heathen52

If Laguta is available NT simply has to sign him, okay he may cost a few bob but without a Top class No1 it will cost Nigel a lot more than what he may think, being without a true No1 will impact on his gates a lot more than paying what Artem will cost, Laguta riding for the Brummies against Sayfutdinov, Doyle, Bewley, Holder and the like should certainly create interest and bring people through the gates. Nigel says he is in no rush to complete the Team well in my opinion he ought to be, this will then give them time to get other things sorted out such as sponsorship deals and having a former World/GP Champion on board will be a good starting point, being the second city team may well have some drawbacks with potential supporters having other plenty of choices for there leisure pound, but it also gives the Brummies more opportunity to get some big name sponsors on board that wish to be associated with World Champions, his landlord and his businesses would be someone as an example that they could possibly target, another area could be house builders who are generally awash with cash etc etc. Incidentally I noticed in Nigel's new year message that while he mentioned Laurence, Chris (assistant manager) and himself being involved in deciding the No1 and No5 he did NOT mention Sam Ermolenko (Team manager) which I thought was rather strange, my advice for what it's worth (probably nowt) is to pull your respective fingers out get the team signed up then you can concentrate on getting potential sponsors on board, Good luck in 2024.

Happy New Year to Speedway fans everywhere, and may we at Cradley Heath finally get a breakthrough in our search for a new home in 2024..

Whilst I agree it is not simple as picking up a phone and signing riders it seems to be an issue that Birmingham have had in recent seasons (I seem to recall a horse saying riders are phoning up wanting to ride for Brum then the same horse said something along the lines of if Bartosz became available money wouldn't be an issue) maybe it's the other horse (for whatever reason) that has a problem persuading top class riders to sign for Birmingham, after all Oxford who joined the Premiership at the same time as the Brummies did not seem to have a problem signing riders and announced there Team weeks ago.

It seems to have gone quiet with regards signings that have been made but not yet announced and rumoured signings, I cannot for the life of me see what advantage the holding back of announcements has, it certainly won't help them sell more season tickets in fact it probably has the opposite effect. I will assume therefore that they have NOT actually signed the top two riders that they badly need, they have 17.59 points available for these two riders and if they don.t use most of that up then it won't matter how many season tickets they sell. I see many comments about Birmingham having the strongest bottom four in the PL, well I'm sorry but that won't get them off the bottom of the League and won't put bums on seats. Laguta simply has to be persuaded to sign as No1 along with another decent rider at No5 that would mean they should be strong at Home and more competitive away from home, yes I have read the comments about Laguta picking and choosing his meetings but basically beggars cannot be choosers and Brum need someone of Laguta's ability.

Yes agreed with everything you say, I know the outside viewing does not help where there is a distinct lack of atmosphere, but people will put up with some of the issues if they have a winning team, if not ( take me as an example as a neutral) I think why bother Brum will lose anyway.

The location of the Stadium is not the issue it's the congestion in the PB area and local Motorway network that is the nightmare, as an example from Cradley Heath the shortest route is about 11 miles via Blackheath & M5 Jct 2 along M5 to Jct 1 which is now notorius for Traffic delays, then past the Hawthorns (WBA) to Island road, Hamstead Hill, Rocky Lane to the A34 in PB, that route can take anything from 35 minutes to over an hour. The second route about 13 miles again Takes you to the M5 Jct 2 but this time continue to the M6 south at Jct 8 and leave immediately at Jct 7 for the A34 down to Perry Barr this again can take anything from 30 minutes to over an hour depending on Traffic, there are ways to Perry Barr that do not use the Motorway but at 6-00pm of an evening it's not really any quicker, yes shorter maybe but lot's of stop start driving if you fancy that after a day's graft. It has been suggested that it would be a help if Birmingham could stage some home meetings on Bank Holiday mondays to help with traffic congestion.

Someone who was supposedly in the know said a rider announcement last Wednesday which there was (Zach Cook) and another this Wednesday ???? only just over an hour left, I guess Nigel want's to keep the announcement back until Christmas eve.

I agree the signed riders are not the weakest in the League, but if 1 & 5 are not double figure scorers then where will the wins come from ?, lets not forget if Birmingham are not competitive this will impact not only on Birmingham's crowds but on other Teams crowds when the Brummies are visiting.

Competitive! Yes in the Championship, in the Premiership they will be cannon fodder for the big guns, and the supporters won't be wasting hard earned money watching them lose most weeks at Perry Barr, a long hard season ahead unless Lindgren or/and Laguta can be persuaded to sign.

As we someone else said earlier in the topic, one rider to be announced on Wednesday gone which it was Zach Cook, another will be announced next Wednesday which will probably be Rory Schlein, It's the Club itself creating this guessing game by delaying these announcements, What we all want to know and where the guessing comes in is who will be the No1 and second heat leader these two riders will basically make or break Birmingham's season, plenty of choices out there but getting them to sign is a different kettle of fish, I personally think the No1 has to be a top GP rider, and the 2nd Heat leader has to be a rider that can bang in double figures at home week in week out as a minimum.

