Theboss

After 8 years of promoting you could say i have a good eye for guestiamating the demographics of a crowd, all though i would admit it will not and can not be 100% accurate. I am pleased to hear another crowd this evening, i would have been dissapointed to hear anything else considering it was a top of the table clash and the return of Davey Watt and Adam Ellis 😉

Yes i did

Problem next year no one will want the Brits in their team as their averages will be unattractive. For example newman or auty could end up with a 7 point elite league average at the end of the season whilst schlein could end up with a 4.5 point average due to never riding at reserve and permanently being outscored as a heat leader racing against heat leaders in every other race. Serious issues ahead which ever way you look at it but with enough planning and for example an immediate emegency meeting by the BSPA to retract the rule which moves the reserves into the main body of the team, they may be able to limit the damagitation.

It does raise the question if anyone in the sport has any foresight? From personal experience I have serious doubts that any analysis or research is completed prior to these decisions being made.

I would actually go to the extent of labelling it 'a complete farce' !

And this exactly the issue, never should a rider of David's ability and experience be at the reserve position for an Elite League team.... There is no way he is a less able rider than Newman, in fact I would say this strengthens Poole yet again!

I believe anything is possible with pro active negotiations which may involve thinking outside of the box!

In all walks of life the odd few people will always cheat the system, this is something you unfortunately have to accept as a business owner. What you should never do is punish the genuine customer/paying supporter for the actions of these few. What the criteria of a student is and isn't can be debated as a seperate issue even though my personal feeling is that under no circumstances should there be age discrimination. The big picture is that the genuine majority ARE being punished for the actions of the minority and as a result not only these people lose but also the club as many will stop going due to affordability. I for one sincerely hopes Mick rethinks this decision. Ps I am pretty sure only idiots call other people idiots in an attempt to make themselves feel more intellectual which is clearly not the case by re-reading your post 😉

I Have No Idea What You Mean 😀

Do you think the fact that because the match against kings lynn took place on a bank holiday monday (which coincidently also had one of the first days of spring sunhine) had anything to do with the amount of people who chose to attend? I was actually there and what i saw was a lot of supporters from other tracks getting their first fix of speedway in 2016. Certainly very few if any newcomers attracted by the 'big names' you have just mentioned. The first sentence is a BIG give-away, it reminds me of something i would hear from elite league promoters at BSPA meetings a few years back.... So come on admit who is really behind the alias? Ps as i have previously alluded to, it is easier to pay the bills when you have a £100k head start. With a bigger league, every club in it would have approximately a £40k head start. My next project is to put together a budget to prove it is a workable model. Actually i am surprised not to have had a response from steve shovler yet.... Maybe he is consulting with a friend before he does 😉

Impressive promo video, shame it is not even showing on speedwaygb.com let alone all the individual club websites! #majorfail

What I will say Steve is that I respect Matt as a business person and believe it speaks volumes of his impressive and wide-ranging capabilities when he can attract a main team sponsor to Poole Speedway such as Readypower Engineering Ltd (managing director Julie Mahoney and general manager Rick Frost*). * Julie Mahoney and Rick Frost are both former promoters of Peterborough Speedway, who walked out of the BSPA AGM in November 2010 for un-confirmed reasons and mounted a legal challenge against the BSPA.

Would help if you could give people a clue to what this post was?

Nice idea and something i have previously looked in to but riders would not accept it....

Exactly, a few years ago I would not have suggested such a thing as one league, but levels have got closer and closer to a point where you could create a new league which gave the best of both worlds and was sustainable!

I see a few members are saying that PL is unsustainable, that may be true but imagine if you took the Sky money (circa of £100k per club per year) away from the Elite League clubs, they would very quickly go out of business! From somebody who has the unique benefit of running a club in the Premier League with no TV money and one in the Elite League with TV money, I can assure you that one league with the benefit of Sky money (around £50k per year once shared amongst all the clubs) would make a fantastic product that is financially sustainable.

Hey Trees, a postive contribution to this debate and nice to know how you see things from your helicopter. Ps i can confirm as many others will as well that i always read this forum when i was a promoter and also answered peoples questions. This was all done under the alias of..... 'jonathan chapman'

Thank you Barry, very kind of you and full respect to you for using your real name and starting the trend off a few years earlier than me 😉

I will keep that story (along with the many others I have) in my back pocket until the right day

Excellent debate so may long it continue, however I must say that your post above goes exactly against the point I was making in my original post. Every club must realise they are only as strong as the weakest club, therefore do you still think it is a good idea to let certain clubs have whoever they can afford when the consequence would be other clubs fielding 7 far less competitive riders* * A good example of this to compare Poole and Leicester's team, tell me at which point a neutral supporter would think that this would be a good idea to rock up at Poole and hand over their hard earned money to watch?

There is a set contribution made by the riders club for travel from their residing address in the UK to their place of racing. This used to be 10p per mile but I believe it has gone up to 15p in the past few years. However I have heard some clubs have agreed to pay riders up to 30p per mile towards travel. As you can imagine this can add up significantly for 7 riders, so for example if the 7 riders at Plymouth travelled up to Edinburgh for one meeting and were paid an average of 20p per mile this would cost Plymouth speedway approximately £1366 (mileage taken from google). With regards to flights their are none for British riders but Swedish and Danish have a set amount paid for as per the agreements between the Associations. However again, many will negotiate for a lot more than the minimum and often it will cost £300 or more just to fly a rider in and out for a meeting. Individual meetings are down to negotiation.

