Hamster00

Barker was signed to be a big hitting number one and I don't think anyone can deny he hasn't hit the big scores we expected him to. He has been outperformed by TJ, Doolan and Claus all season and credit to them for riding as well as they have been. I do think a lot of Bens problems are machinery related as every time I watch him he seems to be giving it his all. Nobody is being particularly negative we have the makings of a good side here now that we have Richard Hall. Ben just needs to try and sort out his mechanical gremlins and try to get back to where he was two or three seasons ago as we are going to need him when the likes of Masters, Cook, King and Grajczonek come to town.

The best meeting I've been to this year we did well to keep it close throughout and it could have went either way. Both the races between Howarth and Barker were superb but Barkers equipment did look slow compared to the other heat leaders. Barker has been poor imo but I am glad Jorgensen has proven myself and a few others wrong with another solid showing today.

Masters took Bjerre down after the race and then threw numerous punches at him that's worse in my book.

The third bend looked pretty clear to me. Richard Hall got banned for less there needs to be consistentcy. But no doubt because it's Edinburgh it will get swept under the carpet.

Bang out of order from Masters he should be banned and it's a complete piss take that he hasn't been thrown out of the meeting and it's not even Jim McGregor refereeing.

Sounds like a good meeting last night and a solid win albeit against one of the weaker teams in the league. Richard Hall seems to have settled in nicely. I also still have a question mark next to Hyneks name although I didn't see him ride last night every time I have seen him so far he has looked uncomfortable and slow on the bike but time will tell.

I think George English is one of the best team mangers in the league. He's certainly better than our shambolic set up where we have a new team manager every meeting.

It was reasonably entertaining due to the scoreline being so tight throughout. Hawkins was superb he always scores well round Shielfield and was a trump card for the Witches tonight. Barker looked better but Richard Lawson would have had the better of him twice if it wasn't for bike trouble slowing him up on the last bend of Heat 13 allowing Barker to cut back up the inside of him so I still don't think he or his machinery are quite 100% yet. As I said before the meeting there was always only going to be one team progressing from this cup tie.

It may not be anywhere near your strongest line up but you still have enough fire power to run us close if not beat us on Saturday.

No King, Covatti or Manzares depletes the line up severely. I was looking forward to seeing Barker and King square off and Covatti and Manzares are both talented and I would have enjoyed seeing. Still could go either way on Saturday night although I can only see one qualifier after the two legs are completed. I think we would need to take at least 20 points to Foxhall if we were to stand a chance.

Don't even get me started on them.

Why then if there are so many people returning and becoming new regulars was the crowd on Saturday the smallest I think I've seen it since the Andersons took over?

The Track - It is safer than it was a few years ago yes and I agree that that is the most important thing but is the track good for racing not really mainly down to shape I think but I'm not a track curator so that's just my guess. Ben Barker - A good signing and probably could get a few faces along that aren't massive speedway fans as most people with a passing knowledge of speedway know who he is and it is nice to have a big name number one. Vissing and Doolan - Two key riders this season and I was pleased to have them back. Pricing - Very much on a par with most of the Premier League but I personally think speedway in general is over priced. Kids Entry - I don't have kids so I'm not exactly sure of the deal and it would be interesting to see how many families it enticed along. Stadium - Has been improved I do believe a lot of this has more to do with Berwick Rangers to make sure they keep up with SPFL standards as a speedway venue it is streets ahead of a lot of other stadiums. Newsletter - I don't subscribe to so I can't comment I wait until Crescent Girl spreads the news from the centre green on here. Programme - I personally think it is one of the poorest in the league and always seems to contain mistakes its streets behind the one you get at Newcastle so I only really buy it to keep the scores it is cheap enough at £2 though. Posters - I haven't personally seen them just the banners in the town centre I know Berwick Rangers do them and put them in local shops I did not know we did. Additional Meetings - It has been fantastic to see these meetings on our doorstep and a lot of that has to do with how good our stadium is compared to other speedway stadiums, they are always well attended and provide a nice break from the usual league meetings. Sky - As above well attended and enjoyable to see the show come to Berwick. Apart from Ben Barker, Claus Vissing and Kevin Doolan though what out of the above will attract people along every week? It's not me that they need to win around though it's your speedway fans of old who have stopped coming and your new faces that you need to get along. I will come to as many meetings as I can but how do you get Joe Bloggs, his wife and two kids to decide to have a night out at the speedway. They probably aren't interested in Newsletters or Programmes, what they are interested in is if they spend £30 are they getting a good night out, good value for money, good entertainment we need something to create a buzz like a sky meeting does. It's like a conveyor belt if 100 fans fall off each year and don't come back for one reason or another you need at least another 100 fans to start coming and Speedway in general needs to start coming up with ideas to get the fans along.

I would agree we did very well last season and exceeded most peoples expectations. Currently though we have a struggling team and dwindling crowds which is what the promotion need to address. The addition of Richard Hall should sure up the team and add some depth but they need to address the crowd issue. You say we need to all turn up to help this and I agree but you can't as a promotion expect people to turn up and spend there hard earned money if they feel that it is not worth the money The promotion can't wait till everybody comes and then start making changes that's just not how it works. You need to make changes and improve things to entice people back through the door its a pretty simple business strategy. If you owned a shop and people stopped coming in to buy things from you, you wouldn't just sit around and wait for them to come back because they wouldn't, you would find out why they weren't coming, address the issue and try to entice them back which is what the promotion needs to do.

If you look in the Berwick 2015 thread everyone on there is agreeing it was a good move replacing Luke with Richard and I agree something had to be done and Richard is an experienced rider who will add a bit more depth. Personally the reason I have a moan about certain things isn't because I want the club to fold it's because I want the club I support to be the best it possibly can be. I'm not saying I know all the answers or I could fix it all I just want to try and improve things where I feel we could do better and come up with some suggestions. Surely you can see that so far this season has been nothing short of a disaster for the club. A string of home defeats, some unfortunate injuries, an inconsistent track and dwindling crowd numbers have all resulted in us all fearing the worst for our club. I am one of the biggest critics out there but it's through nothing more than wanting the club I support to be the best it can be and be able to compete with the likes of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Somerset and Ipswich. The few people that I do know that criticise are very similar and only have the best interests of the club at heart. Nobody wants the club to close but I think everyone's different views on the matter have made people perceive what I would view as constructive criticism as a scathing attack on the club and promotion.

You've taken the words right out of Scotts mouth

Neither did I but I left as soon as Alex crashed as I guessed that would be the end of the meeting.

I'm astonished more than anything. You normally seem to be in denial about how poor the meetings have been so far this season.

You get people moaning in all walks of life though every single place you go you will find that and I find it astonishing that people would not turn up because of that I've never heard anything like it. I know plenty of people who have stopped coming recently but for the more obvious reasons as stated above entertainment, poor results and so on.

What do you mean step up to the mark?

Slaver

You been on this?

All racing is real racing I'd rather win the league cup than nothing.

That's why they charge £17 to get in.

Totally agree after two home defeats on the bounce I am totally deflated and the thought of watching two poor teams hardly excites me We should win by ten but it's nothing to be excited about Scunthorpe are weak this season.