bigeddiechek

I agree with what you say. I did enjoy the Glasgow meeting, though, and maybe that shows that we perhaps don't need all these foreign "superstars" who seem to treat the UK as just a bit of pocket money. Would have been even better if I could make it, one of my favourite tracks.

That's why I thought it was a Wednesday too. To be honest, I don't care what night it is, pretty chuffed we are getting another Sky meeting

Starting to get excited about this. I always enjoy midweek meetings, especially when they are followed by a Saturday and Sunday meeting!

Sadly, unless fans start getting out to meetings more - all around the UK - then the sport is finished. Riders costs/demands are also far too high. I really hope that Scunthorpe keep going, would be a massive loss.

Was a great bit of banter Norman

Great ride from Richard Hall to win the World Title for GB!!! http://berwickbandits.co/article/richard-first

Pretty good, right enough, impressive score by Hall too.

Aye, it would have been dead long ago without a few folk bankrolling the clubs. Good to see a decent turnout on Saturday. Wish it was like that every week.

I think it is great the investment Glasgow has had. Speedway in the UK would be dead if it were not for people putting their money in.

I really enjoyed tonight. It was great to see so many Glasgow fans travelling down, they show why it is so important to speedway in general that there is a strong Glasgow Tigers. Best support going and helped make what was a really good atmosphere. Some cracking banter going on round the 3rd bend too! Personally I thought the track was good, and when closely matched riders were out against each other, there was some cracking racing. Morris and Lawson came out and put on a brilliant display in heat 15 to give the Tiggers' Fans a bit of consolation. Coty has an exciting style, and when he was given the chance to make a pass, he did a beautiful cutback on the 4th bend. A young lad, a long way from home giving it a real go. Looking forward to seeing him progress. Liam Carr looks to have come back stronger after his bad accident. He played a big part in the meeting. TJ: well he is really making the few doubters on here look very silly now. I'm sure someone even said he would struggle around Shielfield. Aye, right he has!!!! Racing, banter, catching up with good friends, and a big home win. What more could you ask for! Full teams, I guess, but to be honest, I'd forgotten about that at the time.

I hope it didn't make you feel blue

It was a belter pal, I really enjoyed it

Well, the only thing I can fault about that as a meeting is I would have liked the win, but that wouldn't have done Plymouth justice. Worrall was a great guest for us, and Fisher was pretty ruthless, and impressive. I thought Coty showed a fait bit of promise, quite an exciting style and got onto the pace pretty quickly for a first time out on the track. The atmosphere seemed to be really good tonight. I guess decent weather always helps. There was loads of very close racing, and a lot of heart in mouth stuff. For me, the sport is exhilarating when it is like that. I wondered if Fisher had been a bit dirty on Doolan, but the answer was a clear no when Doolan went straight to shake his hand. That was some race! Phew! Three weeks was a long time!

Hear, hear!

You should send them a message via their website. View from the 3rd bend seems to have had a positive response when they did that. It does make sense.

That's not a bad idea at all. Worth sending to the club?

Advertising very often results in just being money down the pan, that's why I ask. It's important to know the effectiveness to at least attempt to calculate any ROI. Only the big brands really benefit from it, and that is because they have massive budgets and ram themselves down out throats via multiple high-profile routes. Posters and a stall on the market are much safer bets, only in my opinion of course. I know banners are very cost effective and I've seen that worked well by the speedway too.

What are the KPIs like for that? Purely out of interest, I have not idea what they are for this type of advertising.

It's not a case of that. I am merely try to put a bit of perspective into this. It isn't just a case of knocking on doors, and - of course - everyone involved who has contacts will have asked the question. It is a very difficult thing to obtain at the moment. There have been several brochure and pitching materials produced in the past. With sponsorship you really need an in through someone with an established relationship. Even then, as I have mentioned, the sport needs to have a fit with the target demographic. That is a tough one for speedway to match up with, unfortunately. Just so you folks aren't getting the idea that I think I have some multitude of business contacts. The one I am referring to owns two global booze brands. Yes, I did put the question to their European Brand Director, but their 12 month strategy is based on the aspirational/lifestyle angle. So, as you can imagine, speedway isn't exactly the right fit for their brands. If they were focused on motorsports, it would have been a different situation and they could have allocated a small part of their budget towards speedway. If you don't ask, though. I notice that Perrymans are sponsoring the Under 19 meeting, which is fantastic. Clearly people within the club are working on these things, contrary to all the expert belief on here...

You're right, it needs a hell of a lot more than 5 new fans. The future of Berwick has been precarious since Peter's days. I desperately don't want to lose it. That is why I am so strongly against all the cheap shots that get fired at the promotions over the years. I don't know why people do it, and as I've said many times before, they need to be careful what they wish for. It does a lot of unseen damage

Speculate to accumulate? Yes, I agree it is good Sky are coming back, it does make good business sense to offer a special promotion with this particular event. It creates a wider appeal, hopefully helps with a decent crowd - which adds to the atmosphere, and therefore has more chance of attracting return visits. I agree that reduced admission for regular events has proven to be a disaster, but this is a different event. I am guessing the club gets some form of fee from Sky which takes a bit of the risk element out of it. I don't know if you looked to the left of the stand at the last meeting, but it had over 150 adults, who were completely new to the sport, as a result of a promotion that was run in East Lothian and the Borders. So it wasn't just kids that came along. You make some wild claims on here that are often completely unfounded. Of course it was a much bigger crowd, thus you will very likely have more kids along (which is surely the future of the sport), to say there was an abundance of kids getting in free when they have to be accompanied by a paying adult would surely have been a good thing?

Only going on my personal experience, but I know of 5 who are now regulars on the back of coming to the first Sky meeting. A handful more have become occasionals. Certainly not enough to change the world! I think we both know speedway in the UK is fighting a losing battle.

You missed the point, the contacts that I have own some global brands, and I was passing on the mechanics of how large business marketing strategies work. It's not as simple as going and asking them for money. Up until a few years ago it was also a means for offsetting against a certain amount of taxation. Again with the economic climate, that is less of a consideration, and the sales benefit is a primary concern. Thus, sponsorship is more than ever a part of an overall marketing and advertising plan. To provide some clarity, if the businesses target demographic does not include speedway fans, then it is highly unlikely that they will provide any form of sponsorship. I think Berwick are very fortunate in that a large number of local businesses contribute as associate sponsors and it is fantastic that they do that. On the idea of employing someone purely on commission. Prima facie it is a good idea, but it very, very rarely works for any business. It needs a basic salary which is topped up with a bonus. I just can't see that being viable: which makes the efforts that all the volunteers at Berwick Speedway (and all the other clubs around the country) all the more commendable. On another note, you can't expect to take a pop at other people's business and not have your shortcomings pointed out. Nobody is perfect, even me.

I think you will find sponsorship was a fairly easy thing to find pre-credit crunch. It's pretty difficult now. Additionally, the larger brands that you mention have a well-planned out marketing strategy. They have their goals so finely tuned that if you are not within the specification then you will not stand a cat's chance in hell of getting in. One of my clients own several large global brands, I have a good relationship so was able to put the question to them. The above was the answer. The current Commercial Manager does a very good job, especially with limited time and resources. Just because Taffy can't see it from his pokey wee shop doesn't mean it isn't happening.

I don't think it made any difference at all when it was done. Only from my personal experience, the most effective thing that has brought new faces along have been the Sky meetings. Can't beat folk wanting to get on the telly!