uk_martin

Congratulations to the Brummies on the launch of their new TikTok channel. At long last, something to appeal to the youth, whose support they really need. Good luck with that. How it all contrasts to a few years ago when social media was controlled with an iron fist from BSPZzz headquarters, with legal threats and withdrawal demands on dubious copyright grounds. Speedway teams were banned from having Social Media channels back then, either in the form of Facebook, Twitter, Flickr let alone TicTok (had it existed at the time) and fans ran the risk of getting into trouble if they took their own photos and videos and posted them online. Thank goodness those days are over. I just hope that the ground that speedway has lost to other sports and attractions over the years can be caught up again before it's too late.

Yeah, but LR is the person who is in a "professional position" and who it's made a point of, that he doesn't get paid. Like the contrast is being made to every other professional team manager where there is an expectation that they do get paid, that LR is some kind of hero for donating his time for free...maybe? I mean, why else was that fact made public? So, does not being paid make him an amateur?

What's interesting is that LR never become one of the partners / directors in the consortium that runs the club. He assembled a group of people prepared to invest their kids inheritances in the club, but financially, he's kept at arms length from either the risk or reward. It'd be cheeky beyond belief to ask for a salary when he hasn't made a financial commitment, and the people who have invested in the club probably aren't getting paid either, and stand to lose their investments if the venture goes belly-up.

In my last post, I did refer to BSPZzzz rules and regulations. There's the clue. The very organisation who makes up rules with the sole aim of driving a bulldozer through them sometimes. Overlooking the promoters license rule for Belle Vue was obviously deemed to be "in the best interests of British Speedway" or something. Bet your bottom dollar it wouldn't be allowed at Birmingham though.

The point is that LR is the only person at Birmingham with a promoters license. Birmingham's "actual" promoters, as yet, are unlicensed, so if you get rid of LR, the club would need someone else with a promoters license in order to continue, according to BSPZzzz rules & regulations.

Wright was injured on 4th April. His 28-day doctors note expired over a week ago. And the "facility" expired with it. Yes we were told he was fit and will be riding tomorrow (Wednesday) So why isn't he racing today? If it's known about some days ago that he's fit to go, then he'll be no less fit today than he will be tomorrow. So why isn't he going to turn up? And nobody is telling the fans anything. Something isn't right. And it's the fans who are being made fools of.

And you wonder why the sport is going to pot? The people who make the rules, bend the rules, ignore the bending of the rules, or just go AWOL when they are needed to enforce the rules...except of course when it's in the best interests of British Speedway. Nothing wrong with it. Never said there was. But it's potentially career threatening if it's the case. How can anyone be trusted to race properly again if they have an anxiety attack going into the first bend? In any case, it's just speculation. All we know is that his original 28-day doctors note has run out...he was declared fit and we were told by one of the co-directors on this forum that he'll be racing this Wednesday (tomorrow). And now he isn't. Now on another thread, Heathen52 and Arnieg combined to conclude that after 28-days, a "facility" runs out, and in the absence of a facility a guest of no more than 75% of Wright's CMA can be used. (sort of a "facility lite") but is Paco's average really only 75% that of Wright? It wasn't the last time I looked. Or are the people who make and enforce the rules on holiday again?

The guy is fit. We've been told that. So, what you've described would be the definition of "withholding his services" which would qualify for a facility, and a 28-day ban, whilst the facility continues. So that's how they've done it. Cool wheeze LR! All in the best interests of British Speedway.

What's on James Wright's new sick note? "Anxiety"? Presumably at the prospect of visiting the track where he got himself injured at the start of the season? The fans were assured that he was fit and would be racing again tomorrow, but instead, we have Paco in as a guest. Nothing against Paco, per se, but just how do these "facility" rules work for a rider who has not ridden a race for the club this year or even featured in a team photo yet?

An "unexpected" guest for James Wright again on the team sheet for the match at Plymouth tomorrow, makes that an interesting question.

