Elephantman

I never said I did think that; but if I'm paying money to watch that is what I expect!

When racing did you finish or did you give up?

Well I'm stunned at some of the posts on here. I can only assume that the posters have not competed in sport to any standard in their lives. Lambert impressed me precisely because he hadn't given up and he had already had a couple of good rides. He may well not have been able to catch them in front but if one of them fell he would be close enough to pick up the points. If one of the riders in front of Lambert fell, remounted and beat him because he'd "given up", this forum would rightly go ballistic and question his motivation/commitment. What planet are you people on?

I'm not reading between the lines; I just don't follow any of the logic in your posts on this subject. Your arguments are based on your own subjective opinion on how Lambert was riding (as an example); what sort of comment is "lots of riders settle for position after a lap or two" what when they are in last place? You are kidding me aren't you? Its best I stop now!

Fair point and the press release said that they couldn't share because of different set up. However I do think the days of riders loaning others their bikes has gone; after all if you lend a bike and the engine blows or it is written off who pays?

"You were at the back so you should have given up" is that your message to Lambert or all speedway riders? Just so you can enlighten us further should they just roll around for the four laps once at the back or should they pull out of the race after say 3/4's of a lap at the back what do you suggest is the best advice to give aspiring competitors? Actually why not just race to the first bend and decide the result there? The fundamental rule of all sport is that you never give up because you never know what can happen to your opponent(s). You are clearly more concerned about Maassen's nationality than anything else; he's European by the way as are we all and we all have a right to work anywhere in Europe. Your last sentence does not reflect the attitude of the Ipswich management who if the reports are correct insisted that the Sheffield Team join the parade because they appreciated the efforts they made to make a go of things under such dire circumstances.

As I posted earlier, "and learning as he goes". If he doesn't learn from his mistakes he will not be here next year will he? I don't believe adding him to the team was intended to "turn the season round" was it? I'd suggest he is a bit of a punt for both parties; he gets a taste of PL Sheffield get to see how quickly he learns and if that rate of improvement is enough to give him a go next year. How many meetings has he had so far? Do you remember your first couple of weeks at work in a proper job?

This meeting was a microcosm of Sheffield's season. Lost the guest in heat one to a heavy fall (I don't accept some of the comments made questioning his integrity), The Sheffield lads then got stuck in for what I guess they already knew was going to be a long night but were holding their own only to lose Simon Lambert to injury and the new lad have his engine(s) blow. So all in all carnage but I don't think you can question the comittment of the Sheffield Team that turned out; they were just dreadfully unlucky. I don't understand the crticism of Maassen at this early stage of his UK career; I could swear I read a number of posts where it was suggested the managment should get some "kids" in to give them a chance and build an asset base for next season; having done that I don't think its helpful to write the bloke off when he is seeing tracks for the first time and learning as he goes. What is commonly known as a bad day at the office, enlightened by the performances of Ricky Wells, Facu and Andre.

Of course you would spend; we would all spend on the team no matter what wouldn't we? That's because we are spending monopoly money; Mr Machin is spending the real thing. I do agree it has been a drastically unlucky season but every time Sheffield have made changes to put things right they have been hit by another unfortunate incident. There comes a time when you batten down the hatches; ride out the storm and wait to make decisions in calmer waters; not ideal but probably the most sensible approach bearing in mind the general uncertainties around the sport and the economy.

Although I can understand why you may feel disillusioned the events of this season have given Sheffield one hell of a kicking and there has to come a point where there are limitations on what can be done. The injuries this season to the Sheffield team have obviously taken its toll; but also the shock of Ricky Ashworth's injury will surely have had a major impact on his many friends at Sheffield; it can't be coincidental that Joe Haines retired shortly afterwards. A dreadful season undoubtedly but I'm just about old enough to have been brought up to support my team through thick and thin. Under the current stewardship Sheffield have had many more good years than bad; Owlerton is undoubtedly the best stadium in the sport and the racing is consistently up there with the best tracks. The cup is still more than half full.

