Grand Central

It won't be long. Like buses You wait ages for one stomach-churning snivelling denial of responsibility, and two come along; only to be followed by a third soon after. Meanwhile, on the issue of refunds... err ... that will take one hell of a long time to appear.

The nature of the two statements today, from Chapman and from Gordon do leave one with some wider questions. If they are so poor in their judgement of how to make a public statement. The content. The language, The tone. That they both lack the skills to do this professionally That they lack the selfwareness of their own inadequacies in this regard, so do not delegate to other better people. Then what of their judgment generally? Chief Exceutive of Belle Vue Speedway ....? Chairman of the BSPA .... ? Speedway in Manchester, Speedway in GB .... it's just not in very good hands, is it?

DG seems to have out-Bustered Buster with that ill tempered statement. Cooler heads, clearer minds and much less vitriol from all sides may be preferable. And would certainly show a little more class.

April 18th 2015 ... to March 19 2016 and no one in Speedway has really learnt a thing. The similarities with the humiliation at Stadion Norodowy to that at the National Speedway Stadium are just too many. But I do not mean the state of the track and the immediate issues related. The real gut wrenching similarity is the dreadful treatment of the paying public by those that are the custodians of our sport. On both occasions there was lamentable on-the-night crisis mangagemnt, the large crowds being left with no information of what was going on for far too long, both in freezing temperatures. Chris and David travelled the world trying to gain experience and they still could not learn the art of communication with their customers. Just like BSI in Warwaw. And then the public statements. As woeful today from Manchester and Rugby as they were last year from Poland. Belle Vue, just like BSI, before them, manage to ensure a Non-statement of a statement. Calculated to offer no substantive information and no real apology just 'regret'. Mealy mouthed corporate bilge. Last year it was the PZM that were first out with the buck-passing 'the track is nothing to do with us' and today we are treated to the most god-awful piece of PR from the BSPA. running away from the stink as fast as they can. Buster you are a disgrace. In many walks of life there are crises and disasters that we must face. But it is the manner of dealing with them that is most revealing of those involved. And the learning from experience. It would seem that in Speedway we are not well blessed with anyone of any decent character, internationally or nationally.

Personally I only used the term scrounging, to be polite. Although the dictionary definition of "seeking to obtain something at the expense of others or by stealth" does seem to fit the bill quite well. I have no problem with whatever word is used. I don't really care. I use kodi myself all the time and love it !

Here is a link to the good news http://sport.bt.com/more-sport-hub/more-sport/bt-sport-signs-tv-presenter-suzi-perry-S11364044894448 Probably the best signing by anyone this winter. .

With the latest news that Suzi Perry is back. It looks as if the coverage will be a quality production. http://sport.bt.com/more-sport-hub/more-sport/bt-sport-signs-tv-presenter-suzi-perry-S11364044894448 So, even if you are not a scrounger on kodi, and are paying the full ticket price. At least there should be VFM!

Spot on. I bet the 'net migration' of TV watching Speedway fans has been OUT of paying this last few months. The Android box/Kodi/Amazon Fires stick explosion has probably meant that for 2016 there will be fewer Speedway Supporters paying any cash at all to to the TV companies than in any previous year this century. My TV bill is at its lowest since about 1998.

But then again, that one is in Chinese.

From memory I believe it is engraved 'BRITISH CHAMPIONSIHP CHALLENGE TROPHY' And as it has been like that since the sixties ... I'd think we can leave it, don't you?

Your remarks say that Dave Jessup would have been THIRD in the 1981 rankings not NINTH if he had just not had those two engine failures at Wembley. Seems that you have got your weightings quite a bit 'off' in that case alone. Surely the whole idea of a 'rankings system is to assist in 'evening out' such one-night events and give a better judgement over the whole season. DJ may have dropped 6 places on the night with those failures, but to also do so in a ranking system for the entire season as well seems to expose a fundamental error in the weightings systems being used.

My own programme , filled in on the night, specifically records all three as tapes exclusions.

"Facebook for Dummies" possibly.

It is always nice to have the same issue settled on two separate threads a few weeks apart. Just for fun. Anyone fancy asking the same question for a third time just so we can go through it all the again? .

May I congratulate everyone for helping to get gustix to to the same place as we all reached a few weeks ago. Repetition was all that was needed, apparently.

Your reporting prowess of the distant past is something I find difficult to comment on. But to find you yourself, casting doubt on your own report from Wembley in1957 seems a pretty damning judgement of it's quality. But what I do know is that in the course of this discussion on this, and other similar threads, you have behaved disgracefully and disrespectfully towards people who have done the actual research.

