ouch

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.

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.

1500 cars. Is it the annual onion festival?

No self governance. 🤣 He’s just self governanced the hell out of next years British GP.

Ipswich need to be commended for getting this as we at Belle Vue know only too well the hoops you need to jump through and concessions that need to be made. Also negotiations at this level aren’t easy so it’s fair play to the Ipswich promotion for getting the GP circus on board. No mean feat.

Good post and spot on. Richard did not gleefully move the GP, he is first and foremost a business man and promotes accordingly, different from the heart led style of most promotions. Now the venue has been announced and following my other post, I can give my thoughts. The main plus for me is the track work at Foxhall as it’s been poor for more years than I care to remember. Secondly a southern GP (together with a hoped for northern one) should ignite interest from fans new & old down there. Thirdly is the capacity that Foxhall offers for what will be a sell out. Nothing for this particular Belle Vue fan to dislike but then again it’s that bigger picture thinking again.

Rent free.

Rent free.

The time to complain about tin pot rules was in 2023 when Robert Lambert illegally guested for Sheffield and won them the trophy. Basically Damien the Sheffield promoter emailed committee member Mr Bates to see if the rule could be circumnavigated. They came to a mutual agreement and the trophy was sorted. Funnily enough, the year before they conspired to alter the rules for the play offs but someone from outside the sport made sure the rules were adhered to. With regards super Max being in the Sheffield side, am I missing something or isn’t the Sheffield side the same as the one we last met at Owlerton?

Question for the serious Witches fans, would you keep Jason Edwards knowing he will get a 25% reduction? This would bring him down to a 3 yet even if his career stood still and he only attained a 4, that is still a full point on his starting average and not many riders do that.

How will the final work out if it’s Belle Vue v Sheffield & we want the second leg? It will result in both teams riding on an off night and as Poole has proven that’s a no no, even with their massive following. Might they go Thursday 8th & Monday 12th?

How will the final work out if it’s Belle Vue v Sheffield & we want the second leg? It will result in both teams riding on an off night and as Poole has proven that’s a no no, even with their massive following. Might they go Thursday 8th & Monday 12th?

Well, seeing as the cat is out of the bag I’ll give my opinion. For Belle Vue it is a financial gain as looking at figures of the last few season we have taken a big hit to domestic takings, despite the team success on track. For speedway as a whole it’s a big miss as to not have the worlds best compete on the world best circuit isn’t good. More should have been done to make the finances work with these big events, especially if it means they can take place at the NSS. For me, is a good few hundred quid moving from speedway to music for next year.

It’s odd that the level of support The Aces get has seen them consistently compete in the highest level of the sport for almost 100 years yet all these other clubs with much better crowds are yo yoing between leagues due to financial constraints. Truth and opinion can be easily distinguished when doing a cursory fact check of the situation. As an aside, I’ve said many times that no club can currently crow about their crowds as we are all woeful. Petty biased points scoring is ridiculous given the state of our sport currently.

This season has been very predictable from the off and as the experts on here correctly state it’s just been a two horse race. Does anyone know where I can get a copy of this years KO Cup final between The Aces & the tigers?

If they all increase their average by nearly a point and a half like Jason has following his switch from Ipswich to Belle Vue, then I think we will do just fine - again.

Bigger picture thinking. I know Mark is pleased to have Richard on board to provide some much needed backing in moving things forward. This, no doubt provided a better gate for the witches and that’s what we all want. Belle Vue’s gate will be hit somewhat with a similar crowd as this evening in attendance. Looking forward to visiting again next year for our regular away victory.

Hyde road co existed with stock cars well but Kirky lane did not. Northamptons fixtures need to be set to avoid following on closely from the stock cars and this should be easily achievable within any league of 10 or less. It’s all a learning curve and weirdly poor call offs happen to any and every track from time to time and whilst that’s no excuse it’s something for all tracks to learn from. Just this week I’ve seen on the news that football (torrential rain) and ice hockey (ice problem) were cancelled and I’ve had many gigs and theatre shows postponed for various reasons. This might not be the case last night but speedways big problem is the lack of communication with their customers when problems arise and I think that is what irks fans the most. This is easily corrected.

New pub at Manchester Airport.

I think it’s common knowledge that signing a rider on a 3.00, 4.00 or even 7.50 average then help in their development is cheaper in the long term than signing two GP standard riders straight off the peg. Equally the chances of a rider who has ridden at number 1 one season won’t be taking a great dip in wages to be a third heat leader at the team that poached him. All academic now as Richard is running the show and it no longer the witches way, thankfully.

I’m sure the lads appreciate your take on them this season. I’d imagine they felt quite chipper having pretty much emulated the great teams of 2023/4, but then have you and others telling them it’s been a trying, make do and mend team that fans what to see the back of with the hope for a better year in ‘27. There’s a word for fans like that which you are very aware of - apparently.

It’s certainly has been a trying season for the witches with just a 4th place finish & a KO cup final. Having been use to the last few seasons of success with Jason & Emil steering them to a 4th place finish & a KO cup final in 2023 and a 4th place finish & a KO cup final in 2024 it must be hard for their fans to take this year’s level of mediocrity.