback from the fans.... Each rider should have at least a coach load of fans there, and with doubling up he should get two coaches worth! One of the bonuses of this out of control system...! For me, they should sell lower priced tickets around the country to try and attract a crowd. Fans buy and pick tickets up from their own circuit not online to ensure integrity of the offer.. If £20 is the price set, then say 15% off if your track is over forty miles away, 30% if over eighty miles away and 60% off if over one hundred and sixty miles away... The saving would help pay fuel for a car load of fans and also may mean a club could generate enough interest to put a coach on. It would look great on TV with flags and banners showing over 30 different clubs' names and colours from all over the country. And 30 coaches is well over 1500 fans alone. (And it might also let someone randomly watching know, who is local to their track, that they actually exist)... As it stands it is expecting a lot to get a big crowd on a Monday night when it's live on TV. Especially when you are charging well over 10% more to 'the locals' than they usually pay to watch better riders in domestic League speedway. ie Doyle, Lindgren, Holder. Hope I am wrong but can see a more than half empty stadium with which to 'showcase' the Sport to BT and the watching nation... Maybe though there is an excellent local and national marketing campaign sorted which will bring a huge crowd in? If so, I suggest they start by changing the Aces website info which proudly states... "Prices START at just £25 for Adults, £20 for concessions, £10 for children aged 12 - 15 and £8 for children under 11".. As, obviously, this info is completely wrong....😕 Must be 'Marketing Speedway Style' ie. Advertise your most expensive prices as your 'entry point price' to persuade people to attend!😂.... Edit. Out of curiosity. What would an 11 year old pay as it doesnt say? Maybe £9? ie Split the difference between what a twelve year old and someone under eleven would pay?.😁

Agreed... Not going to anyway near fill the joint with the pricing structure I fear.... First time for British Speedway on BT too...

To get me to pay £28 for me and my 14 year old lad, (£33 in the cheapest seats😲), to watch so many 'second division' level riders, when it's also live on BT, I suggest you are right Phil....

As mentioned before in the 'olden days' you turned up, paid your money and found that PC was riding in Germany the next day in a Longtrack meeting so a guest was replacing him... You were a bit peed off but you had paid your hard earned so that was that.. Nowadays the Internet will avail you with the details 24 hours earlier hence it gives the fans time to decide if worth attending or not.. What Speedway 'got away with' then, it cannot now.. I would say missing No1's (with a proper RR facilty) could be missed more now in the top division than ever before.. The No1 generally doesnt score 25 - 35% of his teams points anymore (like so many used to in the top league), and there is much less disparity between a teams' one to five than ever before I would say.. We used to have 11 point plus average men scoring loads of points riding against two point average reserves... Not a common thing in todays top league. ..

Unfortunately if you want the Leagues to have any credibilty, then EVERYTHING is wrong with guest riders. .. It's supposedly a National Title in a Professional sport thats being rode for... To have any kudos to the title of 'Champion' then there has to be integrity and credibility. And from a fans perspective if no-one cares who wins a National Title in any sport, then why bother attending? In fact why bother holding the Championships in the first place? Bringing in 'ringers' to replace lesser competitor's isn't even allowed in my lads U14 football league as photo id's have been used this season which get checked by the ref before each game.. Yet in Speedway you can bring in a 'track expert' to replace your missing rider depending on where you are racing.. What happened (and was widely accepted) even just ten years ago is no longer viable in the modern world of instant global information... Years ago, you found out that your team, or the opponents, were missing their best riders so had guests when you got into the stadium. Nowadays you have all the team details a click of a button away, from the day before right up until the minute tapes are up.. In other words, plenty of time for the fans to decide whether the meeting has enough integrity or credibility for them to attend... Having a reduced number of team places, eight team Leagues, a fit for purpose RR operating model and a well planned fixture list would go a long, long way in eradicating the need for to 'borrow' guests from your competitors who are also trying to win the same competition.. No integrity? No credibilty? No kudos in winning a National title? Then let's be realistic and honest... Why actually bother running it as a team sport?

It is starting to look like visiting teams will always have a chance at BV.. Most will come with riders who have a liking for the track and many now have had quite a few visits... The three GP riders obviously ride the track very well, but you can add most Aussies to that list and foreign riders with a long track/grass track background particularly seem to enjoy the wide open spaces... Riders like Hougaard, MPT and King have also had some very good meetings there.. In fact, many riders seem to 'punch above their weight' at the NSS, often winning races and scoring points that belie their average.. Most teams in the League have I would say enough riders for at least six to seven heat wins at BV which leaves the Aces only around eight or nine left to win and build up any heat advantages. Such is the fairness of the track it means the scoreline in most meetings remains close for the majority of the match and obviously as most know by now, delivers some fantastic racing. The only downside with so many riders coming who like the track is when it comes to the play offs in a 'head to head', it may prove our undoing.. Certainly keeps the fans well entertained though, virtually every week...

British Speedway 😂😂😂 You put your Stevie in... You take your Stevie out... In, Out, In, Out... You p1ss fans and him about.. You do the Hokey Cokey and your turn around.. And that's what the sports about.... Oh!!! The Hokey etc etc etc...

Fine Work... So to summarise.... A great Sport, but ran in this Country without anywhere near the required credibility to be ever taken seriously or to be successful...

Sounded far too profound for me....😂😀