Backless

If you relax in a warm, darkened and quiet romm, focus and concentrate, do you think it would be possible to come back here, refreshed and reinvigorated, and make an attempt at a more ridiculously exaggerated comment devoid of any grasp of reality? Not just an amusement, but aughing stock you say? And not just hall half a dozen pissy Yorkshie folk who wouldn't be happy whatever the team that was built but the whole of the speedway world you reckon?

I agree with all of that. Apart from everything else, what will the company or companies they're apparently talking to think of the desperate scouring for someone else to talk to? Maybe they'll come to the conclusion that they're not required & leave the Bandits to find someone else. By all means talk to others - but don't advertise it. The press releases have resembled a 12 year old's blog for years. At least Harry Potter isn't in the latest one. It does may you wonder how much media exposure the Bandits DON'T get as a result of such repeated garbage being sent to busy professionals who probably know how to set email filters, so they don't even need to press delete.

Ah, bless... never actually had to negotiate for anything in the real world then. Assuming the first sentence is meant to suggest that Wells would sign if he was offered the same as last year, here's a question: If he made a loss last year, why would he agree to the same terms this year? "Simple economics says that the rider will turn that deal down, whether he('s) a foreigner or British" Whatever the going rate was last year, it's different this year - for any number of riders - even run of the mill foreigners. I don't know. But then again you haven't furnished anyone with financial details of "the same sort of deal". Or the demands of any of the available riders.

You may not be aware that there's a recession. It seems to be quite popular - more & more people are becoming involved and doing just that - deciding between working harder for the same (or less) and not working at all. Wells is self employed. If it took him most of last year to set himself up, then he isn't the rider he thinks he is. If he wants experience - training in his profession in other words - he needs to wake up if he thinks he's going to make a profit while doing it. The sport is on it's ass because for too long promoters have paid out too much. Reality kicking in.

Setting aside the ludicrous nature of the first part of the sentence, the answer is "less". Why would he be worth "the same money or more"? He was frankly a disgrace in the early part of the season, scoring double figures for Wolves & a handful or less for Sheffield. So, eventually he started scoing the points that were expected of him. So what? He was doing that from Day One at Wolves. In the Elite League. He established his average the year before at Plymouth, on a track that most of the visitors had never seen before & one much more like those in Califonia. Presumably he went to Sheffield last year to broaden his experience, make himself a better rider (&, as rumour would have it, get paid on time). Guess what? It wasn't as easy as he thought. So after underperforming he thinks he should be on (presumably) more money than last year? Get real. Get by on your Wolves money in that case.

So is it speedway's fault that Sky are cutting back on other sports too? We get it. You don't like speedway, the BSPA, BSI / IMG any more. We get it.

Hall will knock in a decent score each week at Sheffield. If the rest of the team had done what was expected of them, there wouldn't have been a problem at home last year. Wells might have potential - but that doesn't put points on the scorecard. His scores in the first two thirds of the season were worse than he was scoring for Wolves - and not by the odd point. He may well have had a decent August & September, but the Sheffield season was over long before then. So he under-performs for most of the year &, in a winter when a lot of riders - including a lot who performed better - are faced with a pay cut, he faces the same. So what? If he doesn't want to progress, he can stay at Wolves - for now. He can be filed under the heading of "another foreigner taking up a place" - just the sort of place that the likes of Ashworth, Howe et al should be filling.

Hall will knock in a decent score each week at Sheffield. If the rest of the team had done what was expected of them, there wouldn't have been a problem at home last year. Wells might have potential - but that doesn't put points on the scorecard. His scores in the first two thirds of the season were worse than he was scoring for Wolves - and not by the odd point. He may well have had a decent August & September, but the Sheffield season was over long before then. So he under-performs for most of the year &, in a winter when a lot of riders - including a lot who performed better - are faced with a pay cut, he faces the same. So what? If he doesn't want to progress, he can stay at Wolves - for now. He can be filed under the heading of "another foreigner taking up a place" - just the sort of place that the likes of Ashworth, Howe et al should be filling.

