IainB

That's the fella 👍🏻

... in other news and just sticking my 2 penneth in regarding the lifting of air fences. I've often thought that the current air fence setup needs something more solid in front of it on the rider facing side. Something similar to an ice cream sandwich, where the ice cream is the air bag and the wafers either side are, the existing fence, crowd side and something similar rider side but made of an easily breakable material, maybe something like what the kick boards are made of, maybe slightly dug into the ground... I wonder if anything like this has ever been tested? You could possibly even have them down the straights too if they had a more rigid outer and riders couldn't catch their handle bars in them. The air bag is only there for energy dispersion.

To be honest, every one I've listened to so far which has only really been since the play offs episodes there's been some sort of sound issues with at least one of the contributors, yours always seems okay actually. I'm sure the guy that runs it has the best of intentions but you've got to be able to hear what's being said or what's the point? The Talk Speedway podcast also had similar issues with that Australian ex rider guy, can't think of his name at the moment constantly dropping out and you often just get the guy that presents it talking to himself for minutes on end! If people are going to publish these things to the public it really needs to be better quality in 2025 like the Ian Brannan podcasts, I know he's a pro but surely it can't be that difficult to check sound levels of all participants before starting and if somebody's isn't up to scratch don't just continue like everything's okay. ... just saying

Yes, I know that, that's why I didn't quote you in, it was just a general point regarding the podcast... don't get me started on the often atrocious sound quality 😜

Why would you have Andrew Bain on your podcast and not ask him the 1 question every fan wants to know the answer to? 🤷‍♂️

Hadn't the AGM always used to be in January until relatively recently?

There are a few riders (maybe without families) that are choosing to base themselves out in Poland these days... or Andorra!

I think we're refereeing to the likes of DT & JJ as "no hopers" now 😟 We have a pool of under 24 riders, "no hopers", just waiting to be given the opportunity to ride regularly and improve their skills to hopefully be part of the salvation of the sport in this country. We don't need to be bringing them all in from abroad.

... finishing off at Ipswich? 🤔

No, it would mean he'd be able to ride here without ruining his club financially. If he wants to ride in th UK on a Monday and Thursday, without a TV deal, he needs to accept a pay cut, it really is that simple.

He must think the Ipswich fans are a right fickle bunch then 😁😉

The answer is partly in his hands... accept a big pay cut

You're saying Poland are not hanging around to see what the UK are playing at? 😂

Was it Ken Bates that bought Chelsea for £1? That's probably the ball park for most Speedway clubs.

They must have thought the TV deal was going to be extended and all their eggs were in that particular basket?

Poland does not have "first claim"... the rider has first choice.

That's because there is a Manchester United senior team (no matter how poor they are at the moment). If you're running 2 levels of effectively the same thing of course people are going to want to see the higher standard, if it's affordable. There are of course other factors involved, the success of the team etc.

... and then in a stroke of promotional genius... stopped running those Good Friday meeting! Unbelievable Jeff!

I'll have what he's on 🍻

What is Louisvision? Do we know? Is it the forcing a CL club up to the PL vision, the force Peterborough to come back PL if they come back at all vision, the open Northampton and make them run PL vision, the make them run at Oxford vision, the keep the top stars and continue to pay them top dollar with no TV deal vision?

No, BT binned us off at the end of 2019, then Eurosport picked us up for 2020 (didn't start until 2021 thanks to covid) before being absorbed into BT Sport that then became TNT. If and when broadcaster does come knocking at the door, then that is the time to formulate a plan to put a proper proposal together to get money from the broadcaster to attract the top stars back, until such a time the sport in the UK just cannot afford those riders.

Just to pick out the TV deal section of your points... Sky, BT Sport and now TNT Sports have all binned Speedway off in the recent past and that was with the "GP Stars"... they're clearly not interested in Speedway at the moment especially with the rise of women playing men's sport (👈 that's a joke btw 😂)

Don't have a Scooby Doo mate, we all know that rider payments and machinery costs are more closely guarded than state secrets! As the rumour currently stands, a 9 team CL and 5 team PL, there's going to be even less meetings for riders with less team spots taken up by the more established riders meaning less opportunities for the kids further accelerating the decline of the sport.

You say look at the facts and then produce a load of estimates, they are not facts my friend. If you look at my list of rider appearances you'll see that Luke Harrison was top with 48, for the likes of King, Harris & Lawson it was around 44. The only fact is apart from those appearance numbers which are in the public domain everything else is guess work. A 14 team league would have provided 26 league meetings, a cup competition, at least 2 meetings and maybe a 4's or something that brings you to at least 32. A cup run and play off meetings and you could be up to around the 40-44 meetings that they're currently doing. There's no doubt in my mind that some kind of cost cap also needs to be in place as regards what is spent on machinery.

Could be top to the final 2nd v 3rd to the final