SteelShoe

I was looking over the business case for the new stadium on the Allerdale website and it states that Town are free to charge the Reds to play on Derwent Park ! That same business case doesn't make one reference to the Comets!! Shame on you Allerdale !!

Bit of a setback for the new pitch operations, work was halted because it turned into an extension of siddick pond on Friday. ! Doesn't look that level through a trained eye like mine either. Some of the fence boards have gone missing now, more handy work by the track butchers !!

I doubt anyone 'invests ' in speedway comet49. The days when promoters may have been confident of making some money seem to have gone at present, hopefully this will change because it would increase the number of potential people who would be willing to take a chance. I think a lot of people who are in a position to put money into sports clubs do so because they are fans doesn't necessarily mean that they have to haemorrhage money though. I just think it would be a great shame if league speedway was lost to Workington and I'm sure I'm not alone with those sentiments. Hopefully it only needs a catalyst to start the fire. Up the Comets ! When you look at both Town and Reds the officials and the club sponsors are almost exclusively local, what's the difference?. Can a squad of semi pro rugby league players plus coaching staff be cheaper to finance than 7 speedway riders ? , the rumours are the previous coach alone was on £40K a year.

What you say about the lifespan of both is probably on the money. The age of these stadia 1937 Reds; 1950 Town without adequate maintenance means replacement is long overdue so replacement is probably the right option at this time but they need to make provision for speedway somewhere regardless of whether or not the previous promotion have the necessary finance. Its only right in my eyes that they make it attractive for any potentially interested parties who have the vision and determination to bring the Comets back.

i think in the short term nothing, longer term i don't know. If financial problems hadn't precluded Comets running in 2019 then in the absence of any other current option it would have been their home certainly for the next 2 years and probably longer. Bearing this in mind then, the extent of damage that has subsequently been done to the track is way different to what would have happened if Comets had been running in 2019. The question is then, what has/ or is going on for Town to change the scope of work to the extent where they have probably precluded speedway ever being run there again ???. Town are the ones with least to lose here because even if the Community Stadium doesn't happen then they have got a brand new pitch costing circa £100K and got rid of Speedway . On the face of it that is very poor form indeed and unless there is another plan (i'm dreaming on THJ) then its nothing short of dispicable by all parties concerned.

That should be £100K to reseed the pitch and destroy the speedway track geoff.

Although the crowds weren't great they stood up pretty well against the majority of Championship clubs that i visited last season. The level of sponsorship the club were able to generate was vital and obviously not enough to adequately offset costs over a number of seasons.. We all know about the additional costs the club had to pay for rent and a requirement for unrealistic numbers of stewards which didn't help. As you say Speedway is currently in decline in the UK but we have to hope that the people running the sport can come up with the inspired changes to turn it around before it declines further. Funny you appealing for a millionaire to start the sport in Carlisle after stating that it's is dying on its a**e. The irresponsible people who have butchered the track at Derwent Park have in my opinion precluded speedway being ridden there ever again and for me there has to be some accountability for that. The most realistic way that can happen is for the Council to get behind any initiative to re-site the club. What is needed is for a person, group or company to show the vision and determination to bring it back. If this happens i believe that in the longer term what is happening now could ultimately prove beneficial to the longer term sustainability of the club.

You kept your talent off this forum for far too long big man you clearly have some type of neurones that are yet to be discovered !. You asked earlier if i'd retired, was on holiday or had too much time on my hands ?, the answer is no to all of them but i'm working on it. Anyhow think i should be asking you that question because i think you have developed forumitis. Called in at Derwent Park again today for another weep. What i'd really like to know is who gave the bar stewards the right too butcher the track the way they are doing thereby ruining any chance of a return however slim, my blood boils and i'd like some answers. I don't think KD would be amused bearing in mind the money he would have spent making the track as good as it was . Think a peaceful protest is in order.

Good read as usual THJ full of brutal reality. Can you not have a word with Sheik Khaleed see if he also wants to invest in a sport just as exciting as Premier League Footy but currently just lacking a big enough audience ?. In my opinion there has never been a more persuasive time to get Council support (land , infrastructure and financial ) than right now. Keith Denham definitely has the resources to create a facility at Northside. The Thomas Armstrong Speedway Stadium sounds good to me. Maybe I will have won the Lottery by then anyway !!! For those whose pot is half empty ( THJ) 'Hope is being able to see despite all of the darkness' ! Now where did I put those anti depressants .

