spin king

Remember the Lucky Shorts.

Have to agree, but I do think the poster is on the wind- up to be honest. The likes of yourself and Glasgow fans,and fans from other clubs north of Scunthorpe have supported this event with your presence over the years and travelled miles to watch the event, why should the more Northern club be given a chance not to travel 100's of miles for a change. I don't think it matters if its Chris Holder or Chris Schramm who rides in the meeting, its a chance for fans to get together to raise money for riders who have suffered serious injuries or life changing injuries.

Very good mate, but you have taken me a long way round to get the Barrack Tavern, its about a 25 minute walk from my home. No the special effort is down to the fact that I have to be at work for 4.30am the next morning. So there won't be so many. Otherwise I will be the next morning.

I am going to try and make a special effort to go to this gathering.

Looks to me as though there are one or two on here fishing for a bite, and one or two are biting.

End of the day I don't think the fact that Tomas Topinka having his farewell meeting the day before the Ben Fund meeting will effect attendances for the Ben Fund meeting. I don't think that the Ben Fund meeting is so much about who is riding in the meeting more about the event itself, which does a good job in looking after injured riders and stricken riders. Why Berwick, why not it seems to be the idea that a different track is given chance to host the meeting every year, and I believe that Berwick as a club raise the most through bucket collection last season over any other club. I am sure that on the day the meeting will raise plenty of valuable money for what is a vry important cause.

Sad Day, but definitely the best decision. Will go down as one British greats,, and surely they can find him a job in the Team GB setup. All the best Havvy.

Mine Done.

Am I Halifax Tiger's Dad. Well if I am that some milk round that I had at about 3 years old. (Don't be fooled by the name Halifax is Southern lad) And remember Halifax if I am your Dad SKJ is your little brother. And the cheque is in the post.

I am impressed you read it all the way through Pat. Shame you nort a Berwick fan would not have to wade through the rest of it.

Would not say that we are whingers. The thing about us at Sheffield we have been used to having teams over the last 14 years been in or around the mix for silverware, so last season hit us really hard and the worrying factor for the die hard's like myself the crowd levels were down and like a lot I felt it was down to the team collectively that the Promotion put together last season (Although there was a few plus points for me Joe Haines been a definite one) but generally from the start fans felt that the team was not good enough. The Promotion promise to make sweeping changes and too be fair they have made quite a few, but the worrying problem for is that the Promotion have brought in 3 riders on assessed averages, and the big problem is that the fans don't have any form or have not seen any of the riders on assessed averages (Jake Knight apart). They simply don't have anything to judge these riders on, and it is rare that assessed rider achieve their assessed average or better it. But on a positive note I don't think that you find a Sheffield who has not applauded the signing of both Joe Haines and Simon Stead and they have been universally accepted by the Sheffield fans as two very good signings. Ricky Wells, has the fans split, some of the Sheffield fans were perplexed that Ricky could go out one night and beat Darcy Ward for Wolves and the next night come to Sheffield and get beat of the opposition's reserves. Richard Hall is another one that has us split, superb and exciting to watch around Sheffield but his away performance are and have more often than not been poor and the Promotion spin the same line every year that Richard is working hard and is determined to improve those away performances which is starting to wear a bit thin. The Team Managers has been a big issue at Sheffield, over a number of years for the fans. They seem to miss tactical decisions when they are obvious to everyone else and don't tend to mix the riding orders to suit different tracks. For me and the rest of the die hard's we still go week in week out, but like quite a few I worry whether or not the team will be attractive enough to bring back the stay away fans. The team has a feel of a bit of a gamble by the club and of course gamble's do pay off sometimes, but I do think that with 3 assessed riders coming into the team it means that the some if not all of the lads will have hit the ground running to attract back the stay away fans.

I think that Steady will play a big part in the team spirit, as captain and I think that he will.

He was captain last season, but he ain't this season, if he did refuse to ride number 5 last season then the management need to get tough with him and tell him what position he riding not him telling them.

I would have Hall at number for home meetings and stick Wells in to ride with either Koppe or Albin at 3 and 4.

For me there is only one rider that can be successful riding the difficult number 2 race jacket. If you think of the Sheffield riders who have done well in the past riding that position Ben Wilson and Hugh Skidmore spring to mind, both quick out of the gate and both won their fair share of heat 1 riding at that position. For me Joe Haines fits the bill nicely quick out of the gate and fast when he hits the front...

Would have preferred to have seen a New Team Manager in for next season, much prefer to see Dave Hoggart take on the centre green duties.

I think that Steady and Sheffield were made for each other and the timing of his move to Sheffield is one of the best moves for the club and is right for Steady at this stage of his career. Can Steady achieve a 10 point average, never say never, but I doubt. The Premier League id a different league these days and it sometime since a rider achieved that kind of figure Zetterstrom for Somerset some years ago But I would think that he is more than capable finishing amongst the top 5 or 6 riders in the league. Another pleasing bit of news for Sheffield, was the 3rd place from Richard Hall in the Christmas Cracker meeting at Somerset, which was very welcoming news and the lad deserves a pat on the back. .

Totally agree, I remember me getting upset last season that Swindon ran a meeting the same day as the Shane Parker Farewell meeting. But it did not effect the crowd levels at Sheffield that day to be honest and I don't think the crowd levels at Swindon.

I think it is a case of waiting and see regarding young Josh, if Douglas hits the ground running and the rest of the team race to their potential then I don't see a problem. But if Douglas drops his average and Josh is struggling then there is still riders out there who could do a job and replace Josh is they feel the need.

Well Done to Scunny giving a young rider a chance. Rob Godfrey has stated that there is no pressure on the lad which means more pressure on the others to perform/ But the Scunny side looks capable of carrying the lad, and hopefully he can have a season of learning the tracks and picking up the odd point or two.

Who me? Never.

Quick reminder the title of this thread does read; Sheffield 2013.

I think that last year the team spirit was sadly lacking, but I would not say that it has not been the same since Sean Wilson's days. I thought the team for 2011 had plenty of spirit about it, all the riders used come out for heat 15 and watch and support the riders riding in heat 15, that gave you a feeling that they were in it together as a team. The thing that was clearly evident last season was the lack of a good team captain, Richard Hall never struck me as been a natural and I think it proved it last season. I think that Simon Stead has the character to take on that role and lead and gel the team together, and I think that the team will need that this season coming as we are asking the likes of Wells and Haines to step up a gear and the three boys on assessed averages to step it up.