enotian

Sure. Scott's first wooden spoon was 10 years into his career, finishing bottom with Ipswich in 2003. Seven years later in 2010 another Ipswich last place doubled his collection to two. A move to Swindon the following season (2011) didn't help and a third wooden spoon was added. A return to Coventry didn't work out in 2013 as they finished last. Then following the withdraw of Rye House a short (11 matches) spell with Leicester in 2018 added a fifth wooden spoon to the collection. Finally, Peterborough's last place in 2019 resulted in a sixth wooden spoon to his collection. Nearest contender to steal the unwanted record is Danny King. He's on four last places along with a host of others no longer active in the UK or retired.

thanks. I agree re Harris. In a world where many riders use league racing to supplement their individual aspirations I always get the impression that Harris puts as much into a league fixture as he would any individual contest during his career.

Ahhh a limitation of the data. I'm unable to distinguish between which competitions the appearances relate to, so my assumption was anyone with over 5 appearances would qualify for a medal. Clearly not that simple. I don't really recall the politics of the early 80's but there seems to have been a sea change from a full traditional league programme (1 home, 1 away) into a league plus a significant League Cup programme. Perhaps the beginning of the demise? What I did notice from the data was the number of star names who disappeared, for whatever reason, during the mid 80's. Over a short period of time the product changed significantly.

