NJC71

Would assume a rider doubling up will ride for the club who owns his contract which is nearly always the top league club. But agree that would be so naff in a play-off match. Promotion and relegation always feels a gimic. The top league club will win 99 times out of 100. If they are serious about promotion and relegation then don't have a play-off. Bottom team down, top team up end of.

I don't think speedway in this country would die without an Elite League. But the Elite League will die if it continues in it's current format. It's been dying a slow death since the Grand Prix series was introduced. Most of the top stars have departed, those that remain are too few in numbers and not spread equally among the EL clubs. We also have clubs not able to run at weekends because those riders are absent or running without them which results in the frequent use of guests and r/r. Throw in the total lack of consistency in the fixture list, some teams going weeks and weeks without fixtures and then running multiple fuxtures in short periods and it's no wonder so many clubs are struggling. And why? To accompdate half a dozen GP riders? There are perhaps 2 or 3 EL clubs and maybe a couple in the PL who have wealthy backers or sponsors who will no doubt push for higher points limits and the retention of the current system but there are many more clubs at both levels who are hemorrhaging cash and living way beyond their means trying to keep up. The current model is broken and has been for many years. Clubs should be budgeting on worse case scenarios in terms of crowd levels and only spending what they can afford. If that means two leagues at PL and NL standard then so be it.

I don't know why any club would be looking to move to the EL. Such a fragmented fixture list, the total lack of heat leaders and general difficulty of putting a competitive team together plus the increased costs. Why would any club take that risk for the paltry sky money? What good has it done for Leicester? Every year we have the same issues. Surely it's time to stop hanging on to these riders, mechanics et al that the vast majority of clubs in this country just can't afford and move to one PL standard league with a north/south devide with national play offs and a national cup competition. There are very few genuine true EL standard riders still competing. Take out Holder, Zagar, Lindgren, Jonsson, Kasprzak & Iversen, the rest are no better than PL heat leaders (many still ride PL). So why not just admit we can't afford those riders and go to one league with a 42.5 points limit and those that can't afford it revert to a much stronger NL.

Well what an anti-climax that was. Three hours of pain for Diamonds fans with the meeting pretty much over after heat 3 - which took an hour to get to. It was one of those nights where you hope there were no first timers there. Track looked like a ploughed field on the outside which clearly caused problems early on and probably did for Kus when he was forced into it defending against Rene. A series of other falls, mostly for Diamonds riders meant lengthy delay after lengthy delay. Was seriously losing the will to live by the end. I know there were lots of crashes tonight and the riders wellbeing is obviously the main priority but I still think Newcastle could brush up on the running of these meetings and get them done in much quicker times, particulalrly when it's freezing like tonight. For example there was obviously a lengthy delay after Matty's fall but we then have two more heats and another delay for track grading. Why not grade the track during the delay for the crash so we can just get on with it? At least we didn't have an interval - that would have been the final straw. With no Kus the Diamonds were obviously up against it. What we certainly couldn't afford was an abject display from Palovaara. That's too often he's turned up with dud motors for my liking. The boy is a very good rider when he's gating well and has a decent bike under him, but turning up with poor equipment and then just seemingly going through the motions in a Cup final is not good enough. Thankfully Ashley Morris got stuck in big style to at least help us get a draw on the night despite an awful crash himself. Lots of luck for the Diamonds tonight and most of it bad but that's speedway. As it happens Glasgow were nothing special on the night with none of their top four looking particularly quick but with the Diamonds having so many problems they didn't really need to be. With r/r for Kus tomorrow and the presence of Sissis at reserve I can't see anything other than a 50+/30+ home win in the second leg but you never know. Victor will certainly need to ride a hell of a lot better than tonight for us to have any chance. Shame that such a good season ended in such circumstances. At least we protected that unbeaten home record. There's always next year.

Glasgow built a team that was very top heavy. As it happens the bottom three have performed very well for most of the season but seem to have run out of steam at the key time. Still if they have Sissis as a guest that may not be such an issue over the weekend, certainly on Monday anyway.

Hope Garcia is ok but if he is out for the weekend which sounds likely, this could be a whole lot harder for the Diamonds. Safe to assume Sissis will be the guest which if he repeats his performance tonight could be a big problem for the Diamonds in the second leg......

Don't forget Newcastle were without Lambert & Rose for the league match at Brough. Fisher & Sisis weren't great replacements so I expect us to be stronger opposition this time. Glasgow have a few riders who can score anything from 15 to 5 here. Richie, Lawson, Summers and Rene all come into that category. Track tends to be very slick this time of year so gating will be crucial.

Lewis Rose would benefit from moving!! Why? Why wouldn't anybody want Lewis Rose? Lewis was fabulous until his injury both home and away riding well above his average. His signing will surely be a priority for Newcastle as he's a rider on the up with potential to significantly increase his average. As well as Ashley Morris has done I still think we would have won the league had Lewis not been injured.

Good win with no Kus and a not fully fit Lindgren. Lambert & Worrall were in a different league tonight - miles ahead of anybody. Hopefully they'll ride like that in the final as they'll take some beating if they do. Should be a cracking final. Kennett was poor again tonight. Hard to understand how a rider can score 14 points in the ELRC and then ride as poorly as that in a PL match just 24 hours later. Quite impressed with Cameron Heeps though. Might be one to keep in mind for the Diamonds.

Can't see any of them dropping the PL unless they have reliable contracts abroad.

