paulboy

Everyone's saying he should have played the joker after the event but it didn't look a no brainer beforehand, 2 riders who'd done nothing against Richard Lawson who's been on fire this week (although admittedly not so much for the Rebels). And Nicholls & King, who'd both run last places, would have been up against Charles Wright who'd only been beaten by a snapped chain, so anyone's to win, but we'll never know!

I think you may be right!

I'm making a day of it in Leicester and watching the T20 cricket in the afternoon before the speedway. Can anybody tell me if there is an easy bus route from Grace Road to Beaumont Park or is a taxi the best bet? I'll be leaving my car at the hotel so I can enjoy a beverage in the sunshine

The late Murray Walker???

I don't see how thinking someone is a bloody afwul commentator is having a personal agenda, nor do I believe for one second that the TV industry would pay much attention to a couple of speedway commentators. The subject's been done to death and Pearson in particular is obviously marmite. I'm not too keen on the usual 2 replies from his lovers though, either "could you do any better" (maybe if I was being paid to but I'm not) or "turn off the sound"!I think if you pay for a service you should be able to listen to it! I watch a lot of sport on TV and, in my opinion, there are very few poor commentators. Admittedly a lot of ball sports are very different to commentate on than motor sport and I'm not very keen on Huewen and the posh guy on Moto GP, but even they manage to get through a race without shouting and yelling WOOOAH whenever something happens. And I agree the guy on the Swedish coverage is so much better!!

Why fortunately? Your mate is he?

It's all about opinions, I think their commentary in the race off plummeted to many new depths!! I genuinely can't think of worse sporting commentators, with the possible exception of Jonathan Pearce on BBC football. Yet I think Natalie & Scott in the studio do a decent job!!

Does Pearson get paid for each time he shouts whoooo or get out of the way? And how can the other muppet suggest Emil should be excluded for that?

Pearson does dart too & he's no good at that either. On the whole Sky's commentators across all sports are pretty good, which makes the speedway more disappointing. If you think you need to shout to make a decent speedway commentator then good for you. I haven't seen anybody suggesting snooker style commentary!

Good point in fact most of the BBC football co-commentators were pretty dire. And Jonathan Pearce could almost be Pearson's brother! I have always been a tolerator, but last night I had to actually turn the sound down! I don't question his knowledge, he's just not very good at commentating without sounding like he's about to have a very messy accident! Tatum somtimes calms him down but more often then not they are both yelling at the screen together. Yes I know it's a difficult job, like to see me try etc etc etc and I couldn't really think of a viable alternative unless a non-speedway person was brought in.

I agree not biased, but if there is a worse sports commentator on British TV than Pearson I have yet to come across him.

Or he's just the cheapest option!

Very likely I would say

Know exactly what you mean, was planning on going to this but no point with 2 Devils missing, Newman was great last time around too!

Surely if he's a gating tart that should make for good racing as the Rebels pass him?

Ditto!!!

Unbelievable, some relatively good news in that at least speedway is still going to be shown on Sky next season and all we get is people moaning about Matt Ford again!

Certainly any Elite League club with attendances around the 1000 mark are going to struggle massively without Sky money. I don't know the ins and outs but, as far as I understand, Eastbourne (average attendance about 700) lost roughly £70,000, presumably after the Sky payout which has been quoted at £70,000 per club (I await correction!!) which means double that loss without Sky! I wouldn't imagine Eastbourne are one of the biggest payers either but, again, won't pretend to know the details. I've done some very rough sums, using my own estimates, and reckon the points money for an average home meeting must come in at around £7000. 700 people through the gates at £15 per head, which they would not all pay, comes to £8750 after VAT, so there is very little spare to cover rain offs etc. And I haven't even factored in signing on fees, flights, stadium costs etc, although do appreciate some clubs have other income streams. Anyone who thinks the Elite League can continue in its current format is living in cloud cuckoo land, I would think there are no more then a couple of clubs not losing money, although hopefully not all to the tune of £70k last season. A North/South split doesn't seem possible to me, it just doesn't work geographically and a couple of Midlands/East Anglian clubs would have to go North which I would imagine would cause further arguments. Is one big league (i.e. including all willing EL & PL clubs) the answer? It didn't really work in 1996, although the economic climate was different then, and could only stand a chance now if the top clubs were willing to share the riders around. That's a lot to ask and I can remember several occasions where it hasn't happened in the past, 1984 springs to mind when Exeter and Newcastle both made the step up but struggled to field competitive sides. Or maybe a couple of clubs step up to the EL, Sky stay on board and there is a meaningful fixture list although I don't really see how this is financially viable. Things need to be sorted soon, clubs can't start signing many riders for 2014 when they don't even know what the league structure will be. Yes, speedway is at a crossroads, who has any confidence the powers that be will get it right this time?

What a pointless, pompous, patronising post!

Yes, interviewed live at about 8.55, maybe 3 mintutes, they'd clearly got him out of bed :-)

At the risk of dragging this out for ever football commentators still have to comment on something that happens in a blink of an eye and there's plenty of them that are not much good at it! At the end of the day we all have our personal preferences, I don't rate Pearson and don't like people telling me to press the mute button so I can't hear him, it kind of ruins the whole event! Tatum I can cope with as he talks some sense and think he would be much better beside somebody else, but as the only recent option was Tony Millard I guess we're stuffed

Not sure I agree with that, just think they're the best of a bad bunch. I only have about 40 years of sport watching experience and there's very few commentators with the lack of ability of Pearson. In most sports there is at least one stand out commentator and I have rarely watched anything where shoting "wooahh" is the stock phrase used.

The same old arguments, it's a hard job, if you don't like it use the mute. I pay for the channel and would like a decent commentator to enhance my enjoyment, not one who just shouts at me, obviously too much to ask!

Brilliant racing Somerset's manager's inspiring - not!!

Couldn't agree more, he only just speaks English How did Cook get away with that flyer? Bet Rosco didn't notice it!!