OILYRAG

And the crowds were almost twice the size ... which tells me that if you bring in quality signings the people will come to watch them !

It will benefit the stayaway by having 15 quid plus refreshments in thier pocket every week that hasn't been wasted on another boring nights speedway ! Look at Somersets team ... then Sheffields projected team , says it all ! Why can they sign that quality of riders and Sheffield cant ?

SS the entertainment value went at Sheffield when they took all the shale off from the Sean Wilson and Birko days , now it is just processional (sp?) boring races 90% of the time , add the poor team building and you can see why the crowd figures have dropped by more than half in the last ten years. The fanbase is there ... its just something worth watching that needs providing !

I don't mind Hally but they have to prepare the track to suit him with shale ankle deep on the outside which will also suit Stead , how many times last season did you see him go for the blast round the outside on bends 3 and 4 and it just didnt happen ... infact the best overtaking line on bend 4 was the inside last season ! WJM ... with how the team is shaping up they will not win all the home meetings !

Fair points spinny , I do only come on to have a whinge ... cant say I'm into all the pally matey stuff for the rest of the time if I'm being honest. The promotion are giving me plenty to whinge about AGAIN with the new team they are picking , this is a watershed season for Sheffield and a co ck up this season could be the end of the road for the club ... yet they have taken 2 big gambles ... one of which in my opinion will fail for certain and the other could be anything but at his age would have expected to have seen him over here before now ! Now we have whisper of yet another gamble with the Argie , don't get me wrong I think the argie is worth a gamble as he gave a decent account of himself in the U21 champs last season ... but not on top of the two other gambles as well ! It looks to me that we are going down the Plymouth route of two big hitters some foriegners on 5's and a couple ot kids , hope not I know the Argie isn't confirmed or been mentioned anywhere apart from here so this is a subject for another day if it happens ... but its not looking good again IMO , I was wrong about Joe last season , watched him a lot at Scunny last year and he looked finished but I was right about Jackobson and how average the rest of the team would be..

I suppose I am down as one of your "usual suspects" Spinny ? We have not only made one "suspect signing" though have we ? Koppe undiscovered at 24 and beaten by second halfers this year is a big gamble and Knight who is not even an average NL rider is in our PL team , thats two "suspect signings" in my book ! Nice one Porky

Its nothing to do with building for the future ... like some said about Jacobson last season they will be dropped by the end of May ... all we are seeing now is Hoggy bumbling his way to another poor septet !

Same could be said about Koppe , 24 years old and he's being thought of as a young prospect .

The point is WJM ... there is better 3 pointers out there than him available (some listed above in HT's post) and is 20 years old young nowadays in speedway ?

Will Knight score his 3 to make the 12 up with Stead ? Wilson is capable of maximums , can't say owt about Bager because I just dont rate him and I dont know how he keeps getting team places.

I would echo your sentiments if a rule was in place to say all clubs have to do it but doing it of your own back puts you at a disadvantage from the off , but not let us kid ourselves ... Knight will be on 30 quid a point and thats the reason he's in , nothing to do with developing young brits ! What pee's me right off is when you see foreigners like Bager get a team place and the likes of a Ben Wilson a Brit on a similar average and arguably a better rider get over looked.

R/R or injuries not come into it then ? Go back a few years and sheff got crowds of around 800 to a 1000 with a decent team ... fast forward to now with the cheapo team and they will be struglling for 300 maybe 400 on a warm summers day ! The fanbase is there and all the promotion have to do is provide us with a team worth watching ... invest in proven talent or gamble on never have beens ... do the maths to see which way,generates most cash !

I'm sure Jake is a nice lad but Tigerpig but if commitment is a criteria surely Andy Blackburn who turns up every week deseves a chance hey ? Yes you need a solid top half of the team but IMO the ones that win trophys are teams that have reserves that chip in with double figure scores from thier 5/6/ or 7 rides , if they have to start tinkering after a few weeks or months it means some of those already there have not performed and they have got off to a bad start and you're down the league from the off.

Cheap and cheerfull again ... it will be the fans fault for not turning up again though when they are moaning about the financial woes of 2013. Yeah Stead will cost a wedge but I bet the club arn't paying the full whack for him . I would think someone like Ian Hunter has dug deep for him. This club has gone to the dogs since Hoggart took a front seat ! Shane Colvin next ?