foamfence

I thought they'd swapped leagues with Panthers?

New season= Same sh!t.

Especially after Manchester has seemingly lost a fortune that won't ever be recovered.

Spectators also pay, often up front with season tickets that actually don't gain much. There is plenty to 'moan' about, if you've witnessed the sports decline over the last 70yrs (I'm an old git).

I wondered why you always wear a cricket box.

They were very green when they entered the sport, I remember Brian Havelock saying that he didn't blame Summers for leaving Redcar, after he'd seen what they were offering. He then proceeded to screw them for a fat transfer fee. They've since gone on to sign a succession of big name milkers. It is alarming though, especially when you compare their crowd levels against some others. Time for radical action but it doesn't look like there'll be any (so far).

You "guess." Well she did say that she'd bought him it.

Well his new car would have covered the cost of his long track excursions for the rest of his career but oh no! He wants the fans to pay for it.

Harris isn't short of money, his wife bought him a brand new Jaguar last month. What you read in Speedway Star is mostly people pushing their own interests no matter what the consequences.

He did point out those things and the costs were considerably more than half.

There is no guarantee that it would work, lots of young riders pack in because they can't afford good equipment, even though they don't actually need it at lower levels and wouldn't have the skill to exploit it. What you suggest might well happen anyway as even less go to watch.

They need to address equipment costs, bikes are too expensive to buy and maintain but you don't read that, just the need for more doubling up and guest rides.

So why attach this to my post, If you read the thread, I made no suggestions as to earnings? Anyway your clarity should remove any speculation.

Yes but he still gave up his job to go back to it.

You'd still have the same amount of doubling up and guests.

It'll be new season, same old sh!t.

Except that he copied most of it from President Nixon's resignation speech, the word 'tacky' comes to mind.

When you see the scruff or hear him speak you know the sport is stuffed.

They aren't going to be working all day or every day, in similar circumstances committees might be paid expenses or a modest fee. Most if not all of them would be likely to be retired anyway, not that it's going to happen.

Then it wouldn't be independent.

Income dictates action, how about a league with just Poole in it?

......but poor crowds.

I never mentioned things being better, what I was getting at was that people have got wise to what a pile of **** it really is. As for the target being over 40s, well everything I seem to read suggests that youth is the target. Things might not have been better in the old days but if you ask the majority of oldies down at the track, they say they preferred it back then but still go through habit and to catch up with friends and of course the off chance of a good race.

At Bradford they would visit a different school every week and on race day they would transport the kids to the track, show them around the pits, explain everything and then after the first race a kid turned to me and said "is that it"? They then chose to run about the place making a total nuisance of themselves and few if any ever came back, in fact Bradford had the best team in the country, a good track and piles of silver wear but by the time it closed the place was embarrassingly empty. So imagine your idea should work, after a handful of meetings the new spectator has seen all the teams in the league and Chris Harris seemed to ride for most of them, he's been covered in dust to the extent that he couldn't see across the track and he's seen two overtakes and 88 processions. I had been a spectator from the 1950s, later a sponsor and sometimes mechanic, I introduced lots of my friends to the sport, none of them go now and I only know one who watches it on TV (and he travelled the world to big meetings, such was his initial enthusiasm). The product is now the problem, tracks that are inaccessible to anyone who relies on public transport, tracks badly prepared, bikes that are unnecessarily dangerous, same riders week after week, no matter which team it's supposed to be and a bad lack of continuity. Having said all that, I suppose anything is worth a try but I haven't seen anything new in the offing that hasn't already failed.

The suggestion has been six man teams and the probability of a draft return or something similar. As I said, it's now in some doubt but it was considered to be a possibility. With regard to Swindon (your choice not mine), we assume that they will be running and you assume that they're just going to voluntarily up riders earnings. Your cup doesn't have to be half empty you know.