heathen52

Sorry to say the dog track was run/owned by the Perkins family who decided a few years ago to close the Track and develop it, sorry for all the Newcastle fans lets hope there is a fairy godmother out there.

Thanks for posting the video, The Grandstand is to far gone now, not much work to bring the Pits back to life, the far side stand would be the main stand maybe with the starting gate over on that side, without seeing inside its difficult to gauge what other buildings could be saved from demolition, but I personally cant see the landowners selling this for Sports use, especially if they have paid development prices for it, RIP Brandon.

Firstly well done to the track staff as it had been a Hot day and there was little or no dust to contend with, secondly I enjoyed the meeting with some good racing mainly provided by Josh Pickering who was undoubtebly man of the meeting, I guess there are two thoughts to the result in that did Birmingham win it or Plymouth lose it ?, IMO and its only my opinion Plymouth lost it and here why I think that; Ht 4 Morley given as fell when it should have been all 4 back and Morley was good for a point in that race, Ht 13 Nicholls Ef when good for at least a point in that race thats my reasoning in my opinion, now the riders, I have to admit to being disappointed with the performance of Alfie Bowtell and Palm Toft, Ben Morley had whats best described as an up and down meeting, Scott was always in the mix of things, and Ben Barker couldnt really have done much more, Hans Andersson was steady, For the Brummies, As Iv already said Josh Pickering was man of the meeting, Ricky Wells aint a No1 whoever he rides for, Stefan rode well for his 8 points, and Sedgy was poor and seems to be a gating tart, James Shanes scored half decent but nowt more than he should have, Ashley scored half a dozen but hasnt really kicked on over the past few seasons. The crowd I would estimate as around 600 or 700 if Im being generous this on a lovely summers evening made up of aprox 250/300 in the upstairs bar and the remainder outside and downstairs, I and my better half availed myself of the offer to Cradley/Coventry fans but we simply couldnt justify 2 of us paying full price for a nights Speedway especially as she isnt really interested but came along as we had been in Town earlier and agreed I would go with her if she would come with me, so I guess £20 for the 2 of us, which from Brums perspective this Is better than full price for 1. Junction 7 being closed on the way home was a pain in the backside which meant going on to Walsall to get back to Cradley Heath (as if Petrol aint expensive enough) had I have known I would have gone the alternative route past the Baggies ground. Let me explain why 2 of us paying full price cant be justified by us, The wife wanted to eat at a particular restaurant in Town (Brum) drove to the Hawthorns Tram and parked up, return Tram fare for 2 = £8-20, Food for 2 = £26-00 (included 10% discount for cash), entrance to Speedway x 2 = £20-00 plus 2 x J20,s and whatever fuel we used getting there and back so all in all thats about £60 ish which is fair enough for an evening out, but if we paid full price for the Speedway that would have pushed it up to around £80 which some might say is fine but thats our weeks budget for entertainment so it comes down to personal choice, and when the footy season starts that usually gets the budget.

As a Wolves football supporter I can tell you that you are way off the mark when you say that they have gaps in the stadium for home games, the only gaps you will see are the gaps between the 4 stands or a few gaps separating home and away fans, I think maybe a 2/3 home games didnt sell out last season, but back to Speedway the Sport itself has a problem in attracting any new blood at all, and its having big problems retaining what little support it still has and having a poor team doesnt help, the Brummies are falling down on all three counts, its a chicken and egg situation for them with regards Team strength invest in the team costs money dont invest support dwindles, I will say again Birmingham has a history of not supporting poor teams.. which brings us back to the Chicken and Egg.

Sorry I have to disagree with your football comparison, Villa can fill there ground week in week out, Birmingham City are the equivelant of Brummies Speedway poorly run for seasons mainly due to lack of investment build a succesful Team and people will come to watch, T20 has had money thrown at it and so have the facilities, County cricket has fewer spectators than Speedway, whats the answer for Speedway ?, That I have no idea except 1 man and his bike for hire (Doubling up) is NOT the answer a bit more in the way of promotion/presentation might help but at the end of the day people pay/want to be entertained and Speedway is obviously failing in that.

