mikebv

Bit early in the evening for me.... Not getting the snacks and Stella out till 8ish so nicely warmed up for the boxing... Can you save it till later fellas?

I did, but only because it was there... I still attended the matches I was always going to frequent, to watch MY team, but watched many a match with two other teams that I had no affinity with, with a glass of something in the comfort of my armchair... Made a few quid too!!! Shame it isn't on anymore.... Speedway in this country now is pretty much down to the 'die hards'... Let's face it, if we have accepted the 'Barry White' that has masqueraded as a 'professional sport' over the past 20 years or so then quite frankly nothing is going to stop us attending in the future... Having a Speedway meeting on Periscope will for me, not prevent those 'die hards' from attending, nor will it bring in any extra punters having caught a glimpse of the sport.... I would suggest more of a threat to the crowd levels is the recent penchant for calling off meetings several days in advance seemingly on nothing more than someone observing 'Incey Wincey' building her web anti clockwise... Even the 'die hards' may decide to say 'sod it' a lot more regularly if that continues.. Maybe the BSPA should consider sorting that out as a priority rather than spending their time worrying about someone filming a Speedway race from a phone...?

Be interesting what formula they come up with next season given the amount of experienced and not so experienced riders who will potentially be generating averages which reflect more being at reserve for a spell rather than their 'true' capability level... Might need Stephen Hawking to get involved!!!!

Always been the way, hence certain teams would pay big money for the next foreign 'four point superstar' off the rank.. He would, as expected, put a couple points on his average from the reserve berth and be replaced by a 'genuine' six point man who had dropped his average by a tenth or two... This merry go round would then continue all season with the team having a high scoring reserve... Rolling averages took the edge off it, and the new reserve process stopped it by only having Brits allowed to ride there... Now that has changed, off we go again....

Sniffer dogs on the coaches and cars going into Stoke and Buxton? Maybe they will allow you to attend the postponed rain offs though as a gesture of goodwill...!!

The setting Sun would have been an issue...!!! Probably best it was called off...

Just say No!.... I have been there my friend.... I too read the Star one year after many years of abstinence from the sport.. Its professional appearance, in depth articles and comprehensive coverage of all the track's led me to believe that Speedway was again the thing for me and with the magazine appearing so professional surely the sport must be ran the same way too.. Sadly, it was not to be.... However by then it was too late... I had once again succumbed to the inevitable frustration, let down and disappointment, once more never able to confess to even my family and dearest friends that I partake of Speedway now and again... Its so bad now I spend most of my time typing Bollox on Speedway websites rather than having the life that normal people aspire to.... Save yourself, my friend,.. Save yourself...

To assist the promoter of Leicester, I have postponed my trip to his track tomorrow just in case it rains anywhere in the vicinity of the Leicester area... Hope it helps....

Given so many fans complain about the length of meetings (specifically the time it takes between races), using this app could certainly help appease that complaint as well as adding to the overall experience... Maybe not showing the racing due to contract stipulations, but maybe just filming the pits? Possibly even interviews from riders around track conditions, how their night is going, what they feel about the current score (if you can find one who knows obviously!) and maybe mechanics too could get asked as they are changing parts of the bike why such decisions have been made. Managers also could be asked about tactical changes, their thoughts on the match thus far etc etc.. Would certainly enhance the engagement of the crowd I would suggest and certainly beats listening to some drivel between races from the centre green about "its Betty's 80th Birthday and her favourite rider is Ove Fundin" or listening to a K-Tel Hits of the 70's CD... Maybe even get the team doing the meeting DVD (if applicable) to do the filming so the sound and vision is good and they maybe will get a spin off by being able to plug their products to a 'live' audience watching in the stadium.... BV for example, has WIFI so everyone theoretically could access it during a meeting there even if they haven't got t'internet on their own phone. (Subject to a meeting ever taking place there obviously)!!

Remember this is a sport that banned a radio station from doing live commentary as people were supposedly preferring to stay at home and LISTEN to Speedway rather than WATCH it.....! Embracing visual technology may take some time.....!

And they share marketing too so all get an equal share of the merchandise pie.....! Imagine our Speedway promoters all working together in close harmonious existence for the overall growth and betterment of the sport? Laughing as I type....!

They turned up as they heard that Baa Baa Baaary Briggs was racing there..! Flocking in they were apparently... Buddddddddum Tishhhhhhhhh I thang yow.....