Simple it is unprofessional of Glasgow to make this announcement in the way they did. All they had to do was co-ordinate the announcement with Sheffield to avoid any embarrassment. If they didn't want to do that they could have just stated that Andre Compton's loan was not being extended; what they had no right to say was that "The move has come about due to Sheffield wishing to recall Andre Compton to their side". Surely it is the Sheffield managements job to make this announcement? The more I think about it this is actually quite malicious by Glasgow; did they want to lose Compton, probably not, so they thought they'd cause a few ructions for the Sheffield Promotion. Not a nice way to behave and unfair on Richard Hall to find out his fate from this forum.

So that begs the question what right have Glasgow got announcing Sheffield team changes before Sheffield do so and probably before Sheffield have had the opportunity to speak with all the riders involved? Fairly unprofessional by Glasgow isn't it?

Guilty as charged then! There again this could be Guilty as Charged as it is confirming the previous post! Either way if team changes are confidential how the hell did they get out?

Yes, but on this forum there isn't a limit to how low you can go!

Things will never be rosy at Leicester because even if DH was to do everything that some of these posters suggest it would not be good enough. It is clear that DH is far from perfect however the constant criticism on this forum, much of it quite vitriolic, means he probably feels painted in to a corner. I do believe that some on here would be happy to see the sport fail in Leicester than survive under the ownership of DH.

Which checkout girl at wilko? Or did you mean John Lewis after all your tag line should read, "never knowingly missed an opportunity to slag off the Leicester Promotion". Bit long I know but sums up all your posts. And you wonder why speedway can't attract new support?

Not much you can do about bad luck. I hope Simon has a good recovery.

Then the need is to fix the sport to make it attractive; I can afford £15 to attend but won't as my local track has a crap stadium, with crap facilities, crap racing..... need I go on. I'm happy to lash out £90 5/6 times a year to watch premiership football and will spend similar amount to attend the theatre and ballet, all are expensive but good value as they are entertaining. I'm also happy to travel a few times a year to a good speedway track that provides entertaining racing and pleasant surroundings. With Hotel that costs me £110 a go. To make something attractive to people you need to sell the benefits and if people buy in to the benefits the price becomes less of an issue.

As I said in an earlier post; deluded! What would the ROI be?

Fair comment. I don't know DH so cannot comment on his character (I did meet him through CS when he was a kid; a good kid from a good home, as they say). What I do know is that anyone who believes there is a long list of investors willing to stick their money in to speedway they are deluded. They may not like the choice of DH as owner/promoter, this is clear as they have been belly-aching from day one, however Hobson's choice is better than none at all!

Well actually you are not being fair. As has been posted this lad has done all that was expected of him; he is the victim of others not pulling their weight and an audience that are clearly demanding change. He has not failed he has been failed. Same as above. I can only assume that some posters never look at other people's post or read the press releases. It appeared to me to be an unusual press release as normally when someone is released it is case of the least said the better. In this instance it looks like the management have been forced to sacrifice this lad, even though he is probably the better long term prospect, to bring someone in who can cover for those more experienced riders who are not performing. The one thing Jake needs to understand is that it's not how many times you get knocked down that matters; it's how many times you get back up again.

You need to read the press release as this post is out of order.

For this subject the facts are available and opinion not based on the facts is exactly that; just some persons thoughts without any substance.

You are posting utter tosh. Obtaining grants is about following the rules by writing an application that meets the criteria of Sport England. Instead of posting nonsense why don't you do something useful go study the rules and devise a way for speedway to benefit?

I do hope not! If it provides an indicator of what can be achieved Cycle Speedway attracts a similar demographic in terms of support and participation with a history of the same types of internal conflict and partisan decision making that can be seen in most sports. CS was in a significant degree of difficulty some years ago (and in some areas still is) but it got together a 5 year plan on how to move forward and make the clubs in the sport self sustaining. Some have made it work some haven't but it is in a far better position than it was. A completely different business model of course, but if the issue is people not working together for the greater good, CS can show Speedway how it was done.