Chris Harris 5 Coventry 2005 2007 2010 Peterborough 2021 Poole 2018 Chris Holder 5 Poole 2008 2011 2013 2014 2015 Dave Watt 5 Poole 2003 2004 2008 2011 2015 Krzysztof Kasprzak 4 Coventry 2010 Poole 2003 2004 2008 Scott Nicholls 4 Coventry 2005 2007 Ipswich 1998 Peterborough 2021 Peter Karlsson 4 Wolverhampton 1996 2002 2009 2016 Simon Wigg 4 Cradley Heath 1983 Oxford 1985 1986 1989 Bjarne Pedersen 4 Peterborough 2021 Poole 2003 2004 2008 Ivan Mauger 4 Belle Vue 1970 1971 1972 Exeter 1974 Jason Doyle 4 Poole 2011 Swindon 2012 2017 2019 3 Marvyn Cox, Soren Sjosten, Rory Schlein, Frank Shuter, Magnus Zetterstrom, Hans Andersen, Peter Collins, Hans Nielsen, Daniel Davidsson, Andy Grahame, Maciej Janowski, Jan Andersson, Martin Dugard, Tommy Knudsen, Mick Bell, Tommy Roper, Chris Pusey, Joe Screen, Ryan Sullivan, Josh Grajczonek, Darcy Ward, Billy Sanders, Adam Skornicki, Kyle Newman, Tony Rickardsson, Jeremy Doncaster, Ken Eyre, Troy Butler 2 Phil Collins, Mitch Shirra, Alan Wilkinson, Tai Woffinden, Ales Dryml, Mikael Karlsson, Alf Busk, Paul Hurry, Craig Boyce, Bernie Leigh, Dave Hemus, Tomas H Jonasson, Dave Mullett, Martin Ashby, David Bellego, Mike Lanham, David Clarke, Nick Morris, David Howe, Peter Kildemand, Dawid Lampart, Rick Miller, Dean Barker, Alan Grahame, Eric Broadbelt, Tobiasz Musielak, Erik Gundersen, Tony Davey, Frederik Lindgren, Zach Wajtknecht, Gary Guglielmi, Martin Smolinski, Adam Ellis, Mike Hiftle, Andy Hackett, Mike Sampson, Jason Crump, Morten Risager, Jason Lyons, Nicolai Klindt, Jesper Jensen, Per Jonsson, Jiri Stancl, Peter Ravn, John Jorgensen, Przemyslaw Pawlicki, John Louis, Ronnie Correy, Joonas Kylmakorpi, Billy Janniro, Kai Niemi, Steve Johnston, Karol Zabik, Ted Howgego, Kelvin Tatum, Todd Wiltshire, Troy Batchelor, Alan Molyneux, Antonio Lindback, Trevor Jones, Kyle Howarth, Ulrich Ostergaard, Armando Castagna, Lukas Dryml, Leigh Adams, Ole Olsen 1 Paul Starke, Ted Ede, Roger Hill, Filip Sitera, Dave Mortiboys, Andreas Jonsson, Phil Morris, Frank Smith, Simon Cross, Freddie Eriksson, Tony Primmer, Frede Schott, Nigel Flatman, Frederik Jakobsen, Ben Hopwood, Bobby Ott, Richard Hall, Garry Stead, Savalas Clouting, Chris Harrison, Steve Masters, Gary Havelock, Tomasz Gollob, Geoff Curtis, Wayne Broadhurst, Geoff Mudge, Dave Trownson, Gordon Guasco, Oliver Allen, Gordon Kennett, Per Sorensen, Graham Jones, Peter Scully, Greg Hancock, Ray Morton, Greg Kentwell, Richie Worrall, Andrew Appleton, Bent Rasmussen, Bobby Schwartz, Scott Swain, Hynek Stichauer, Stefan Andersson, Ian Clark, Steve Weatherley, Chris Julian, Dennis Andersson, Jack Millen, Tony Clarke, Jacob Thorssell, Eric Boocock, James Grieves, Mikkel B Jensen, James Shanes, Neville Tatum, Jan Andersen, Nigel Boocock, Andy Hines, Norman Hunter, Jan O Pedersen, Andre Compton, Chris Kerr, Paul Whittaker, Andy Phillips, Pete Smith, Chris Louis, Dave Younghusband, Jens Rasmussen, Petri Kokko, Andy Reid, Bruce Cribb, Chris Morton, Reg Trott, Jim McMillan, Richard May, Chris Neath, Bruce Penhall, George Stancl, Ron Mountford, Antonin Kasper, Sam Ermolenko, John Cook, Bert Kingston, John Davis, Shawn Moran, Bradley Wilson-Dean, David Shields, Christian Hefenbrock, Stefan Ekberg, John McNeil, Steve Schofield, Jon Armstrong, Sverre Harrfeldt, Jon Surman, Ted Laessing, Claus Vissing, Dennis Gavros, Jorgen Johansson, Bob Jameson, Josh Auty, Tony Lomas, Antonin Svab, Trevor Geer, Josh Larsen, Eric Boothroyd, Justin Elkins, Carl Stonehewer, Kacper Gomolski, Dave Kennett, Kacper Woryna, Nathan Murray, Col Cottrell, Brian Andersen, Brady Kurtz, Niels-Kristian Iversen, Craig Taylor, Nigel De'Ath, Dag Lovaas, Nigel Sadler, Aaron Summers, Odd Fossengen, Kevin Hawkins, Paul Dugard, Kevin Holden, Paul Smith, Kevin Jolly, Paul Tyrer, Kevin Pitts, Dave Willis, Kevin Smart, Pete Munday, Kevin Wolbert, Peter Carr, Klaus Lausch, Benji Compton, Dakota North, David Bargh, Alun Rossiter, Peter Thompson, Daniel Nermark, Brian Leonard, Lance King, Piotr Swiderski, Larry Ross, Rasmus Jensen, Lars Gunnestad, Ray Wickett, Lars Munkedal, Renat Gafurov, Lee Dicken, Richard Knight, Zbigniew Suchecki, Richard Sweetman, Sam Tesar, Rick France, Bobby McNeill, Robin Aspegren, Linus Sundstrom, Rohan Tungate, Louis Carr, David Norris, Danny Warwick, David Ruud, Arnold Haley, Sam Masters, Ashley Morris, Scott Autrey, Malcolm Simmons, Scott Norman, Marek Cieslak, Seb Ulamek, Marian Jirout, Shawn Venables, Mark Bruton, Simon Stead, Mark Loram, David Steen, Anders Michanek, Stefan Danno, Ashley Pullen, David Walsh, Darren Shand, Steve Reinke, Barry Briggs, Steve Waplington, Matej Ferjan, Stewart McDonald, Mateusz Szczepaniak, Carl Baldwin, Maury Robinson, Dawid Stachyra, Max Clegg, Carl Blackbird, Max Schofield, Tom Ridley, Mel Taylor, Tomas Topinka, Michael Palm Toft, Edward Kennett, Ben Barker, Tony Briggs, Mick Hines, Ellis Perks, Micky Dyer, Tony Olsson, Darren Slater, Bob Kilbry, Mike Broadbank, Emil Grondal, Dave Callington, Ty Proctor, Mike Keen, Vaclav Milik, Daver Gooderham, Wayne Carter, Mike Lewthwaite, Charlie Ermolenko, Brent Collyer, Jordan Palin, Les Owen, Lewis Bridger, Ken McKinlay Some great names in there but some big omissions also. No titles for Hamill, Nicki Pedersen, Kenny Carter, Jessup, Ray Wilson?? The man with the most Silver medals is Chris Morton and the most Wooden Spoons is Scott Nicholls. Six a piece.

And that's all ten!!! Doyle gained one title with Poole and 3 with Swindon. Anyone care to guess who has the most wooden spoons??? There is a rider who has been in teams who finished bottom of the table on six occasions... Similarly someone has six silver medals for finishing runner up.

Excellent shout. Just one left to find. Kasprzak, 4 titles. 3 for Poole and 1 for Coventry. The final rider with 4 titles also won one of them with Poole.

