MattB

GoFundMe requests often seem to be the first thing promoters do when they hit problems, albeit its not unknown for supporters to set them up to help the clubs. Can see both sides of the argument to be fair

Good luck with that. Normal protocol with forward-thinking new promoters is for the existing, small-minded ones to close ranks until they tire of talking to a brick wall and walk away. "It's our ball. You can't play with it".

Positivity

And to be brutally honest, he's probably looking at where the sport sits and thinking, "do i really want to get involved with that again?" Does sometimes feel like "don't worry about it, these mugs will come whatever we serve up". Out of interest, as someone who no longer reads the speedway star, how are they reporting on this? Are they being critical or are they just pretending everything is ok like they did with the Coventry and Peterborough fiasco in 2011?

There was a lot of bravado from CVS when he confirmed we were definitely not running after 2023, but that was enthusiasm and passion talking. Its more i think that he is realistic now. Getting a new venue or back into Monmore will be a long old slog with no guarantees either option would be successful. We're nearly three years on now and we still don't know the full story of why we were booted out, we just have hearsay and Chinese whispers to go on. It took ten years to get speedway back on Teeside when CVS was much younger and the sport was in a better state (or by comparison to today).

Summary of British Speedway. One big boat in the middle of a lake. Some promoters rowing in one direction. Other promoters rowing in another direction. Commodore Godfrey with his hand on the tiller, scratching his head trying to work out why the boat's going round in circles.....

To quote my sparring partner @guitar_art the best way to become a millionaire in speedway is to start off as a billionaire..

What's new? How many times over the years has a decision been made during the season which leaves everyone scratching their heads, only for the BSPL to then say. "It was decided at the AGM". Fine, but why didn't you put that in the statement in November then?!

Exactly. They have nobody to blame but themselves. Years of self interest, back stabbing and papering over the cracks have finally caught up with them. They have backed themselves into a corner.

Never going to happen. Nobody in Wimbledon wants it back and it closed before........ Sorry, thought I'd get in before @R87

Never going to happen. Nobody in Wimbledon wants it back and it closed before........ Sorry, thought I'd get in before @R87

This is a really damaging announcement. Ipswich are arguably the best run club in British Speedway - certainly at Premiership level. Clearly Louis has seen what is on the table and doesn't like it. Interesting to read the statement in full on Ipswich's site compared to the somewhat cherry picked version on the BSPL site...........

What it needs more than anything else is some joined up thinking. Instead of focusing on "what's in it for me?", put together a proper business plan. Any successful business today will always have a road map setting out "where do we want to go in the next x years, where do we expect to be next year, in two years? Etc". If Speedway is serious about increasing its portfolio with sponsors, partners, and even new tv deals, that's one of the first things they will ask for before we get to the stage of exchanging bank notes. You can't just use "we don't know what's going to happen" as a cop out, as that's not what these people want to hear. Sadly, British Speedway has never been very good at dispelling the myth that it's done on the back of a cigarette packet, and nothing we've seen gives much hope of that changing anytime soon.

Bottom line is that British Speedway at senior level is equivalent of a big boat in the middle of a lake. On one side you have Premiership promoters rowing one way, with the championship promoters sat on the other side rowing the other way. Then you have Rob Godfrey and Phil Morris sat at the tiller scratching their heads wondering why the boats going round in circles.

It would tbe equivalent of a millionaire finding a bonfire and tossing fifty pound notes onto it one by one.