mauger65

a competitive meeting but the victory didn't even cover up the cracks that are apparent Lewis Kerr is hit or miss at Brough and was a real gamble by scunthorpe....... and luckily this was a miss ..... his 5 points from 4 rides cost Scunthorpe the match. given that people like ricky wells, Richie Worrall, aaron summers were available .... the decision to pick Lewis was baffling to say the least

nearly .............. they certainly wont be in the playoffs however they may have the bragging rights of the north finishing 8th ... above us workington and berwick

the criticism of lindgren is completely unfair ............ hes a 3rd heat leader not a no 1 ... and he has never pretended to be a no 1 hes riding out of position as is robbo the team - despite being tryers - is an awful team whilst our reserves on paper are the 2nd best in the league ............. 1 to 5 as a unit are not good enough and will be ripped apart by any decent side - and lets be honest Sheffield are a potentially league winning side....... we won 1 heat ............ and if another person says we have strength in depth ............ ffs ....wake up .....we are not Hull 2004 3 maximums scored by opposition ....... whilst we have this team in the 28 competitive matches we will have I reckon will have a record 36 maximums scored against us this season ............. and no rider will score a max for the diamonds

at the tapes is probably the closest we will be all night to a tiger our better teams have often struggled at Sheffield ............ I will be surprised if we reach 30

i think u should ride with a national league guest .... give us diamonds a chance of reaching 30 on Thursday ...............

probably .......... seems everyone has a team place in Poland

preferably by May

still think its a shame he aint riding for us .... and he was let down last year

have you seen our team ........... we are wooden spoon favourites anyway ... kus is far more liked at Newcastle than he is at redcar ..... hes taken a huge amount on this forum from redcar fans ......... I amazed they wanted to re-unite.... he has the potential to be a heat leader at Newcastle .. so I'm surprised hes not with us

the question is why didn't kus sign for us has he lost trust in the management after being dropped late last season for Robert

just a pity about heats 1,3,5,6,7,9,10,11,13,and 15 where I see it will be difficult for us to get a heat advantage

I admire your optimism steve ........... I just don't see where the heat wins are coming from

some people are in fantasy world this is no hull of 2005 ...... ffs ..... that team didn't have a no 1 yes .............. but they had a no 3 riding at 7 !!!!!!!!! that's why they cruised it - that team was an exception ........ that side had 4 better riders than our number 1 I repeat most successful teams in last 10 years ... have an outstanding no 1 (top 5 in averages) and best number 6 in league I don't expect a championship winning side ,,, but I expect a competitive team.... this team whilst full of tryers is simply not good enough come july if we are in playoff chase I wlll gladly eat my hat ............ but somehow I think we will firmly at the bottom ..... and I fear for Newcastle cos I think the crowds will dwindle further because the team is so uncompetitive (not lack of effort) .............. I hope I am 100% wrong

Tsunami - im not trying to have Glasgows ambitions as I know we are limited with funds But this team is 2 points below the team building average - which does not sound much but our top 5 are all racing a counterpart who is at least one spot higher luddo and robbo are both 3rd heat leaders riding against top two heat leaders, we then have wethers and rose who are 4th strings racing against a 3rd heat leader although they are all tryers ..... realistically only rose and Ashley are likely to increase their average much ... whilst heaven knows what will happen to luddo when he faces the opposition 1 and 5 three times each in his 5 rides ..... at home he will give as good as he gets but away from home hes struggled at 4 .. heaven help him at 1 its gonna be a long season ............ I am merely being realistic ................. its hardly a team that's got the other 10 worried .......... as I've said all their promoters have us down as a potential away win

this team is shocking - no disrespect to the 7 lads because they are all triers and will give it all but the team is 2 points under the limit - worse than with luddo and robbo at 1 and 5 - heats 13 and 15 are going to difficult at home and nigh on 10-2 certainties away from home the team is under-strength and the 1-5 will be found out .... where are we going to win heats .... as I say I don't blame the 7 riders ........ ok we are strong at reserve ... but so are some other teams ............. u just cant give away 2 points ..... the top riders of opposing teams are going to have a field day ok we had 2 heat leaders last year and won nowt, but that was because we gambled at reserve level and it went badly wrong - but at least we were in all the competitions and there was plenty of entertainment with steve and robert in the last 10 years - the successful teams have had a top number 1 rider and a strong reserve at 6 apart from lewis .... none of our riders are gaters ....... and we will win NO matches away from home and I will be surprised if we manage 40 anywhere at home - if think we will win maybe 6 of our 10 league matches but take a couple of bad beatings off the likes of Sheffield or Glasgow we have wooden spoonists written all over us ............... but I will be there ..... but this could be our last season as I think we will struggle crowd size with that team assembled

