uk_martin

It's the 5th of December today...and we know more about tomorrow being St Nicholas day than we do about a date for the AGM. Incredible.

Nor should you. The fans played no part in it. It's the good grace of Tony Mole and Graham Drury that the Cradley fans owe a debt of gratitude to. Although I doubt if they will be holding their breaths either. Well that kind of depends on how long Birmingham decides that it wants to be promoted for doesn't it? Nothing at all guaranteed beyond 2017.

An article on the sportowyfakty site suggests that the fixtures may be announced before Christmas.

£5 per meeting perhaps? Bear in mind that the head honcho of the BSPA will have to fine himself this time too.

Wouldn't surprise me. I've been at the ticket queue at Birmingham on many occasions when I (as an over 50y.o.) was the only full fare payer.

I've seen them on sale before the end of the previous season in the past. On the basis that we have to wait for the AGM though, this could end up taking forever, and it could miss the Xmas present sales opportunity. Oh, well...

And so the Brummies thread morphs into a Cradley thread. Oh well, who cares?

Have any NL Teams put their season tickets on sale yet? Would anyone like to be able to buy one for someone as an Xmas present? What are the prices for season tickets expected to be around the country? Does your club's season ticket include or exclude KOCup and post-season play-off meetings?

And on another thread, people are hoping that Leigh Lanham could join the ranks of the bright young things in the National League.

Adam Ellis isn't that old though. It's the Armstrongs and Atkins that I struggle with. The NL should be for the youngsters on the upward path of the learning curve so that there can be a wealth of British talent in the higher leagues and in Team GB. Someone should run a seniors circus separately for the golden oldies.

So it's an idea...maybe it sparks a better idea in someone else's head...but at least it's more than just the usual "something should be done" statement. If you don't like the idea then come up with a better one. Eventually, by brainstorming a few ideas instead of just moaning about them something workable could come out of it. Quite right..where's Arthur Browning's phone number?

It's breath holding time, as developments at other teams (Belle Vue) may well shape a good proportion of the Brummies team. I can remember how back in the winter of 2009-2010 Drury had a plan that went to the birds when Steve Johnson became available, and then with Jonno signed up his revised plans went for a ball of chalk again when Aaron Summers was surprisingly made available (or maybe it was the other way around, memory and old age and all that) so whatever plan is on the table now may well head into the same recycle bin if news from Manchester is bad, and the likes of Kyle Bickley and Joe Lawlor suddenly become available.

Quite right. How about some kind of weighting on the averages, so that a rider gets a 10% "discount" on his average for every year that they are under 20 and a 5% premium for every year that they are over 21? Thus a 16 year old rider with a 6.00 average is discounted by 40% (= average of 3.6 for team building purposes) whereas a 28 year old rider with a 6.00 average would be loaded by 35% (= 8.10 for team building purposes) And if the"oldies" don't like it, then they can look for a bargain basement place in the Championship with the other big boys. The NL needs to move away from being a retirement home for the under achievers, and focus on being a nurturing ground for the young and aspirational.

Now there's a question to ask Gordon and Morton at Belle Vue, isn't it?

With the expanded EL fixture list that Wolves have to comply with, will there be enough spare dates for all of Cradley's meetings to be fitted in at Monmore Green? Will Ladbrokes allow racing now on more than one night, or will Cradley have to stage some of their fixtures at Perry Barr again?

Does anyone remember the Fans Survey that was carried out in the middle of last season? Does anyone remember seeing the results from it? Are those results going to have a bearing on how things shape up for 2017?

I saw "SGB Premiership" mentioned in one of Busters press releases. Maybe there's more to this than meets the eye. Hey, could be it's not just any ol' Premiership any more. Lol

What else, in all honesty, have we all come to expect?

The BSPA & SCB will forever now be known as "The Applecart". Maybe that rebranding will be part of the sweeping changes due in January? Or won't it? How will we ever know? The prime information source won't disseminate the information on the matter. Does the publishing house that owns Speedway Star also have sister publications that rely on working relationships with the International Olympic Committee and FIFA? Is colaborating with the corrupt and incompetent indemic in the DNA there? Whilst on the fruit'n'veg theme, maybe Speedway Star can also report that another part of the sweeping changes due in January will be that fans will forever be rebranded as "Mushrooms". Something that we've been treated as for a dogs age in fact if not in name.

Try the Airbnb.com web site. There's a place I stayed at that's about 5 minutes walk from the stadium that does rooms for about £11 a night. There's one or two other places on Airbnb too, All warm, dry and comfortable, bearing in mind all you want is a place to sleep the night and wash in the morning, as you'll be "living the life" during the day. Just hope you don't get beaten to the punch with the bookings. https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/2643417

This is the sort of thing that needs some really good investigative journalism to happen, for some incisive digging into what the story is, to find out what really happened, what the reasons are and if necessary, where the blame lies. There needs to be more than whispers in internet forums about what is on good authority, and there needs to be more than just copying and pasting BSPA press releases. Speedway Star ought to be doing a big splash on what has happened at Belle Vue, and the truth needs to be delivered to the public, many of which have paid money in the form of the "buy a brick" scheme, and who deserve to know. Time shouldn't tell. Speedway Star should tell. If there is a fundamental change in the organisation of the sport at the highest level, the fans should be told. Imagine there being a cabinet reshuffle and the mainstream press not reporting on it. That wouldn't happen and nor should the silence be maintained over what's happening at the SCB. The fans will want to know. What's new? What's changing? Who will be doing the string pulling? What will be the new relationship between the SCB and the BSPA? What does it all mean to the speedway that the fans see next season? Done properly, this could fill 2-4 pages, and could be a very good read. Done as normal, nothing will be put into print until the press release is copied and pasted, which will be well into 2017, and will tow the party line in its entirity AGAIN.

Sale Sharks play in Salford, as do Man United, come to that. The only sporting stadium of size in actual Manchester, where only one or two rugby games have ever been played is the Ethiad Stadium.

Sale Sharks play in Salford, as do Man United, come to that. The only sporting stadium of size in actual Manchester, where only one or two rugby games have ever been played is the Ethiad Stadium.

No problems. Give me a yell if you are intending to go to the Stal Gorzow v Falubaz Mickey Mouse fixture. That one is invariably a sell-out, so you might need a little help in getting tickets. There's a little gang of us who always go to this meeting, so you'll be welcome to tag along.

So without BSI's event there needing their debt bail-out Belle Vue could have done a Birmingham and gone bust mid-season?