Birmingham has had "Kids for a Quid" offers off and on since 2007. If cheap admission for youngsters worked, there'd be terraces full of young people now. Admission for 12-16yo's is currently £3. That's less than a Big Mac at McDonalds. For Students (17-22) admission is £5. Hardly deal breaking. And yet the terraces are still not flooded out with youngsters. The problem isn't price, it's value for money. You're trying to sell a product that looks 20 years older than Windows 95, to the Windows 11 generation. The product/experience needs to be brought into the modern age. There speaks someone not from Birmingham, I suspect, someone with no attachment to the city, its nickname, and its heritage. And what good did a name change do at Reading?

I wish you more luck in presenting the case to the management than I had. Going back to the early days, all I got was a "meh" reaction when I pointed out the existence of the Motorsports Engineering Faculty at Birmingham City University that's only 2 miles away. But hey, who needs them? What do these professors and students know? They could have had some work experience at the Brummies and then buggered off to McLaren F1 and all the effort would have been in vain. OR they could have looked at how speedway engines were designed and tuned, and maybe found cost savings in how things were done...but that would have been a threat to the established way of doing things, and you can't have that, can you?

Where has that been announced?

I notice that nobody is filling in gaps with the "James Wright / Tactical Guest" option. Judging by last year, for as long as the current team manager remains in place, so does the Tactical Guest. The BSPZzz allowed the Brummies to field guests all season long for Josh Auty, so by those standards, as long as James Wright keeps feeling less than 100% (or is persuaded to feel less than 100%) I suspect that the tactical guests will keep on getting booked. So, the big question will be, not whether or not there will be changes to the team, but with or without changes, whether there will ever be a 7-man team photo taken this year.

It gets better... The update on Facebook, supposedly promoting this meeting shows a photo of the two Brummies being trounced by opponents. And I bet someone from the Brummies hierarchy will be on here bemoaning that I'm the one with the negative outlook on the team...

Nah, with their heads buried in the same sand as they were in back in the 1970's, the BSPZzzz will simply reduce the points limit to 35, pretend nothing's happening, "move along please, nothing to see here" and carry on in a state of perennial denial.

Out of interest, when was the rule that stated that a rider needs to have ridden for a team, before that team can get a facility for his absence, removed from the rule book? Brummies fans may remember we came a cropper under that rule when Emiliano Sanchez was unable to start for us in 2007 and the team had to use a 3-point NL reserve in his place. It obviously doesn't apply now, if a facility is being granted for James Wright, but it'd be interesting to know when it was removed from the rule book.

Don't take it personally, it's the sport in general that's run in a way that stuck in a bygone era that I'm losing interest in. You'll have seen that in the way that I wrote that comment. I ought to be one of the oldest people in the stadium when I visit a sporting event, and yet at any speedway meeting in Britain, I'm usually in the youngest 10-20%. That should never be right. And sadly, I see little or no effort being made to change that. That said, and as you raised the web site for no apparent reason, the fact that the Brummies now have as a partner, the very person who flicked the switch to shut down the Brummnies web site from his position in the commentary box, on instructions of the sport's establishment, on the day of the play-off's final, is the sort of irony that you couldn't make up.

And that. ladies and gentlemen (whether you self-identify as such or not) is a symbol of where the sport is going wrong, if you have to target the grandparents generation for your income stream. If being a mascot qualifies you, then how about programme and raffle ticket sellers?

A bit pointless, given that the CWG Legacy has a different agenda and is all about young people getting actively involved in participation sports (running swimming, boxing, cycling etc), not propping up a commercial spectator sport (let alone a motor sport) frequented by "not young" people. Until the Brummies get involved with community ventures and start engaging with young people there won't be a penny worth applying for.

As can be seen, the 2023 regulations are there. And although the season has hardly started, the first "make-em-up-as-you-go-along" amendment has been published too. And all because the Peterborough track loves eating tyres more than any other track and this year more than in any other year.

He'll need special boots making for him that will fit over his ankle tag.

Speedway Fan told us that this was Fake News, or was that Guest News, or News Replacement, or... Anyway, those who are to be believed are telling us it ain't happening. And they know best.

Good news - Councillor Jon Hunt is opposing the application.

Dover Dinghiemen