TheReturn

I am so bored with British speedway I stopped watching, not having a club to support, only good interesting racing keeps me watching. I think I have watched one full match all season. Well I watched the first few races Monday then switched over, so I missed that comment. As the other poster suggested, look at 6 man teams. Surely it's worth looking at solutions rather carrying on with a failing product?

A couple of years ago I would have argued against this idea, in the past the second tier was sacrificed for the top tier, promises of fair rider shares never happened. But right now it makes complete sense. Let's be honest, the Elite league was never Elite, and the Premiership is now so close to the Championship with so many rider overlaps, a merger makes complete sense if it is also a financially viable option for clubs. For the fans it would mean more variety, and hopefully riders would become 'one club' again, not riding for different British clubs at different times of the week. The idea of the reserves being British under 21 makes sense too. A couple of the top riders may decide to give the British League (perfect name) a miss, but sod them, we can't run a league just for a handful of riders. I would imagine young Aussies would still venture over to the UK and ride British league for the start of their careers, so as top riders are not coming back, a merger of the leagues makes complete sense now.

Nah, the GPs have been done this way for years, it's fine. It the grand scheme of things winning an individual GP doesn't mean much does it? I actually couldn't tell you who won which individual GP across the years (apart from Harris at Cardiff) because we all know the big prize is the GP standings, and at the end of each GP that's all I look at, who is where in the standings.

Some good points on the thread. Speedway is suffering, and the BSPA perhaps needs to review how they operate, that said people have been saying these exact same things for decades and yet here we still are. I actually think the sport could still thrive, but perhaps would need to change. In some respect the modern age of instant media and quick one line social media means is perfect for speedway and showcasing the best of our 60 second races. The problem of course is you need a collaborative approach from everyone, and employing social media experts and professional web designers to create attractive short clips and social media posts... not just employing speedway mates to design websites that are about 10 years out of date and media experts with no charisma (NP). Of course, then turning social media views into attendance and retaining requires more collaboration between clubs, including discounts to get people in the door, providing tracks that enable real racing (rather than 4 riders riding around) and making stadiums appealing to want to attend. I also think making a bigger deal about supporting your local club/team could help, but is pointless when that teams riders ride for other clubs in the UK on different nights. Speedway is not dead yet, but I don't see any sign that the BSPA want to make use of the modern technology that is readily available.

Disagree on the banal side. She's the best lead presenter/interviewer we have had for a long time (regardless of sex). She is very knowledgeable, personable and fills in those llong gaps during grading breaks with Scott really well. Tatum adds good technical knowledge before, during and after a meeting. The only issue Sky and now BT have is Pearson, he's an awful biased and repetitive commentator. He's almost gone an entire season starting virtually every race with 'here we go' and saying 'well, well, well' at every controversial incident. A couple of seasons ago Chris Louis and Tatum commentated one of the play off semi's I think, and they did a very good job.

The same goes with the league title... the team with the most points at the end of the season should be league champions. The current play off system creates interest, but is an awful and false way to decide on league champions.

I think this may be the case that the start marshal and referee had discussed how the start process was going to be conducted last night. Which is fine, provided all riders had that same communication. I don't know if that happened. If Tai and all other riders had that communication then Tai can have no complaints other than the fact the rule was not rigidly applied to other riders.

That's how I always remembered it. It sucked, but was accepted. Most of the time, it's not the clubs fault if the weather calls the meeting off, but the clubs still have overheads so I don't see a problem here... except these days people expect everything for nothing.

Boring racing I thought, close meeting made it interesting, but 'interesting' is the best you can describe last nights meeting. But I must have watched a different meeting Pearson called it a great meeting and his sycophant followers chipped in with comments like fantastic meeting, brilliant speedway. As for Pearson, another 14 odd 'here we go' at the start. Can you imagine if a cricket commentator started every bowlers run up with the same line. Those that are tight with him, give the poor chap some feedback to help him out... perhaps he can start a race with 'away they go', or 'the race is about to start'..... I could probably come up with 15 variations if needed. He must confuse the hell out of causal viewers with his scoring, if it stays like this it will be a 4-2, but if this and if that all within a race. FFS man, call the score in 60 seconds once the race ends.

