foamfence

Forget promotion and relegation, Sheffield, Ipswich and probably Lakeside are all going up.

Well they aren't all doing it, so it seems to boil down to personal circumstances and what any particular rider means by 'decent.'

That is only the current situation though, changes are likely.

I'm not sure that I go along with that, if I wanted to add value to my commercial brand, I would think that I'd invest in something more in the public eye, 99% of people will never hear of Freddie Lindgren etc, no matter who sponsors them.

I think the biggest doubt is over the second tier, with two clubs reputed to be moving up and possibly two others dropping down or out, we could easily end up with a six team second tier and that surely wouldn't be viable. From what we read though a single league seems unlikely. Uncertainty is never good for the sport (particularly during a long winter) so the sooner we actually know the situation, the better.

Is he actually getting paid? On the gates they get it wouldn't surprise me.

Everyone outside the Midlands pronounced it that way in those days, even Eric Boothroyd did and he had ridden for them.

I have to admit that he did well but the meeting shouldn't be including 4 point ave. riders.

Most amusing.

If he wasn't going to ride he should have withdrawn earlier, a worthy replacement could then have been put in his place.

Well he might as well not have bothered.

Looks like the latter sadly.

This farce has certainly been watered down over the last few days, it reminds of the Brian Havelock days when he'd announce a line-up and half of them know nothing about it.

Interesting point about Coronation Street, I remember when one of the women characters was going out with a Speedway rider, Eastenders had a character who did a bit of riding and Birds of a Feather often had one character wearing Hackney Speedway clothing. This year TV coverage has been reduced and apparently Speedway will be paid little or nothing for any coverage in future seasons, just one meeting a year on mainstream TV would make much more of a difference, when you think of the masses who have little or no awareness of the sport.

540 but 520 of them were Chris Harris.

But you put a rider at the top who confessed to involvement in bribery.

I would think 'slightly' instead of 'very' might be nearer the mark. There are currently several clubs that are running at a loss, it's only funding from other sources that keeps them going. I imagine there are more, so if they all go under, who knows what will happen?

And?

Too many old hands in the NL, a rider/coach is acceptable, not three or four.

Exactly right! My local university is famed for 'peace studies' FFS. I was an apprentice engineer and there was plenty of work in those days, these days we are too reliant on service industries to take up the unemployed.

I didn't.

I wasn't that impressed with him at his peak either, what I meant was that he might have been a different rider at Ipswich than he was elsewhere.

1 Carter 2 Wilson 3 Simmons 4 Morton 5 Louis They were all respected by the top overseas riders but Carter was probably the most feared and he would ride with severe injuries which wouldn't have been allowed today. Wilson was very solid at any level. Simmons was sometimes referred to as the best rider never to have been World Champion but his cheating involvement has tainted his (and some others) image. Morton was a little battler but he was exceptionally gifted at bemoaning his lot and was mostly in the shadow of Peter Collins. Louis rode for us at Halifax, I don't know how good he'd been at Ipswich but for us he was little more than a gating tart.

Don't those who criticise (often constructively) also have a 'genuine love for the sport'? People have different points of view and aspirations, if we were all nodding dogs the whole forum would die.

I think you ought to edit out a few mistakes there. 'may' and 'song' for instance.