waytogo28

I am confident that there is a goodly number in Poland ( in cash in the safe ) and there are one or two in the UK but they are likely are too canny to spend it on an investment like a rider's medical needs! £40k.

They will not be calling on anyone regarding the design of the new track layout and shape. They know it all themselves about how best to please the supporters and their neighbours. We must sincerely hope that what they have in mind is not in slightest bit like Leicester! The Mildenhall shape would be OK but with wider and more banked corners. I remember Hans Nielsen riding Mildenhall as a complete circle, so I hope that Swindon, if it comes about, will not be less than 300 metres.

I don't think the envisaged "top" league is THAT kind of league level.

It's just too easy, you are right! UK speedway needs a big fat rulebook in order to drive away more existing fans.

Fast forward to 2121 and there will be no league/team speedway in the UK in any month with a vowel in it. Plans formulated by the BSPA will ensure this comes about.

I am in that camp. Tai is the greatest ever British rider of the modern era ( post-war) for me. I feel sure that had he lived Peter Craven would have got at least one more and may have joined the five and possibly even the six list. I think that Tai will get at least one more than three ( don't want to curse the next GP! ) and he is capable of going even further. Exceptional skills and a great racing brain.

Luckily there will be for a good few years left in speedway in Sweden and Poland ( well definitely Poland ) and hopefully the GP. The UK speedway scene is teetering on the edge, so who knows genuinely how long that we will be able to watch team speedway here unless it's at a semi-pro level.

Me too! So let's hope riders demands are more realistic for the new league set up in 2019. I mean more realistic with regard to the income streams of clubs. Especially turnstile income. Average crowds need to be above 1,000 with 1,500 to 2,000 the aim if the sport is to truly be viable in the UK.

My figure was not plucked out of the air but was based on my own observations and by talking to people at other clubs as to what they thought the reduction had been at their club and on their travels. That is the best I can work out because, as we all know no crowd figures are given out ( even if retained ). I would hope that other fans will put forward their estimates of the losses from the terraces at their club - or are they in denial? If it were only about 10% since say 2012 I think there would not be so much speculation or concern. It is very noticeable at some clubs. I still feel that most ( not all ) clubs have lost up to 30% in that time and some up to 50%. Otherwise, why is there so much speculation about it?

Don't think clubs will have much choice ( other than not running ) if the overall strategy demands two leagues with no doubling down of top riders. Riders who have been making a good living out of doubling down will need to accept a lower income from their racing work. Those days are either behind us already or not a part of the realistic future. Without major changes and vastly better marketing ( by whatever means ) we will be lucky to have 12 - 14 clubs running in three years time.

Put me and the small group of fans I know well in charge and we could only make a better overall job, than how it is being run now. I would be happy to do it for expenses only, as would the most thoughtful of posters on here. We all had lots of life and business experience besides our current part-time job as keyboard scribes. However, the BSPA recoils from the word feedback

It's obvious by now that the amount on income from the turnstiles is still not very important compared to other income streams ( sponsorship ) at a lot of clubs. Crowds are 30% to 50% down on five years ago at most clubs ( only one or two notable exceptions ) and that has not impacted much on how the sport is publicised to the outside world. Or perhaps it has, in that they have not spent as much on marketing of any kind. So supporters are still not high up on the need to know scale.

One thing you can be sure of is that the slow death of UK speedway will continue, mainly because most of the changes that will be unveiled will not involve anything about marketing that reaches the general public. I feel that we could do worse ( possibly ) than introduce the pink helmet cover which would at least be in tune with things the outside world are interested in and familiar with. The letter in the SS his week from Julie Bean says so much about the apathy of speedway clubs in taking up or looking for opportunities ( even when free except for their own expenses ). To paraphrase the song " The only way is down".

Phew! Joined up thinking needed for that Mr Webb. And when that thinking involves what might be best for the waiting supporters - well......

I agree but we are stuck with those who currently invest in and promote UK speedway and finding the "right people" with funds and prepared to invest in the sport here, is very unlikely. Perhaps a takeover by Polish speedway moguls?

I think there is almost nothing that can be done to bring newbies through the turnstiles, to view UK speedway, AND get them to return time after time. Only the creation of a completely new motorcycle racing sport, perceived as far from old-fashioned speedway as possible and as far from the "first away wins" tag speedway holds. The recent classic speedway races from the NSS are genuine classics that the purists will savour as long as they can be seen online. But they are so rare that no-one can go to meetings elsewhere expecting to see anything like that, except maybe once a season. Newbies very likely need 50% of the races they watch in a match to be something like that and it is impossible on almost every other UK track.

The promoters have been in so many "last chance saloons" they seem permanently drunk and maybe that is why they cannot come up with much positive change, year after year.

Sorry, I should have posted. he contacted me from my initial post and has confirmed the arrival of my donation ( in lieu of going to the Ben Fund meeting ). It was just very odd and raised my suspicions ( totally cleared up now ) that there was some problem. Maybe everyone else who can't get there will chuck in something. I hope some can and do.

Clearly too difficult and complicated by vested interest.

If it can, in fact, live financially on such low crowds on a regular basis - so be it.

No thought then that fans might not see it in quite so critical a way. People put up with it ( or rather endured it ) perhaps like me, some finally gave up and will support the Stars via the Speedway Star and the odd time they are on TV. Promoters and club owners make their choices and if that was a Buster and Dale tactic, they have to live with the result it could bring about on the terraces. Fewer fans every time perhaps. There were unlikely to have been more than 5 - 600 there anyway. That's UK speedway - disinterested in the majority of fans and a failure to see the bigger picture.

I have no faith that things will improve or that the BSPA collectively ( those that vote ) are aware of the priorities that truly matter. Actions and changes that will halt the slide of supporters choosing to walk away AND marketing to begin to attract the new generation of UK speedway followers. The improvement of on-track racing so that excitement is an inherent part of the show ( for show it is ) is a vital part of that. The first play off, Somerset V Poole showed that the product can be worthy of the admission and can provide close racing, passing and thrills all the way through. Get those 15 mins of racing onto a DVD into every household in the country - perhaps via a deal with a newspaper. Yes I know, it costs money and is not seen as cost-effective, but taking no positive action on bringing the essence of speedway to people who have no idea it exists is the key. We have to offer the WOW! factor - and deliver it in the local stadium. Other meetings need to be just as meaningful. Moving towards achieving that needs to be high up on the agenda.

The only "paying supporters" the BSPA would ever allow into their decision making meetings would be those around every club who are "Yes Men or Women" and see eye to eye with everything about how the club is run. There would, therefore, be no valuable creative "other ways of doing things" ideas considered. Yes, it is their business ( from a commercial point of view ) and thus they can do as they wish ( as they do ). But UK speedway is like a long lease which has run down to a few short years left on it and the building or business is worth less and less ( as it is ). Soon you could buy a club for very little because it is worth very little and it's not a viable business - secretive or not.

It's not so strange that developers want to build near a speedway track. Really what they want to do, as at several others Cradley Heath, Norwich etc etc. They want to gobble up the whole thing! Siting some houses nearby adds to the pressure of it being incompatible (as it is later claimed ) and the speedway always loses out. If speedway were a real money spinner with 10 or 20 thousand a week going that building creep may never happen. It's happening now at Peterborough.

Sadly this is so. A pity, as more and more fans, can't be bothered. The playoffs may be in front of well up crowds but overall. Hmmm. I do think Buster believes that he is making a difference and offering a great racing surface but it's still "follow my leader" far too often.