bellevueace

Course i went i was talking about the quality of the racing some on here have mentioned, yes the result was superb, and the atmosphere was good, i was replying as to the actual racing product comment. Personally the quality didnt bother me tonight but for the neutral watching on TV it was gate and go.

Not a great meeting at all but the result gives us a good chance, pity we were denied heat 15 as i think we could have increased that lead. Theres no doubt Swindon will be far better next week and could turn this around, Belle Vue are going to have to be solid all the way through the order next week as no doubt the Robins are going to come flying out of the blocks right from the off and 14 points can quickly be whittled away. If we cant defend a 14 point lead we dont deserve to progress.

The bikes have got more and more powerful but the tracks are exactly the same sizes as they were 50+ years ago so even with air fences there are going to be more crashes, do we really need so much speed that the bikes of today produce to enjoy exciting speedway? I dont think so, maybe less speed and more old fashioned track craft would see less serious injuries and the air fences would perhaps be more effective?

No doubt the professional offendees who go out of their way to be offended on everyones behalf will soon jump onto some other ludicrous target, weve had ba ba blacksheep etc, these left wing morons will find offence with anything and everything. A friend of mine who actually is black himself stated these people who get offended on his behalf are actually more offensive than the thing they are complaining about. He sees nothing wrong with the Rebels body colour and heres one for the offendees, he had never even likened it to slavery, racism, or any other lefty ist or ism. Political correctness should be consigned to the bin where it belongs, funny how things that could be offensive to the majority are always overlooked.

I think Mark Lemon can take some credit for instilling that bit of fight that has been missing over recent seasons, i think he will shape up into a good manager.

So why open the turnstiles?

Stopped raining but grey and overcast, someone at the track has texted meeting on that's as much that I know at the moment.

Defo the correct decision.

Thought Belle Vue were riding? Too many matches nowadays with teams full of guests, a complete joke, at least its saved my petrol money and other expenses, I certainly wont be making the effort to support less than half a team.

If Cardiff was 40,000 then I am mistaken but that is still half the stadium empty, I always thought the attendance was around the 33,000 mark. Given that in the seventies we had crowds of 90,000 to 1000,000 (Wembley, Katowice) etc and that without all the BSI/Sky promotional propaganda it shows how the popularity of the sport has fallen along with the product itself. Even with the GP circus going into major cities and arenas those figures will not even begin to be challenged again, but the fare served up is also nothing like what it needs to be to fill up the stadia, that we have 5,900 in Finland is a joke for a world championship event.

And to think matt ford was saying winning the league this season would be a bigger achievement than Belle Vue winning the treble in the early seventies. Firstly in those days there was 18 home and away league matches against similar strength sides all with three real heat leaders in the world class bracket, every match counted, any bad start and you were history, there was no manipulation of the rules, I remember going to Swindon around 1970 and Soren Sjosten was riding in a world championship event in Poland so the aces brought in some young kid called Peter Collins as replacement, no underhand dodgy dealings to strengthen the side horses for courses fashion, PC always hated Somerton Park and in 1977 admitted to giving the meeting a miss, we rode a rider short, no option to bring in a rider who went better round Newport. Today teams can manipulate their line ups to suit come the end of season play offs when the team finishing 4th can actually become league champions, no second chances in those days. Given all the manipulations of the rules and the regular season being just a qualifying round in effect it is easier to win the league in modern times and all the ducking and diving just makes it more manageable.

Cardiff has never got near 45,000 at best probably 12,000 under that figure, most GP,s excluding the opening farce tend to have crowds that would fit into existing stadia, Finland didn't even manage 6.000 and as for Warsaw cant see the figure for the opener this season being replicated, its ok going into great stadia like Cardiff but when they are half empty it dosent add to the experience. How ironic that PC won his world title in front of 100,000 nearly 40 years ago.

No wonder even the hardcore fans are now starting to vote with their feet, the sport really is a joke at EL level.

For me it points to something within the infrastructure of the club that isn't right, for teams and riders to consistently perform below their best when pulling on the Aces bib is not just coincidence. Perhaps its within the management structure? If so a new stadium will not rectify it as the problem will just be transferred to our new home. There really appears to be something wrong deep seated within the club.

Ive read your previous posts where you put a large portion of blame at the riders door and agree with you, I can see the riders eventually biting the hand that feeds them much to their own detriment.

Glad ive not forked out on Cardiff yet think im going to wait a while and see how we go from here. What with league speedway seemingly having guests or r/r for every fixture and now the sports showpiece decending into farce this sport continues to shoot itself in the foot, its certainly not the sport that i was brought up on

The reserves could just swing this coventry,s way

Bringing in Stead was a poor decision, i expected nothing and so far he,s not disappointed, he should have stuck to PL only where hes banging in the big scores.

I was going to this meeting as well until yet again we have a decimated team and even have to have a guest manager. It appears nigh on every meeting around the country nowadays goes ahead with either a guest/s and/or R/R, the sport seems hell bent on alienating the few diehards left that actually still pay to go to tracks, we,ve not even had a home meeting yet and already i feel disallusioned and fed up with it all, thats the first time in 47 years ive ever felt like that, ourselves and Swindon might have brand new stadiums for next season at this rate there will be no one to fill them the so called Elite is anything but, mind looking on the bright side i saved a stack of money.

Shocking from Zagar there can be no excuse for a rider of his undoubted ability, i was one of those not celebrating the signing of Stead and am not suprised with his showing think he will come up short for us and as for Cooke he,s reached as far as he is going and was another i wouldnt have had back, early days but shaping up like so many of our past seasons...good on paper woeful on track.

Dosent take away the fact Swindon also proposed a new stadium if I remember rightly as part of a new housing development given which there would be no problems with planning, not even a hint of it on the horizon so not much difference at all is there? No doubt when the BV stadium is complete the naysayers having been proven wrong will no doubt find much to still be negative about, cant be worse than KL though can it? As for people now getting worked up about the national stadium tag I think that might have come about because the promotion have stated they want to use the facility for the good of british speedway in bringing through young british talent that every club can benefit from not just belle vue, speedway has been crying out for such a centre, certain clubs like scunny for example have done a great job with youth speedway buy this will be on another level, surely people want GB to be competitive again? Anything that gives us an opportunity to promote young riders should be encouraged not constantly dissed

Theres no doubt this has been a very long drawn out process which these dealings with local councils tend to be, what i dont understand is we have had many many negative posters over the years stating this would not happen, strangely the same naysayers have been quiet as regards to swindons propsed new stadium of which we have heard nothing in what seems an eternity, was this just an anti BV thing or are we going to have all the negativity now switching to swindon?

Be great to see Oxford return, always enjoyed visits there, would be good to attend a meeting at Cowley again.

you never know if you are going to get a full season, on more than one occasion seasons have finished short with incomplete fixtures.