Yeah someone connected said it was'nt Freddie that said no, it was someone else that did'nt want him to ride in the Uk.

I heard previously that Freddie turned them down, so if that still stand's then it has to be Laguta and Pawlicki Jnr which them leaves Schlein or Lampart if its Schlein then Cook starts the season at reserve, if its Lampart then he will start the season at reserve. If Brum have not signed a genuine No1 with a good back up second Heat leader then they are wasting there time and money being in the PL.

The worry is that so far Brum have announced a decent team of Championship riders but Brum are now in the Premiership.

You do realise that if that's the team the combined average will be some 5+ points under the limit, Pawlicki Bros last averages combined I reckon were 12.32 Piotr last rode for Wolves average was 7.32. Pawlicki senior Rode for Coventry way back on an assessed average so 5.0. Lampart will be 5.0 and Cook is 5.10.

I would go all out to sign Artem Laguta as No1, then take it from there.

I know Laurence reads what's on here not so sure about Nigel, so far Brum have announced 2 inexperienced Team Managers, a good RS a good young improving British rider Brennan, and a steady 2nd string come 3rd heat leader in Worrall with probably Zach Cook (reserve) to come, now lets be honest so far that's a half decent Championship Team, but the crunch will be who the 3 other riders are, I suggest Laurence and Nigel take a look at the 2024 predictions topic, granted we don't yet know the full Birmingham Team but no-one I repeat no-one has predicted anything other than the wooden spoon for Birmingham, can SE and Co prove them all wrong ?, assuming Zach is the 4th rider that leaves Birmingham with 22.59 for three riders, if and I say if it's Zagar he is in on a 7.20 that leaves 15.39 for 2 riders, It will take more than Pawlicki (7.32) and Zagar to make Brum competitive.

Considering you are usually one of the most positive Brummie fans, that does'nt bode well.

While I am hoping the Brummies will have a decent season and Zach Cook will be rider No4 then I still have hope for them, if however Zagar comes in at No1 then not only will Brum be last to announce the whole team, they will be last in the League and get Hammered in there very first home meeting against Sheffield, I will wait and see what the rest of the team is, but if it as rumoured then it's going to be a long long season and Nigel needs to be prepared to lose a lot more than he has lost so far..

Whoever is announced tonight Steve Worrall and Zach Cook will be guaranteed, just remains to be seen who the other 3 riders are, and the new Team manager will he be Santa for the night ?.

I'm not a Brummie fan, but my observation over the years has been give the fans a winning team and they will come and watch, but the opposite also applies in that they won't pay good money to watch the team get turned over week after week. The mistake Nigel may be making again is under estimating the role of a manager (Laurence is not the man) he should already have appointed a Team manager who could then have built his own Team, asking a manager to manage another persons team is not easy, yes we know it's not going to be Laurence as TM but Nigel should have made the appointment by now.

I have been to both tracks on many occasions, Did I say anything about the shape?, what I said was I have seen better racing at Monmore, Perry Barr should produce better racing but it does not for a variety of reasons, and I IMO gave a few of those reasons, I forgot to add that over the years Monmore had very good track curators. The real question should be why does a Track with such a decent shape not produce good racing and why have riders shall we say not been overly impressed with the track over the past few years.

Yes, but it aint and has'nt been.

I have watched lots of meetings at Monmore and Perry Barr and in my opinion the better racing has been at Monmore, for whatever reason Perry Barr does not lend itself to overtaking except on the odd occasion, whether it's down to track prep, or maintenance I don;t know but the Monmore track has had far more time and money spent on it than Perry Barr has, one of the reasons being that Perry Barr is limited by access issues and another would be lack of money plus inferior equipment, another from reading comments are riders don;t know what to expect from one meeting to another, I read Nigel intends to spend time on the track in the close season, it not only needs time spent but money and for goodness sake lets see more banking on the bends..

That leaves 22 ish for the last three, 2 x 8 pointers (Dudek & Laguta) and a 6 ish could be Richard Lawson, That would be my Team, but I,m not Nigel Tolley . 1. Dudek 2. Brennan 3. Laguta 4. Worrall 5. Lawson 6. Z.Cook 7. Flint I think with the british reduction Dudek and Laguta would just about fit, and that would probably be good enough to get the Brummies in to the play off's but would it Bankrupt NT ?. It's a good mix of 2 genuine top enders, 2 middle order come 3rd heat leaders, and 3 improvers in Brennan, Cook and Flint.

Yep, have to say I agree with you about those four, it's the main three where the Brummies will sink or swim, I don't see Pawlicki at No1 being a lifesaver it has to be a top top rider, I know for a fact Nigel or whoever has approached fast Freddie and I don't mean allegedly.