Emil brought big crowds to Cov home and away and would probably thus 'have paid for himself'.. However, if Emil had continued riding over here and was still riding now, he would bring nowhere near the same crowds as the 'novelty' would have worn off a long time ago and I bet he wouldn't be anywhere near 'paying for himself' in the current climate.. Crumpy came back for us one year to save a disastrous season. He too put 300 or so on the gate... But most of those 300 fans were ones who had stopped going because the team were so poor... Technically I suppose 'he paid for himself' too, if you equate the crowd increase, but in reality he just brought the fan base back to where it had been, with BV now paying out considerably more (due to his much higher salary than the rider he replaced) from the same 'pre Crumpy' income... If NP came over and rode for Leicester he would I am sure, short term, put 300 or so on the gate. However, if they kept losing, crowds would soon drift away again regardless of his presence... And I didn't see Wolves ever putting the 'House Full' signs out the year they had Tai there as World Champion, in fact I seem to remember going there and seeing a very poor crowd when we raced them.. If they put tangible long term growth on attendances by their presence then the top riders are an asset... In reality I just don't see the income they bring in justifying the considerable outlay they cost.. Edit to answer E I Addios question.. I would suggest spending £3k on a local marketing plan would bring in far more new fans than the presence of a £3k No1 whom whether he is there or not will hardly impact attendances... In fact as the home match pays for the home and away meetings technically you are paying out £6k for a No1 from that solitary home match income.... You could entice a very good marketing team to take your contract if you give them a £6k a week budget to get your name out into the local public domain I would suggest.

Example Swindon v Belle Vue Match A Jason Doyle riding for Swindon. Matej Zagar riding for Belle Vue. Swindon v Belle Vue Match B Jason Doyle not riding for Swindon. Matej Zagar not riding for Belle Vue.. Both teams instead running RR... Impact to crowd levels to Match B? Absolutely minimal I would suggest but the saving on wages paid out very significant indeed... In a perfect world then have these lads riding every week. Sadly Speedway in its current malaise cannot justify the outlay. Having top riders is nothing more than a vanity project to keep the title 'Elite'.. Time to move forwards and if taking a step back in the short term to move forward ten in the long term by removing the high earners then so be it.. Equal team strengths with four riders in each race being of relative commensurate ability is the utopian ideal. Who those riders are isn't the priority....

Doesn't help itself British Speedway does it?😖

When teams do a 'freebie' the place is packed with many 'used to go/first timers' When teams do a £10 special, the crowds far exceed their usual attendance... And it doesnt seem to matter one iota whether 'big names' are there or not... I would suggest therefore it is the cost to get in that is the issue rather than who is actually there... Get the costs down to get facilitate the right price and maybe Speedway will grow? One thing is for sure. Teams would be far better spending 3k a week on advertising and marketing their product than on a No1 rider who brings approximately zero extra through the gate when he is there and loses approximately zero from the gate when he isn't...

There's definitely a blueprint there... Be a good 'starter for ten'....

I think what many people forget when trying to link the crowd levels with 'big names' is that, yes, having NP, Tai, Emil, Greg etc all visiting a track together occasionally will increase the usual attendance at that track. However, the increase will, in the main, be made up of existing Speedway fans. i.e. fans of the team whose track is staging the meeting, fans of other local clubs, and the odd few visitors from around the country to see the 'novelty' of the best riders riding over here.. The issue we have is the fact that no one EXTRA (i.e. from outside the sport) will be persuaded to attend because they simply don't know who these riders are, or often, that the sport exists in the first place. Their names are simply meaningless to anyone outside the sport's own insular fanbase. It is NEW fans that the sport needs not just a recycling of existing ones from track to track... It shouldnt be forgotten too that the big names of the sport have all ridden here over the past ten years but have attendances risen during this time? Put simply. No! The reality is attendances have actually dwindled with their participation... I would suggest that rather than a lack of a few top names being responsible for the sports current ills, the unfeasibly high admission fee for a tiny minority sport has had a far, far greater impact to attendances than a few top names not riding over here. Sort that by cutting it's cloth accordingly and maybe Speedway can 'start again' in this country. Perversely, the big positive that the sport has in this country is that it has virtually hit 'rock bottom' so anyone with the courage to make the needed radical decisions, and the vision and drive to move it forwards, can make a huge difference in a very short space of time. And after going back to 'year zero' and starting over, hopefully not make the same mistakes again....

