spin king

Wh won the Godfrey/ Hoggart race.

I don't think that I have ever known a season finish so early, and it must be the first time I have been to our last meeting in my shorts. The last meeting just about summed up the season, and finished with a speech from our long time Promoter Neil Machin effectively saying farewell to the Sheffield speedway fans. We had Rob Godfrey on the mike begging Neil not to go, but listening to Neil I got the feeling that this was a man who had had his fill on wants out, and after 21 years who can blame him, he had the ups and downs and I think that he deserves to put his feet. So for me and a lot of Sheffield fans we face a winter of uncertainty, will we still have a speedway team to support, could the unthinkable happen and there be no Sheffield speedway, hopefully some will come forward and bring in a new era to the club. So of the 11 riders, yes Sheffield used 11 riders in the 2013 team, which ones would I like to see back at Owlerton if we have a team to support. Simon Stead Local lad, rides the track as good as anyone at this level and a natural born leader. If there is a new Promotion taking over then the sensible thing to do is to employ Simon as a number 1 and the figurehead for the club, bright articulate has to be a Promoters dream. Retain. Ricky Wells One of the few success stories of the season, and not always appreciated by the Sheffield crowd but, upped his average at home and was a revelation away from home where he averaged better away from home than at home. Had a big public fall out with Neil Machin at the end of the season, so for Ricky to come back it would need a new Promotion. For me who ever it maybe they need to get Ricky on board. Retain Adam Roynon We signed him on the Monday and he was the rider that was going to help us turn our season around, but the day after we lost Steady for the season which summed up our season. Took his time getting going but when he did he looked to getting back to his best around Sheffield at least. In a way you are always taking a gamble with Adam because of his injury history, and I wonder if Dudley promote up to the Premier League that is where he could finish up. But he has been very vocal about coming back and I think he is the type of rider who would have fans up n their feet. Retain Richard Hall Dropped or rested Richard left the club halfway through the season, and to be honest that is how it should stay. Around Sheffield there is no one more entertaining than Richard, but his biggest Achilles heel is riding away tracks and for all the promises he has never improved and it is noticeable that when the Longtrack series starts his speedway form dips badly. Goodbye Joe Haines Retired. Andre Compton Part of me wants to say yes to Andre, but this Andre is a shadow of the Andre that we once knew. In saying that he more than occasionally produces the goods at home, but his away form leaves a lot to be desired. Goodbye with a heavy heart. Facu Albin, Like a lot of Sheffield fans I was not sure what to expect, but he won us over with his all action and never say die riding, and he has achieved cult status with the fans at Sheffield. I think that if he can get his equipment sorted over the winter we could have another Kyle Legault on our hands. Retain Damien Koppe, Had a nightmare start to the season, but then came back with a bang, and then got himself injured. To be honest his age goes against him for me, if he was a few years younger I would be tempted to bring him, but I am afraid it would have to be a... Goodbye Simon Lambert Would come in on a very low average, and for that reason he becomes an attractive proposition, and could prove a potent reserve pairing alongside. Retain Danny Maassen Showed brief glimpses of promise, but look out of his depth the most part. Needs to go away get a bit more experience and more racing and come back in a few years. Goodbye Jake Knight Showed some promise at the start of the season, but suffered a dip in form at the wrong time, and was possibly unlucky to be the one to make way for Adam Roynon. Still think that he would struggle to make the team next season. But I would give him the number 8 and have in on standby for if the reserves fail to perform. Number 8. So I would looking for a team of the following (1) Simon Stead 9.33 (2) (3) Adam Roynon 7.81 (4) (5) Ricky Wells 7.81 (6) Simon Lambert 3.00 (7) Facu Albin 3.62 So assuming that the points limit is retained at 42.5, then we would have 10.93 to fill in the missing gaps. But alot will depend on who or if we run next season.

Hugh Skidmore, that is a massive change in opinion.

Why the concern you state a few months ago that you not prepared to go again. Or was the offer of a free drink maybe enticing to think again, Take it for what it is an end of season challenge, something just fill in the end of the season.

You are probably right,.

Have a soft drink then.

So lets get rid of the one thing that appears to making the sport money, is that wise. Most people I have spoken to agree the Play Off's are a good thing, they keep excitement in the sport till the end of the season, and the Promoters seem to feel that they make money, and there is no doubt that they cause excitement as teams fight it out to qualify for them. I personally think back to 2011 the last time the Premier League was decided with no Play Off, the season was over by the end of August, and at Sheffield crowds did start to fall towards the end of that season. The one thing that speedway clubs need to do is make money so would it not be madness to take away the one thing that is guaranteed to make them money. Speedway does not run on fresh air.

Not surprised by the news, in fact I fully expected it after last season. Love him or Loathe, agree with him or disagree with him, Neil has been a very colourful character who will be missed. I think the enthusiasm for the sport has drained from him, I think losing a lot of people who have been close friends some of who have played a major part in helping run the club, and I think that the new air fence rules have been the final nail in the coffin. Will anyone take the club over? Would you buy a speedway club. The only thing up for sale would be the rider assets and license, so maybe Tony Mole could be interested in running Sheffield for a season and then transferring over to Bradford for the 2015 season. Who knows, but it looks like a winter of uncertainty for us Sheffield fans.