Something along the lines of this would be nice and something we could all get behind: 'Due to the fact that the Workington Comets have had to be displaced from their home at Derwent Park in order to facilitate construction of the new Community Stadium the Council is giving the club its full backing in developing a new home on the site of the training track at Northside. Such a move would reduce the costs of running the sport whilst allowing the club to directly benefit from income generated through food and drink sales. There will be great opportunity for local businesses to get involved in the creation of this exciting new facility which will see the continuation of what is a great family sport and one that has been embedded in local sporting heritage and culture over the last 50 years'.

That's just too close to the point to take right now THJ . What's that about the truth always hurts.

I'd love to hear something from Laura or Jacko on hear. The silence is deafening when most Comets fans are hurting.

Pitch being completely reseeded, supposedly ready for July. Apparently the existing grass was skimmed off, it was then ploughed and mixed with loam from a pitch that was being lifted in Blackburn. The sand on the top you see is to be mixed in with the other layers before seeding. The previous pitch was reportedly 8 metres too narrow to meet the minimum dimension requirements for football , it will also be lengthened by some 10 metres overall. Where the shale has been removed from the track the concrete base is exposed, some 2000 tonnes of material have reportedly been shifted so far. As a long time Worky speedway fan it was very sad to see and put a downer on my day. The finance for the operation is apparently coming from the new stadium pot of money. If the pitch had been big enough for football then it goes without saying a lot of this work and expense wouldn't have been required bearing in mind the relatively short construction period for the new stadium. After saying this, if the new stadium doesn't happen for any reason then at least the teams should have a good level pitch to play on, the previous one was in poor condition. Just need the Council to take the speedway along with them as well in this much needed ambitious project. It is only fair that you try to rehouse a tenant you've made homeless !.

good to hear both riders not seriously hurt.

Yeah he was at another Redcar meeting with Dave Payne as well. It's no secret that the way speedway had been run in recent seasons compounded by how Workington were treated last season had never seen him so disillusioned with the sport . The magnificent treble was just reward for an unsung hero who gave up so much of his own time for his love of the Comets.

Keith Denham made changes to bends 2 and 4 when he took over, this reduced the incident rate markedly especially with regard to bend 2.

Therein lies the question geoff100. The equipment and extent of the operation won't be coming cheap !. Completely relaying the pitch as well no patching up going on. In the current political climate in Allerdale nothing is making too much sense at the minute bit i'm hoping there's a positive outcome for the speedway in there somewhere. We can all come up with suppositions but should we have too ?

not now it ain't !

in amongst all of this i have a strong innate sense that we haven't seen the last of the Comets !. Call it Theresa May Syndrome if you like but she brought it back 3 times !. The machine in the picture was making short work of ripping up the shale in what looked like 6 inch swathes at a time. I know where it was going because i followed a lorry load. Long live the Comets !!

No use setting a rabbit running jenga there's no grass left for it to eat !!

A brilliant speedway track and a stadium right up there with the best in terms of viewing. I'm just so damned angry about all of this. Town have been in the rugby league wilderness for years now while the Reds are further away from the football league than ever. The Council owe it to the Comets to get seriously involved in helping any initiative to make a comeback wherever that maybe and not sit on their hands in resignation of the situation. A visit to Redcar's South Tees Motorsport Park would aptly demonstrate to them just what a bit of support and ambition can achieve at not huge cost ! I wonder if the Reds will have to pay rent to their rugby league landlords and be denied any profit from bar takings like the speedway had to financially endure ?

With the change in the political environment following the local elections I can only imagine the whole situation re the new stadium has to be in a state of deep flux. If as seems likely the Council is to be run by an Independent/Tory alliance many of whom campaigned against the new stadium then surely the likelihood of this happening must be reduced. A spokesman from the 'Reds' was reported in the local press as saying that 'they won't be moving anywhere until the situation is clarified' so why commence work on changing the Derwent Park pitch ?. Its about time some honesty was spoken instead of treating us all like mushrooms.

Following on from this i am in a position to confirm that the Labour led Allerdale Borough Council did indeed meet with Laura. I am led to believe that something could develop re Comets moving to Oldside and that hopefully some sort of press release could follow. My advice to all speedway fans would be to vote Labour because this could well hinge on Labour retaining control of the Council so do the right thing !

Blinkers are great when you don't want to see the light. Take it easy wouldn't want to read about you getting locked up and all !

Be careful who you vote for, at least the Labour council are trying to drag the town into the 21st century regardless of what is happening with the speedway. Mike Heaslip Labour Councillor did at least knock on our door. Unfortunately i wasn't home but the wife raised the issue about the speedway following reports that the council were apparently ignoring approaches from the speedway. Mr Heaslip stated that it was his belief that there was a meeting friday 12th April with 'the lady who runs the speedway' . He was also suggesting that Derwent Park would be available following the move by Town/Reds into any new stadium .