The Dog

Seeing as there's not enough number 1s to go around, I'm not sure how your going to find and book a rider half an hour before tapes up

Tbh, I don't think I understand anything to do with speedway anymore...

And they knew about Morris less than half an hour before the start? Smacks of getting the fans and the money in for a big draw like Glasgow and Harris and then saying your number 1 isn't riding.

Only in speedway would you get a situation like this....

For years now, speedway has been paying riders daft money and relying on TV money or sponsorship. Get it all back to basics with riders having 1 bike and a track spare, cut out the flash helmets and vans etc and make it sustainable and enjoyable. Yes it's going backwards to the 70s but you might just save it as a sport and it might reinvent itself with some modern thinking promotion. Get it down to 10 kwid or less to get in and let the money grabbers clear off to Poland. Rant over.

You have to give Nigel Tolley a lot of credit, I think he's realised that no matter what team he puts out or which manager he puts in charge, people in the local area just won't come out and support speedway sufficiently enough to make ends meet. But Tolley continues to persevere and do his very best against the odds. You have to take your hat off to him.

Remember at Coventry suggesting to Mick Horton that he should give a load of free tickets to local businesses, clubs, etc in the hope that they would enjoy it and want to come back. He argued it would cost too much and he'd lose money on those people. But there not coming in the first place so your losing nothing bar the printing of the tickets! Wouldn't have it, couldn't see the potential opportunity...

Sadly, when Sky were throwing millions at it and bringing it to our living rooms, the BSPA weren't interested in investing in the sport so their not going to help now it's on life support...

A lot of good ideas here being thrown around, regarding averages, I'd like to see it go back to a 50ish point average purely so that if you can afford the likes of Emil, Doyley, Laguta etc, you don't have to fill the rest of the team with 4-5 pointers. It just gives you the option to build a decent team as most get strangled when a rider improves and then gets dumped because the numbers don't add up.

As good a rider he is, I've always had the impression a lot of it is attention seeking on a personal front rather than for the good of the sport. Now he's not the top English rider in Poland, thanks to Bewley and Lambert, he wants to return to be a big fish in a little pond

The front cover is to try and attract the attention of the younger generation, something we desperately need to keep the sport going. Jeff Davies who does the covers is one of the best photographers around and loves the natural image but has done a great job with moving with the times in this instance I think.

So how bad did it rain at Birmingham tonight to get the U21 meeting cancelled?

Half the reason the youngsters don't progress is because they can't ride when there's a bit of drizzle...

Didn't they do the same with Ben Barker? Gave him a 6 month ban through the winter months so he was good to go come mid March?

Absolutely no idea

If its Curtis Sports that do the programme, you'll find they have up to the same day to print it so it's as up to date as possible. They do the same at Birmingham.

Speedway needs to stay in countries that have an interest in the sport like Poland, Sweden, GB etc. Why would you go to Amsterdam or Budapest if they have very little interest? Be like taking beach volleyball to the North Pole.

Yes. Can only imagine the uproar had Rogers brought in an Aussie that hasn't turned a wheel all year with more than a questionable attitude, and a development rider to push for the play offs.... But, fair play to Tolley for putting his money where his mouth is. Hope it pays off.

Biggest problem you have is finding 7 riders of world champion ability to be able to race it well. In this league it needs to be a bit more rider friendly in my opinion.

You wouldn't think you'd need a huge budget when your only competing against 6 other teams of a pi55poor level tbh

A telling 2nd paragraph which I'm sure JT would probably allude to

Having worked reasonably closely with Laurence for nearly a decade, the work he does for a club behind the scenes is nothing short of staggering. Yes, he'll get things wrong occasionally but I don't see anyone banging the door down to step into his shoes and do it better. Like Vatcher, one of the most loyal and undervalued men in speedway. Fair play to Tolley for trying to keep the fans happy but it feels like the tail is wagging the dog....

I can't imagine it's easy trying to run a business with 'predicted' costs. Your basically guessing from one week to another and this must be why it's so hard to be sustainable. Maybe riders demands outweigh income? But if you have no riders you have no income and no sport. Maybe it needs wage-capping and going back to amateur status to be sustainable and build from the ground up. Obviously some clubs don't seem to be suffering like Birmingham or Newcastle last season but you need more coming in than going out to survive. I know it's basic economics but I wonder how many clubs follow it?

I think the future of Birmingham depends on how deep Nigel Tolleys pockets are and how long his enthusiasm lasts, more than attendance numbers. I honestly thought Morris was a decent signing and should finish in the top 3 of the averages in this league, but it's just happening for whatever reason

Out of interest, what would be a clear-cut number 1 if it isn't someone who could easily rack up double figures a meeting in this league? Not sure you would get much better tbh