spin king

Had time to sleep on the result and feel I can put down my views. I said at the start of the season that the team was a gamble and that gamble has not paid off, we need to make changes to the team, but to make any decent changes we need to wait now till mid June when our riders on assessed riders gain proper averages. Okay but what do the Team Management done to change things or try and get the best of the team? Nothing.. At home we should be at least trying to win all meetings and cannot understand why they don't mix the riding orders up.. Anyone can see that Joe Haines is not suited riding at number 3 Joe is a rider who relies on his gating and is known to have a fragile confidence level, why stick him at 3 where his first race is either off gates 3 and 4 which at Sheffield is a bit of a graveyard gates. For me its killing his confidence. Stick Joe at number 2 where he will be off either gates 1 or 2, where he has consistently beat some very good riders already this season, and a winning start will give him more confidence as the meeting goes along. Richard Hall, is a match for Simon Stead around Sheffield, where have the Sheffield Management place him, at number 4 That means our 2nd best rider in the team has his last programme ride in heat 14, by which time its too late to make any difference to the scoreline in a team that is struggling, either stick him at 5. Ricky Wells is our top man away, but can be a bit indifferent at home, so why not for home matches give him the number 3 race jacket. The reserves are what they are and we have to live with that. If we replace anyone before mid June it would be basically cosmetic and I don't think that anything would change results wise, but come mid June we should have some serious amount of points to play with to make some drastic changes, where we will have a choice of with the possibility of either dropping one reserve and bringing in a rider of around 6.50 to 7.50, or dropping both reserves and bringing in a two riders with a combined average of around 11. By that time, the Play offs will be out of reach, but still have the League cup to go at so all is not lost. But the Team Management has to do something, for me a change in the riding order as a temporary fix, and then Mid June lets make some changes that could just turn the season around and have us making some serious challengers for some sliverware, even though at the moment it seems unlikely.

First of Well Done to Leicester on a victory, much deserved win. I do think that Leicester fans owe a massive debt of gratitude to their Guest rider young James Sarjeant, whose win in heat 8 was one of the turning points of the match. As for the Odsal Boy incident, not sure where the thought came from that whether it was the announcer himself or the Promotion, but either way it was out of order and deserves an apology. End of the day its an opinion from someone, I did not agree with some of it and said so in a post directly after, but everyone s entitled to an opinion whether I, the announcer or the Promotion agree.

Well the rain has stopped and the weather looks a bit more optimistic Nice to see the Promotion bringing in a top Guest for Simon Stead, Oliie Allen was very impressive the other week when he beat Craig Cook not once but twice , the only Sheffield rider to beat Ollie that night was Joe The Passenger Haines. Providing Richard Hall is properly fit, Ricky Wells can show some of his excellent away form, and the two reserves don't coincide an advantage in heat 2, I think Leicester will as Ann Robinson says at the end of the Weakest Link Programme "Go away with nothing." At the end of the day I don't mind what the winning margin is as long as we win by 7 or more, you get the same amount of points whether the margin is 7 or 27.

How well does he ride the track at Sheffield?

I said at the start of the season that I felt the rest would be chasing Somerset, and I think result makes believe even more(providing they can steer clear of injuries). I think that one of the problems for Scunthorpe is that they are having to use Josh Auty in heat 1, Josh Auty cannot ride or less effective when he has to ride at number 1. When he was at Sheffield, and he got the number 1 race jacket, he always lost it when the next green sheet averages, as his form would drop, and Birmingham were quick to move him away from the number 2 riding position to number 4 riding position and saw his form improve. The problem is that the rider who should be pushing him for that number 1 position is David Howe whose form has been very indifferent Like I say providing they steer clear of any injuries I think that Somerset will be the team to beat.

Leicester. Their Promoter is only Promoter to promote at that track.