Having a proper No1 would help, but it seems a rider similar to Nicolai Klindt who was rumoured to have wanted a UK Team was either unwanted or unaffordable, there is no doubt in my mind Nicolai would have strengthened the Brummies when he was available, who is out there now Iv no idea.

I think you are being harsh here mate, look higher up in the Team 3 Heat Leaders 3 wins between them tonight thats simply not good enough, Brum wont finish bottom but only because Newcastle are worse.

No need for Greyhound racing to have spectators, they make there money from streaming to the shops and online, so no need for a nice plush stand and staff on minimum wages selling expensive warm beer and over priced fast food.

In the past at Monmore Track work has taken place between Greyhound races is this no longer the case ?.

Yes its actually the captain that mows the lawn and uses the same sit on mower for speedway.

Why whats changed ?, except Brum have won.

Exactly what happened to Cradley, albeit the local authority did NOT give planning permission but the developers appealed (which is yet another string to there bow) and won, there is nothing further that can be done you cant appeal against the appeal decision so there is usually only going to be one winner, and its mostly the one with deepest pockets.

Honesty wouldnt go amiss.

Im surprised your still here .

Oh dear, The Brummies continue to shoot themselves in the foot one PR disaster after another, I hope the consortium have deep pockets because they are certainly going to need long arms if they continue in this vein, that 1000 per meeting has today got further away..

Im led to believe those Lorry Like Trailers which can be seen in the Car Park are supposed to be the new stand, but as I say they look more like Lorry Trailers..

The modular type buildings down near where the old car park was are the new stand , though it looks to me that they are already dropping apart.

WMs Mike Taylor covering the match which is definately on.

As I see it a riders job is to win races or at the very least to beat his opposite number, a managers job is to make sure his team wins then to make sure the opposition takes no league points, surely thats what the Sport is all about it is after all a competitive Sport if not then there is no point in competing, instead we should just play tiddly winks.

Call that watering ?, 1 lap around the outside of the Track that was it, the riders dont even use the outside line that was watered so what was the point?, Track very bumpy in places and overtaking at a premium Leicester were easy winners and apart from Wright Redcar were disappointing.

Im afraid that by following the BSPL refund policy the club have shot themselves in the foot, it has/will been a PR disaster, somehow the promotion need to make sure incidents of this nature cant happen again, but how to entice disgruntled supporters back through the gates is an entirely different proposition, I almost went to the meeting against Berwick luckily I didnt and I will be very reluctant to attend any meeting that has minimal medical cover in the future, not only at Birmingham.

Just said on WM news Josh has a broken leg, speedy recovery Josh.

Again it seems Speedway is intent on shooting itself in the foot, through a combination of things most of it being through its own rules, the minimum spectators that attended the meeting should be reimbursed is to attend a meeting of their choice either free or at most for a fiver on production of proof of attendance at last nights meeting, as for the Ambulance situation I am amazed that the BSPL even allow meetings to be staged with only 1 ambulance in attendance we are discussing a dangerous motorsport here not the local village fete, and surely as someone else has suggested its not beyond the realms of imagination for the BSPL to negotiate an annual fee with a private service to provide Ambulances at every official meeting the SJA instantly comes to mind as being an obvious choice, but again the BSPL fails to take a lead, I hope Josh makes a speedy recovery and Birmingham do what is right by the paying public.

Like him or loathe him he was Speedway through and through, RIP Nigel.

I have heard that the Rugby League team "Midlands Hurricanes" are hoping to use the Stadium for home games whether or not that comes to fruition we will wait and see, with regards football and relocation, I would have thought Walsall Fc would be best suited to use the Stadium for home games especially when they allegedly pay aprox £500.000 per year in rent for there current ground, though that would mean them moving the few miles from Walsall.