As I said on a thread that was deleted by gustix this morning. He is now showing huge disrespect to serious historians who have undertaken extensive work to try to give us the most accurate information on our sport's history. This sort of nonsense he is repeating is nothing short of disgraceful.. .

I think I have entered some sort of parallel universe. This discussion seems to have become quite perverse. Are we now supposed to dismiss contemporaneous reports from Speedway meetings of the past? On the basis that the named reporter may have been too pissed to be relied upon.? is some sort of forum breathylser called for?

I think the video clearly shows that just ONE Norwegian rider was on parade out of 18 and that was Hansen. The other thread seemed to have sorted all this out in a very logical and systematic way. I don't really understand why we have started discussing it again as if the other thread had not existed.

And can I take this opportunity TODAY. To wish all forum members a very Merry Christmas. And give myself the freedom to enjoy the festivities without this particular debate taking hold over the next few days We could all probably do without it. Again. .

Very good contributions here.I agree entirely The sport needs to appeal to the young people with cash to splash on the night out that THEY want in 2016. Not the night out that some sixty-odd year old duffers THINK they want. And we need to rid the sport of the backward thinking that stifles and prevents some people with a little vision being able to move us on. Too often the folk 'on the inside' are only prepared to give anyone the experience that THEY have decided upon. Whether the public likes it or not. Tough! That is ALL they are going to get.. And they should be damned grateful for it! We don't just need people In their twenties through the gate. They are also needed within the sport to be coming up with the thinking and actions that they know will speak to their own age group. Thankfully Phils lunch with Kelv has stimulated this debate. But the best answers are going to come from people their kids age, or even younger.

Grachan, please don't apologise for what your clearly very astute 12 year old tells you. Most of my likes and dislikes were identical in my younger years. Many have not changed right through to my fifties. I think he gives a much better insight than Phil and Kelv at lunch, to be honest. No disrespect to your musings Phil, but some of them seem to be quite old fashioned and wide of the mark on some fronts. They sound just a little like people 'lost on the inside' finding it rather difficult to see the sport in the round and objectively from the outside. Time and again various Speedway Promoters have tried the going around Schools route. It has only had very limited impact. Despite volunteers putting in a huge amount of effort in the honest belief that they were 'at least doing something to help' it has rarely come up trumps. Speedway is a funny old sport ... It tends to be populated by a large number of 'non motorcycle folk'. Most of whom just are not that interested in the intricacies and finer details. And whilst the very small sample of folk who took up his track walk gave such positive feedback, I just feel Kelvin is so steeped in Castrol R that he may miss that this is not really where the public are. I feel that the digital world is one that should be explored ... But this is the world of the youngsters and old fogies like us are just not in a position to have the first clue of what that really requires. New young blood - not promoters. journos, ex riders or silly old codgers like me - need to be brought in for that. And that will cost real money to invest for the future. The use of amateur web designers and the like who continue to portray the sport as a backward place online needs a real revamp. Speedway's entire online prescnce is quite woeful for 2015. Hardly any different than ten years ago, or even more. And we certainly do not want to continue with the restrictive practices employed by the dinosaurs at Go Speed that will stifle activity in this area with their Kremlin like control over media output. That has to change in a big way if technology is to be used properly. Worrying about the programmes sales is frankly quite sad, in this context, and displays just how out of touch oldies can be with the modern world. Unfortunately this all involves 'speculating to accumulate' and I do understand that there really is so very little money in the kitty to make that investment.

The language problem that I find concerning is that in circumstances like this. Where accuracy is paramount. On the locked thread, the forum moderator can confuse the word 'LIBEL' with 'LIABLE'. Whilst admonishing people for their thoughtless use of inappropriate words. .

I find this all terribly confusing. Are we meant to now self censor ourselves so that it would be impossible to mention that a gay man, is gay. Even if he is? Have equal rights for the LGBT community meant nothing? Is it possible to call Starman a moron or cretin? When clearly he should take it as a compliment for overestimating his IQ. Or would this be banned for fear of upsetting morons and cretins with the clearly insulting comparison to Starman?

What a thoroughly depressing decision. The lunatics have taken over the asylum. I do hope that is not taken as being offensive by any fools, idiots, imbelciles, morons, maniacs, madmen, pscycopaths or psycotics. One can never be sure which category some of the folk on here fall into.