The Play Off's are here to stay whether you like them or not, and I have to say that I am a fan of them. The easiest solution to the Redcar/ Leicester problem this season would be to work out what the average deficit of Redcar's results, and if that is found to be more than 22 then Leicester go through and if it is less then Redcar go through. For the future I think that Promoters and the BSPA should make the league programme the main priority, if they run the league programme first chances are that the Play Off's could probably be up and running at the latest early September, run the KOC and the Premier Trophy meetings after or where there is no possible League meeting available..

No he is not, I think that you may find that Damien Koppe is not fit as well.

Congratulations to Somerset on their win tonight. But it did appear to be a case of helping Somerset get through their fixtures, as it was not much of a speedway meeting, more so about riders getting around a speedway track, with some race winners been clocked at times of over 70 seconds.So more about riders going through the motions and getting to a point where a they can declare a result. Bit difficult to assess the Somerset team on this kind of meeting, but I still think that they will go one better than last season play off's and I wish them all the best.

(1) Craig Cook (top man in the league) (2) Ricky Wells (possibly surprise choice, but not many top riders in the league who average more away from than at home) (3) Ben Barker (Would be interesting to see him riding in the same team) (4) Steve Worrall (top rider and racer) (5) Jason Doyle (pushed Cookie all the way) (6) Micky Dyer (reserve to number 1 in a team challenging for the Play Off's makes him a no brainer) (7) Kyle Newman (pure racer) Over the points limit but who cares.

Very difficult to disagree with those sentiments, the investment in the future of riders from this country has been virtually ignored over the years, and at least some of the money that the BSPA were given to by SKY should have been spent on the youngsters.

Its was not a dig at Scunthorpe, I was just using them as a point. They have kind of corner the market in signing of young British riders over the last three to four years, and who can blame young British rider signing for Scunthorpe when they would be allowed to use training facilities virtually 24/7. The problem is that as I pointed out that is if your another club, and sign up a youngster who has a contract with Scunthorpe you can run the risk of developing a rider for Scunthorpe or any other club in a similar situation, maybe this is why there is a reluctance for Promoters signing up young British riders. Its a difficult one to solve if that is the case, maybe centralized contract for Junior riders, but that would be very unfair on Rob Godfrey who has invested a lot of time, effort and money on developing riders and would rightly so be needed to be compensated properly.

I would not disagree with what you are saying about the asset base situation especially when it comes down to young British riders, but someone like Rob Godfrey who has an abundance of young British talent at his finger tips will be reluctant to release some of that talent and would rightly want some compensation for any rider that he is made to release. In a perfect world no rider would be an asset of any clu, and they would be free at the end of the season to sign for any club that they wish, but again those who have strong asset bases would want to be compensated for their loses.

The Sheffield team in 2011 had Ashley Birks in the side who was on a similar average, who was a young British rider new to the Premier League. He was never dropped and as far as I aware the club never considered dropping him. What happened the following season, Ashley return to his parent club and the rest is history, Sheffield gave him a seasons development and Scunthorpe had one of their young riders ready for a season with the club after been given a season to develop and learn tracks. The big problems with signing young riders up or giving them a chance is that the ones that are god enough to step up usually have a Premier club connection if you look a lot are Scunthorpe assets, so you run the risk of giving a young Brit a chance only for the some other club to reap the benefit. So maybe in Sheffield's case it is once bitten, but it does make me smile that people seem to be singling out Sheffield not using British riders, as most years Sheffield teams have been predominately British..

Sssssh.

Looking from outside looking in I would say that there were a few factors that have define Berwick's season. Seb Alden not re-signing which I believe ,mean't that the Promotion had to change the team line up at the last minute. The obvious one was the lost of Ricky Ashworth not once but twice, and the second one must have had effect on the riders. The signing of Eddie Kennett at the time appeared to be a Master plan, but for one reason or another just did work out. But one of the biggest for me had to be not re-signing Micky Dyer from the season before.

Blimey, that is a decent Sheffield line up, I will revise what I thought, I think we should sneak a win.

Not much speedway left to watch mate, so I would say go. I would say that you have every chance of seeing a win today, maybe not all three points but I think a win for Glasgow is the likely outcome.

The line not quite correct. (4) Danny Maassen ​(5) Rider Replacement. . I would be happy to see us picking up a point for this

Nice to see you practising what you preach with British riders.

Bold move by the Somerset Promotion, and will be interesting to see if they pull it off. There is an old saying "If it ain't broken don't fix it.", and you do have to wonder with Somerset sitting at the top of the league are the Promotion at Somerset getting a little bit twitchy about the top 5, because for me the top 5 that Somerset has should or would carry the reserves. But it certainly has added a twist to the Play off situation, and it will be interesting to see what the final outcome will be.

I pick up my information from the Scunthorpe fans forum, where Rob Godfrey had said that he had agreed to sell Ollie to Coventry. Maybe that transfer had not gone through would be interesting to find out.

Got agree with you wholeheartedly, the lad has got something about him, and I would definitely like to see the club maybe give him a run in the team next season. Something I did find out that I did not know is that he is no longer a Scunthorpe asset I believe Scunthorpe sold him to Coventry last winter.