The problem is that whilst COVENTRY may be able to afford him, what about all the other clubs who need a number 1 and are demanding more than what they are worth because Harris is who they are the equal to and he is being paid a lot more than them. * I can assure you that all riders talk and majority know what the other one earns per point So are you suggesting we should not discuss it any further or would you like to share what you could see from your helicopter?

Imagine climbing on board a helicopter and flying it high up into the sky to get a clearer view of British Speedway and how it operates. That is the exercise I have completed (not literally) and what is overwhelmingly clear is how fragmented the sport is with so many different groups who have different agendas: Elite League Consisting of 8 teams who are desperate to hold onto their ‘Elite’ title and their share of the live TV broadcasting rights money. Unfortunately, in their desperation to retain top international riders to validate the name ‘Elite’ they have driven the average rider pay to a new level each and every year, ignoring the knock on effect it has had for non-elite riders, such as those riding in the Premier League. There also seems to be new rules introduced every year which coincidently benefit a handful of the same clubs and makes it a non-competition from the start of each season. Premier League Consisting of 13 teams who go about their business in a 'workperson' like manor, and genuinely seem to want to start the season on a level playing field. Their downfall seems to be the travel expenses, (Plymouth to Edinburgh for example) and the increased rider costs which have trickled down from the Elite League. Most teams find it hard to make ends meet and often rely on additional financial donations from fans, demonstrating that these clubs are more community focused rather than commercially focused. National League National League is like grass roots football which is fundamentally what British Speedway requires for feeding riders into the higher leagues. Things certainly look promising for this league with the average ages of riders consistently dropping over recent years. My only concern would be that competing teams do not start to believe they are competing in anything more than an amateur/training league. Team GB This should be what every British rider aspires to part of, however over the years it has lost its appeal and is seen by some as a hindrance. More emphasis clearly needs to be put on how important this team is to British Speedway and international matches are arranged to inject some glamour and excitement …. riders should be fighting for team places instead of giving them away. BSPA British Speedway is administered at a staffed office in Rugby. The costs for this are paid by each and every club on a monthly basis (albeit the majority of that cost is now taken directly from the TV monies). With the advances in technology and communications, this is clearly an expense which can be reduced and funds allocated to a better use such as marketing and PR which seems to have fallen a long way behind those of other sporting bodies and organisation’s. International Riders At the start of their careers most International riders see British speedway as paid training and are therefore keen to ride for sensible money, unfortunately once the offers start coming in from other countries their attitude often changes and their pay demands increase due to taking their main bikes to the continent and then needing to buy new bikes for the UK. For the very top riders British Speedway is simply an inconvenience and therefore clubs have to pay completely over the odds to generate any interest in competing here. British Riders Most British riders will have a family and base already established in the UK and therefore costs for them to race on their shores are considerably lower and keeping points money at a sensible amount should be possible subject to them having enough meetings to compete in. Also unlike International riders any additional set up costs to ride abroad will be bearable by the other countries. The problem seems to be the initial investment that is required for competitive equipment which in turn can stop them progressing past National League. Sky TV Sky is one of the worlds most successfully run commercial organisations, and it seems that the sport in general seems to have either forgotten that or fails to appreciate the significance of it. Personally I think they are treated like a thorn in their side by the majority of clubs and fans. However surely their worst enemy can see that over their years of broadcasting the presentation has continued to move forward whilst the Elite League it is still struggling to put out two teams of 7 evenly matched riders worthy of a TV audience. Supporters Across the board supporters are very loyal but are too often taken for granted with a lack of clear and concise information and news being provided to them. New supporters are hard to attract due to a combination of lack of press, ‘uncool’ image and high admission prices. Summary and Recommendations Whilst so many groups and individuals fail to recognise they are only as strong as the weakest amongst them, costs will continue to rise and the spectator numbers will continue to fall. I would therefore recommend that a Chairman with no official affiliation to an existing club is appointed, with the directive of forging a closer relationship with Sky TV and drafting a long term action plan that considers the strengths and weaknesses of every club and every group of individuals. The result of this could be, for example, the amalgamation of two leagues into one and consisting of between 16 to 20 competing teams with no top level International riders permitted to participate, and restrictions on the amount of work allowed to be made to a standard bike to reduce costs. A set admission tariff could also be applied across the league to offer superior value for money compared to other sports, which if paired with the right marketing strategy would encourage a new wave of fans to attend matches and hopefully become long term supporters. The National League could work on a standard equipment only initiative to reduce costs for riders, and a couple of bikes could be made available to each club by the Association to introduce and train potential newcomers. I welcome others thoughts and look forward to the prevailing discussions?

Trees I am sure you mean well but what makes you think I should be 'working on a reconciliation' from my side.......? Exactly, you have assumed wrong, so guess it is best that no more is said on the subject and I am allowed to carry on being a 'normal supporter'

Believe it or not Semion that is now what i do for a living in organsitations of many different shapes and sizes. The one thing they all have in common though is that they would have reached out to me for help and are receptive to feedback and want to implement my recommendations... I hope you can therefore see where the problem would lay with this one 😀