mikebv

The council are hiding behind the "complex, technical difficulties around consent,"... Writing is on the wall.. All parties involved have known where this ends for a long, long time... And, given hardly a ripple of protest, they probably feel that now is the time to finalise everything.. It would be interesting to see what would happen if some promoter (or maybe all the BSP), came out and said that they would promote the sport there to see how it went... "Finish the stadium, as per the agreement for building the houses, and we will run Speedway there"...

A decent track with somewhere to watch the racing from, and somewhere to get the basic food and drink offering... That is the starting point for me I would say... Its not like die hard fans have been used to much "opulence" over the years which could dissuade many to not attend..

Good interview in this weeks edition with Phil Morris.. All 49 riders will be attending the launch of the ssason press day.. Hopefully more collective selling of the brand is the plan as we go forward.. About time, if so...

I like that idea... Could do the same with guests... Now, I get the "surprise" will invariably be Bomber, but on an odd occasion it would be someone else...

And when you get met with almost zero coordinated, organised protests, then "fair play" to Osbourne as he can take it that... 1. Hardly anyone from the fanbase cares... And. 2. (And possibly most important of alll) the promoters of Swindon and the wider BSP, seem to let him happily do what he wants.... Can't blame him to be honest...

I thought EVERY rider had to be available to ride for Scunthorpe on a Friday.....

And someone walking around the pits shouting... "Does anyone need methanol?"!!!!

Doesnt Chris get one for EVERY team?

They will probably only see the back of it..

It was an empty net, central position, two yards out.... He is a proper legend when it comes never letting anyone down.. (And must be due at least a couple of dozen league winners medals combined from both leagues).. Edit: And the same amount of runners up medals too for the same seasons..!!

Bomber as a guest?

Cannot happen, as it has been decreed that Bomber (or anyone else), could only ride for ONE team in the play offs, if his own doesnt make it.. Seemingly last years play off situation has been reviewed and we now have the new regulation... Perfectly acceptable... Some, however, still dont take this sport too seriously...

It was a "paid for" 3hr (when it first launched), advert... What an opportunity given the size of the business (very small in real terms).. Hardly anyone knows who you are even in the area where you trade, and you go out on TV for 9 hours (with the two repeats), at all times of the day.. And you get paid for this advert!! You can advertise nationally, as well a locally, your product.. Instead, we had promoters moaning that the crowds dropped.. Rather than fixing the many self inflicted reasons why they did.. And making these nights "unmissable" on, and off, the track..

I seem to remember £110k per club (10 teams), and £5k (maybe £10k?) a match that got televised, to cover any drop in crowd/reduction in admission fee to attract a crowd in.. One promoter, post Sky money, said the up front cash basically paid for the No1 riders.. Who all effed off when the money dried up...

I remember watching someone ride in the 2nd half at Belle Vue called "Charlie Brown"... His real name turned out to be Giuseppe Marzotto, and rather than being an animated American cartoon character, he was actually an Italian fella.... Wonder what happened to him? Couldn't see him making a career in Speedway to be honest...

Wasn't it 20% "finder's fee"? To be fair to him, no one else "pushed against that open door", and all got well over a six figure guarantee each season for many years... What they actually did with that money sadly is the legacy....

Bomber....

All working independently to try and win something that they themselves devalue to the point of almost worthlessness, (by their own operating model) is almost madness isnt it? Laughable if it wasn't so sad to see the negative impact that the operating model has had on crowds.. Maybe one day they will pool resources, put up some big prize money, and relaunch the sport collectively with some professional marketeers involved.. Or maybe they wont....

Watched it again on YT not long ago.. A lack of a clear vision of travel as to where they saw the sport was the ultimate issue, which meant non stop short term fix, after short term fix.. The Sky millions being the huge opportunity missed... Using that money for example could have allowed squad systems, which would have meant Mickey Mouse didnt have any control over the sport, and the titles then had credibility... And who knows, maybe could have attracted sponsors from "outside" its fanbase.. Instead the sport paid out "the Sky money" to No1's, who then missed the most meetings as the GP's evolved hugely at that time, meaning credibility destroying guestfests after guestfests with inferior riders replacing them, thus peeing off the public.. A public who then got inflation busting increases to admission prices to not only pay for the level of riders, but also to cover the shortfall from disillusioned fans leaving the sport annually... Those left, ultimately paying more to watch less quality as the GP riders had to be "elsewhere" many weeks.. UK Speedway basically bent over backwards to the top riders, often, it appeared so the promoters could bask in the reflective glory of rubbing shoulders with them.. And then of course when the money stopped the No1's showed their loyalty and appreciation to the promoters by foxtrotting and oscaring as quickly as those planes to Poland and Sweden could carry them.. And only came back when the schedule was changed to accommodate their wishes.. Even so many years later, 2024 will see rinse and repeat.. Still no clear direction of travel.. Still no clear leadership.. Still no "outside" sponsorship nor major businesses interested in sponsoring the league or individual clubs.. More opportunities for guest riders though, so, you know, not all bad eh?

The play offs definitely pull in many fans like me, who are not too bothered about who actually wins or not... It provides many "followers" with a night out at a speedway meeting that actually has decent crowds and, therefore, atmosphere... A bit of a throwback to how it used to be when we all started to follow the sport and loved it.... I really enjoyed both meetings last year I attended that the Aces were in, with good crowds at both Ipswich and the NSS.. Peterborough's Captain then turning up for Sheffield so they could defeat Ipswich in the Final, (after he had made such a fundamental impact in putting Ipswich in the Final), summed up perfectly why you shouldn't take league UK racing too seriously.. An excellent night out are the play offs...

The difference nowadays is that there is actually some world class talent that will be visiting virtually every time you have a meeting... A bit of a novelty maybe, and short term potential rather than a long term sustainable plan, but, in Brums case in particular, it may offer some breathing space to go again next year, even if this years team doesnt trouble the play offs..

With Raita Eide as Captain..

Which would be a crying shame given the money the promoter has put in, and the lack of any real kudos in winning the league anyway... Lets hope the novelty of having the likes of Tai, Emil, Dan et al, will keep the Brum fans turning up in sufficient numbers to keep the finances on a reasonably even keel...

The usual BSF debate topic.. ... Ht 15 counts.... Hence Pawlicki, who will come up against the other No1 a possible, (probable) 3 times per meeting, will do well to deliver 10 points from his usual five rides to hit an 8 point average.. Especially when you add in a probable 3 races against some of the No5's on show this year...

Both Pawlicki and Milik are riding one position up from where ideally they should be.. And there isn't a "natural No 3" behind them.. And Brum will know this... But at least they come to the tapes, and, hopefully will still be doing so when the season ends.. Edit. They remind a bit of when the Aces had Stead at No1, you knew where the team would end up, but at least there was a track to visit...