You said the choice of guest was poor not the scheduling of the fixture. As ever when prople criticise the choice of guest (normally after the event) they need to come up with alternatives. In this instance Robson looked the best option. As for the scheduling, I made the point last week that I thought we had possibly been complacent but if it was not possible to get Rye House to travel to Brough last weekend then I guess there were no options. Moving to Monday would have meant no Worrall.

I never understand the comment about going EL 'full time'. Worrall & Lambert already ride full time EL. Unless they get reliable Polish contracts my guess is they will want to ride in the PL while they can. The EL on it's own certainly wouldn't be enough. Robert rides in Sweden so he might be slightly different but I''m not aware of any foreign contracts Steve has. Certainly couldn't blame either if they tried to better themselves by going down that road but it's easier said than done as Cook & Richie have found out.

The choice of Robson last week was not poor he just rode badly. We were not allowed guests from the other play-off teams so the choices were very limited. Easy to be wise after the event but basically we were pickkng from the likes of Auty, Ostergaard, Doolan, Jorgensen etc. I would have gone for Robbo every time from that list he just had a bad night.

Well we have had two quality guests to replace Lambert this week. 7 points from 8 rides. Awesome. Unlucky with the Kus engine failure and Lindgren withdrawing. Hope Matty can get his bike sorted and Ludde is fit to ride tomorrow. Considering all of that a 4 point deficit is a great result. Worrall had to stand up and dig so big style and much better from Victor. Big up to Ashley though - a tie saving performance. Wasn't massively keen when we signed him but to be fair he has done the job and a bit more. Should complete the job tomorrow but after last week you never know.

There were very few options. No guests can be used from play-off teams so only riders from Scunthorpe, Berwick, Workington, Redcar, Plymouth and Peterborough could be considered. Wells was the obvious one but seemingly Sheffield were quicker off the mark there, so of those teams riders Robbo was probably the best choice. Kyle Newman or maybe Lasse Bjerre would have been others to think about but Robbo was decent when Rye House were last here. Maybe lack of meetings and his usual poor gating let him down tonight.

Totally agree. Not Sheffield's fault. Newcastle agreed to the fixture knowing that riders would be missing and guests would make them stronger. It isn't great but to be fair the rider who had the biggest impact on the night was Howarth not the guests. As you say none of this should have mattered. Newcastle were strong enough to get the job done but just didn't perform.

I was a bit concerned tonight. Although we've still been winning well at home, there have been some warning signs recently with Victor not seeming to be able to find the right set up and Lindgren also looking a little down on pace. Worrall has also not been quite as consistent out of the starts in recent weeks. Throw in the absence of the in-form Lambert and the limited choice of guests and the presence of Wells, Branford and Kerr who as a trio looked stronger than Stead, Bates and particularly Berge and then a close contest looked possible. As it was the track was a gaters paradise (as they tend to be at this time of year) and Sheffield simply left the Diamonds at the taps time and time again. Even Kus, who has been flying out of the starts, couldn't get out tonight and the writing looked on the wall early on. In those conditions Robson was always likely to struggle and so it proved with his 5 points a paltry return for Lambert. No complaints from me about the guests. We've had to use a lot of guests ourselves on our travels this year so we can hardly complain. My only question would be were the promotion a little complacent here? Interesting that Wells was guesting for Sheffield when he could have been guesting for us. Presumably Sheffield got there first? Or maybe we just assumed we'd win anyway. We also agreed to this match knowing Sheffield would be missing riders who struggle here and guests would probably make them stronger. Appreciate that we are running out of time but arguably we would have more chance if this meeting had been held tomorrow night as Sheffield would have been weaker but again perhaps we thought victory was a formality. Whatever we should have done the job here regardless but on the night we were a pale shadow of the team we've been all season. A real shame that the riders didn't perform on the crucial night having been so consistently good all year. Congratulations to Sheffield. Unfortunately this was a great result for Glasgow. At full strength (with Lambert and with Victor on the right bike from the start of the night) I still think we could have given Glasgow a run for their money but I can't see Sheffield getting anywhere near them. Of course we might still get to meet Glasgow in the Cup Final but we'll have to be a lot sharper than we were tonight for that to happen.

Sheffield have more than capable guests and r/r for Stead makes them stronger. If Howarth rides like he did the last time and Wells has one of his good Brough nights this could be closer than people think.

Only options would appear to be Stuart Robson or maybe Kyle Newman. I would go Robson, rider replacement looks too risky. Sheffield's guests make them stronger.

One or two iffy displays but happy with 42. Should be more than enough. Top display from Ruthless.

It's a bit harsh to say he was entirely to blame for us not winning the league though. Had he not ridden so well in the majority of the other meetings we probably wouldn't have been in contention anyway. I did a few away meetings that season and can remember him top scoring at Glasgow in a narrow defeat and also riding well at Edinburgh in an away win.

I was at Exeter that night as I was on holiday down south. Davey Watt didn't put any effort in (not sure if he actually finished a race) but the whole team were awful. From memory, Dickie Juul won heat 2 but just about every other race was a 5-1. I think even KB had a nightmare. Davey Watt actually rode very well in the majority of meetings that year yet he only seems to be remembered for Exeter and Stoke away.

Iffy from the Diamonds. Lindgren had a shocker and Worrall also poor. Not sure why Phillips was in heat 14 when a point was still possible. Ipswich won't win the play-offs. We were poor tonight but still managed 41. That might still be enough over 2 legs. Somerset & Glasgow are also far stronger.

What an earth is up with Lindgren tonight. 0 from 3? He has been so consistent this season too.

Steve is already full time EL.