Paulco

As the season approached the tickly bit , a raft of rearranged fixtures meant fixture clashes resulted in the inevitable " select " sides being inflicted upon us . Fixed race nights for the top league has to happen .

Suppose until after this weekend's events in the Canary Isles there isn't much to talk about on here and the sly digs start to appear . Once we all start announcing signings things will get back to normal and Berwick threads can erupt into civil war again .

Only answering one of your own

What is it with a minority of fans of other clubs who are consumed by jealousy thinking that Glasgow are somehow rolling in cash . Yes the owners spent a few quid on upgrading the stadium , which to be fair without that happening it's doubtful Ashfield would still hosting speedway , but they've said from day one that the speedway has to pay for itself . Better to concentrate on what you have rather than casting an envious eye elsewhere .

We get it , you were disappointed with James , time to move on .

Wasn't always that way when the first bend bar was open , but they've come round to our way of thinking now

Doesn't matter how much we loathe doubling up , it's here to stay . It only grew into the cancer it became because of the amount of fixture clashes . League speedway in this country is on life support , you have a group of self employed speedway riders who will ride for 2 , 3 or 4 teams with only the pursuit of making money as a concern . If the top league goes to two nights , then that at least will eleviate the fixture clash problem .

Mitch Shirra was another one , 15 when he rode in division 2 for Coatbridge

It's why the semis and final were brought in . Individual meetings were boring . Riders who had a poor first couple of rides , gave up and the whole thing was like watching paint dry at times . I get your argument regarding Richie , and being a Glasgow fan myself I would have loved him to win it . But the criteria of the meeting has been this way for years now and Nick Morris peaked at the right time and well done to him .

In that case it was presumably people trying to get out

So we've finally come to the end ( weather permitting ) of the most shambolic season the fans of every club have had to endure . What began as a season full of optimism , descended into farce at times . For us , we looked to have assembled a side capable of challenging for honours , but between injuries and riders riding for other teams instead of us , the season limped out in disappointment . The real low point was the embarrassing home capitulation to a two man Sheffield side . Any the final 15 heats , hopefully , are run tomorrow night so it's very small consolation , but a win takes us above Edinburgh into third in the table . I think a very different looking Tigers septet will take to the track when we return in late March , fingers crossed tomorrow's opponents will still be around to resume hostilities in 2018 .

Despite various brave new dawns and repackaging over the years , the long suffering speedway fan has just endured the most shambolic season in the history of our sport . I just hope somebody goes to Tenerife with ideas , the vision , the lack of self interest and the diplomatic skills to open the eyes of those who will not see . But i'm not holding my breath .

Meaningless fixture it maybe , not Glasgow's fault though , the rain postponed the first two runnings of this fixture . Richard is a Glasgow asset , not a Somerset one , so is it really unreasonable for Richard to ride for his parent club instead of going to a dance ? Has Glasgow to be fined 5 thousand pounds for not completing their fixtures or race a meeting without their number one because he's at a dance 300 odd miles away ?

The 13 heat formula was ditched because it had become boring . The second halfs had become a waste of time as riders weren't interested and wanted to get on the road as soon as the league match was done . We tinkered with 16 heats with two top scorer races , 18 heats , but the 15 heat formula is the one we went back to and seems to be the preferred option .

Yeah that was announced on Friday at the track , once we were out the cup . Cant see the terraces bulging for this one .

Back to Friday , I was pretty much straight from Glasgow Airport after my hols , to the track . Track looked borderline raceable , such as shame Rory Schlein wasn't a Panther . Harris and Ostergaard pretty much took the Panthers through on their own , Harris was jet propelled from the tapes the three times he was in gate 4 , not so jet propelled from the inside gates . Starke improved as the track improved . The days of Parker and Stancl or Parker and Bird getting us over the line in heats 13 and 15 are long gone , the current crop cant be trusted when the going gets tough , looking good all night Richard Lawson fluffed his lines in 13 when it really mattered , not even being able to pass the abysmal Campton , and that was that . Congrats to the Panthers , they went about their business in an efficient way , good luck in the final .

That seems to be another success story , not back to the days when Chris Holder and Boycie graced the shale there , but it seems to be a thriving club again . Too many promoters are lazy , they expect fans just to turn up as if it was 1975 still and they do nothing to add to the 15 heats of racing . That might have been enough back in the day , but not now . It doesn't take a massive financial outlay to add to the experience of going to the track . Daft things like small prizes for competitions on the day , facebook check in , voting for rider of the night , photo sessions with riders for the kids after the meeting , these things cost nothing but do attract people and keep them interested .

Up at Glasgow , big time . When we stood on the back straight say 5 years ago , there was us three or four in my group and no more than about 20 or 30 dotted about . Now the back straight is packed most meetings . And the kids race against the mascot , during the interval , is a sight to behold . The line of kids stretches from one touchline of the football park , down to the other . Some weeks there are two lines . It can be done with a bit of thought .

That's more like it . You Witches have got too nice , you can't have a derby foe without a healthy bit of bile and venom . You need to get Kings Lynn back .

Perfectly understandable , would be two bumper crowds . However I hope we can spoil your little plan

Och Jenga was only fishing , how did we fall for it ?

You forgot the hundred grand win bonus for reaching the final

As far as I know it was a season ending injury

So the plea in last week's Speedway Star fell on deaf ears . Such a shame , as it was a cup tie with the Diamonds only 2 points behind going into the meeting . Obviously Robert Lambert's nonsense will have put some off from attending , and it is near the end of the season with most of us frazzled with the way the sport has gone this season , but speedway and the Championship needs Newcastle and you worry how many promoters have had enough and are ready to throw in the towel .

I'm sorry Jenga , I hadn't realised we had actually signed James . Must have passed me by , I thought teams couldn't sign anyone after July 31st