ouch

Please don’t included The Aces in this. Matej didn’t ride for any other team apart from his beloved Aces (where he was greatly loved) over the last decade or so. To see him line up for Birmingham was tough as it was with Tom the year before but the bigger picture needs to be looked at here. Max was the same and if we need to lose another of our GP hero’s for the greater good then so be it. Sign them young and inexperienced then help build them up as it benefits the whole league. That would be fine by us, wouldn’t it.

Fricke, Kurtz, Bewley, Lidsey, Brennan etc were not top riders when we signed them. Other clubs could have signed them at the time without breaking the bank. We are now being berated for wanting to keep some of them! Birminghams top three at the start of the season totalled more than Oxford & Kings Lynn and around only one point less than the others. They had the second best third heatleader in the league. In 2013 they topped the league and shut the following season. On behalf of the “big five”, we apologise for that. Not all problems are down to a few handy sound bites. I agree about the 10th match thing as variety is no guarantee of great entertainment but it’s something on here that is continually being put forward.

For one big league, I’d not thought they’d reduce the total number of fixtures on top of no doubling up. “Sorry Chris, you’re not getting your income from the 27 Kings Lynn meetings. Oh well I’ll just make do with the 26 Glasgow meetings. You might want sit down.” Ouch!

It’s just the 25% reduction, they don’t get a further 2.5% off. See Toms average at the end of 2022 compared to his start in 2023. https://britishspeedway.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/p22_issue_final-1.pdf https://britishspeedway.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/p23_issue_1.pdf

Looking forward to one big league and Sam Masters battles with Jack Shimelt, add in seeing Glasgow v Edinburgh 10 times makes for a mouth watering prospect.

Poole finished with one rider over 8 this year so aside from the decades used points limit, they will done nothing to share out league strength. The “big” five didn’t screw over Birmingham or Oxford. If the Brummies had won the league this season they would still have closed. Kings Lynn (one of the “big” five) screwed Oxford over last year and simultaneously finished below them in the table. It’s widely known that there are no assets any longer so how in a free market can teams screw over other teams? If offering better terms is screwing over, then people and companies are screwed over every day and this has gone on since commerce came to be. With the lack of riders for one big league I anticipate screwing over will become more prevalent - and costly.

I find the views on here so contradictory it’s little wonder the sport is in a mess - when you think that it’s basically run by fans and ex riders. I end up more confused on every visit. We need to be running at weekends as this is the time families and others look to spend their leisure pound, unless you live in Poole. Plymouth have the right idea about racing on the night that is best for them. Klindt only missed half of their home league meetings but that’s fine as people are ok with guests. Top stars add little if anything to the gate apart from Ipswich who saw a jump in attendance when Jason & Emil signed. Poole has the biggest and most passionate fan base but if we run 24 hours early, we’re screwed. If we run at weekends without the top stars we’ll be onto a winner, unless it’s the Colts. Teams should compete in the league they can afford, unless you are Poole or Glasgow. Top teams don’t share out their top riders, said Max Fricke. Etc, etc, etc.

Could someone with time on their hands put up the teams and (guessed at) riders for each team so we can see where we are at in terms of riders for each club?

If the sport continues its dumbing down and our top riders are either not wanted or are to be shared amongst those with no desire for rider development then The Aces should embrace this and purely look after themselves. Forget the GP & British Final, let another track look after that as they had a detrimental affect of our domestic attendance. Build a team to Birmingham’s total from last year and save on rider costs both from an initial point of view and a match by match basis - less points, less pay. We are pretty much running on diehards with regards attendance and they like me will turn out for their fortnightly speedway fix. The days of us looking at the bigger picture need to end as it’s not as though we’ve change anything nor gathered more friends within the sport. Ben Cook 6.39 Jake Mulford 3.00 Charles Wright 6.11 Tate Zischke 3.00 Zach Cook 6.20 Billy Budd 3.00 Jack Smelt 3.00 30.70 just short of the Brummies total last year.

You use to be able to watch top flight speedway every night of the week as clubs had their own set days that worked for them. Poole moved down a league to keep their midweek race-night. It’s not always the case that weekend is best. Belle Vue ran on a Sunday this year (without top stars) and the attendance wasn’t anything to shout about. Imo, with everything on offer in Manchester on a weekend, Belle Vue would find the battle for the leisure pound in the area much tougher. For my five pen’orth, I only saw one Belle Vue team meeting on a weekend this year as I was busy for the others. In previous years I maybe missed one.

There’s the rub. Plenty of people know about the sport including many speedway fans and they cannot be bothered to come out and watch aside from BH or big ticket events. We need to change the racenight experience to increase interest. I’m a lapsed speedway nut with another track less than 30 miles away as the crow flies. I use to visit this track every meeting as they were my second division track. I stopped going as I got fed up with the entertainment on offer and the journey plus admission didn’t feel worth it. This thinking then gravitated over to Aces away meetings with my final one being mid 2022. The thing is if the sport cannot appeal to a speedway nut previously happy to take in 100plus meetings a season anymore, apart from a few at the NSS what chance has the current product got of attracting and KEEPING new customers?

