Nickinho

Am I alone in hating race suits?

I'm going to be controversial here but a large reason for the dwindling fortunes of British speedway is the huge demographic and cultural changes which have taken place since the 1970s. The white working class of Britain which made up the vast majority of fans in the old days has to a large extent been decimated and the cultural rituals of fathers passing down their sporting and socialising interests to their sons is pretty much a thing of the past. Football in England was saved by television and the middle class whereas football crowds in Scotland (outwith the Old Firm) have halved in the past 30 years so speedway hasn't been the only casualty. These cultural changes have not spared places of leisure like pubs either and the only reason gyms have prospered (lockdowns notwithstanding) is because they made themselves more appealing to a burgeoning middle class who favour comfort over the wind and rain. Not many people from Gen Y onwards want to stand with a pie on the terracing in the pouring rain on a Friday night to attend a speedway meeting when they could be in a warm bar watching sport on the television. The only way for speedway to survive and prosper in the future is to secure television deals, or failing that (which is likely) to delve more into online revenue through streaming etc., because with the current stadia (Belle Vue aside) crowds are not going to increase any time soon.

"This is a local thread for local people..."

What is the egg's average?

Having seen pictures of those dinghys crammed full of young military aged men from Africa and the Middle-East I'm not sure there would be enough room for him and all his equipment. Besides, salt water isn't good for speedway bikes.

The Workington Scorchers would be amazing!

They're all on Tinder.

Because the Redcar thread is dull as dishwater.

I'm pretty sure everyone would choose Wells over Ostergaard right now, especially with Ricky's very good knowledge of the Berwick and Edinburgh tracks. Letting him go to Berwick (wether or not that was the management's decision or the rider's) will definitely come back to haunt the Tigers. Ostergaard won't be anywhere near the same rider as he was but by the time the management have figured that out it will be too late to bring someone in on his starting average. Mid-table at best.

That might be because the starting average this season is 42.00 Just saying... Also, how do you work out that a 41-year-old Ostergaard who is coming back from a major back injury, an unproven Basso and Danyon Hume are better are better than Wells, Nowak and Jensen (the three who finished last season who aren't still racing for the Tigers?) 2021 season ending: Cook. Nicol. Brennan. Jensen. Wells. Bailey. Nowak. 2022 season opener: Cook. Nicol. Brennan. Basso. Ostergaard. Bailey. Hume. You're having a laugh

The times i stumble into work late during the Christmas period?

I'm not a Tigers fan nor a Poole fan, i travel the north of the UK taking in many meetings and my memory isn't the best. Should i remember every race i see? And Basso is no heat leader and never will be. That Poole fan was probably on the mulled wine this Christmas. Btw, Cook looked pretty disinterested in racing for the Tigers towards the end of the season. He didn't look the same rider and he was horrendous at Armadale in the semi-final of the play-offs. I can only forsee a mid-table finish for Glasgow in 2022 because apart from Tom Brennan the team doesn't have much (what the Yanks call) 'upside'.

I still believe he's overrated regardless of averages. Do you honestly believe he made a big difference to Poole's results over the course of the season? Were Poole doing badly before he turned up?

I was there. He came in for someone (i've forgotten which rider) who was excluded and scored 3 in the opening heat. If memory serves me correctly he went on to score a whopping 3 points from his next 4 rides. Big deal.

I meant to say 5.88. Over 8 meetings. And some meetings he barely turned up. Looked like a reserve with a good understanding of the Poole track which upped his average considerably. That's all. We'll see next season though won't we. I predict he will end up at reserve along with old man Ostergaard as Bailey is a better prospect.

Keheler's average was 4.06 at season's end and Basso's was 5.00. Huge difference right! You Tigers fans are delusional about Basso and your team is nowhere near good enough to lift the title. Just saying

So?

By the time April comes around Nicola Krankie will have shut the border and banned all spectator sport due to a new Covid variant which causes a mild bout of hiccoughs so it's extremely unlikely you'll be seeing any speedway north of the border next season the way things are going.

The glasses of Redcar fans are definitely half full. I bet even if Woffindon, Bewley, Fricke, Sajfutdinov, Lindgren, Janowski and Laguta all signed for the Bears the Redcar faithful would still be going around the town with their sandwich boards proclaiming the end is nigh.

Yep, Worrall, King and that Aussie guy, can't remember his name, Sheen, Scleen, Shlide or something like that, they were the 'top heavy' guys you speak of, they were rubbish all season. Barely made a difference... And the two midseason changes were practically like for like so I'm not quite sure where you were going with that statement.

I disagree. Perhaps they just like a bit of tribal banter. Nobody really likes seeing clubs go to the wall whatever they say. I think it's completely over the top to say that they should be kicked off the forum.

Cook. Basso. Brennan. Nicol. Ostergaard. Bailey. Hume.

I've just put in an offer. Hopefully my Christmas double-dunt will put me in pole position.

Are you serious?? They're birds of a feather. Name me one thing Sturgeon and her hubby did differently from the clowns down south (apart from locking Scotland down even harder than England - with no discernible results - and smashing the economy even more). And 'posh boys'? Lol. You think the likes of Nicola Sturgeon and Patrick Harvey were born in the ghetto? Don't be fooled by the "my mother was a seamstress" rhetoric from the likes of Labour and the SNP. They genuinely hate the working class.

Poole looked the strongest last season 'on paper' and they walked away with two trophys at season's end. Just saying.