roo

how does heatleaders with five point averages suggest a stronger product when teams used to have third heat leaders on 7+ averages

Oh how the Elite League has crumbled. Gone are the days of world class teams and brilliant heat leaders. Now, all we see is one decent rider per team, one back-up averaging what a third heatleader should be, three riders on mid/weak second string averages and the two reserves.

i'll give you a tenner for one and some shiny football stickers?

bloody hell, this could get messy.

it is, its a stupid, exploitable rule. there wasnt much wrong with the old tac sub system. the golden double was best

cant be as bad as what tattum was at stoke when they were getting beat, done more laps than a formula one race

hopefully the big mouthed tigers promotion will be a bit more sheepish at derwent park on saturday - they were quoted as saying on the comets website that they were confident of winning as derwent park as well as getting the win at home. an almighty scare and nearly facial egg situation. hopefully the comets can back this up on saturday.

if he didnt look after them, then that adds up to why no sponsor backed him with new machinery to back up the talent he had. we used to say week in week out if he had the machinery he would've had a point or two more on his average than he did, but that probably adds up to why he never.

thoroughly hope things go well for the new promotion, they have some very good ideas and hopefully will pay off form a business point of view as well. the season ticket initiative is a great one, with away fans getting reduced admission if they produce a season ticket. sounds like they're trying to get the rest of the league on board which would be an excellent idea. with the amount of struggling clubs around these days, promotions need to work together and get the numbers through the gates, not spite each other.

pricing is a big part of the financing and whatnot, where figures will be used to project income and a break even points. it doesnt really make financial sense to alter the budget in hope that it will have a massive effect on the crowd. if people dont want to watch guests, i don't think reducing the price to 7.50 for one week will put 800 back on the crowd. 15 x 500 people equals 7,500 in taken revenue, 7.50 x 1300 equals 9,750. it would be financial suicide, considering those 800 fans would've only raised an extra 2.5k, meaning he'd still be 500 down. bare in mind this is the best case scenario, if they had reduced the admission and even an extra 500 turned up, then he'd be making the same as he did off 500 at full price. only hope in hell they'd have by dropping prices is banking on A) these extra supporters turning up, and B ) them spending money on extras such as food and drink. it would be financial suicide to try that on a dreary, wet september night with a massive rugby match the following day. to make that work, they shouldve done it during the summer, on a weekend where the weather was good, before the football season started and when workington town were away on the sunday. they could have offered an extra dimension to the product, some other attraction on or gimmick whilst also offering cheap speedway. also where there was a full team to support, this extra, one off income would go some way to cover any such rainy days in future.

read on the newspaper website that denham claims someone said they fans should only have to pay half price last weekend because the comets had three guests. what a mentality. no wonder comets fans have a reputation in certain quarters. what else could he do? sign three riders for the sake of it?

Only possible reason I can think of is that Workington played Whitehaven in the rugby the following day, big local rivalry and the game actually meant something. But 500 is still low considering back about 10-12 years ago the Comets got bigger crowds than most Elite League teams.

He is a businessman, he doesn't give a toss about the die hard Comets fans. Quite the opposite. Instead of interacting with the fans, any time his operation is criticized he reacts like an angry child. Not to mention certain cracks about his relationship with different riders. Tony Mole didn't get to many meetings which is understandable considering his base, but more often than not him and Ian Thomas gave the fans what they wanted. In this financial climate, it is a lot for fans to have to fork out, considering that Workington Town are doing well and attracting bigger crowds - not everyone can afford speedway on Saturday night and rugby on Sunday afternoon. The general consensus is that Denham does not come across as an owner that can be liked. A lot of Comets fans are stubborn and will not give their money to someone they do not like or does not listen to their opinion without threatening them with a ban from Comets meetings. I remember years ago when we would be missing out on certain riders as Mole wouldn't splash daft money, people were crying for Denham as they believed he would make us the Chelsea of the PL and creating a title winning team. Didn't quite happen, but at the same time there are a lot of other men in the area that have made fortunes through their firms, I'm sure someone local or not local would be prepared to take the team on. Problem is, Comets fans love their heroes. The priority would surely have to be for another Stoney. Someone the fans know will give all on the track but has a big personality and interaction with them off it.

What a joke that result was though. On a track that was in anyway neutral, Steve McDonald would've been nearer last than the winner. No wonder so many people have had enough with the farce that is British Speedway. A rider that is no way near the top man in the league wins the riders championship? The days of Stonehewer and Wilson in their pomp are a far cry away from what is currently on offer.