It stands to reason that us fans make excuses for the sports poor following as the reality - the fact that people don’t like speedway - is hard to take as it is in direct opposition to our choice to spend our leisure pound the way we do. Every idea presented on here has been attempted, many times in some instances. It’s constantly stated on here that we are the best kept secret etc. This is just not true. If you have no interest in something you don’t retain the information thrown at you. United & City are two of the biggest sporting teams in the world, right on my doorstep but I couldn’t tell you when their next match was, when the season is or who plays for them. I can watch a set of adverts and should you question me straight after, I’d have little clue what I saw. Lakeside was full to the rafters one week, the next back to its regular poor attendance. People know about our sport but CHOOSE not to watch it. We cannot recreate the world or peoples circumstances that led to full stadia back in the ‘70’s so we need to change with the times. Speedway needs to become memorable and create water cooler moments. The racing can provide that (British Final - final) but in the age of social media we need to be creating content with memorable characters and happenings - even if these are part concoctions. One of speedways issues is it’s pretence that it’s a credible sport when as we know it’s anything but. This I do not see changing but the same can be said of other sports once you scratch the surface. We need to grasp the entertainment nettle and go full on with a set of goodies & baddies with interactions between the two, the officials and the crowd to create these moments of interest perfectly suit to social media clips that can act as a trailer for something fuller that showcases the event and leaves a fomo for those watching.

I know I sound like a stuck record on this but I’ve asked before that everyone sells the sport to their close circle of friends and family and attempts to get JUST ONE to visit with them. Sharing your feedback on here when doing this will give us a clearer indication of the task in hand. If passionate fans cannot convince the people closest to them, who already trust and respect their opinions, to accompany them to a night at the speedway then any number of leaflets etc just won’t cut the mustard.

People say prospective fans don’t know the difference between Simon & Robert Lambert and more to the point don’t care. They also say it’s mad to run midweek and that meetings should be run at the weekends. The repetitive nature of the league is also off putting as you can play the opposition 3,4 or 5 times a season. Limiting visitors to just once a season will create greater demand. It’s beneficial to run a locally based team that people can identify with and the travel cost of flights isn’t an issue. Put the events on at stadiums that don’t “look like a bombsite” with comfortable padded seating that affords great views of the action. Do all this for £10-£15 instead of the £25 we currently charge with kids free and maybe we can get the sport back to where it should be - or maybe not. https://britishspeedway.co.uk/team/belle-vue-colts/

We didn’t seriously challenge Ipswich. They knocked us out of the cup & play offs and rightly so given the team they had this year, next year will not be as good as they’ll have to de strengthen. Our team this year was basically the same as our title winning team from last season and if it stayed the same for next season, we’d be in the mix again.

Five of those riders in The Aces team are British based, as is Brady.

Five of those riders in The Aces team are British based, as is Brady.

The regular media coverage keeps us in people’s heads week on week. Leaflets, posters and special offers have had an immediate but not long lasting effect. Phillips social media work has worked well in getting families through the door and like people have mentioned on here, I think this is the way to go.

The regular media coverage keeps us in people’s heads week on week. Leaflets, posters and special offers have had an immediate but not long lasting effect. Phillips social media work has worked well in getting families through the door and like people have mentioned on here, I think this is the way to go.

It would be just our luck if the only one over 8 rule came in again. The first time it was implemented was at the end of the 2017 season and after decades we finally had two riders with 8 plus averages and sadly had to let Bjerre go. Many teams had two riders over 8 during those decades but would you believe it as soon as we do a rule comes in to break us up. Dammit. Apart from 2017, Dan & Brady are the only other two to achieve such a feet in all those decades. Fingers crossed a purely random rule doesn’t affect us again.

This is what we’ve done to attract fans to Belle Vue over the last decade or so….. Have an advert on local radio over an extended period of time. Have an advert in local newspapers over an extended period of time. Have an advertising board on some of the busiest roads in Manchester. Have posters in shops and businesses. Had out flyers in local shopping areas. Have a float or attend local fairs and carnivals. Attend local trade shows. Give out free tickets to schools and businesses. Take bikes and merchandise into schools to accompany the talk they deliver on the sport. Be featured on local tv news’s 4 or 5 times between March and October. Have a regular editorial in local papers. Have a 30 minute highlights programme on a local tv satellite station. Form a tie up with local groups and offer free entry and supporters club membership. Attend (and win) local sports team of the year awards. I’ve probably missed a few others.

Current rules 4.50 but with our apparent interest in the lad the rules might be altered for ‘26 and he could be 5 or above. That will depend on our proposed lineup.

Current rules 4.50 but with our apparent interest in the lad the rules might be altered for ‘26 and he could be 5 or above. That will depend on our proposed lineup.

When seven out of this years top ten were taken from novice to star in the British League I find it hard to accept their view.

I get what you’re saying if it’s “off the peg” signings like many teams do but if you sign a couple of 3.00ers, a 4.50, and 7.50 then invest time and money on developing those riders to GP or FIM gold standard then it should be right you can keep them rather than help feather the nest of other clubs that operate outside of our mindset.