weatherwatcher

I am sure that there must be someone left at the club who would be allowed to put a few simple words on the website. If as said that is now at the moment in the handsof the B.P.S.A, Then why can't they make a simple statement saying that all is going smoothly with talks taking place, as we speak, or words to that affect.

I did not mention anywhere in my post about wanting to know who the new promoter/ owner or what ever of the club would be all I said if you read it correctly is that it would be nice to just see a few simple words on the Lions website letting the fans know that everything is progessing with the club for the coming season. Don't need to know any names, just a few words to let the fans know that the club will be in safe hands.

Yes it would help a little, don't need mames, it just needs something along the lines that the just lets people know, that things are acually happening. People will always look on the dark side. Just a few words on the Lions website, would help an awful lot to put the fans minds at rest.

Very true, what is the huge problem letting the fans know who and what is going on at BP. Why all the big hush hush secretiveness, just the same as it has always been. It would be far better for who ever it is that is taking over to let the fans know that they are actually pulling alongside them not against them as the case has been in the past.

I can see a big drop off top riders next season and can see both the top flight clubs and the league below running with much the same sort of riders, they have planned this A.G.M to cut costs again and the only way that they can really do this, is to use riders that where running in the PL this season. Don't think we will be seeing many big, big names over here next year may be wrong. Something has to be done though as clubs just can;t keep going on as they have been doing, in that they have not been paying riders wages, how many folk out there would turn up for work if they where not getting paid, not many, but speedway riders must be a breed apart, if they turn up for weeks on end with no money coming thier way. Any promoter who fails to pay his riders, should be removed from the club and the B.P.S.A put someone in thier place to get the mess that the club has gotten in to put right a quick as they can. we will never know what happened at BP as I am sure no statement will be made on how the club got into the big mess it did this year after DH tol;d everyone at the end of the previous season that the club was financially sound. So what happened after the following season. In fact they where struggling half way through the year and still nothing was done about it.

When do we expect to get the promised statement from Dave Darcy actually informing us of what is actally going on at the club, I know the A.G.M as only just finished, can we expect something by the end of the week. There has been no mention in the A.G.M on fixed race nights, so will the Lions go mid week or stay on a Saturday. Could now meen that a lot of the big names of the sport may be giving the UK a miss. Hope we don;t get back to the days where a load of riders from overseas start coming over again just to geta pay day and not bothering if they try to win or not, could be a graet chance for some home grown talent to come to the for. We will have to wait and see what happens with the Lions and the other teams in the league, with the other clubs coming to join, there is going to be a lot of early appointments to the teams so you don't end up with the rubbish that is left. If there is a new promoter I hope you has started doing his team building already.

What ever the outcome of Lions speedway at BP we have to wait and see what happens. If some new blood does take over, I just hope that they have the sense to realise that they must compete on a level playing ground, with the right riders in the team places, to bring the fans back that walked away. As no one wants to bother paying to watch a second rate team lose week in week out. Who ever it is that is taking over the club, must surely know that these are the issues the have to face, because if not, then the Lions will be history next season.

I hate to say that if they stay in the EL and go mid week then I will not be able to attend, I have to go with my grandson who acts as my career, need help when I go to the toilet etc, it can be prety hard work when you are in a wheelchair. Being 30 odd miles away if we stay to watch all the races, then it is gone 11p.m by the time we get home. With him having to get up for school the next day, then the only time we could come was when it was school hjolidays. Glad to hear though that the club will hopefully be put in good hands. You never know they may just be able to run a pl side on a Saturday as well. It would make a lot of sense to get the most out of the stadium, only problem being how many would you get to go and watch both leagues or would they just pick the one, as long as they managed an equeal amount of people turning up to watch they should be able to make it pay, that is unless the overheads where to much to cover the cost of people coming through the gate.

Any PL team coming up to the EL must take it seriously and have the capital behind them to compete in the league. I for one hope that any club coming up don't go the same route that David Hemsley had at Leicester, that is trying to run an EL team with one good No1 and a 6 other riders that would be hard pushed in the PL. He went down the same path for the 3 years that he ran things with teams on a shoe string budget, lost a lot of fans along the way, and placed the club in a right old financial mess. Hope they have all learnt from this leason on how not to run a speedway club. If as they say that the Lions are still going to be running in the EL in 2017, with the posibility of 3 more clubs coming to join the league from the PL, then where do all the extra half decent riders come from to make up the numbers. That is unless they have some big changes in the whole league structure for next season. Hopefully we should know about what thay have been planning at the local pub, anyone find any fag packets with what they intend doing left lying around on a table.