I think that the Berwick Promotion and the Premier League came of last night meeting with a lot of credit. The track looked good, better than what I had been told and read about. Good sizeable crowds who made plenty of noise. Kozza Smith reminding me why I love the sport with his all action style. I think also last night proved that big guns like Eddie (sorry Edward) Kennett are not finding the Premier League easy money. The only down side from last night was Paul Starke incident, not so much the incident itself, but the reaction of when Starke returned to the pits and Promoter Geoarge Hepburn laughing, hugging and kissing Starke as though he was his long lost illegitimate son, not wise when the camera's are in the pits. Also very impressed with the lad Lewis Kerr, I thought he did really well, and looks to be a fine prospect, Leicester must be kicking themselves. End of the day the best team won, but the Berwick promotion come out of this generally looking good, hopefully the crowds will stick with them. .

Like I said not taking anything away from Adam, but if you ignore your own assets these kinds of situations can happen. And a different Promotion and Management team.

I don't think that htis will be the full Sheffield team, I am sure that read that Joe Haines, Facu Albin, Jake Knight and Damien Koppe are riding. I would imagine that Jordan Tyrer will get a run out, and they might give young Kiwi Hayden Sims a go as well.

Full season? I have just trawled the updates and can only find records of him riding in 4 meetings for the Isle of Wight, I am sure he rode more, but it could not have been much more as he was still riding at reserve for Islanders this season. That is not taking anything away from Adam Ellis who I am sure a talented speedway rider, but I still think Joe was a more proven rider, Joe was riding as a heatleader, Adam was riding at reserve.

Having seen young Joe ride at Sheffield last season, I was surprised not to see him riding in the Ipswich line-up. Even more surprised to see the Ipswich pay out a loan fee for a 3 point who on paper was no better than Joe and less proven. Maybe Joe feels more at home and more welcomed by the Glasgow Promotion than he did at Ipswich.

I don't think that Neil has lost interest in the club, he probably takes a bit more of a back seat role, but he still there and still interested. Dave Hoggart, will have been given a budget to put the team together and will have to work within that budget set by Neil himself, and Neil been Neil will only spend what the club can afford. For me the team just needs to change very slightly, I can understand the reasoning behind the assessed riders, which was to bring fresh blood into the club assets. I just don't feel that the Team Managers play to our strengths, and the club badly needs a new Team Manager. Dave Hoggart is an excellent presenter/ centre green man, but he ain't no Team Manager, lets get a new Manager in and get Dave Hoggart doing what he does best.

I think that you will find that it is Dave Hoggart who has put the teams together and has done for the last three seasons to my knowledge.and if you believe the press releases, Neil will have given him a budget to work within Onto the team, it looks like the gamble of putting in three riders on assessed averages may not be paying off. I think the Team Management should shoulder some of the blame, after the Press and Practice it was obvious to everyone that Albin looked better than Koppe around Sheffield, most people know that in this sort of situation you put your stronger rider at reserve because they can get extra rides far more easier. At Sheffield over the years we have had a rider riding at the number 2 position who have been strong gaters (Skidmore and Wilson), Joe Haines is a good trapper why was he not put into the number 2 riding position. Hall is great at Sheffield and Wells is great away, why don't they alternate the two for the number 5 position, Hall at 5 for home meetings and Wells for away meetings. Simple and easy tactics that play to your teams strengths, something that the present Team Management seem incapable to do with their one dimensional thinking. I can understand the frustration of fans calling for 3 to 4 changes to the team, but I think that we simply need to make one change and the teams fortunes will change, but we are going to have to wait for the assessed riders averages to become true averages. By that time we will have lots of points to play around with, and by simply releasing one of the reserves we can replace that rider with some with an average between 6 and 7.5 depending on which reserve we release. If we do it now we looking at a lot less points to replace anyone, but if we wait just a little bit longer we could be looking at bringing.in someone decent at 2nd string, and then move Joe Haines to 2 and Albin at reserve, and for me that would transform the team.

Not too sure about that, he is injured, and Swindon who have allowed Eddie Kennett doubled up with Berwick have said that move is a temporary move, so maybe when Ricky Ashworth is fit then he might move back to Berwick.