That's three more found. Harris joined Holder & Watt on 5 gold medals this year with Peterborough, having previously won 3 for Coventry and 1 for Poole Peter Karlsson won 4 for Wolves Bjarne Pedersen had 3 wins for Poole and added 1 more with Peterborough last season. Hans Anderson now has 3 titles but not in the top ten. Leigh Adams has just 2 to his name. The remaining two were both still active riders last season but not in the Premiership. Note one of them had only 7 appearances in one of their title winning seasons.

Excellent knowledge. Holder has 5 all for Poole as does Watt Nicholls now has 4. 2 for Coventry and 1 each for Ipswich and Peterborough Wiggy has 4 also. 1 for Cradley the rest for Oxford. 4 titles in 6 seasons!!! Outside of the top 10, Screen has 3 and Cross has 1. That's 5 down and 5 still to find.........

For riding only, sorry. Mick Bell won 3 as a rider but doesn't make the top ten.

Correct. 4 Titles. 3 Belle Vue and One Exeter

Since the 1965 season 10 riders have won 4 or more (three have five wins) British top division League Winners Medals. Can you name them??

Money talks. Not sure why they outlawed them as I assume they'd add a few to the attendance even for a 2nd half. But with streaming it's potentially somewhat more lucrative. You could even solve the double up/down fiasco. Create a standalone (think the Hundred) 16 franchise league, run on a 4TT basis so distinct from the PL and CL. Made up of some active tracks and some ghost franchises (Heathens, Hammers, Don's, Racers, Falcon's etc). Each franchise has five home matches and 15 away. Ghost franchises home matches held at a neutral track (i.e. Heathens at Wolverhampton/Birmingham) or at one of the other three tracks in the fixture. That would give the 16 teams and 64 riders 20 fixtures (plus grand final(s)) replacing the need to ride in both the PL and CL. The PL could remain at the same level (maybe add Poole and Glasgow) with the CL standard reduced to a sustainable CL/NL hybrid using British based riders only, with only U21 british riders allowed to double up to aid their career path. Regardless, if you've identified a bigger market, via streaming, you've then got to consider what that bigger market wants to see. I'd venture that's not one sided home wins with limited action on a poorly prepared track. So it's not just about finding a new way to sell your product but also how that product can be improved to appeal to the larger market. Interesting to see how this pans out.

I wonder if lots of the streaming subscriptions are from 'lapsed' fans, who no longer have a local team to follow, if the BSPL will reconsider allowing teams without a home track to compete? For example if there are a load of Cradley Heath fans out there would you get more subscribing if a team representing them was in action? Obviously not as a league team but maybe in a stand alone pairs of 4TT competition, where you wouldn't need to stage a home fixture. Sure the link would be tenuous but if there was a fixed pair or four branded as the Heathens then those 'lapsed' fans could identify with them. In general if you're trying to sell streaming matches/subscriptions to as many folk as possible the more teams involved in each fixture broadcast the better. That way you're appealing to a wider market and less reliant on neutral customers. Ultimately will a successful streaming channel end up in the formation of a bespoke pairs or 4TT competition, to maximise subscriptions? Leaving the 7 man team league competition to the hardcore following?

Maybe for one match passes but if I've paid an annual/monthly subscription I'd be a bit miffed if then I was blocked from watching my local teams home matches. The fact that matches are going to be spread across all the venues should minimise lost home revenue. Totally understand if individual clubs are streaming all their home matches that they'd want to exclude local purchases but disappointing if the BSN did likewise.

If you're talking about the British Speedway Network for Championship matches then clearly that won't be the case if you've subscribed. However there'll only be about two Diamonds home matches streamed, greatly reducing the chances of a losing fans on the terraces. Unless I've missed something and the Diamonds have announced that they're streaming all their home matches?

Agreed. For far too long foreign over developing homegrown riders was a no brainer. Bring them over on a low assessed average. If they're any good you've got yourself a ready made asset to sell or loan. If they're rubbish bin them off let them develop at home for a while and then bring them back on an even lower average. Not a fan of Brexit but this might be one of the positive's to come out of it. Get Jacob Rees Mogg all over it. Although he'll insist on 2 values, black leathers and cinder tracks I imagine.

