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We’ve done better than most, if not all this year. The Craven is always very well attended along with our first home team meeting. We’ve made good use of the bank holidays this season which has helped offset the effect of having two expensive FIM events in town. Add in our play off participation and we are looking at around 24k-26k attendance over the season. I don’t see any team massively over or under that figure and to scoff at someone else attendance is as ridiculous as it is pointless.

You’d have to be a very unlucky team for that to happen. 😱 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_British_League_season#British_League_Knockout_Cup

That’s one of the many problems with the play offs and one I went into chapter and verse when they first came into the sport. Once the perception is planted that a fixture is less important, fans will think twice about attending. The repetitive nature of fixtures doesn’t help though as it was back in the day, you can ride local teams many times over with little impact on the gate. This was evidenced by Glasgow and Edinburgh successfully meeting ten times recently. The ONLY benefit of the play offs is the gate money two teams get (four at a push) but it’s now robbing Peter to pay Paul as all we are doing is clawing back what’s been lacking in the qualifiers. The original reason for them may come back into play if a tv deal is forthcoming as the broadcaster absolutely demands to screen the deciding fixture.

A reply well worth reading. I happen to think it would be good for the sport to have two people involved who are well versed in dealing with (one of the biggest) councils successfully enough to have a new dedicated speedway stadium in a built up area near to the city centre. By all means though, keep posting your insightful comments.

Looking at the gossip on this thread, next years team looks like Kurtz Blodorn? Brennan Lidsey Bewley Zischke? Cairns I know Richard likes what we do, but this is a tad too far imo. 🤣

It’s a shame the south stand never got finished which keeps the capacity low. It’s even more of a shame that when the owns took issue with the situation, the cartel seized the opportunity to oust them rather than back them.

Maybe do some research yourself, paying particular attention to the year you closed down mid season.

Belle Vue’s crowd for the 2nd leg semi was very good and any additional numbers had we rode the 1st leg wouldn’t have been massive. Giving Ipswich the 1st leg helped them achieve a far better crowd than if they had taken a dead rubber 2nd leg. It’s been seen through the history of the club the fickle nature of their fan base with even keen beans on here saying they are picking and choosing this season. The bigger picture here is that more money came into British Speedway with us having the 2nd leg. Richard seems like a strong ally to the cause so to assist him for the good of his business seems a no brainier. I know there is an everyone for themselves attitude but that simply won’t work due to the precarious nature of our sport in this country.

Or goggles. That happened once where a ref watched a rider throw them away whilst at the tapes but did nothing. What would possess him to do that£ Not sure which team benefited back then.

Can’t risk it. The last time we were at Owlerton in the play offs we lost a rider to injury and being us you wouldn’t bet against it happening again.

The changes to both teams brings the averages a lot closer together so it should make things interesting for the neutral. Hopefully the incredibly strong Aces can keep it close at Owlerton and don’t suffer a 22 point mauling for a second time this season. Running with 3 reserves in a play off final is not ideal but those are the breaks I guess.

Er, we couldn’t keep out original date of the 12th as it was taken from us and given to Sheffield for a home meeting against….. Belle Vue. Are you John Campbell by any chance?

Once again, what a shame for the sport and again it’s Poole. While they happily clock up another trophy, it’s done with little regard to the sport as a whole and how it looks to fans and the wider world. I’ve warned about this guy many times before and the collapse of the sport during his presence has no doubt been hastened. Old time fans, which have made up the vast majority of our fan base have old school morals and values, by and large. They do not like cheating to determine a sporting outcome and more and more have turned their back on the sport over the last quarter of a century. These fans don’t get replaced or in no way near enough numbers to compensate. Scunthorpe fans will have a feeling sometime going forward where they will think (as a sporting contest), what’s the point. Add this to a bad weather day or missing team member and the seeds are planted for them not to attend. Not good. For most teams a trophy is the cherry on top of a great year, for Ford it is a must. Whether it’s what he promises sponsors or contributes to his own self worth, winning is a must and things rarely get in his way. Speedway is now so small a sport that a man of his means is more than capable of pulling the necessary strings for success. His cheating is well documented and this is just the most recent. Fans just shrug their shoulders and say, it’s just Poole.

Once again, what a shame for the sport and again it’s Poole. While they happily clock up another trophy, it’s done with little regard to the sport as a whole and how it looks to fans and the wider world. I’ve warned about this guy many times before and the collapse of the sport during his presence has no doubt been hastened. Old time fans, which have made up the vast majority of our fan base have old school morals and values, by and large. They do not like cheating to determine a sporting outcome and more and more have turned their back on the sport over the last quarter of a century. These fans don’t get replaced or in no way near enough numbers to compensate. Scunthorpe fans will have a feeling sometime going forward where they will think (as a sporting contest), what’s the point. Add this to a bad weather day or missing team member and the seeds are planted for them not to attend. Not good. For most teams a trophy is the cherry on top of a great year, for Ford it is a must. Whether it’s what he promises sponsors or contributes to his own self worth, winning is a must and things rarely get in his way. Speedway is now so small a sport that a man of his means is more than capable of pulling the necessary strings for success. His cheating is well documented and this is just the most recent. Fans just shrug their shoulders and say, it’s just Poole.

