Tomasz Gollob

[ChrissySW]

Well working on those figures given above, for Sweden and Poland and

basing it on scoring the combined 251 points, that worked out at £2290.836

per point.

As I said, I have no axe to grind with Tomasz, if he has the nounce to negotiate

that kind of money and the Swedes and Poles pay it, thats their look out.

 

But I do agree, how can any club expect to stay in business paying that

kind of money to any rider is beyond me.

 

I think Mama beat me to it, but Polish clubs can afford to pay wages like this, to superstars like Gollob. It's just like football in this country. They get really big crowds, and presumably great sponsorship from the superb press and media coverage they're given in Poland. Therefore they live within their means, and if that means they can pay the likes of Gollob a lot of cash, then so be it.

 

Personally, I think it's superb for speedway. These guys are seriously talented, and in the case of Gollob, thoroughly entertaining. He more than deserves his money. Poland is the speedway nation - to anyone who's never been before, I cannot praise it highly enough for speedway.

[tomcat]

I think Mama beat me to it, but Polish clubs can afford to pay wages like this, to superstars like Gollob. It's just like football in this country. They get really big crowds, and presumably great sponsorship from the superb press and media coverage they're given in Poland. Therefore they live within their means, and if that means they can pay the likes of Gollob a lot of cash, then so be it.

 

Personally, I think it's superb for speedway. These guys are seriously talented, and in the case of Gollob, thoroughly entertaining. He more than deserves his money. Poland is the speedway nation - to anyone who's never been before, I cannot praise it highly enough for speedway.

 

As you quoted me, I'll try and explain what I mean't.

 

No club, whether they be from Poland, the UK or anywhere else can sustain

the level of wages being paid, as per Poland right now.

There have been a few Polish clubs that have been sailing very close to the

wind, late payments, or 11th hour payments to riders, to enable them to

get their licence for the next season. At least one Polish club, who's name I

cannot remember off hand, but it is on this forum somewhere, who went bust

and have re-invented themselves under another name.

Its all well and good saying they can afford the money being paid to the top

riders, due to sponsors etc, but what happens when these sponsors suddenly

hit the wall and no longer have the funds to back these big paying clubs.

 

You have to budget accordingly and I don't see or read any evidence of this from

Polish or Swedish clubs. Just because they are managing to meet the demands of

the top riders at present, doesn't mean that they will continue to be able to.

Sooner or later they will sink and be no more. The bubble will burst.

I don't know the exact details, but is that now two Swedish clubs that have

gone bust and are no more?

What price Polish clubs going the same way?

 

Its simple economics. Take my hobby, WW2 re-enactment. In Northern Ireland,

all the big groups have been demanding thousands to do a few hours at a show.

I warned them 2 years ago, that the gravy train would halt very soon. The credit

crunch means that the money available will suddenly stop being there.

Well, this year its happened. We now have groups going down the tubes, why?

Because they didn't listen, whilst my group only charged for expenses, up to a

maximum of £300, we have shows to do this year, whilst the others won't have

anything that will pay them. We also put our money into the bank and left it there.

Resulting in us having funds to enable us to pay our Public Liability Insurance for

the next 2 years at least.

Get greedy or chuck big money at something long enough and it will go very very

wrong eventually. My phone is ringing off the hook from event organisers that

wouldn't even give us the time of day for 2 years, now they want to book us as

we only charge for expenses. They won't get us booked, as we are loyal to those

that used us previously, if we have any spare dates, we'll look into it again, but

at the present time we just don't have the dates available.

 

The moral of all of that is.... Use your money wisely, or you will end up with

nothing and go bust in a big way. Polish and Swedish speedway cannot sustain

that kind of spending and not suffer for it. Pay the top guys big bucks, but remember

that the slightly lesser riders that you ignored to be able to pay the big money

will suddenly seem very appealing later on, when you can no longer afford Gollob,

Crump etc and they may just stick two fingers up at you when you come calling.

 

Thats why I believe that British Speedway is going in the right direction as far as

the GP riders and greedy ones are concerned, we use our 'Lesser' riders and

have a good league, OK, maybe not the best in the World anymore, but at least

we're not on the verge of going bust and the league possibly collapsing.

 

Too many people seem to dismiss the idea that Poland and Sweden are in trouble

as far as speedway clubs go. Do so at your peril.