Any improvement on the current lubrication system as got to be a step in the right direction, the current system is just asking for trouble with blown engines, it is a bit of a hit and miss thing, that is you either get a bit of oil going around the engine or in many cases non at all, my old 1960 A.J.S had a better lubrication system than the modern speedway engine has. They seem to have developed a new super powerfull engine but have failed to get most of it's most needed items missing, the main one is an oil pump.

I don't think it will be to long before Robert will be getting his place in amonst the GP's. He has come along well these past few years, just hope like a few other riders in the past he dosen't fall oot of form and sudenly disapear from speedway, but I doubt it very much a young lad who will be going a long way in the sport.

R.I.P There will be many sports that will miss the voice of Dave Lanning was it so long ago in the 70's that he presented speedway to us all. Great man great loss. To the world of entertainment.

The huge Sky pot is nowhere as large as it was last year, the promoter only have themselves to blame with that one. Speedway is dieing and unless they come up with some great big soution, speedway will soon be a thing of the past bar a few true amatures who get together, doing as riders di years ago and fiddling with a bike in the shed and stapping it on the back of his car. That I think has been the biggest issue with the sport along came Sky and the GP's started and the riders just got to big for thier boots, making themselves out to be some sort of demi-god. Then it came to pass that they started to ask for to much money and they clubs where finding things hard, rather tahan exept the fact, they the clubs could not pay what they where asking, the top riders turned thier back on British Speedway and went to Polan and Sweden who seem to pay them the silly money they are asking for. I am sure though that soon the day will come when even they can no longer pay them the stuppid money they ask for. If they where just happy riding a sandard bike that could be sourced cheaper and do away with having bikes tuned up to something that could take off from Cape Kennedy and go into space, then they may find that, they could actually start to enjoy the sport, instead of only bothering that they come first over the line at every meeting they go to. We may actually see a return of some decent team riding. Will it happen doubt it very much.

From what we have heard from Dave Darcy on Radio Leicester. The Lions are going to be running in the EL. I think what you say on the Sky money issue is true. The big cash incentive that they used to give to Speedway stopped when they took up the new 5 year contract. Now instead of the Million or so they now pay the club that is being telivised, not sure if it is both clubs or just the home club. They now get a pittance to what they used to pay. Instead of the Millions it is now only thousands. I am sure they could have got a better deal from one of the other broadcasters. Not sure though if any of them really want to bother with speedway any more. Euro Sport dropped the GP's because of falling viewers, did they even bother with the Swedish league this year not sure. BT Sport pulled a fast one they showed the 1st GP on thier free channel and then started showing it on BT Sport 2, so you had to pay BT £10 subscription to be able to watch it. Think they would be far better showing meetings on free to view can't get that mmany watching it now anyway. Or as been stated before just half a twice a week one hour round up, But the cost would be greater as they would have to send camera crews to record all the meetings unlessthe clubs record it themselves and pass it on to the broadcasters, but not someone with a mobile phone showing a very dark picture and then someone nudges him and you see a good view of the sky.

Then the problem lies in the BPSA/SCB's door. They have to get more track staff ref's etc to cover all the clubs if it comes down to two race nights a week. They may even sit there looking at each other, that they may have to actually start to pay people to do this work and hoping the problem, will resolve itself and they don't have to dig into the coffers. How many weeks is it until the AGM, the sooner the better, to put all the Lions fans, believing that they have a good chance of the Lions coming to the tapes next year, with a new owner and prometer, who really knows how to run things and really care about the club and the fans. Lets face it that with folks coming through the gates then they all have a hard time making ends meet. I know the number of fans dropped off alarmingly this season, but there was still enough there to pay for the riders, what ever happened I do not know and doubt that we will ever get any answers to thet one.

Don't blame the club blame the management. Now that this meeting is over and done with not being run that is, what happens to the EL play off, as I see it Swindon have every right now to complain as they are now above KL in the table on aggregate. Will the result still stand or have swindon got the rights to have the whole thing run again at the start of next season.

There must be some big busnesses in Leicester that they can get in to be a sponser. It is not as though it is a small city and there must be quite a lot of people they could get interested if not one main sponser then three or four decent ones. Real shame when they lost Rapid but nothing was really done to replace them. Just hope that in one form or another the Lions come to the tapes in 2017. I would even come if they ran in the MDL. After all speedway is speedway to me. The most important thing though, is that there is a new owner and a new promoter who will make the Lions something far better than they have been these last three years, it was good having Doyle at No1 but for the couple of years he was there there was no one to back him up. All we can do is wait and see what happens. Fingers and toes crossed.

As you say it is just rumours, seems to have been a lot of them though. Has been mentioned on here that there was an article in S Star, don't have so can't be sure on that one. On another matter how many on here will actually turn up on Saturday night, It would be good to give these lads a good send off. It seems like forever since thay raced last.