We are waiting for you mate, might even teach you to surf the picnic tables if your good.

Here we go with the Elephantman and Oilyrag show. Both claim that they don't have an agenda. Truth is they both have agenda's Oilyrag who you only hear anything from when things are not going so well, funny how when the team were qualifying for League Cup Semi Final, then when things don't quite go our way he on here banging his drum calling fans happy clappers because they don't agree with what he says . The comment about Joe Haines made me smile, funny how we both backed a rider in the past who was older and no better than Joe, sorry I re- phrase that comment me and his boss. Then there is Elephantman, who if your not bigging the team will win the league and all th riders will make vast improvement on their averages you are classed as been negative and supporting the team. Two things ned to change at Sheffield. (1) New Team Manager, only the present Team Management could missed the chance to put Facu Albin at reserve for the start of the season, and in their troles of joint Team Managers they have made some monumental cock ups. Dave Hoggart is an excellent front man on the mic, get back doing what he does best Nigel Hinchcliffe, he has lovely smile and makes a nice cup of tea so I hear. Jack Lee is there at Sheffield every week ask him to have a go. (2) Fundamentally the team is okay just needs a few teaks here and there, but I think what they need to do is drop one of the reserves or let them job share the role. If we wait till the riders on assessed averages get true averages, by that time by reckoning we will have around 6 to 7.5 average to get replacement rider. Then move Joe Haines from riding at number 3 to number 2, a position that is far more suited to him. That would in turn put Albin at reserve. I think then we might see results start to pick up again. . .

Not again.

Exactly how I understood it as well, and if he had included Tyson Nelson, he would have received a 28 day racing ban. ,

Sets it up very nicely for Thursday for the return leg, and everything to play for. Rye have a set of riders that could come to Sheffield and pull it off. But I think that Richard Hall will likely be back on Thursday, and Simon Stead at Sheffield will be a total different proposition to the Simon Stead at Rye House. Looks like it could be a cracking meeting, maybe see you on Thursday.

Totally agree with what you say about the Promotion. Having read and listened to what the fans so far this season, if this does not inspire thw stay away fans to come back then nothing will. It will be interesting to see what happens when Ricky Ashworth is fit again will they keep Eddie or revert back Ricky, my gut feeling is that as from this moment Ricky is now available to ride for another club when he is fit and ready to ride.

Quality signing for the Berwick Promotion, and a bold move by them.. Will be interesting to see if h lives up to the big reputation, and a very high starting average which I make well over 10. I cannot see it but lets hope for the Berwick Promotion that they have not signed another Gjedde.

Like I say to do that we have to wait for the assessed riders to get proper averages to make an impact rider signing. If we make changes before then we would have to bring in a rider like the one that you mention. A lot will depend also what the Promotion can afford, but if they wait and bring in a 7 pointer rider in I thin you will see some different results, and the beauty of the play off's means that you can afford to have a bit of a blip.

I don't think that we need to make any drastic changes to be honest. If we wait for the riders on assessed averages (Albin, Knight and Koppe), to get a proper average we could have some serious points to play around with. For instance if we were to let either Knight or Koppe go we would probably be left with around between 7 and 7.5 points for a replacement. Stick that rider at number 3 . Move Joe Haines to number 2 which would more suited to Joe than the number 3 slot. And then move Albin to reserve. A simple change and the team has a completely different look about it.

Sedgemen is far too inconsistent, and is holed up in OZ. Poole would be a maybe, but he too is holed up in Oz. Rocco Scopellite is injured broken shoulder and broken arm in two places .

I think it could well be another tight match tomorrow, especially with no Richard Hall. With Skiddy riding at number 2 and the likelihood that Micky Dyer will ride 7, I think that the best thing that we could do is stick the Rider Replacement at number 2, so for me heat 8 will be a crucial race and that would mean using Steady in heat 8 to snuff out the Dyer/ Skidmore combination. .