spin king

Well I am still hankering on him lining up for Sheffield.

Seen him riding around Sheffield after the meeting for the last two weeks, and looked really good. Looks like he has got some of the old spark back, but the problem I always had with Andre, was that sometimes he looked totally disinterested and when he was like that he could be very poor, speedway been more of hobby so to speak. But if he is up for it he could well be a potentially cracking signing for Glasgow..

I would leave out Bomber.I would not beg Scott Nicholls back. Lets do what the Danes did last season and drop most of the old guard. For me has to be Tai Craig Cook Richie Worrall and ny one from these three King/ Barker/ Kennett. Certainly would not go with Auty, his inability to gate will find him wanting at that level.

Well been one the Team Managements biggest critics I suppose I will be in line for the Richard of the Week. I tell you what I will come onto the cetntre green and accept my reward providing they tell everyone what I have said. This is what I said on here after the Leicester match and have been saying for weeks before that. 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. If that makes me a turkey then what does that say about the Team Management. Over to you Dave.

But your original line up had only three.

To be fair to the Sheffield team started the season, with 4 Brits. If Adam Roynon was to replace Jake Knight they would still have 4 Brits in their team. Not many of teams in the top two leagues who can beat that.

If he is prepared to wait until this Saturday then Sheffield would then be able to fit him in. He did have after the meeting rides at Sheffield this Thursday, but I don't look too much into that as we have quite few riders who come for after meeting spins. But I would welcome Adam with open arms even with his injury history, quality rider who fit nicely into the Sheffield team. .

Massive difference in the Sheffield this time from recent weeks, and after about heat 4 you got the feeling that were not going to get beat. The big difference was that this time around we had a fully fit top 3 something we have not had for a while, and Sheffield without Simno Stead especially are not the same team, its not just the points he scores its the help and advice that brings to the team. Berwick were disappointing, I expected much more from them, and I think that Eddie (sorry Edward) Kennett is finding that the Premier League is not a walk in the park. Riders performance. Sheffield Simon Stead; Truly inspirational as a number 1 and captain. Well Done Skipper Joe Haines; Told people that you would see a different Joe Haines if they changed his riding position from 3 to 2, well a paid maximum showed that I could have been right. Well Done Little Fella Ricky Wells; Solid performance, from Ricky . Well Done Ricky. Richard Hall; Loses points on over riding and falling off. But shows true commitment, and that cannot be faulted. Well Done Richard. Facu Albin; Was put in what looked like an impossible task, but stood up well and did a job for us. Well Done Frank. Damien Koppe; Revelation, is the word to describe his performance last night. We saw occasionally last week what he can do, but this week he was exceptional. I am chuffed to bits for the lad as he has worked hard to get to that level. Well Done Damo. Jake Knight; Only one solitary point for Jake, but the lad battled hard all night and was not that far off the pace. Well Done Jake. Berwick Edward Kennett; I think that he is starting to realise that life can be pretty tough in the Premier League. He did okay, but must admit that I thought he could have better. But he did not do to bad. David Bellego; Very disappointing, saw a quite a few times around Sheffield last season and he was pretty good, but last night loked a shadow of that rider. Robin Aspregen; For me the pick of the Bandits, always in the tick of it rode well. Matt Wethers; Another one who was disappointing, I have seen him ride a lot better than that at Sheffield. Kozza Smith; For me the most disappointing of all of the Bandits, what happened to the all action Kozza that I love to watch. Paul Starke; Did a decent job for the team. Nicki Barrett; Did a decent job for the team. What is next for the Tigers, well we have to wait until after the away match at Rye House when Albin,, Koppe and Knight get their proper averages, and if the Promotion decide to make changes they can make something of a significant change. For instance for they were to take out Jake Knight they would be able to replace him with a rider of between 7 and 7.5. Interestingly both Adam Roynon and Andre Compton had skid after the meeting, and both would fit into that criteria. Finally nice to see my good friends Shadders and Bandits4eva.

Does that mean if things start to go wrong for Berwick the big sulk will be on?

Best Wishes to Tai, and a speedy recovery from his njury. I don't profess to know Tai, and have never met and spoken to the lad, but I have seen him on many occasions at Sheffield when he has been a spectator, and he always struck me as been, a quiet, polite unassuming kind of guy, nothing like the person he has been portrayed by some. I personally think the lost of his Dad Rob at such a big effect on Tai and at a such vital stage in his career, and I think that one of the big reasons why we are seeing such a big improvement is the influence of Peter Adams who has taken on that role of a father figure with Tai that Rob did so well. For me the loss of Rob, put Tai back two years, but I think now that he has discovered someone else who he can trust and respect to help him and guide him in the GP's we will have a rider in Tai, who will be not only in the GP's but one that can be up there challenging for the title.

And looked what happened.

Halifax Tiger turn up in his lucky shorts.I suppose depending on your age and gender that could be classed as pulsating.

Excellent signing, but like it has been said won't have come cheap. What does it say when a rider of this reputation,talent and potential signs as an asset for a Premier League rider rather than an Elite League team. I presume that the Promotion and rider have sat down and discussed possible fixture clashes and meetings missed will be minimal. But one change and the Devils look a good proposition.

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.