It has got to be very hard to put names to where averything has gone so terribly wrong. There is someone, or some people who knew how bad things where getting and they just lumbered on. If I was one of them I could not stand looking at myself in the mirror, knowing that I owed money to my riders, who still kept turning up. So yes someone has to take the blame, be it a simple speedway club or one of the worlds leading banks, there is always someone who has to stand up and be counted at the end of the day. I have not got a clue what went on behind closed doors at BP. But there are some there who do. Just hope they can let people know what is going on next year on Saturday night. Surely they just can't finish the meeting with no little speach being made what has happened and what the future holds next year for the club.

Nothing to do with riders wages, this should be the first thing they should pay though before anything else. There is still no mention on who is riding anyway, the Lions could be a team of 7 NL for all we know. The only thing that needs is for those who should stand up and be counted to do so. They should all stand there with heads bowed DH included to tell the fans what has gone wrong, we all know that anyway. Most of all they should stand there telling all the Lions fans what if anything is happening to the club for the coming 2017 season. Can I see them doing it NO. 3A lot of hard work has been put into not only getting the stadium up and running getting the sport back into the City. By a lot of people, this has now been put in jepordy by one very selfish man who would not sit and listen, but carried on in his own merry little way. A Robin Hood in reverse who robbed the poor to pay the rich and try to fulfil his dream, far to soon of getting the Lions into the EL. The fans turnrd up to PL meeting so why change it before the club was ready, give it a few more years, get some money into the club, because after joining the EL in 3 years he managed to bleed the club dry.

Lets hope that the weather doe's not spoil the meeting on Saturday, it as been called so so many times now, it would put Magic Roundabout to shame. I agree that as many fans as possible turn out for this meeting. There will be hell to play when it comes to the end of the meeting if nothing is mentioned about what is going to happen next season. I am sure that they know what is going on, can't for the life of me see why nothing has been mentioned before now. Is it a case of just how DH as always disregarded the fans, or is it that there is a new owner and prometer waiting in the wings. Surely they will make a statement on Saturday. Just hope to see at leasta 2000 plus turn out, doubt it but at least it would make with some pretty load boo's if there is nothing said. Don't want to see speedway gone from the city again.

Just hope that they manage to pull on thier heart strings, that is if they have any and let the fans know what is going to happen to the club next year. I hope to be able to get to see this final meeting. If a new promoter does come and take over, I hope for the state of speedway at BP that DH has no involvement in any way shape or form wit any dealings with the club. He could still make things very hard for a new promoter if he is the major share holder of the land and the stadium. I would not even want him even entering the stadium, he has done enough damage as it is. The best he can do is sell the whole thing and go over to Russia to give all his vast knowladge to Putin, that way the Russian nation would end up being a third world country in a couple of years. I would hate to think of the man being my landlord. Just think the state of his houses if he went into renting out property. They would all end up with no water gas or electric in a shaort time with open sewers running down the centre of his houses. How does he ever manage to run a business. To think of the way he used to strut his stuff on a Saturday night, I just used to say I am king of my castle. This is all mine look at the great job I have done, with the track and just look how I got the club from PL to EL in 4 short years. I never had to listen to anyone because I was and always will be right. Lets hope that 2017 brings a far better year to the Lions, if they still go under that name, not sure how things would stand with that one.

The new NSS is suited to the new breedof speedway bikes. It is bag and fast and they can ride them like no other track that there is in the British Isles, the other tracks are still throw backs from the old upright bikes. If they went back to those you would be seeing different racing on the other tracks, but they would be no use around the NSS. It is the first track specificly build for the new breed of speedway bike.

The way things are going with this meeting being cancelled that many times now that I have lost count. They may just make it a special one off meeting on Boxing day as it is always ment to be a day for families to get out.

When they started work on the track they had Sam Emelenko lay the track out and give them advise, just a shame that he had to go on holiday back to the U.S.A for a month, for by the time he got back DH had ripped out all the stakes and relaid it just as he wanted it in the first place. Sam walked away and can't blame him. There where plenty of riders or ex riders and promoters that could have been ask for advise, but when you know every thing there is to know about any subject, then why listen to the stupid people who know far less than he did. Don't know what the folks that put all the ffort in of getting things up and running in the city are thinking now, what I would think that they have some very unpleasant words to say. They dreamed a dream and it came true, now one man has ruined it all just through shear bloody mindness. Lets hope that things happen in the closed season and that we hear some good news about what is going to happen for 2017. I for one would even go to watch the National League teams racing there, than to lose it all yet again, for if it doe's fold, then I think we will be saying goodbye to speedway in Leicester evr again. Hope it doesn't happen and thing all come to a satisfactory fairy tale ending. For at this moment in time it reads more like a horror story.