We wouldn’t want a situation where a club develops talent by running a junior team and promotes riders from the junior to senior team and then seem to gain some kind of benefit. Your idea of having teams that don’t lift a finger for youth are given the benefit of an extra point to spend on foreign journeymen elsewhere in the team is novel. You need to run this past your owner, I’m sure he will provide an interesting response.

I’m glad Robert won though it does lessen our record a bit. Now only 6 out of the last 12 British born world champions won gold whilst an Ace.

Nobody would pick a forty year old ex Ipswich rider on a 7 point something average thinking he would improve it by nearly a point and a half - would they?

Richard made a point about the tribal nature of the Polish fans and it was something to work on over here. He’s also touch on the fact social media should be improved, both frequency and content. I know how he feels when dealing with the BSPL cartel as I get the very same with the many cartelesq members on here. We will push on though.

One thing I noticed with this photo is the lack of club colours worn by the fans. Are Belle Vue out of date sporting the various merchandising options available from the club shop? Are the days of the anorak and scarf done after nearly 100 years. I’ve never attended without my club colours and tbh quite like how we all present as a solid unit behind the lads. A tip for the witches social media team going forward is to have a photo including the riders and with some fans on their feet applauding and supporting their team to create an atmosphere within the picture. I do get that you have to get the right camera angle to present a fuller stand rather than straight on with a load of empty seats in view.

The Colts will return IF we have a developmental league. I’ve seen Colts at 6 & 7 literally wobbling at the beginning of the season but by the end they are a lot more proficient. What we can’t have and was the reason for our withdrawal this year was a situation where a junior team had a high average age than The Aces. Granted we have been addressing the average age of our squad for a number of years and it looks to be another thing Richard Coleman wants to emulate. The fact the team with the higher age, prefixes its team with the word young adds insult to injury. I have though enjoyed the junior events we have put on with over 30 heats run efficiently on sunny Sundays but I do prefer the team events. Note. This is even in a season where The Aces replaced a 27 year old (due to the rules) with 37 year old.

Clubs often don’t get the support to finance top flight racing. Only one club has maintained the level required to stay in the top league. Even Ipswich have had to drop, like 1989 or more recently in 2011, when support would only cover second division meetings. Those times though pale into insignificance when compared to 1962 when support couldn’t cover any speedway and the witches shut down completely. Sad times with the only silver lining being Peter Craven’s Ace world championship win. I’m sure Ipswich wouldn’t have wanted a barrage of criticism during their too often times of struggle so be a little more mindful when having a pop at others please.

He’s had plenty of those over the last few months. Losing two big cartel pals in Louis & Bates only to be replaced by Lyons & Lemon massively diluted the cartels power and left the door open for effective change. There’s still a stifling presence which was hinted at by Richard and his capital raising comment. Mark’s involvement in getting a new track in Northampton up and running was a big plus and the ITV televised meeting from Belle Vue needs to be rolled out at other tracks. If Richard can help us shake off those shackles then there is hope.

Terrific meeting with race after race to keep you well entertained. It was one in the eye for those that (continue) to down-sell our wonderful sport. Even when the result was sorted, riders still rode to the edge and offered fabulous entertainment. Speedway is not just about ticking the heats off and gaining a result before moving onto the next. It’s that 60 second adrenaline fuelled burst of entertainment, or it should be. Another of Richard’s remarks on his recent podcast appearance that I liked was the one about improving the racing rather than prep the track for the home team. A thinly veiled dig at his own fan base following their “let’s make it knarly” comment last season. He’s not bothered about whose feathers he ruffles with his make the track for the best racing comment. It was great to see Tom shake off his witches blues with a fine display rewarded with a heat 15 nomination. The Tom of old is still in there it’s just finding the right surroundings to nurture it. I’m looking forward to coming up against a Coleman inspired team next season and hope last year wasn’t the one off most fans expected.

I hope the lads aren’t reading this. They’d be buoyed up by the 13 page Ipswich 2027 thread running from August onwards. Once a witch always a witch. 😡 Ipswich fans really are the best. Re the much debated sackings, I think Richard will follow another clubs method and ditch the hire & fire mentality of old. Feeding the declarations into AI or cherry picking a now headline making star again is such a cold way of assembling a side. Danny, Tobi & Tom are now all Ipswich legends and will be retained and Edwards will come in on a 3. Add in Jason (Ipswich legend, but don’t let him fall back again after a stellar season as an Ace) plus Kasper (7.50) and you’re hitting the rumoured 40 point mark.

If not having a GP is the criteria for not being called The NSS why have you waited until now? We’ve only had GP’s this year and last. Naming it the NSS helped get it over the line and follow the Polish model of council funded speedway. I think it’s a good thing that should be replicated by other clubs but as with most things Belle Vue they are not and the sport is where it is, unfortunately. At least Richard Coleman has observed what we do and seems keen to replicate. He has more to do and I sense he likes the race track element and the long term team building ethos, so they should be next. Whether he’s bothered about renaming his stadium is debatable.