Reasonably priced for the season if you're inclined to watch all the content. Monthly feels a bit step compared to say Netflix or Disney Plus but they have economies of scale and no doubt it's priced to incentivise annual pass purchases which is better vfm. Not sure what happens if you pay for a month and all the live matches are postponed?? The one off price is interesting. If you're a family of four you'll make quite a saving staying home to watch your team. They'll be hoping the extra income from away supporters and neutrals who wouldn't have travelled will offset. Also with each club only featuring 2 or 3 times you're not going to lose those families permanently. Match selection will be key. You put on a dominant home team vs strugglers (say Poole at home to the Diamonds) you might get a host of home fans taking the stream option with little or no away or neutral interest. Hopefully the knock on effect will be that the promoters at last realise that evenly matched teams and competitive matches on properly prepared circuits can now attract a much wider audience and the "as long as we win at home" theory can be shelved.....

and remember, excluding play offs, it looks like it's only two/three of each clubs home fixtures which will be made available. And if you've subscribed for the full season they've already had more money out of you than they would have anyway so the risk of missing ticket sales for two/three matches is worth the risk of generating new income from those who physically couldn't attend. of course making the attending live product much better than the televised version will also help. after the last two years I think we all value shared experiences much more. One of the problems with speedway on TV is that the speed, sound and smell can't be conveyed fully to do it justice. That's not dissimilar to most stadia based sports. Attending in person is always a better experience. But how much better is attending a live speedway meeting?

I'm not sure if there is a PPV option available. At least the press release referred to a subscription basis but it wouldn't be the first time a press release didn't provide all the information. If it's solely a subscription basis it doesn't matter where you're located. It's no different to any other broadcaster you pay to watch, i.e. Discovery Sports. You pay for their service if you want to watch the content they provide. The broadcaster doesn't mind where you are from because they don't sell tickets to the live event anyway. Where a club is making all of their matches available to stream either on a subscription or PPV they want to protect their attendance figures to maximise income, on the basis that the streaming price is likely less than the ticket price to attend in person. Therefore the streams are often restricted to users whose IP address is outside of the region in which the club derives its home crowd. I don't know how the technology works but as I understand it everyone's IP address is attached to a region and the host site will block any attempted connection from any restricted region. Using a VPN cloaks your IP address so that it appears to be from a region which isn't restricted. In terms of technology to prevent illegal re-broadcasts I think it's down to the broadcaster to monitor and enforce the law to block those streams. With regard to Polish and Swedish streams being made available to British audiences I don't think it results in any (or minimal) lost income to those broadcasters who have the right to broadcast those fixtures in the UK. In some cases the illegal streams probably aren't being broadcast in the UK anyway. Ultimately it's down to the broadcaster to protect their rights. I would imagine (and hope) that the BSPL will do exactly that should streams of Championship matches be made available for free illegally.

You can VPN to get around that but that isn't what is being offered anyway. Based on the press release it's a subscription (annual/monthly?) for 30+ matches in total streamed from all of the tracks. With 11 teams that's only 2 or 3 matches from any one track. So 2 or 3 home matches which clubs might notice reduced gate receipts. Worth the risk if the income generated from the subscriptions exceeds those potential losses. There are a number of ways that the subscription income could be split and presumably each promoter has agreed to the method. Presumably each team will feature in a similar number of away fixtures to make the subscription equally attractive to all 11 clubs supporters and I guess it will be more like Newcastle at Plymouth than streaming a local derby to protect gate receipts. So it does look like they're trying to minimise the impact on gate receipts. I hope it's a great success, the pricing will of course be critical in determining if it is. Bearing in mind there might be a few subscriptions required next season if you want to follow all televised speedway.

Agreed but not every Championship fixture is being streamed. So you might get to see Berwick at Plymouth but not Berwick at Newcastle depending on what fixtures they choose to stream. If all teams feature equally (notwithstanding Play Offs/Finals etc) then each team will feature, on average, once every 5 meetings but you'll have subscribed/paid to watch them all. Still a positive innovation just not perhaps what people seem to be interpreting this as.

It says subscription.

The proof of the pudding will be in the eating but this sounds like a really positive move. It doesn't sound like every fixture will be streamed but rather "over 30 meetings from all 11 venues". So roughly three from each track with each team hopefully featuring about six times (3 home, 3 away) as a rough estimate. Also, it doesn't sound like a pay per view option but rather subscription based. Where you pay for the whole season or maybe monthly and have access to all content while you have a live subscription. If that's correct there shouldn't be a mass exodus from attending in person but the question is will enough people subscribe for content in which the team they support features in about 20%, i.e. once every 5 meetings streamed? No doubt it will need to evolve over time in terms of production standards, price and content but certainly sounds like a step in the right direction. Depending on price and guaranteed content (i.e. how many time the Diamonds will feature) I'd be tempted.

Vast improvement? Whilst most of the content is unchanged the visuals are a great improvement. If I was a layman looking for fixtures to attend the new site seems that much more vibrant. Hopefully they'll keep refreshing it with the latest action.

Nice. I'm still swaying towards the Collins' given that extra world finalist. Could there be a Lawson septet? Maybe a surnames 4TT would be competitive. Collins', Pedersen's, Jansson's, Williams'