Najjer

Odds up early today - quite like the look of Sheffield at -12

I never understand this part though - why can’t teams say we are in the process of dealing with a certain rider and offers have been made. That is all part of communicating and updating your paying and loyal fan base who are currently fed up. Sometimes you don’t need to name the rider but help your paying customers understand what is going on on a regular basis - not coming to meet me after a meeting for a one on one chat! Time and time again teams get basic communication wrong when it is actually really simple in this day and age. People just want to be kept in the loop and not hearing silence!

If there is one thing this thread has proven, is there isn’t just one problem to address as the “death of UK speedway” - it shows there are actually quite a lot of serious issues to resolve. There are some big questions and big problems which need some big answers. Hopefully some promotors will of read this thread and come the AGM at the end of this year it won’t just be a case of “business as usual, same again!” On a side note, as you’ve mentioned stadiums - Reading was an absolute dump and falling apart…. But weirdly was one of my favourite places to visit as a speedway fan. As a first timer however as you say, you’d of thought you had gone back in time about 20/30 years!

Kowalski in Sweden tonight was found to have illegal equipment before the start of the meeting - and then was allowed to change it and start the meeting. He went on to score 1 point for reference too.

There is certainly some legs in this - what do promotors nowadays actually do to ‘promote’ other than sticking a post on their own Facebook page, which is seen by only speedway fans? Years ago, Somerset used tonne great at it. There was various points through the summer when bikes were set up on the sea front, tickets handed out (these can be easily tracked with names and addresses when handed out to avoid the issues above about them getting into the wrong hands) and we had some huge crowds for the first times that Somerset were featured on the TV. For clubs that are generating their income via car parks, programmes, food and drink outlets too, if you’ve given away a free admission ticket then you are getting almost free money on these extra outlets that you wouldn’t of been getting previously. For a long time, the UK’s operating model has been fewer fans year after year so they bump the price up - instead of trying to get old fans back and increasing people attending.

Only yesterday I started a thread about the survival of the Premiership and some ideas going forward with a good discussion that has followed…. And then British Speedway serves up the next scandal a few hours later. Shocking.

This idea is majorly flawed though as is any idea of one big league in that there isn’t enough riders to make it work, especially with 7 man teams. Matter of fact, you will end up losing even more riders than you have now as the likes of Doyle, Holder, Bewley and just about anybody who rides in Poland in either of the top divisions on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday won’t be racing here at Berwick, Scunthorpe or Edinburgh etc on a weekend. That idea simply won’t work.

Whilst I don’t disagree, that isn’t a problem that needs addressing within the Premiership or even the Championship - that is what the National League is for and should be doing to develop talent and give them a decent “get in” to team speedway. Something else that needs to happen though is that all 3 leagues work closer together instead of almost running as independent leagues. It should be a minimum requirement for Premiership and Championship teams to have a British junior at reserve regardless of averages. We focus way too much on trying to make all teams equal when it never happens anyway.

It might have been said, but hasn’t been actioned that’s for sure. As I said, it isn’t going to solve every issue but it’ll certainly be a good start. The issue of generating more riders isn’t required completely - it’s a case of dispersing and making better use of the ones we have, as well as hoping to bring in the likes of Woffinden, Laguta etc on a shared basis - whilst then limiting the use of guests.

Well that aged well….

Wolves +12 I quite like - Blodern now in the main body and not sure how he will go. Wolves should do okay at reserve I think too.

Ljung in for Thornblom I presume?

