ouch

Im sure a very similar plan has worked before. Go champs.

It didnt stop Keith Chapman with Belle Vue & Leicester.

How easy is it to attract sponsors who dont already have a love of the sport? Do you push the TV coverage, the local media presence, the demographic reach or are there other buttons to press? I hate the way the sport is so insular and I think fan sponsors often get thought of as fans and almost without thinking are not treated as they should. Not in every case.

I think promoters look after their own interest to limit losses instead of working together to make profit.

Surely this is being looked at as a temporary fix as an aside from the efforts to get the Bees back in Coventry. BE cant say their is no need for Brandon or wherever in the city and use Leicester as the reason. The fact its in Leicester is a give away. If it was well supported in the manner of the Heathens then it keeps the Bees front and centre whilst also showing demand/desire for the club is live. If fans are going to travel to a rival track to see their lads at home imagine what they will be like with their own track in their city. I think its a fine line for Bees fans as they could end up throwing the baby out with the bath water.

We do already due to the play offs.

Worst thing Belle Vue did was win the treble. We had to choose between current WC Ivan Mauger or Peter Collins. Rider control was funny as we had to offload a superstar year on year whereas everybody else at best lost Nobby McNobody. Dumbing down has gone on for years and here we are now. It could have been worse, if The Aces has topped the table the points limit would have been slaughted again.

Oh, sorry folks I got the wrong end of the stick. Absolutely Chris should be recognised officially in the stadium with a section being named after him. Id also like to see some of his memorabilia on show. When I last spoke to Chris about attending again he said it wasnt for him. It was like when someone doesnt want to return to the ally where they were beaten up and mugged and with the council unwilling to come clean the wound remains open. Im hoping once he can gain some closure then he will be happy to be back in the fold. I look forward to that day.

He wanted a large list of acquaintances to be allowed in free at Belle Vue but the management thought it excessive and gave him entry tickets valued at over £3000 but it wasnt enough. He fell out with the management. Unfortunately.

He wouldnt allow it. Unfortunately.

Chances are a CL heat leader will be doubling up anyway thus making him unavailable.

And Belle Vue, which more than likely prompted the rule. Sorry for you guys caught in the crossfire.

Yes, to a degree as I dont think the subject of sponsorship has enough substance to use the term a hell of a lot. Im hoping they tap up their commercial buddies and those in their wider business circle to bring in some sponsorship from those without an existing link to the sport.

I agree, its the HELL of a lot comment Im asking about as it cannot be just about a shop?

A HELL of a lot. Always looking to improve so aside from the shop what else could we learn from Poole? Did Matt have his all singing online and in town shop up and running within his first nine months?

I saved over £100 this year with my Aces season ticket.

I think youre wrong there unless you have some examples of a fit Max missing Aces meetings. It might be a simple misunderstanding of the situation.

Exactly, and if Belle Vue and Berwick can do it why not the rest, is it being rolled out alphabetically?

When reading ideas like this plus those on other threads they seem no brainers to us so Im assuming the promoters know about these initiatives. Whilst Id find it bad if they didnt think about these ideas what I cannot get my head around is that they have taken a year on year decision to disregard these ideas. I would love to sit down with promoters so they could talk me through the thought process because I just dont get it. Its as if they are trying to drive us away but that cannot be true either.

MPT is 5.57. Does anybody know if the brits still get a reduction in their first two years? I think Dan got 2.5% knocked off last season.

They did last year. Heritage Club also allowed your guest in at concession rate. http://www.manchester.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/23094/12_belle_vue_aces

If its going to be 41 Id try for, 1.Craig 2.Dan 3.Max 4.Rohan 5.Matej 6.BWD 7.Jack

Alan was head of the Heritage Club and was a regular last season, unfortunately ill health has hampered his visits this year. Id love to see him back again. He sent his regards to all at the dinner dance.

I think it depends if your in the right gang. Its happened before where rules were changed on the eve of a season to stop a team having their signed 1-7. Rider averages are also quite changeable dependant on who wants to sign them.

My first job in sales many decades ok was with a manufacturing company who went about their business as a sales company. Ive subsequently worked for or with manufacturing companies how conduct business as a manufacturer and whilst they have a marketing and sales operation the general feeling is if we make it people will use it and more often than not they never realise the companies true potential. Rob Godfrey recently said in The Star that he would be happy with 500 punters. 500! If you think your product is a 500 customer product your bolloxed. Sell it to get more in. We need to recapture market share and IMO we have the product to do it. We need to iron out these basic niggles that we fans are constantly bringing up. Youve got free market research here, use it. If promotions havent worked in the past, why not and how can it be improved. Why are some clubs more successful than others and why cant it be replicated across the board. There just seems this malaise that its a bit rubbish isnt it. People running successful businesses seem to leave their business brains at home once they take charge of a club. Did people just wander in of the street to buy off these companies or was the brand sold and marketed? Treat your customers right and they will do some of the selling for you. Grab their data and use it for marketing. Set targets. Be a business. Never let a customer walk away. It would help your mindset if you started to refer to us as customers instead of fans. Selling has been done with other forms of leisure activities including other sports so why not our, and I mean why not ours? There must be quantifiable reasons that can serve as a spring board for moving forward. A problem is just an opportunity if handled correctly. Ive had all the excuses in the book as to why sales are down or why an area is failing and a large percentage are just that, excuses. Come up with a work around and get things moving, dont use it as a reason to do nothing. If clubs really think they cannot get another 1000 spectators through the gate to top up what we have and thus make JC stats add up then we are in a poor state. Nowadays £225k to £250k a year new business sales target is low for a jobbing salesman in any given area. Its got to be achievable, it must be. We dont need to dumb down.....again.