iris123

Think i remember that.Wasn't he rolling at the start......?

You have to say the scene has stagnated.Anyone looking in at the highlights shown on Bavarian or Berlin tv could be thinking they are seeing the same clips from the year before and the year before that.The same 5 minutes with some clips of crashes a few seconds from one or two heats,some 'talking heads',usually Bauer,Zorn or Pletschacher and a Russian winner.The Berlin show also always seemed to have a small interview with the guy who ran the show.......every year the same formula!!! No new young stars,at least not from western Europe. Like i have said before it all comes a bit too late to attract many fans anyway.You see the Berlin or Inzell clips and if you are interested enough,find out the next meeting is in a years time.By that time most have forgotten all about it.And the changing weather is playing havoc with the calendar and also training chances of youngsters who want to take up the sport.I mean how many young guys who fancy doing the sport are going to travel straight away to Scandinavia or better Russia to train?????And then just for a handful of meetings per season if you are any good.Honestly can't see anything in the sport improving.But that doesn't mean you can't see some great races or great meetings,which you certainly can

Personal opinion,but i could only drag myself out of the house to watch King's Lynn,Poole + Swindon from memory of the line-ups and keeping in mind not all were finalised i think

No.It was cancelled and wasn't held either at St.Johann or any where else.The riders for the GPs were selected and are listed on this thread

Must admit to being a little shocked at how poor the EL teams look this year.Ok,i knew they would be using some young guys down at reserve,but when i looked at the teams a few days ago there were only 3 teams i would really be interested in seeing

Simple answer without the 'clown' smiley would have been ok.The addition of the smiley imo and probably Norbolds,is that it is an answer with 'attitude'.

He is 'speedyguy' under a new name. To help clear things up a little,'gustix' has admitted to having a number of names simultaneously on here.The reason given was that he could have the conversations he did between various aliases to put across differing views and help stimulate topics.So we can assume that if he was holding at the same time differing opinions,then all that he was posting wasn't necessarily his own opinion.Some were posted just to get a reaction....... Among 'gustix' previous user names was the infamous 'speedyguy' as well as 'Kenny Lane' and 'Old..something or other'.Can't remember who Old thingy was,but always used to sign off as 'Jack Keen,Erith'.Probably one or two others i have forgotten about or missed.Not sure if one always held Johns real opinions and the others were just there to back him up or disagree or if he swapped daily If anything is incorrect i apologize and i am sure we will get a correct version

Guess it was a pity there never was a decent speedway fanzine.At least i never saw one that matched some of the football ones.Possibly one of the problems was that with football you had thousands of people walking the streets up to the stadium to sell to and didn't need to be on club property.With speedway because of stadium/car park you need to be in front of the stadium to sell your mag and if you are going to have some hard hitting articles they probably won't want you there.Quite probably won't want you there even if there are no such articles anyway.Speedway seems very suspicious of anything new

'personnel needs'......If i need a low life to jump in a lake to inspect the pond life i know who to call

Oops.Got that wrong then

Nope.As far as i can see no one has asked for a scandal mag.No one even mentioned one until you did

But why?98% of those who read the Star will be fans who know basically what goes on.Surely giving them a "worthwhile story" won't do much damage if any to the sport.Of course it might upset some within the sport,but as Phil has said on many occasions the Star aren't quite the darlings of the promoters that some believe.They have had their run ins and threats of bans selling the mag at tracks.I doubt the Star could ever harm speedway as much as tv coverage of poorly attended meetings on tracks that the riders find it hard to stay on their bikes.

12 pages and all you can see " is bank note posts"???? Where do you start when you look at a thread.The last post or the first?

Thanks Phil.Like you say it is remarkable what Alf and some of the others back then achieved with those old cameras.Was just wondering when and where he started out?Still have some of his speedway photo mags in the cellar.Not sure he ever got into doing books like Mike Patrick?I'll always remember the two of them out on the centre green at Plough Lane chatting away whilst getting ready,although of course it was generally Mike that caught the eye with his trousers and moustache etc

Sounds closer to reality than one or two of the previous posts

Then no doubt one of the other clubs will step in and hold the meeting if Poole can't make the figures add up

Never had a problem with a €50 note.Quite commonplace.And it seems other notes shouldn't be refused as well as long as they are used reasonably.So using a €200 note for something that costs €180 is acceptable,but not for something that costs €10.Notes should only be refused if the shop can prove they don't have enough change.Sure there was something on tv recently about this and also found this link http://www.handwerksblatt.de/handwerk/welches-geld-muessen-sie-annehmen-12757.html

I don't get the Speedway Star,could you please tell me/us what was said?

I remember being in Yugoslavia and a group of holiday makers from Scotland came to the hotel and couldn't change their money,so one or two of my friends who were also from Scotland,but living in London took their Scottish notes in exchange for some local currency

Think most of the problems were dealt with on a previous thread a couple of years back.I know i was one who was very sceptical because of the costs.This isn't just a challenge meeting or series.This is an official FIM title and as such the FIM will want some money and the riders will also very likely want more than the usual pay out for this.So everyone in the meeting will be on more than a normal league meeting,plus they'd expect some prize money for winning etc.And as i have pointed out on a number of occasions the teams have to be roughly equal in strength.That really means the Danes have to get at least one more top rider in their side and they have only a few years ago cut back on the number of top riders to save money!!!!The other two teams need strengthening as well if they want to challenge for the title.Only the Polish side is good enough to really calll this a Champions League.To pay for that then Poole or whoever need to put the admission prices up by a fair whack and also need sponsors to help out and tv coverage would probably be essential.I'd guess there are few if any sponsors or tv companies interested

Too much pressure on the old boy and he will just change to a new user name like he has done a few times before I guess no answer is an answer

No,they are not that bad,but i would expect one of those wildcards to move into the comp.Possibly the USA

Is there an "exit" sign on that door?

Who is saying anything about British or Danish clubs not being entitled to compete????? You are comparing chalk and somthing hard + white that isn't chalk.Of course a lot of minnows enter the Champions League and most get knocked out in the preliminaries,but the nitty gritty of the Champions League isn't some small Welsh club against Barcelona.That is just a quirky news item.The Champions League wouldn't be able to sell itself if that was it.It sells itself on Barcelona v Bayern or Dortmund v Arsenal etc.That is how it attracts tv coverage,sponsors and fans.This however it as far as the speedway Champions League goes and has to sell itself to fans,sponsors and tv on Zielona Gora v Esbjerg etc.If the balance of teams isn't right it will be hard to get anyone interested

One of the obvious problems is all the other teams have to strengthen up to compete with Zielona and by quite a bit.Now that isn't going to come cheap and can a team like Esbjerg really afford it?Can they attract the crowds to make it worth while?Or on the other hand will ZG fans bother in great numbers to see weak "foreign" teams.Still lots to be solved and see if this will work more than one or two years