Grand Central

Pedantry is alive and well. I am sure his tracks interests hve not gone unrerpresented. But even worse ... That he would bleat in public now if he has chosen to NOT remain a voice of influence in the GC with a vote of his own. More fool him.

Oh i agree and fully understand that his comments may be born of frustration. But complaining about the absurdity of the loan/asset system in speedway especially with doubling up/down; and the added 2018 complications of fixed nights and the adddedThursday/Wednesday split is a bit rich coming from him. From a new promoter, green around the gills and without a GC vote. Yes I would sympathise at his frustration. But from one of the longest standing promoters whose fingerprints are still visible across the whole sport. No he can button it.

But the rules that set that in train have been created by the institution of which he is a member - and has been Chairman and President of - and has a vote in all decisions. It's just idiotic of him to complain about such simple consequences of where he, as much as anyone, has taken the sport.

I am not someone who thinks that TR is the antichrist or has swindled money out of the sport as other seem to do. Quite the reverse i would say. But his comments in the Star this week just made him sound like a bit of a pillock tbh. The BSPA voted for fixed nights and in the end after switching around made Monday and Wednesday the nights that the PL would have all to themselves. Withthe Cl getting priority on Thursday onwards. It was Swindon who got their wish to stick with SOME Thursdays in the full knowledge that matches that night would not get priority over CL. And now the daft bugger moans about that exact thing happening. I despair.

Thank God for that. Of course those running it wont make it work. That is a cert.

Now you have persuaded me that this will work swimmingly. I feel thoroughly reassured.

Unfortunately a 'one league solution' is only ever taken when there is no real alternative. It is, in itself, an indication of there not being any good answer. Not even a least worse. Just the only, quite pitiful one, we can take. But just as in the nineties it will only shift the problems from one place to another. There won't be enough riders to go round, there will be unbalanced teams, very uncompetitive races between the best and the worst riders and any extra financial burden placed on the lower tier clubs will kill them. Perhaps the only route. But not one to salvation.

Your despair voiced here and in The Star today is totally understandable. But one thing we all have to face is that they haven't got a clue what to do. so putting that in a press release would be pretty pointless. A note handed out by the BSPA saying 'We're all doomed!' would be accurate ... But not tell us anything we don't already know.

Well, you could do if it that would make you feel better. But the Red Blazers predate Sky's involvement by a couple of years or more. They have been with us longer than things like dirt deflectors. I remember the 1996 fours day at Peterborough when they were just everywhere you looked. It had the appearence of a bizarre Butlins reunion. With all the redcoats who never 'made it' in entertainment meeting up in old age wearing outfits from a bygone age.

Just about everyone - perhaps bar the OP - agrees that it was the Speedway Promoters themselves that did not make best use of the Sky Money when it was flowing into the sport freely. And that some better choices should have been made to 'invest' for the future. But this oft repeated criticism that it was wasted by just being given to the riders needs a little more scrutiny surely. I think it's true that it did go to them and then to engine tuners and travel costs etc. But isn't that how WE wanted it spent at the time, if we are honest. Didn't we all want to our own club to pay the money to the top guys to have them in our team in those years. Wouldn't we have all voted with our feet back then in even greater numbers sooner if the big money was not spent on a strong team like they rest? If we had a big TV deal starting today isn't the first thing we would want it spent on is getting Tai, Emil, Freddie and the rest back ASAP. I think we are just being a bit 'holier than thou' when we scream at the promoters today for doing what really was our bidding then.

Jonsson £50 more Woffinden £50 more Lindgren £50 more

Yes. The only way I was able to stick with Horsens to the end was to half-watch it on the lap top and have Uraguay-Portugal on the main TV. I'm not a big football fan and even with an obviously-likely British winner in Denmark I really couldnt give it my full attention. No idea what KT/NP said this time - or this year years awaful interviewer - as the sound was down. It would be a difficult sell for BSI to make to advertisers if that is how people were to watch it.

Sayfutdinov £50 MORE Vaculik £50 MORE Laguta £50 MORE

Yes, of course. If Manzares had said "it was all entirely made up, the journalist is lying" ... then you could decide to believe him, or not. That could be possible. But to say "what I said was twisted" ... then that is not about believing him or not now, he must be telling fibs. That is not possible at all.

Perhaps they do. But I'm just really interested in the ONE with a brain capable of dealing with the simple 'tactics' of which we speak here. Clearly that ONE single person was absent. Tbh if they had taken 500 backroom staff but left THAT guy at home. No matter how good their diet or fitness. They could ONLY come second.

I wonder ... You could have it spot on. Spelling it out like that may have actually been all that it needed for them to realise the best tactics. I bet it would have made them think it WAS different. If only the riders had a group of people around them to help.

Even the Yanks understand that a bit of 'backtracking' can be the best tactic.

OMG.as any kid in his forties may say. That is 7 minutes of my life i will never get back. I'm sorry but I could not last any longer listening to such dreadfully produced rubbish. I'm surprised that total boredom wasn't the charge made by anyone having to spend time with him/them.

Great to think that the Red Tops might cover it. But they'd just go big on GB losing. And not a very catchy headline for any sports sub-editor to come up with ... I'd go for TAI-TANIC ... ICE-COOL RUSKIES SINK BRITS

So .... Today's Speedway Star ... This entire debate about the final and tactics is consigned to carrying the GB team press release verbatim as posted here a few days ago. is that a fair reflection of the exchange of views that has taken place on the various terraces and in the pits this last week as people have got together and chatted about the weekend ? Without even mentioning the chat here. Yet again a page is given over to Rob Painter to give a reprise of the 'the future is bright missive', platitudes and all, but with the addition of a silver medal. Surely that is getting repetitive ?

I am tempted to join with you on this but I fear that opinions are so entrenched (on both sides) that I would get nowhere. It would appear that now 'Tai has spoken' many will be just be happy to let this lie. No matter that it makes no sense. And this despite the 'quotes' appearing to be less from 'Scunthorpe's finest' and more from a media manipulator's hand. Perhaps - with a bit of luck - this format of final will never appear on the 'World' stage again. And hopefully NONE of us will ever have to give it's tactics another moments thought. But I fear that GB will never be as close to a World Pairs/Team Championship again as they were on Saturday.

I admit it was quite a few years since I was involved in any programme adverts but It was 'dirt cheap' relative to other forms of advertising or so I felt at the time. Perhaps thingss have changed considerably since then; but with dwindling 'circulation' I would have thought that to be unlikely.

Perhaps we should moderate our language. The Manager is C. Has Tai written this ?

The Grinning Arse. I'd love to see that on T shirts and Caps.

Do many clubs make a net profit on programme advertising revenue ? Or is more likely that it helps to go cover some of the high production costs and any programme 'profit' is really just from the meagre sales ? And even then it is minimal profit; after an army of volunteers have a put in massive efforts getting all the ad's and providing the copy pretty much FOC. Can't help thinking all those man hours could bring in more revenue that created real profit if it were not 'wasted' on quite so many 'vanity productions'.