Hamish McRaker

You sure you don't mean 1-5? Cannae see the league functioning if it's limited to 2 in the 1-7

I suspect there have been some discussions going on recently about Leicester wanting to have some or even all of their EL home matches next season on a Friday - for reasons which are well known by now. Presumably there has been some reluctance on Coventry's part to allow that to happen, but in any discussions Leicester has been mindful of Coventry's potentially difficult situation. So the offer to provide Cov with a temporary home in 2017 could well be a part of these negotiations.

Greatly enjoying seeing the BSF performing it's own Colo-rectal Endoscopy procedure. Keep it up! Nurse!!! Nurse!!!

He says that....what he actually thinks could be a different matter! It's smooth, isn't it? That's what riders prefer?

I'm sure he has all of the costs properly documented £650,000 or something like that wasn't it? (or £800,000 "selling price"). It sounds a bit like some of those characters who go onto Dragons Den on TV claiming their company is worth Zmillion and within about 5 minutes Peter Jones has reduced the real value to about a tenth.

I'm trusting you to have reproduced Mr Hemsley's words with complete accuracy here.......that is based on your use of the quotation marks. Anyway,reading between those lines, there certainly do seem to be some large storm clouds gathering. In fact it sounds like stormy weather may well have already broken out between the Leicester promotion and the BSPA management committee. There is probably far more going-on than meets the eye. Your point re what would Mr Hemsley do, in the event of the "changes" (whatever they are) not being accepted and implemented, is a pertinent one indeed! Could the "changes" include having an independent professional management of the BSPA, where vested interests could not prevail? I think this sounds like a time-bomb ticking away.

Well the only solution to that, would seem to be for the BSPA to try and re-negotiate the current legally-binding agreement they entered into in 2009. David Cameron got any free time?

.....including by the number of exclusions incurred by their riders!

As far as i know, the agreement with GSI made back in 2009 which included the terms and conditions which are now causing the Coventry management so much angst, doesn't have a formal review date so presumably its just run since then without being amended. So anyone who has become a promoter since 2009, becomes automatically bound up to those terms and conditions. I'm not a Coventry expert, so don't know when Mick Horton became the promoter......would he have been around in 2009?

Have the promoters, by signing away such power to GSI in the first place, allowed themselves to be put over a barrel? Seriously, would a promoter decide to cancel a meeting over 48 hours beforehand unless its completely open and shut case? Either the promoters decided (and have been proved correct) that it was financially worth it, to sign away so much power to a third party back in 2009, or they were wrong/eejits/conned.....(delete as appropriate).

I'd keep quiet about that, if i were you. If the H&S Executive find out, they'll be requiring all tracks to be flooded before matches can take place.

But helpful for deciding which match/es to spend time and money going to watch?

They have that power because the promoters gave it to them in 2009! And its legally bound

From what i've been reading, it seems as though Sky/GSI (and not the promoter) are have sole right to postpone a meeting, up until when it starts, then the responsibility transfers to the SCB official (who some would argue, is a puppet of GSI). Sky is not the bogeyman, but it just seems that the balance of the relationship between BSPA/GSI/Sky such as it has been struck in formal terms, is out of kilter, with too much tilt towards GSI and Sky when it comes to decisions on postponement prior to the scheduled start time. Does this balance need to be corrected, via some sensible discussions between the parties? -yes it appears to be so. What was witnessed last night was hugely detrimental to the reputation of speedway and probably Sky Sport too, at a time when that damage can't be afforded. The parties need to work out a better, and workable balance of power as an urgent priority.

GoSpeed sort the deal with Sky don't they. I don't think promoters are involved but could be wrong So GoSpeed are basically middlemen, are they? Acting on behalf of the promoters? And the promoters give them a completely free hand? Even more incredible!

So, what are the exact terms of the agreement between Sky Sport and the Elite League? It sounds like it gives Sky complete control over whether or not a match goes ahead or is called off (before the start time anyway), and over how the track is prepared. How incredible! Did the promoters really agree to such terms? If they did, well they have no cause to protest when this sort of thing happens. I don't know how long the current agreement has left to run, but it looks like the promoters should grow a set of balls in any future negotiations and not give so much control to Sky Sports. Its all very well for Mick Horton to bemoan his ill fortune, but surely he should know full well what could happen under the terms of the agreement, something which he surely would have been a party to?

Flagrag- majority of the positives so far seem to be coming from further afield than Leicester! By the way, I will lay claim to be the first on here to come up with Walasek's name after your rather strong clues, so I think you ought to be careful about throwing bricks in Lionking's direction. Lionking has claimed that he's got some involvement in the running or financing of the club. Is he the Ying to Mr Hemsley's Yang? They seem to contrast with each other so perfectly, they obviously make a great team!! Anyways, that's my visitations to this neck of the woods over with for a while now. It's been "fun" (sometimes) - back to tilling the soils of the Hebrides for me.

Every rider is affected by visa issues when it comes to building teams!!!

Because the visa situation is a connected issue, but not directly applying to the rider himself(think jigsaws) ?

Neat style?? - well i dont think he's a fence scraper, is he? Good at small tracks?? - is with Rospiggarna in Sweden.....which i think is a small track (dont know about his Polish club though) Average?? - 6.24 I gather from previous time in UK

I'd hazard a guess that a lot can be read into it, yes.

I think T.N.T. is talking about "The Dark Side" .......must have strayed across by mistake!

Mr G.Walasek?

I thought Klindt put in some good shifts for Leicester last year.....it was in PL where he struggled. Never mind. If Leicester do sign Shamek, (now the Ward dust has settled down on the south coast), and have to jettison Wozniak as a result, could it be that Captain Nemo will ride back into town??

So who is the FIM accountable to? Is there a higher authority? I cant think of any other governing body above it......so presume it would be the relevant Justice system? International Sport arbitration court or something similar?