uk_martin

Let's hope it's third time lucky, as the last two purchsers of the team didn't work out very well, did they?

Hot off the press... https://twitter.com/rguest92/status/910862174393905152 Place your bets as to who the "favoured bidder" is. Holding fire on what I think of the situation until I know who it is and what the plans for the future are,

A horrible vision comes to mind of a rider vaulting the air fence, then tap dancing over the tarpaulin dog track covers, avoiding the retaining tyres like they were IED's, then climbing over another fence and landing on top of some old lady sat in a camping chair that promptly collapses causing carnage and mayhem all over the place, not to mention a spilt cup of tea and a half eaten cucumber sandwich falling into the mud...

Ryan Sullivan will be so pleased to hear that he's been forgiven and forgotten

Obviously no concept of the word "some" in the phrase " is lacking in some of our so called top riders". Note that the context is also speedway specific. But if you want names for the frame, start with Craig Cook. The perpeptual big fish in the smallest of ponds. Sometimes a winner of the lesser competitions, sometimes scraping through as the "best of the rest". Scared stiff of plying his trade in Poland amongst the big boys on a regular basis though, isn't he? Such is the CV of Britain's Champion and second best rider. As for the third best and the rest...well...and yet some fans are happy with that.

Contrast that to the British attitude of "everyone's a little winner" and/or "well as long as he tried his best" and/or "the heroic loser"... no wonder the motivation to WIN is lacking in some of our so called top riders.

Not to mention accountants to file the annual report and accounts to HMRC, and lawyers to fend off those pesky noise complaints from recently moved in neighbours...

Congratulations to both the winning teams. Two gripping meetings. Can't complain about the entertainment value, and at the end of the day, some you win and some you lose. That's sport. Onwards and upwards. Poland's champions and some of the best riders in that league totally outclassed by a British rider (cue the arguements over that definition) All we need in this country is 3 or 4 more of that quality.

Yep, it's a funny old game...could still be a Stal v Falubaz derby for the bronze medal. And another 90-90 impasse again...who knows?

Poor old Mickey Mouse...semi-finalists two years running and always falling at the final hurdle in front of their own fans. My heart is bleeding all over the place :rofl:

Different situation. Cradley have the promoters but no home. Birmingham could have a home but don't have a promoter. Without someone to pay the bills, the team "squats" nowhere.

No. Proper Nouns are capitalised, verbs are not.

Strictly speaking there are only FOUR "professions" - Cleical (Clergy), Medical, Legal, and arguably Military....everyone else has a Trade. Yes I know that nowadays earning a wage or a salary likes to think of themselves as a "professional" but IMHO, sports people and tradesmen should be proud to be just that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profession https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military Here's an idea for you then...Take this concept, together with the financial and performance results of speedway for the last 3 years onto BBC's "Dragons Den". See if you can persuade Peter Jones, or any of his co-horts to work for nothing based on future profits of a languishing sport that they know nothing about. See how you get on. Let me know when the BBC are broadcasting the show, and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Can't believe how fans still hang their hats onto fantasies like this...can someone who advocates independent fantasy promoters please explain: 1. Who appoints these independent people 2. Who they have in mind to do the job 3. What the experience and expertise in speedway that an independent person has to have to be of benefit to the sport 4. Who pays these independent people and how payment is made to avoid the "he who pays the piper" accusations that will follow if not done correctly 5. How much should an Barry Hearn type of character be paid to make it worthwhile for them to take on the job? Bear in mind that these people didn't become millionaires out of altruism or charity. 6. Who gets rid of independent people who prove to be bad at their job?

Why not? The last time Cradley set up camp in the Potteries, the Loomer Road stadium got a fresh lick of paint...the same paint that's peeling off today. Cradley in, new paint job, and it's a win-win situation to all concerned.

One of the "flattest" Brummies performances I can ever remember. Apart from Liam Carr, I don't think any of the riders can look into their pay packets and think to themselves - "yeah, I've earned this".

Maybe the last "serious" (as far as that word applies in this joke sport) meeting of the year before some end of term revalry with Cradley in October. Maybe the last "serious" speedway of an era. Who knows? I wonder how many will venture out to see it? Let's just hope that the weather holds and that the track has time to dry out as it got a right good soaking today.

