themilkman23

But they are coming over here to further their career, I think it's safe to assume that it would be very hard for their career to reach the level that it would whilst riding over here. So they should treat the opportunity with the respect it deserves as I don't see Poland or Sweden clamouring for all the young riders from other nations to ride over there and develop them. Why should the league bend over backwards to let them have team spots and then let them pick and choose their meetings so they can arrive late and go home early? Bottom line is that I don't care about visa's and the amount of time or costs that are involved in them getting over here to ride, that their choice as they want to develop as a Speedway rider.

Where would have been the point having Scott in and then getting to the final? Looking at the other teams and how GB compared to the in the semi and run off and you can see the other countries were a step above so we would have been looking at a demoralising last place. I would much rather watch the younger guys be in and developing.

What exactly would you have liked them to check on the dirt deflector? After all, if it was at the right height at the start of the meeting, it would still be after changing the tyre over - They didn't remove the rubber band off it.

AJ to win. But can't see Crump on the podium....

Arn't England pround to have you Billabong.....

I'm a Newport fan. No alliance to Poole whatsoever. So does that make my arguement more valid than Tabby's? Nope. More FACTS for Vincent. Arena have not won the league recently, hence Ronnie Russel is a failure. To be honest, building a team for a league in my opinion is easier than building one for the World Cup. Allow me to explain, I'll use Vincent's beloved Arena as an example. They are obviously struggling at the moment, loosing matches home and away, but next year they can obviously dip into that big Russell money pot and buy/loan new riders, or at least swap then between Camp Russell (Swindon, Arena and Eastbourne). Thus, hopefully making them alot stronger. Now they would be able to pick riders from ALL over the world, that makes a fairly big net. When picking the riders for the World Cup there is a world of difference. I may be stating the obvious here but you can only pick British riders. If you look around at the moment, we are lagging behind other counties. Out of the 5 riders we had you would say 4 were out and out world class (Loram, Nicholls, Richardsson and Norris) and the last rider was a horses for courses arrangement. I mean no disrespect to either Joe or Gary by that I might add. Whereas Denmark have an average age of about 24. If they keep the conveyor belt going, WOW! My point is that the test match meant nothing. It was a way of testing the "other" British lads and up and coming lads like Robson, Neath and Howe. None of them really made the step up, so no point in throwing them in the deep end at the World Cup. Chris Louis? Fair play he has made a good comeback and has looked good in recent weeks, but look how he struggled in a big meeting like the British GP, is it really worth taking the risk? Not in my opinion. At the end of the day Middlo has the most important things from the riders 110% commitment and respect. Middlo in my opinion picked the best team for both meetings.

Ahh, but to win the World cup you need to beat 7 other top draw, full of talent teams from other countries. Only need to win 3 meetings....... Only? Did you not see the quality in teams? To win the league you've got to beat about 5 top class teams and then another 5 of the quality of Arena.

I thought they went 6 down and the following heat was where Leigh was off gate 4? I'm positive it was.

Just thought I would put this up to stick up for good ole Streety. I was speaking to Neil today about the World Cup and he was, as usual, totally honest. I asked him why he didn't use the Joker as soon as they went 6 behind in Leigh's 3rd ride and Leigh told him that he didn't want to do it because he was off gate 4 and didn't think he could make it. Like Neil said, it was no point wasting the possibility of using Leigh later on when even a 10 point league rider and 2nd in the world rider says no.

VV you say that Middlo has been doing the job for 3 or 4 years and not won it, fair enough, he hasn't. How many years has RR been in charge of Arena, and how many league titles has he won? I did ask you this in my first post, but you seem to have ignored it. He hasn't won it in the past 3 years, premier or elite, so by your rules, he should be sacked!

But stats are like a good bikini, they show alot, but they don't show everything. I think Middlo should stay on as TM. We've never had a better team and they looked hungry, as did Middlo. Just look at the emotion when he didn't win, man, that guy wanted it. So you want Ronnie Russel in charge? Right, let's check his stats. How many league titles has he brought to Arena in his most recent spell there? Oh yeah, but he did take them up to the top league to struggle there instead of struggling in the Premier league. Just my opinion........

Why? Leaving the beautiful Wales for......... England? Nah, they know where the quality is, and they charge to get in

I think it was £4.80 when I came over it on Saturday. It's definately under a fiver.