The track is a technical track which gives us some advantage ....... any decent rider will always score well at Brough However since averages were brought in (84 I think) - Newcastle have only gone 1 season unbeaten at home (all matches) .......... when we last won the league Hull beat us in the Cup and when we won 3 trophies in 2010 (?) .... Edinburgh dusted us 50-40 at home So Newcastle's home advantage is NOT that great Certain teams in this league have gone unbeaten for several seasons at home - but because they have a wide track its open and fair - even though all the home riders had a huge advantage Anyway, Im sure the top 5 are marking us down as a potential 4 pointer .......... and the other 5 are marking us down as potential away win ........ although I do think we will win those 5

The issue is not the 42.50 - its the fact over the winter so many heat leaders announced they were leaving the league - which left just 12 riders with average of 8 between 11 clubs Then the 5 strong sides immediately signed up 2 each - leaving just 2 between the other 6 (before Scotty came free) - so the league was already split into 2 before the season started Of course it would have been sensible to have the top 11 split across the league, but compromise (lack of) and total self interest ensured that didn't happen ..... along with the Kennett and nicholls saga I don't think Im going out on a limb here but ................... top 5 will be Glasgow sheffield Edinburgh Ipswich and Lakeside (any order) middle 3 will be Peterboro Redcar and Scunthorpe bottom 3 Workington Berwick and Newcastle - who will all lose their 10 away games the top and middle 3 will be the 4tt competitors ..... the clrc will come from there the pairs winners will be 1 of the top 5 cup and league cup will be won by top 5 and the lottery numbers this weekend are 4 10 17 23 30 and 46

I have supported the diamonds since 75 and will be there to the bitter end but some supporters ... quite rightly ...... will not just pay and watch their side get thumped whatever sport u like..... winning teams attract bigger crowds the promotion may have a limited budget... but the most important thing is to get bums on seats....... nowt in this side to get anyone excited

Unless our last signing is a 8 point heat leader then this could be an enormous gamble by the promotors This side will win nowt away, and I fear we could take some hammerings at home how many away riders will score maximums here ........ remember a few years ago when an average redcar team beat us 51-39 at home with Richard Lawson scoring the easiest max of his life our team maybe be triers .... but putting it bluntly 3 are at the end of their career and the other 3 aren't improving their averages also we wont be in the pairs or 4tt and will only get a rider in the clrc cos we have to supply one never mind not scoring in heats 13 and 15............. heats 1,3,5,7,10 and 11 look iffy at home as well !!!!!!!!! the only thing that's gonna stop this from being a long season is that .... we will only see 14 competitive matches ...........

perhaps we should declare rider replacement at no 1 on a cma of 9.5 then we can replace him every week with a number 1 from the other 10 teams .................

i really cant understand the grief luddo gets ....... the daft criticism he does not team ride .... eer yes he does the lad is enigma though ... even at brough he could beat craig cook in one race and then finish last in next ........ and that's part of the frustration with him...... he has undoubtedly talent, speed and ability but at times his gating gloves become boxing gloves !. and undoubtedly hes a better rider than his away form and that's where he needs to improve I for one am delighted he's back because he is entertaining and an adopted Geordie :-) and by the way .......... luddo averages 8 (proper average inc bonus points which is how all riders measure themselves and get paid on !) and lets be fair he would probably average 9 at best cos of his gating ..... lets hope he does it this season

Lindgren averaged 8.09 inc bp and was 22nd in league His cma was 7.30 and 23rd in league However at home he averaged 9.33 and was 17th ...... but away was only 6.63 and was 29th ! his differential was of only 2.70 was beaten by the following (at least 12 meetings) ellis perks 2.76 Ashley morris 2.89 max clegg 2.88 Robert brandford 2.92 jan graversen 3.22 - all reserves and ... wait for it lewis rose at 3.25 so luddo like a few other diamonds were at little disappointing away from home

baffled as to why nicholls is being linked with us .... distance and cost being the main two issues ... never mind his average which will fall anyway just 2 months to go .... and we have 2 riders ......... wonder who is gonna blink 1st and actually sign someone in January .... will be Newcastle United or the diamonds

the championship was a 2 division league this year and very much looks like next years will be too .................

i said everyone had the opportunity .... not that they had one ............ and I will state again .... I cant recall the league having so few heat leaders ..... 12 between 11 teams given last year there was summers over 8 and bridger deemed over 8 ............ there were around 19 heat leaders between 10 sides if u read my posts I want a more fairer league ....... and I would be complaining if we had 2 heat leaders there is still too much self interest and not enough working together to create a competitive leagues and support and nuture british talent - look at the latest ruling ........ foreign riders are now on 5.20 ........ and what a surprise Edinburgh have the Swedish under 21 champion in at 5.20 ............ bloody joke