oldace

Sky vieeing figures, allowing for the fact there are more viewing options, are holding up well, very well in fact. 890,000 for an early season match is about the norm, end of season important matches will attract 1.5 to 2 million as they always do. They have more subscibers than they have ever had so what is it thats not inspiring

Spot on Tony. The Aces did themselves proud over the two legs. Too much is being made of the goggles thing, the ref missed it and that should be that, it doesn't detract from Poole's win in the slightest. It was a mistake that happened, no cheating in the slightest. The SCB should just have confirmed that on Tuesday morning. Even as an Aces fan you have to be honest and say sometimes you just get beat by the better team, and over the two legs, the whole season in fact, it is hard to argue that Poole weren't better than us. if any Ace deserves special mention though it is Craig Cook, what a performance over the two legs and for sure he looked like he had some mega pride in the Aces bib, massive well done to Cookie Hopefully this can be the springboard to big things in the new stadium

If you called it " the best super duper championship in the whole wide world" people still wouldn't turn up because it is still meaningless.

Maybe call the Elite League play offs the Craven Shield, you could do it in the Premier League and maybe call it the Young shield, sure fire way to pack the crowds in!!!!!! Give it whatever title you want, no one is interested in it. The only title anyone is bothered about is the league title. Thats why Belle Vues crowds have held up this year, simply because there was still a target, likewise Cov, Poole, Kings Lynn, Swindon. The play offs and the money generated will likely have kept clubs in existence.

The scb seem to have ignored explicit instruction from the FIM to remive Darcy Wards points in certain matches last year and amend the league table accordingly so cant see anything being done here. It is a dangerous precedent though to allow blatant flouting of rules to go unpunished

Its quite easy to argue with it because it is nonsense. Speedways decline started in earnest around 1981 but the loss if Wembel was a largely insignificant factor in it. People simply take events that coincided with the decline in the sport and blame that, you may as well blame the wedding of Charles and Di, speedway went downhill fast after that

Indeed, and 92,000 was only fiction anyway.,Wembley in 1981 had an official attendence of 72,000.

Jack Young was top qualifier in 1950 but only managed 8th place at Wembley In 1951 he was joint 7th qualifier and in 1952 joint second qualifier You must have detested the old world finals though. What right did Peter Craven have to be in the 1956 Final. How can Briggo justify being called world champion in 1958 (or 59 for that matter had he won) Ronnie Moore lost a run off for the 1960 world final and he was another on a FREEBIE Of course the 70s plumbed new depths with the 4 finals in Poland giving freebies to 19 riders. 30 % of the fields in those finals were on FREEBIES, and one of these actually won. I could go on Now tell me which qualifying system is suspect

You mean like a total outsider coming through to win, maybe someone who was 500/1 before the start of the year. Could never happen now, you have to go back at least 2 years for something like that

We all know that, and we have shown him evidence of the numerous qualifiers that take place around Europe but after a while he has forgotten and spouts this crap again

Funny thing happened to me recently Sidney. My bath has been leaking steadily for a few weeks, nothing much so I just ignored it. The big bulge in the lounge ceiling was getting bigger but like I say, no big deal. Then one night we turned on the telly to watch coronation street and the ceiling came crashing down. Now people have tried to tell me that there is no link but it is a fact my ceiling was in far better shape pre Thursdays nights Corrie, up to watching corrie that night it was only getting steadily worse then wallop, the whole ceiling is in. If ITV had stuck Emmerdale on at this time everything would have been OK. Well I think so anyway

The exact opposite is true. All teams bar Wolves, Lakeside and Leicester have had meaningful matches right through to the end of the season with the benefit of increased crowds to watch them. Without play offs all team bar Poole, and maybe Coventry would have had no interest in the season from June onwards and been racing in front of just a few hundred fans.

Good job you weren't a top Rugby Union player pre the 1990s

That was the point I was trying to make. Silly made up titles "unofficial world champion" "play off champions" etc are of no interest to anybody. The only title that matters is Elite League champions and the play offs are a good money spinning way of deciding that. To start giving silly names and inventing competitions within competitions would be silly.

$3400 for the last place effectively. $1000 is just for track reserves who likely live round the corner and wont ride anyway. But yes I agree with you, pretty good money for a minority sport like speedway and certainly far in excess of the earnings pre GP. Of course the FIM set and pay the prize money but it is nice to see you post positive things about the SGP for a change

Play off champions would be a title neither fans, riders or clubs would have any interest in winning and no one would go to watch them. There is nothing to sort out, the play offs are one of the few good things to come out of the sport in the last 15 years, they need leaving alone

There is some irony in this. Most of those who complain of the whole league season coming down to just one meeting at the end of the year being unfair and it should be best team over the season wins invariably are the same ones who think best rider over a season shouldn't be world champion and it should come down to just one meeting at the end of the year

Oh I don't know, I already have my hands full next time I am at Swindon sorting Sidney out. Still that should only take 30 seconds or so, allowing 20 seconds to phone him an ambulance so reckon I could squeeze another in!!!!!!!!

The first step yo being world champion is the desire to do it. The sort of desire where every waking hour is filled with thoughts of how to achieve it and letting absolutely nothing get in the way of that. Being prepared for the endless sacrifices that go hand in hand with achieving that Emil falls down on that one so yes at this moment in time he doesn't have what it takes

[quote name="Trees" post="2687110" timestamp="1442939265 Why doesn't someone run an Unofficial One Meeting World Final and invite Emil and Tai. Any promoter can do it, that's how it works these days ..... ... Because it would just be another worthless individual meeting that no one cared about riding in unless there was a bug pay day. "Unofficial world championship" is just a silly name that no one would buy into.

That just shows your complete lack of knowledge on the sports history. Emil will certainly be remembered, probably in the same way Tommy Knudsen, the Morans, Leigh Adams etc are remembered, very good riders, riders who on their day could beat the very best but ultimately didn't have what it takes to be world champion.

Why would Watt have wanted to race or not, he wasn't there that night due to not actually being a Poole rider

Oh sh!t. Now how do I get out of this without looking a t!t.

Maybe you should e mail channel 4 and ask why they bother with the superbowl when no British teams are in it ? more madness FFS What a wally

Indeed KK is out with no hope of a wildcard. Harris is in next year anyway. THJ not a lot to race for but still young and may not want to blot his copybook. If Zagar and NKI get enough to secure next years place before then I expect their injuries to play up. This GP could have easily the most withdrawals of any GP ever. I would imagine to combat the risk there might be a decent bonus payment for this GP