Ringitsneck

This Thursday. Stand by for another postponement as officially one less premiership team and now two other clubs with dog tracks being told no crowds this year. If there’s to be a season, and it’s a big IF, they have to have a premiership to comply with the TV contract so they will be pressing the likes of Poole and Somerset to step up with a promise of a bigger slice of the TV money and using Doyle as the no.1 in which ever team will step up, as he’s ridden for both of them in the past.

Operate without a crowd ? Pay out wages with no income ? No income in 2020 and no income in 2021? Yes that would hurt!

We know it’s Poole and with Swindons withdrawal the TV contract is down the Swanny so the weeks delay of the AGM will have given them time to come up with a plan B scenario...... not.

Make your mind up Falcon. Earlier in this thread you were complaining there were too many teams now your moaning there won’t be enough teams ? Your wasting your time anyway as now Swindon have withdrawn and Poole looking to follow suit , it’s only a matter of time before the plug gets pulled on the whole league season.

“ I found it really frustrating that even though covid has been an issue for 9 months the sport in the UK hasn't come up with a way to run & nothing will be known until mid January” it’s quite simple. Speedway cannot survive without a paying crowd and allowing any sort of crowd is not down to the sport , it’s out of there hands and that won’t change in mid January. Football has been warned not to expect crowds this season ( end of May ) so expect speedway in the UK to have to follow suit.

Let’s just hope they have a better plan than yours! Those few clubs that ran amateur meetings in 2020 actually made money as they didn’t pay wages out and competitors paid to race. You want less clubs and moan there will be less riders available? Try thinking things through before typing.

What ‘slot’??? ....There won’t be any ‘slot’ to take as no one else will want to run 7 loss making meetings in that company.

8 teams riding against each other ONCE? So 7 Home meetings , so a two month season ? financial disaster even if you throw in a challenge match or an individual meeting. Charles Wright v Danny Phillips? That will draw in a crowd!

A weeks delay for what? Little will have changed so why not postpone for a month minimum ? The government make decisions one day and change them the next so what do the ‘ mafia ‘ think they can predict in one week? whatever happens in football at the lower levels will dictate if a professional speedway league can proceed with a non limited crowd as a limited crowd is not a viable option for most clubs so nothing will have changed by next week as football is being advised no crowds this season so nothing changes till May.

Rumours that Mr.Grant has informed the track staff including Jonathan Swales that there services are no longer required at Newcastle and the tractors have been sold. If true then I wonder who’s taking over the role and why sell the equipment ? Cost cutting or a new signing imminent? Personally I think Swales did an unbelievably good job considering all the obstacles in the way at Brough . It’s hardly an ideal shape track to work on , little if any drainage and the time constraints are ridiculous .I’m sure his services would be wanted at Redcar in some capacity, where he has family connections, if he can fit Friday nights in with his full time work. He is a talented, young track curator and there’s precious few of those around. Lets hope we have an outstanding replacement lined up and a new tractor or two!

You appear to know a lot? Will you say who? I could guess a few.... Newcastle, Berwick, Redcar, Scunthorpe....possibly Edinburgh

How many times is this ‘ one league ‘ going to be discussed ? It’s been the topic of threads umpteen times over the last three years and it isn’t going to happen without losing more clubs ( the poorer ones ) the ones who will never be able to financially compete with the likes of Poole, Belle Vue, Wolverhampton , Leicester, Glasgow, Sheffield etc and therefore will not join a ‘ league ‘ that they can’t be competitive in. It didn’t work in the mid 90’s , it won’t work now.

I think you’ll find they won’t. Crowds and takings up from Thursday nights, bar sales up and more children attending so they will stick to Fridays for sure.

Roadblocks..... Edinburgh, Glasgow, Redcar, Scunthorpe....one region? ....but all Friday night tracks!.....so that won’t work. Also when the league was two fixtures home and away ( 2017 ) a lot of clubs reported that the second time a team visited that their crowds were lower for that fixture, so the top table ( most of who complained ) voted that system out for 2018. how many tracks run mid week these days? As you say, lots of roadblocks!

I’ll forgive you the name calling as I know you have Tourette’s when your ranting but it might stop me buying you a bovril next time I see you. Shortage of riders? Then how come Godfrey has 16 riders he wants to see employed? Give Glasgow the trophies?....they’ve won bugger all lately. Glasgow doing what they want ? ...yes, running on a Friday so won’t move up. TV money...who cares who gets what in the premiership but you were talking incorrect figures....just like no signing on fees...every rider in the two sides I sponsored riders in , in 2019 got a signing on fee, and I do know how much , and it’s been done in all premiership teams so yes, you've been told more tales. Keep spouting your tales THJ , your good for a few more rants yet.

Why should Glasgow be forced into changing their team just because 2 or 3 other teams ( including my local side Newcastle) have an issue ? Rules were agreed and riders signed accordingly. The situation was then rubber stamped that the same teams could be carried forward to 2021 but now a minority aren’t happy and want the rules changing, well that’s just WRONG! Im no great fan of Glasgow but they do run it like a business , unlike most other clubs, and I feel they are quite right to stand their ground. Whilst they may have gone against the mafia in making their feelings public, good on them for letting their fans know what is going on. Glasgow won’t go up because of the fixed race night. The last TV deal netted each premiership club 50k, championship teams got peanuts. As for premiership teams not paying signing on fees THJ? Get real!

Nothing wrong with supporting your team , just don’t do it with blinkers on. Far better stadiums out there and far better race tracks. Lyn is good but just not THAT good!

No more than they ever have. The rules haven’t changed just we don’t have the required employment status to sign non UK riders. It costs about £600 to get one and takes a few weeks but looks like we aren’t going to bother and didn’t look into it before declaring we’d signed three riders!

And when was this rule change made ‘ official ‘ ?

And as no one knows the rules for visas post Brexit this is total speculation. Riss has already stated he’d like to be back at Kings Lynn and Redcar so no story there either.

What Redcar do is up to them, they have already announced the same 1-7 so , unless the rules change to suit the ones who cant have the same 7, why change? Just because Newcastle have parted with two riders already, one by their choice, doesn’t mean others should be penalised by changing the speedway rules. Now visas are whole different ball game.

You obviously haven’t been to Warsaw, Torun or seen the improvements at Bydgoszcz or Gdańsk or a few others for that matter . Polish fans are very knowledgable and very keen to talk to British fans, if you make the effort. Travel broadens the mind. if you think Kings Lynn is good, you need to get around more.

Surely a precedence was set when God almighty Godfrey refused Workingtons move to a Friday night track as just too any tracks wanting Fridays. Nothings changed other than it’s a fellow committee member asking so..... we all know how this works!

Whilst not believing 90% of what our club megaphone ‘THJ’ says our club, Newcastle, will be making at least two changes as one I was due to sponsor has just informed me the club no longer want his services, so something is going on in the background...and no THJ, it isn’t the one already announced.

Garrity was a drug user from a troubled background, doesn’t excuse his behaviour and justice has been done but he WAS a talented speedway rider and was regularly targeted by testers at meetingS having been regularly ‘ randomly selected ‘ ( by opposition promoters) and he passed every time. There have been a number of riders who were informed of the testers presence and were promptly ‘ injured ‘ or broke down en route, I recall a certain Sheffield rider doing a u turn in a club car park having been told of their presence and the excuse given for his absence was given as ‘ he fell down the stairs at home ‘. Didn’t wash with the fans who saw him in his sponsored van hastily exiting the stadium car park. Not the only one over the last few seasons.