All the hidden secrets on how to build yourself one of those "Polish bikes" revealed here - https://sportowefakty.wp.pl/zuzel/wideo/29787/budowa-motocykla-zuzlowego-wideo Just follow the instructions...what could possibly go wrong?

With Coventry heading into the scrap yard Buster couldn't afford a second casualty especially such a high profile venue and a team with such a heritage. It would have been like football losing Manchester United.

You make it sound like there is something massively different about Polish tracks? Rybnik is 357 metres, barely 15 metres longer than Kings Lynn, 10 metres longer than Belle vue and smaller than Berwick and Workington. No excuses for British riders not having the right equipment for combatting "big sweeping tracks". Maybe the Polish riders did. Bully for them. The Australians, and Danes didn't. Explain how they were so superior to the Brits? Why didn't the SCB/ BSPA arrange for training for the British lads? Because they could have, just they didn't. So how long before the Brits learn a lesson off them and start helping each other too? First, you have to come out of this state of mind that poo-poo's the good things that happen elsewhere in the belief that the British way is the only way, and that the Poles are the enemy and wishes evil on them and can't wait for their leagues to implode, and then we might be able to make some progress.

Let's take a step back and ask ourselved WHY the Australian riders have "Polish bikes" at their disposal. Why have Australian riders gone out of their way to fix themselves up with places in Polish teams? More to the point, Lambert apart, why have the British riders NOT got themselves fixed up in Poland? And what's so special about "Polish bikes"? They all start out the same at the GM / Gerhard / Jawa factory...they all go to one tuner or another. They all conform to FIM regulations. Talk about workmen blaming their tools.

There was no shortage of BSPA money to buy a huge stock of Gerhard engines. Did they all sell out? Or is there a shelf full of unused engines that could have been tailored to suit Polish conditions?

And what exactly would that achieve? The Poles had home track advantage. Well, boo hoo. It happens every few years. Team GB has home track advantage in the SWC by virtue of Busters Back Yard, EVERY YEAR. See how Team GB would get on if SWC Event 1 was in Czech Republic or Australia, or Latvia...or Russia, or USA. We wouldn't be so certain of qualification to the next round then. I think that the context of this is the Under 21 scene, in which case he is. Cookie, Worrall etc are substantially older than even the Polish Senior squad that won the SWC. At u21 level, what you saw at Rybnik was the best that we have, and it's clearly well off the pace of other youngsters from around the world. I'm amazed at how the Aussies who have no financial advantages over the British lads are able to perform on the world stage. Kurtz, Jack Holder, Fricke, and even Justin Sedgmen, were all able to get places in Polish teams, whilst all we hear from British riders is "boo hoo, it's very difficult to get a team place in Poland, sob sob". Absolutely. That and a pressure from the BSPA to support British leagues above all others, including the prospect of a ban from international competitions like the SEC, the Pairs etc when these lads get older, a lack of opportunities from the BSPA / SCB to pit our youngsters against international competition in the form of test matches, and the "being average is good enough" comfort zone of being able to make ends meet by earning a decent crust by riding in 3 British leagues at once. Make those young riders NEED to ride on the contenent to earn their money, make British speedway a one-rider-one-team sport by abolishing doubling up and guesting, and you'll have a hungrier more determined rider who will have to suppliement their earnings abroad, and in the process gain experience and skills that will make them into better riders.

In another conversation I had a few days ago, I compared standing up for British Speedway to standing up for British Leyland in the 1970's. However you wanted to tart up and "sell" the Austin Allegro and the Morris Marina, they were just bad cars surrounded by better products in a competitive environment. So hats off to Speedway Star for being the modern day British Leyland Sales Brochure, extoling the positives and making sure that the sport is seen in the best light possible. (Even if some truths don't make it into print)

Alan Philips needed Graham Drury at his side and to sit in his seat at the BSPA table. That's why the Drury's couldn't be dispensed with during that time of the boardroom civil war. I've no idea who's doing the hand-holding for BV, although I'd suspect that the deep interest that Buster Chapman had in the situation there at the start of the year may point him out as being their fairy godfather. I could be wrong though. Oh, deep joy. The Birmingham B's, perhaps? Riding in yellow black and red, maybe?