I hope that's right, although I suspect he will just do enough to scrape in. I said last season his age meant it was wrong he was given one for this year, and his form in the GPs this season is patchy at best to somewhat prove my point. In fact last night was funny, your media colleague Pearson was making excuses all night suggesting Hancock's poor form last night was not because he chose wrong lines or got it wrong, but because he was beaten up or forced wide. Hancock's time as been and gone, he is yesterday's man. As for people slating Nicki, he took Woffy wide, it was hard riding, not dangerous riding. If Woffy was not expecting it then that it's fault, only a moron would not have expected Nicki to ride a wide line to stop an outside run.

Don't go then. We've been asking for the return of internationals for a while now, and this is a good start. If the interest is there and it can be viable then I hope it will lead to more next season and if we can get some sort of Speedway Ashes going it might even generate TV money. Shame Australia have lost a rider for Polish practice. I don't blame the rider if they pay his wages, but something stinks, surely a better level of practice is riding international competition.

So should we cancel our BT Sports subscription too? What about the overseas GPs, we should quit our jobs that keep us working at weekends and travel across Europe to watch live all to avoid hearing a so called professional (joke) sports commentator shout/scream like a demented fool, ruining otherwise very good BT Sport coverage? Ok then...

You're enjoying it so much you feel the need to come and post your usual bollocks on here..... thats how much you're enjoying it???

To be fair, Shovlar is in Cardiff I assume so may not have heard the interview.

Stop being a prat.... no shame for not attending, people choose to attend or not to attend depending on their circumstances, and in some cases the cost of attending (inc travel) can be a barrier. Talking of prat's Pratson just said it again '3 world champions in one race'... how does that work?

I see the Hancock Fan Club is in the commentary box tonight. Talking of numpties.... How can you have three world champions in one race... surely it should be 'the current world champion and two former world champions'?

Pearson defending his favourite riders as usual sitting on the fence... the splinters up his arse may explain his stupid screaming. Tatum was spot on there, Doyle was at fault. The referee is away with fairies.

20 races. Pearson's started 19 of them with 'here we go'... twice at the start of one race, so 20 times. It cant be that hard to think of 20 different ways to start a race.... although he seems to have got out of the habit of saying 'it's all very tight' on the first bend of every single race.

Nigel Pearson is a plonker of a commentator. 23 races, he started about 20 of them with 'Here we goooo'. I lost count of how many big races and big points. … awaits the usual 'Pearson promotes speedway well' defenders to his inane woeful commentary.

Maybe they are, but all well and good saying boycott this, boycott that, is there someone or an organisation who could take over?

I don't believe Hancock is the nice guy he makes out, I have felt that since that incident with Nicki. I know Nicki is not everybody's favourite, but the way Hancock made that public statement about his view of Nicki's mental health that is unprofessional, unforgivable and close to bullying (trying to get more people within speedway against him) in my opinion. But that view aside I listened to this interview with an open mind, and I have come away believing this guy is more of a douche than I did before. I think he threw Gino under the bus there, he talks about bad apples, and stay away from bad apples, he didn't call Gino a bad apple, but it was within that conversation, so what did Greg mean by that? I think it's clear. Rather than debate on some podcast, surely if Hancock was a real nice guy, a real professional guy he should have answered simply 'You know, Gino had some concerns and I am going to give him a call and find out where he's coming from and see if there were issues, try and resolve so we can get things right next time" He then makes quite a few comments, one of which "you should think before you speak", well that's good advice Greg. What a douche.

I just find it sad that the Speedway Press/Broadcasters are not representing all the fans and asking the tough questions, I find it even sadder they themselves are not actually understand why the question is important to ask. Surely if the public are asking questions, the media's job is to ask those questions, regardless if they believe in that view or not. As it stands, it doesn't appear BT Sport or the SS have asked the question of Tai or Rosco (unless I have missed, then I apologise).

Of course he was, they were on a 4-2 at the point. When he was passed, he implanted plan B, make sure he and Emil don't finish last.

Wow... Our experienced number one rider chased the win, thus handing victory to the Russian pair and we're at fault for not giving Russian team credit. They got their tactics right, we got ours wrong, so lets ignore that?

Ha, well if that was the case... All three failed for different reasons. Went for the win... should Rider A have boon looking for Rider B is a question we could debate. Gave it a damn good go, but failed to achieve this objective. If this was the case Rider A ignored instruction by chasing the win, and not settling for second. Manager C should have instructed Rider A to turn to Plan B if Plan A is screwed after Lap 1. If Manager C had no plan B then he should be looking for his P45.