Merry Christmas floating turd, thought you'd been flushed away but no, up you bob again. How come your mate Loobrush TomiCzech didn't sign for the Rockets, with his double figure points scoring Rye House engine?

Anal oration.

as in "fell off of his bike"

Funnily enough, I thought it was dragged out BECAUSE of TV! It can't take too much to work out the qualifiers, drag them together & tell them in the pits the order of picks & get a response as to which gate they want. TV will undoubtedly want to show the random selection of gates - what's the betting it morphs from being four balls in a box into a mini National Lottery draw.

It's truly amazing that the BSPA haven't sought to put you in charge of well, everything. With the insightful way you know the answers to everything it would surely only be a matter of 12 months before speedway overtook football in attendances, wages & exposure in the media.

Maybe so. We're the other three riding in any Grand Prix Qualifying Meetings? Will Dick Barrie go to Sheffield with him? The new season takes on hope.

They probably will be ... if they have a broken shoulder blade & ligament damage.

So, what's the location of Sarjeant's address got to do with it? He's been riding at least as long as Knight, seems to regularly pop up in the PL as an NL guest and makes it easy on a cold night to fill in a programme: 0, 0, 0, N. Never even looks like making the first part of a step up. Hopwwod is listed as having ridden for Mildenhall II in TWO THOUSAND AND SIX (!) so the blossoming of that talent is a bit of a waiting game. There would be plenty of teams ahead of Sheffield looking at Nielsen & Jacobs. Ipswich would probably have first refusal. Remind me which one they went for...... I have no idea if it is the case, but either of them wouldn't be the first to over estimate their value. The difference this winter is that the majority if not all promoters are reining in their financial exposure.

C'mon then, Shirley: what's wrong with BBC 3? What's your ideal channel? Ignoring the fact that Sky hold the rights to all brutish speedway, sky you've neatly sidetracked that by lifting PL out of the equation. Well done! So the brilliant enhancement to secure the young audience is to have school kids doing interviews? Classic.

Wow. It's just a short posting but manages to pack such a lack of understanding of every aspect of the subject. The PL (and NL) rights aren't available to be offered to anyone. Sky hold them. What exactly would be wrong with "BBC Three or alike"? As for NL riders doing interviews, it goes from the nonsensical to the deranged!

Can't see any reason why Smith couldn't do both leagues, as he did in 2011. Ashworth would certainly be a good signing. The Argentian COULD be a revelation. That (with one Czech exception) he only finished in front of other Argentinians in the World U21, suggests he could take the NJL by storm.

Because the British Kids that can't get a team place can't be arsed to drive to Glasgow (or Edinburgh or Berwick as applicable)? Could that be it? Even at the sport's height there's always been a stream of Aussies & New Zealanders to the northernmost clubs.

Any chance that the total pony could be left out of the press releases (a forlorn hope, and I guess the A4 sheets could be replaced by tweets): "Alden's name has been circulated" in today's news. Well. that didn't take long as he's just been signed & announced at King's Lynn. Of course he COULD have been signed as a double up rider. Yeah, right.

Who's put their hand up your skirt, Gladys? Explain exactly why "Argie" is anything other than an abbreviation like "Brit". Nothing derogatory, nothing "un-PC" - whoever the Hell put you in charge of such things - about the Argentinian. However, as if it was needed, the performance (for want of a better word). of the Argie in the World U21 rounds showed that he'll be a real find. Like Tanas Sike.

That team would be well worth a watch - who are you going to drop to fit in Edberg & the Argie Second Halfer? Oh, and Micky Dyer is available on loan

Do you mean that it's disgraceful that Dave Tattum has failed to tap anyone up?

Have a look at the thread for the PLRC when people stood around for an hour for no apparent reason. Full of comments about not being able to wait until the next time and they'd be bringing a friend.