Speedtiger

What a misleading inaccurate response ouch. Read my post...I support ex-riders and ex-volunteers. It’s the clueless Mr Smith that’s more interested in stopping them coming into BV not me. I go to BV most weeks I pay my money and support the Aces and Colts teams, I’m however unimpressed with the way the club is run by Smith and Lemon. They have done nothing with BV apart from half the crowd and pour money down the drain. NOT a business track record to be proud of..!! Im sure the council who paid out £9m and own the stadium are really concerned with the way things are going.

Cheers Geoff, hope it will be hotter than Glossop.

...and that is the problem, Smith doesn’t listen. I appreciate he is clueless about speedway and by all accounts not much idea about business but you’d have thought he would welcome customer feedback, listen and learn. I have emailed him before and he hasn’t had the decency to reply. He seems more interested in keeping ex-riders, volunteers and people with a long association with the Aces out of BV. As an ex-rider Lemon should have a word with him and sort it out but it’s obvious Lemo is just Smiths ‘yes man’...with NO authority or influence.

No I’m going to Lanzarote on Thursday. Wouldn’t have gone anyway. I’m a speedway fan not a quiz fan.

It’s been weeks since we had any news from BV...it’s like a Secret Society....they should be revving things up and let us know what’s going on? e.g How are season tickets going? What preparations are the team doing? Have there been any improvements to south stand facilities?

...my Friday evening G&T’s maybe a bit too strong..!

Sorry but you can not be happy with the way BV is being run and promoted. The NSS is without doubt the best speedway facility in the UK and they have done precisely nothing with it exept lose half the crowd and, by all accounts, a shed load of money. Great business plan that is, in 5 years they will have lost well over a £1m...the incompetent Mr Smith may be happy with the plan...because it’s not his money?

Agreed Geoff, but my big worry is, with monster running cost and a very lacklustre BV management/promotion, it can not last loosing over £250k a season. Something has to give?

Seems to me it’s because they don’t know what they are doing. They may think they are being tantalising and clever but the strange way the KL promotion is going they will kill off any bit interest there might be in KL or speedway. ???

Glenn, Best if you byepass and swerve the Abbey Stadium dump and get the train up to Owlerton Track, Sheffield or an even better track at the NSS, Manchester...worth the effort mate as they are two of the best speedway tracks in the world....IMO.

Brilliant and well done the Ben Fund. Hope the SS will also get this on the BBC again, any chance Philip Rising?

The way Swindon have performed to date with the new stadium...it won’t be started by 2022. The truth is Tel Boy will struggle even harder now to sell the club...!!! I really fear for the future of the Robins.

But now bad and sad news for Swindon and the Robins as the Honda factory is due to close...this will badly hit working people and therefore speedway attendances...!!

Oh and it’s back to all our yesterdays....!!

Please can we get back on topic i.e. the underwhelming and depressing article by the uninspiring vice chairman Godfrey....?

Chipping away at what/who?

Ah thanks. But how did this incredible story get on BBC One? Just fantastic.

Out of the BSPA (management) as Chairman and Vice Chairman. They have totally failed miserably.

A lot of really good experienced promoters have gone out of speedway which is not good for the sport...they must have seen this dreadful situation was going to happen. Godfrey maybe be passionate about his club but I can assure He is certainly not an intelligent man. He is clueless. Along with his mate Chapman, another back woodsman, he has overseen the worst and most disastrous period in recent history of the sport. These two will go down as the fools that finished off speedway. IMO I think it’s too late but for the good of sport both he and Chapman should go.

What a brilliant feature. A fantastic effort by a courageous star. Ricky will always be a hero at Sheffield Tigers and the other clubs he raced for. What is also amazing is a Speedway related item on main stream BBC One. I read something about this and Ricky in the Speedway Star a few weeks ago. I can only think the BBC must have picked it up from SS...so well done whoever did this at the SS or the BSPA press office.

Looking at these figures NO one in their right mind would want to own or invest in a Speedway club. It is clear the BSPA has brought this disastrous situation on themselves and I don’t see them finding a solution, it’s a shambles and plain madness. The mind boggles, even the clubs not showing substantial losses are only making peanuts.

Blimey, I thought the sport was in a bad state BUT this financial information is stunning...and NOT in a good way. Time to call in the liquidators...!!

Spot on Steve...and there's the problem. We have a sport run effectively by two separate factions with very different views as to how the sport is promoted. First thing is to make the sport untied and ditch the us and them situation. Restructure or its finished.

Which is commendable. The BSPA should have a coordinated marketing plan that can be implemented and consistently pushed forward by each club. The PR on speedway that eminates from Rugby and most clubs is very poor and amateur. Marketing and competition for the leisure pound is extremely fierce and very expensive...it isn’t a quick fix and gaining paying customers through the turnstiles requires sustained attention to detail and lots of hard work and vision.

Agreed, it must go to one league and should have done years ago now. The sport bizarrely operates in 2 distinct entities...they even have separate meetings and discusstions at the AGM....and during the season...!!! I appreciate that 10-15 years ago the difference in rider quality between what was Elite (now Premier) League EL and Premier (now Championship) League PL BUT that could/can be balanced out, especially now the quality of riders in both leagues means there is very little difference between the Leagues. Historically the main issue (maybe still is) to forming one league was money. The Premier League clubs business model and pay structure, in the main, actually worked. Elite League business structure and rider pay became far too high and seriously inflated by Sky money which EL didn’t want to share with PL. Why would a PL club making money want to go in to EL and loose money...? Then when the TV money disappeared along with thousands of paying customers....bingo, disaster. It is clear that speedway is in a terminal state and needs to be radically restructured and the ‘product reinvented’ and vigorously promoted...this is the only way to attract more people and bring money into the sport....the $64,000 question is...has the BSPA the vision, courage and ability to do it...sadly history says NO.