Double Up

Clearly there has been some horse trading, mutual back scratching, whatever you want to call it. Lay off Morris and we'll let you have Bates etc etc. Let's hope that this is where the horse trading started and finished.

I can see all the logic in the lad wanting to ride for his local club. The irons in the fire that are mentioned can only be the riders that all the other clubs saw as not being ready for a place. A position of some strength in having the first pick in R2 of the draft has now been lost, through no fault of the clubs.

The likelihood of a 3 hour drive was there when he agree to be part of the draft and they wouldn't have taken that decision lightly. Whether it's the right move for the kid or not doesn't hide the fact that the Robins have next to no options now. That's a hard enough pill to swallow but more so when you consider they had the pick of everyone available in R2. Now they have to make do with those riders that were overlooked.

Greyhound, having read the NL tread on Facebook it appears that there wasn't the interest from the IOW shareholders to even attend last nights meeting. Only a quarter of the 200 could be bothered. That speak volumes. Kevin Sheoherd has voiced his suspicions that there is a seperate agenda from the Board members that has yet to become apparent. What is clear though is that the club hasn't not closed because of the cost oft an airfence. That money would have been found if fit were the be all and end all. The greater issue is the attendance figures and no club can sustain speedway on gates of 150 or so. Ironically the Island team dropped into to NL because it couldn't makes ends meet in the PL on gates of 500 odd. That shows that the support was there then, if not now. That they have been unable to keep those fans in a lower league might suggest the supporters don't appreciate racing at a lower level. One thing is for sure though, Chris Hunt and Kevin Shepherd couldn't have done anymore than they did to keep the club alive. Ultimately the lack of support is what's closed the doors. Every club is a victim of local supporter apathy to some extent and it remains to be seen whether there is any clamour locally for the return of the club. There seems to be more support for the Island from the wider speedway community than there is in their own backyard!!

So first pick in the second round of the draft now counts for nothing and the integrity of the draft shot to pieces. Can't but think this is the result of some horse trading as you suggest Grachan but highlights the fact that first choice in R2 was probably more important than the R1 pick. There's not much available now unless Oliver Greenwood can be talked into it now he's got a PL place at Peteborough Having just read the Adver piece there is an almighty amount of spin being put on this. Josh Bates was supposedly in Rosco's first choice pairing along with Steve Worrall. All of the reasons for letting him go now were apparent then, so what's going on? I said at the time that no proper consideration was given to the choices and this would appear to be the case.

Clubs that use riders not in a 1-7 for individual meetings currently have to pay an appearance fee of £500 Assuming the likes of Nicki Pedersen, Greg Hancock and Chris Holder will be asked to supplement the field will the BSPA then compensate Wolves, Coventry and Poole accordingly. This meeting, another individual meeting, being staged early in the season will take money out of the Ben Fund meeting and every other club putting on a curtain raiser individual meeting to kick off their season. What's more we shouldn't IMO be extending invitations to riders not riding in the league here. Just giving them the opportunity to line their pockets. They don't want to ride here, why should they benefit when that cash could be going to riders who are in teams here?

It has been for the last few years. Any other date than as a season opener will be a waste.

This is great news for the National League and fair play to Matt Ford for identifying (not before time) the need to invest in British youth. This doesn't mean that he has an exclusive on riders brought on by Scunthorpe, as they can still only protect one asset per season, in the draft. It just means he has first option. Ford is tapping into the talent identified by the training schools at Scunny - nothing more.

You can only balance the books after the event and the event won't be cheap if you want profile riders in it. If it's not supported well, and better than an average league crowd, it will lose money and where is the point in that?

I don't believe it's disrespectful and certainly I didn't intend it to be. I'm looking purely at the economic perspective. The club are capable of paying their respects and recognising 'passed' former riders without having to incur a large financial risk. That they have staged this meeting every year since Bob's passing is a credit to the club. It's a fact that the meeting costs money to run and no club should be put in a position where they feel obliged, especially in the current climate. If enough supporters came to watch it then fair enough, but the fact is they don't. You need a quality field to attract any sort of crowd but there isn't sufficient appetite amongst the supporters for an individual meeting and hasn't been for years. That's not a Swindon problem, it's the same across the whole of the sport. Supporters want meaningful meetings, they pick and choose, that's why the KOC was ditched. Clearly the fixture list would have been adjusted had the Elite Shield been held and the club recognise the attraction Poole present otherwise they wouldn't have scheduled them for Good Friday and the Thursday before Cardiff, as usual. Most clubs have arranged pre-season challenge matches, even Poole, who recognise the need for a team fixture rather than risk jumping straight into league action cold. I would have done what Poole did last year and used the Elite Shield as the warm up fixture but with the added spice of it being, firstly against Poole and secondly, for some silverware. Any team fixture would cost substantially less to run than an individual meeting with a prize fund in the region of £15k. A conscious decision must have been taken by both the interested clubs not to run the ES this year which is wrong IMO.

Steady?

So no Elite Shield because of more fixtures but still pre-season challenges but not at Swindon who instead choose to again run an individual meeting that loses money. Poole opened last year with the Elite Shield, why not this time round? Meaningful meetings will always attract better crowds than speedway for the sake of it IMO.

Where is the defence of the Elite Shield against Poole in the new fixture list out today?

Fixture doesn't appear in Swindon's fixtures which surprised me as the holders defend it. Doesnt't appear on Poole list either? Has it been ditched? Would be a pointless exercise to me as every club needs a warm up meeting and what better than with some silverware at stake?

I don't think there's any need for that. I can't see it being anyone but Paul. It'll bring the best out of him too as he's determined to lead from the front this year.

Tia? Womens speedway?

Look in the history books. They will show who was crowned World Champion in 2013. For sure Darcy et al won't be thinking they were the best. For them second place is first loser. The want gold medals only.

Only one position still to be confirmed. Thoughts on who should be Captain? Big boots to fill after last year but for me there's only one person to do the job.

Don't forget that if the team had been that which was originally planned Steve Worrall would have been at #1 and Nathan definitely have been back at reserve. Having had to revise plans after the Kurtz issue we've got back Starkey and clearly the promotion have decided that it was more important to have Nathan back, even in the top 5, than get him to reserve, which might happen after 4 meetings in any event.

Well said greyhound. Lots to like about this team. Strength at top and bottom and home and away. As others have said nothing is won in January but this team will definitely be there or thereabouts. For me it's the team to beat.

Nathan Greaves back to Cradley. Only one to go now.

You know it makes sense Rob I thought Nathan lived in Yorkshire?

Phil Morris is without a gig in the EL and now that Coventry have confirmed Havvy Leicester are the only team with a space. He would want to be involved at club level, I'd think, if he has serious pretentions on the Team GB position. Thoughts?

And Simon doesn't have a very lucrative other job?

Mildenhall have the strongest top 3 in the league. according to Kevin Jolly :-)