I had toyed with whether this was better placed in the general discussion thread and a slightly different title tailored more towards just general UK speedway, but I think actually the survival of UK speedway as we know it hinges on the survival of the Premiership itself. We already know that not only the long term but short term and immediate futures of Wolves, Peterborough and Kings Lynn are all uncertain… We normally get to the AGM every year and look for decisions made towards the running and long term future of the sport… So how can the Premiership survive? Here’s my take: 1) All efforts has to be made to keep the 3 mentioned clubs running. Easier said than done and the ball isn’t in their court so to speak for Peterborough and Wolves with regards land usage, whereas Kings Lynn just need a new promoter/owner. 2) We need more teams and more variety in the league. This means actively encouraging the likes of Poole, Glasgow, Oxford etc back into the Premiership. In my opinion a top division of 8 teams should be a minimum. More on that below at point 3…. In my opinion, talk of one big league joining up with the Championship simply won’t work. Lack of riders and complete drop in standard with the existing Premiership sides would be a sure fire way to close the sport down completely. There is already a lack of riders at both levels of the sport but even more so in the Championship. This was proven by the failure of Plymouth, Scunthorpe, Birmingham etc failing to name a team of 7 riders until either the last minute of the season or all together when they started the year with riders injured. 3) Additional night of fixed race nights - Add Wednesday into the mix. This absolutely goes head to head with Denmark but actually affects very few riders, especially if fixtures are planned accordingly. This for a number of years has been a massive problem for the UK in that they botched the fixture list up. The likes of Poole and Oxford could continue to run their home matches on Wednesdays and have their away matches on Monday or Thursday. Their home matches could be arranged to ensure riders were available. 4) 6 man teams - This immediately frees up at least 7 riders from this years Premiership. Teams to be comprised of 5 standard riders and 1 British junior (I hate the term rising star). Naturally by having less riders per team this will mean that each rider gets more rides so means they earn more money, whilst less travel money is paid by the team. Everybody is a winner! I absolutely hate the guest ruling. They are way too many guests being used nowadays which brings discredit to the sport and competition in general. If any rider is missing then they are replaced by rider replacement. Only when a second rider is then missing can a guest be sourced. By having less riders per team, this should immediately reduce the risk of needing guests. Further to that, it has been discussed previously but I would welcome a shared spot for the no.1 position. I will use the scenario where a team could sign Artem Laguta and Tai Woffinden to share one team spot meaning it saves on logistics for the rider not having to do a full season and again, reducing the chances of riders going missing. 5) The stumbling block to all of the above is the chances of the Championship then becoming either disbanded or severely impacted as we currently know it. They themselves would have less teams as several move up but should for 1 season only reduce their points limit. This would be done to lower the standard and used as a way of preventing doubling up as it currently is. Doubling up needs to be reduced and a bridge in standard to the Premiership. Teams should have either 5 or 6 riders, with reduced teams and riders again increasing rider availability. Riders like Sam Masters, Benjamin Basso etc should really be forced out with doubling up only afforded to British riders to the likes of Danny King, Steve Worrall, Charles Wright, assuming their averages then fit. ———— To summarise….. Premiership: - Minimum of 8 teams - 6 man teams (including British junior) - Race format to mean riders getting more rides - Race nights on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday - Shared no.1 spots for 2 riders Championship: - Minimum of 8 teams - 5/6 man teams (including British junior) - Race format to mean riders getting more rides - Race nights on Friday, Saturday and Sunday - No doubling up for foreign riders I haven’t gone to the extent to work out what the points limit should be, but the Championship would have to be reduced to make it more affordable for the lesser sides and ensure there is enough riders to go round. Riders will be riding more than before with more fixtures in the Premiership and more rides per match. This is only scratching the surface but should in my view be a starting point to not just look at reducing costs, but increase the viewing quality for the fan and make speedway begin to prosper again.

Hang on a minute, let’s not start taking the moral high ground about loyalty when UK sides are happy to slash riders from their line ups whenever they wish, move then on during the winter and frankly change riders at the drop of a hat when something better comes along. That’s no different to Woffinden, when he went off fully committed to Poland. Let’s not start pretending the UK teams are fully of loyalists.

If you’re going to lie, you have to be good at it - Kings Lynn/Buster either isn’t good at it or he literally gives that little care nowadays that even he can’t be bothered to lie properly. All the Kings Lynn socials and website said that Artem was injured and now we find out it’s food poisoning. It really is laughable.

And some tracks can’t even get that part right

Anybody else find the new team manager’s interview on Eurosport really awkward watching? He basically said the riders were trying their hearts out so it wasn’t their fault, before backing himself into the corner and out right saying it’s not the management’s fault and they don’t ride the bikes so the riders are to blame… before then slamming Alex Brady well and truly under the bus.

Absolutely - What a likeable young man he is. I’ve rated him for sometime and glad he’s showing his real class tonight

The irony is that it was Bomber that caused this “mystery injury” too.

You, me and everyone else alike on that front!

Imagine, going on a Speedway forum to discuss speedway matters. How bonkers is that?! For what it’s worth, I stopped spending money on British Speedway a long time ago now!

Maybe I should rephrase that - we all suspect he’s not injured. He himself declared last week he was absolutely fine. Wroclaw said he was fine. He was out on a motocross bike last week apparently and then rode 5 races yesterday absolutely fine. I was also told early last week that there was no way would he be riding away at Wolves on Monday from a reliable source… so my suspicions are, maybe, just maybe…. He’s not injured. I’m sure Phil Morris and co will look into this though and check out which flight he was due to be on this morning and look for flight purchase history plus medical injury records to prove otherwise - once he’s finished cleaning the helmet line up board for the riders to use on the tele tonight and cleaning the toilets with Carl Johnson

Referring back to one of my earlier posts, that is precisely what Phil Morris or somebody at BSPL headquarters should be finding out. We know he’s not injured… so it’s either: A - he’s with holding his services so he should be banned for 28 days (or maybe that should be relooked at to be 14 days - that’s a whole other debate….) with a facility allowed or B - Kings Lynn have said don’t bother coming over for this one, we don’t need you - in which case no facility should be granted and Kings Lynn have to face the consequences.

Yes and rightly so - as believe it or not, he is withholding his services!

https://britishspeedway.co.uk/premiership/morris-appointed-premiership-ceo/ Former rider and manager Morris, who will continue as FIM Race Director at Grand Prix and World Cup events, takes on the newly created position with the responsibility of overseeing all aspects of Premiership business. 47-year-old Morris will be a major decision-maker at the top of the Premiership, both in terms of rulebook interpretation and race-night operations, and the specifics of his role also include an active involvement in the running of televised meetings. ———— So, implementing and interpretation of the rules and all aspects of Premiership business. Yep, I think this shambles falls under that umbrella.