uk_martin

And you wonder why British Speedway is an international laughing stock? In Poland they knew 2 weeks ago which teams were in which league and which riders were in which team. They are only a matter of a couple of weeks away from announcing their fixtures, which typically are published mid-December. In Britain, we don't know if we're coming or going...literally. The Chapmanship has reduced down to 7 teams, Glasgow have given 12 months notice that they are folding, other teams are on the brink or have announced themselves to be up for sale, Cradley and Coventry are likely to be confined to the history books, and I've seen promoters up and down the country having "meet the fans evenings" to explain what's going on and to trawl around for new ideas because they don't have any of their own. I wish they would hurry up and announce what is happening at Birmingham, because I'm not hanging around for another year in the Post-Natal League. If we're not going Championship, then let me know soonest please, so that I can cut my emotional ties to this farce sport. After the mooting of a 30 point limit per team and the comical shenanigans in the NL last season, I'm not putting up with the NL again.

If BSPA Ltd gets into unmanagable debt, it can be declared bankrupt and a new company, (e.g. BSPA (2020) Ltd) can be formed to carry on where the old one left off, but free of debt. Just ask Terry Russell... who did exactly that with his GoSpeed incarnations. Wouldn't surprise me if Russell is the "brains" behind this venture too.

So much for the old maxim that the Chapmanship Premiership needed 8 teams to be viable.

I said many years ago that Speedway should adopt a MLB / NFL / NBA style franchising operating model, with shares in the holding company being divided amongst the promoters in proportion to the value that they bring to the party at the outset. That way with everyone having a stake in the prospects of every franchisee, maybe there will be some decision making for the common good rather than promoters not being able to see beyond their own stadium car park, as is the case now.

Just my opinion, but to set an example for the future, I don't think that a team that didn't complete their league fixtures in 2018 should be allowed to profit by being elevated into the Championship for 2019.

http://www.speedwaygb.co.uk/news.php?extend.35805

How about not letting a team who didn't complete their league fixtures in 2018, elevate to the Championship in 2019?

And who's bank-rolling Peterborough in 2019 then? Have new buyers been found?

My ideal 2019 NL season will NOT feature Birmingham. And to that end, I believe they are on the verge of applying for a Championship place next year. In reality, the whole thing is such a mish-mash though. Glasgow were rumoured to be going into the first division (whatever that gets called next year) but then they release a 12 months notice to cease trading if finances don't improve. There are half a dozen other teams up for sale or on the brink of extinction, so who knows what 2019 holds in store, or how many leagues there will be, or who is in which league, let alone which riders will be riding for whom... ...meanwhile in Poland where everyone knows which teams are in which division, and who is riding where, and where the fixtures are only a couple of weeks away from being published, life goes on as normal, the PR machines are working away, riders are spending the closed-season meeting people, pressing the flesh, kissing babies etc. Might as well all be on another planet, so stark are the differences in approach. Pesky Poles, eh? Who do they think thay are? We British know best. Nothing to learn from them, eh?

So everyone starts the season with a "losing" team (one wheree the total of the averages don't meet the total needed to win a meeting) What a great selling point to the public, isn't it? But that's just a short term problem. The long term problem is that if you pack the team with low-average riders who then go on to score the points that they will, over the course of the season, then they will all massively improve their averages, making them unemployable the following year. THEN where do you get the next crop of wobblers from? And how bad do they have to be to get under the average limit? And you are still expecting the public to pay to watch this?

We've got a world champion.

More to the point, which is more important? National Trophy or National League? Why was the 8th July fixture a National Trophy fixture when it could have been a National League fixture, with the NT meeting waiting until after the cut-off date? The NT isn't time constrained, so why not make it wait until after the League match (which surely is in the more important tournament) has been fitted into it's time constraints. #speedwayshambles

Come cut-off date, in the year of the blazing hot summer, whilst Belle Vue and Sheffield, tracks not too many miles away from Buxton had raced in the order of 20 meetings each, Buxton had completed only 10, Five of which were National Trophy. We are now in October and there is still unfinished business at Buxton and Stoke. Disgraceful. I'm sorry, but denying the other teams the ability to compete for league points (and probably get them) in good time, is a dishonour to the rest of the league, especially Coventry and Birmingham in this instance whose final league placings could have depended on their results at Buxton, and but for the grace of god, the situation could have applied to any other team as well. #speedwayshambles

Things would be better if Buxton had a track fit for racing. Then there would be no question of going home.

If you'd have asked me a few years ago, I could have given you an answer. Right now though, I can't give a hoot. The Shambles League has lost me. If Birmingham stay in it, I can't see myself being there to witness it next year. How on earth can a league be in a situation where the league standings are influenced by which teams the "no-hoper" teams like Stoke and Buxton decide to ride against and donate their league points to, and who they don't ride against before the cut-off date? I thought that Poole were a cynical team with their win at all costs attitude, but what we've seen this year by the "if we can't have the points, they you can't have the points either" attitude, just makes a complete dogs dinner of the league. And you can rest assured that these teams will go unpunished and will be free to do the same again next year. NO! Not for me, this league.

Birmingham won the Easter Egg Cup against Kent this year (you know, the Easter that continued into the final week of July)

I wonder if there will be a fireworks display at the end of the meeting? Need something to look forward to. "Team of Guests B" v "Team of Guests C" doesn't really fuel the imagination, does it? No matter what race jackets they wear.

Post the same question on a MotoGP forum, and I dare say you will get their regulars saying that speedway is just "first out the gate wins", and they will laud their sport to the rafters. Different strokes for different folk.

4 guests plus R/R. Is that a record? Can any Brummies fan honestly put hand on heart an say "that's my team?. Our race jackets, maybe, but "our" team??? Anyway, get well soon, Leon.

Can't Birmingham have a guest or R/R like they do in league matches?

If the Cradley Globetrotters can't get together a 1-7 to beat Mildenhall, then I doubt that the Brummies will either. A case of "but for the grace of god there go the Brummies"... the problem has been identified, and ok this year other teams could have been affected. That doesn't mean that the problem shouldn''t be addressed and sorted out. Next year it could well be the Brummies who come a cropper, and then you'll be saying "why didn't we fix this problem earlier".

Well, good for them I suppose. But they are 3 home and 1 away fixtrues short of completing their obligations. 3 teams have won at Stoke already, only Birmingham and IoW have lost there. Is it fair on Plymouth, Eastbourne, and Buxton (!) to deny them the chances of gaining points too? Plymouth for instance, with 4 point wins at Stoke and Buxton (also not yet ridden) could leapfrog Birmingham in the league, and with some better luck and fortune elsewhere during the year, could have been in the mix at the end of the season, a fate that Buxton and Stoke have just about gotten away with denying them. You have to ask, if things had panned out differently for Plymouth, could Stoke have been culpable for keeping them out of the play-offs by not fulfilling their fixture obligations?

Cue: "Refundgate 2"

I wonder what the league table would lookl like if the Buxton and Stoke fixtures were expunged, as only riding and losing in half your fixtures favours some teams who are making a genuine effort as opposed to others who are similarly making a genine effort but who are being denied the chance of scoring league points by the ineptitude of the two joke teams in question.