Teromaafan

Looking good for the play offs 😉

So who do you know for certain is committed to the UK?

We wish! But in the absence of other big hitters in the league(Doyle, Emil, Kurtz? Holder?), he could comfortably be averaging 9.5 next season.

Birmingham have struggled for a couple of years with crowd levels and limped from season to season, unable to attract quality riders and then lost their track. Not quite the same as the Ipswich situation is it?

Passion is controllable, that is just brattish behaviour.

Thanks for that ArnieG, but what a farce!

His official GSA going forward to next year is 8.12, which is not the same as his over all 2025 average (based on 24 meetings). Whilst the official figure is I assume a rolling average, it is not over 20 meetings, as this throws up a different figure again (looking at Lions stats on their web page). Must therefore be based on a rolling average over probably 15 or 10 meetings. Bloody (and unnecessarily) confusing this! Anyone care to clarify this matter?

That was my initial thought, but teams will not be able to accommodate two riders that will dominate heats 13 & 15 with next seasons reduced points limit, so Dougy at No.1 may not be so bad. Dickson is right to build without Fricke (as good as he’s been), because it would leave the Lions with an even weaker tail than what we’ve had for the last two seasons. Getting Gilkes in as the RS would be a great move in my opinion.

If we could get Dan Gilkes as the RS, I’d take that team.

…….Or Pathe News!

Thanks for that IainB, most informative, you’ve clearly got too much spare time on your hands😄. So sad that the sport is down at 16th but we shouldn’t be too surprised. That said, the BSPL are probably celebrating and looking down their noses at those passionate about dominoes, cribbage, table skittles, angling and sheep dog trials!

When David Hemsley resurrected the Lions in 2011, I recall him telling me at the time it was the third largest spectator attendance sport after football and (this surprised me) rugby league. I did have my suspicions about his research source! I would have thought that one day/20-20 cricket would attract far more people.

Agreed. If all but one of the GP stars were to quit the UK next season, I would expect Doyle to be the one to stand by the UK (as he has done with the exception of the Covid season). So if he's off, I would expect the others to follow suit. Not that this would bother me as I believe no competitor should be bigger than their sport. Unfortunately in UK speedway that isn't the case.

So he called an emergency AGM because of what he saw coming and whatever was agreed then fell apart. The situation with Ipswich was mentioned but were there other factors? He was very diplomatic when saying that promoters collectively (included himself) have hopefully learnt a lesson, but I sensed an underlying frustration when I listened to his interview. I bet he was venting some 'F' bombs on the drive back from Barnsley!

This is unfortunately what happens if hedgehogs are over fed!

At last, something positive to read on this forum. Fair play to the Lions promotion for at least acknowledging the frustration amongst supporters even if the update regarding league structure isn’t telling us something we didn’t already know.

Mike Ashley?

As much as us paying public love speedway, if the sport disappeared off the face of the earth, we might miss it but it would not have a significant impact on our lives. Whereas riders and those (supposedly) running the sport would be the ones hit hardest.

Vocalist with 70’s glam rock band The Sweet…..Oh hang on…he’s dead….must be a different Brian Connolly.

If there is no future for him in British Speedway he’s still got the GP gig (race coordinator?) He always looks busy. Can’t be easy running around the pits telling riders that they need to go to the track for the next race. Someone will no doubt tell me that his role is far more involved than that (assistance with track prep?) but from what I see, the average speedway enthusiast could do his ‘gofer’ job.

Oh come on! where would the sport be without the coloured start mats he introduced at the entrance to the pits!

There is a cheaper alternative……..it’s called cycle speedway😀

Most people I know only have a TNT subscription because of the Champions League (they have no interest is speedway, real world) so they could see a massive drop off in subscribers as it’s an expensive add on to a Sky/Virgin package.

So what do you suggest, giving Glasgow an ultimatum? If you were operating as a business (although questionable in British Speedway), you would not be interested in the suggestions of other parties interfering with your operating model for the wider scale benefit of others, particularly if it is not your livelihood. In the current (dire) state of the sport, the BSPL has to tread carefully, due to the chronic shortage of clubs and riders out there.