Must admit that when I joined this forum I was going to use my full name... However, I thought about what would happen if, by the admittedly sixty million to one chance, any other members of the club I attend every Friday night stumbled upon here and saw I was a Speedway fan.. I would have had my membership of "Mrs Whiplash's Transvestite and Gimp Mask Club' annulled immediately I reckon... (If I hadn't already resigned to avoid any more embarrassment that is)!!!😀😁

No doubt the sport is in a state of flux.. Clear direction with a clear vision of where it wants to go and what it wants to be is what is needed more than anything, and is at the core of its issues... However, you cannot get to where you want to go if you have no idea of where it is you want to go in the first place! Decisons, it often appears, are made in retrospect to sort out issues caused by a previous ill conceived dictat. However the new decisions made often don't ever fix the root cause of the original issue thus creating another 'grey area' to get exploited by more savvy and financially supported teams.. Result? The sports' Promoters are often seen as Amateurish with decisons reached by their collective implementation often regarded as lacking in Integrity. (Not a great position to be in when you want people to part with circa £20 a week and give it to you). A lack of an independent arbiter also certainly doesn't help fans' perception of the BSPA members as an entity which is out to drive the sport forward as a collective. Rather it is often seen as being a bunch of people whose own self interest is the driving force of their decisions. For me, the sport needs that circa £20 admission fee price point not only reducing but 'slashing'. And every effort should be made to cut costs to levels that will facilitate that. I have info from an NL team as to some of the money/funded equipment being requested from riders this year who frankly I have never heard of but have done a couple of years at NL reserves/second string level and it is truly both amazing and laughable... Needless to say, they didn't get what they wanted but have turned up elsewhere so presume someone has granted them their fiscal wish...? They will though be only asking for 'silly money' as a. their costs often create the need for such unrealistic requests and b. someone eventually is willing to pay them what they want! Speedway needs to ask itself whether it can sustain these spiralling costs at its current and forecasted attendance levels and start to face the stark reality of where it really is. Paying out 3k a night to one rider on (at best) 'Vanarama League North' attendances is crackers, yet happens.... Cutting it's cloth accordingly will need fundamental changes which won't please all, riders, promoters or fans, however these decisons need to be taken for the greater good. Has anyone within the sport got the vision to deliver a stable and forward moving future? And if so. Has anyone within the sport also got the required leadership skills to deliver it? If so, Apply to the BSPA, Rugby....

I would imagine that a fair amount of 'horse trading' goes on prior to the AGM and maybe even during so Promoters get what they wanted from any rule changes.. Nothing wrong with that as quite normal in most areas of business to try and gain that competitive edge.. I would also imagine that Poole in particular would be in a quite advantageous position when negotiating, as their investment in riders over the past ten years or so has provided them with an envious asset base. With many teams, it has to be noted, only too happy to dip into their asset base, rather than have taken the financial risk themselves and buying these riders when they had the same opportunity.. Poole do have an advantage however it is, (in the main), because of shrewd investment, risk taking and having a clear business plan for success both on and off the track.. All done by someone with a clear vision of what he wants from running a professional sporting club and enough business savvy to seemingly quite often get what he wants from the AGM each year.. I hope the Aces can soon be in some of these 'advantageous positions' in both the near future and longer down the line...

Come on... The heat leader list? Any rider who has ridden here previously with a 6.5 or more average can be added to the list...? Poole sign Buzz on a 6.48 average (a smidge below 6.5) so not on the heat leader list meaning Poole can have three heat leader list riders and Buzz? Who set the 6.5 limit?? Exactly..... The promoters... Of which Poole have just one vote the same as everyone else... Bugger, that doesn't add up does it? Anyway, must be Poole's fault somewhere for something I would imagine.. Keep a close eye on 'em thats what I say..😁😊

No, No, No.... This is Speedway..... Conjecture and I'll informed rumour will fill the space that any official statement would negate...

Or at the very least have nothing more than (at the very best) a 'nodding acquaintance' when put up against professionally administered and led sports....

Who inspects the track to call it off? Presume done by someone with mystical powers? i.e. Someone who can visualise what the track will be like tomorrow evening based simply on the amount of forecast rainfall mm per hour in the area between now and then? Of course they would also need to factor in any wind speed, direction of the wind, and the temperature change it will/may bring dependant on the wind direction over the next 24 hours too. e.g. could it be a 'drying wind' from the South or a more low pressure sector moving in from the East which may maintain moisture in the surface? Understanding barometer readings, and being able to decipher what spider's webs are currently telling us, is also something that needs to be considered. Being able to factor in an imaginary amount of remedial track work that may/would have taken place and indeed how many fictitious tractors it would have took too cannot be easy so the person concerned must be truly gifted.. Speedway is very lucky to have someone as blessed as him (or her obviously) as they are clearly someone who can have a massively positive impact to the sport... If they are reading this.... I am off to OT this afternoon to watch us play Everton.. Any info on the Final score and first goal scorer would be nice... PM me....