Wimbledon Stadium: Some Important News

[oldace]

Me too Ray - but it is a great shame it has to be like that. I like sensible debate and am prepared to be proved wrong - I believe if you enter in to a Debate you have to accept that you are not always right. Where possible I would far rather keep things friendly.

 

Hope you are not including me in that

[The White Knight]

Hope you are not including me in that

 

Of course not Oldace - I would have thought that you would have taken that as read.

[Sir Sidney]

Dons riding at Kent on 12 August, with at least some riders with genuine Dons connections (Andre Cross, Chris Mills, Chris Schramm reported elsewhere). Keeps the profile up and I think assists when we write to the politicians.

 

Lets hope Mr Taggart can persuade RCP to sell him the stadium and land - still the biggest obstacle to a return to Plough Lane

[Sir Sidney]

Posted by Andre on the Wimbledon Speedway Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/2426614704/

[Tsunami]

Sadly you are right. One has to spend some time defending yourself against other Posters.

 

This is a shame because it is should be the Debate and the Humour that makes this Forum fun to be on.

 

Amended for truth Ian.

[The White Knight]

Amended for truth Ian.

 

Thanks for that Dave. You are right.

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

Important update from Ian Perkin:

 

I have been given a leaflet by Paschal Taggart's legal advisor Diane McLean,which gives all the information about who to contact to help with the campaign to redevelop Wimbledon Stadium as a greyhound venue. Again Diane has indicated that if the plans are approved they hope to discuss with us the possibility of reintroducing speedway to the stadium. She has also asked that she is copied in to any e-mails that are sent in support of the campaign so that they can gauge the level of support for the proposals. I should be grateful if I could also be copied into any e-mails that are being sent (ianperkin@wimbledonspeedway.co.uk) so that I can similarly gauge the level of support coming from speedway fans which will be useful in any future negotiations should the stadium plans get that far.

It is still clearly a long shot that speedway will ever return to Plough Lane, but there is no other course available that offers any kind of realistic prospect of a return other than that being put forward by Mr Taggart, so anything that speedway fans across the country can do has to be worth the effort.

[arthur cross]

Paschal Taggart's plans for revamping the whole site are clearly speedway's best hope of returning to Wimbledon but I'd warn everyone to bear in mind he had so much more in his favour when he was the leading Irish greyhound administrator playing a major role in the brilliant redevelopment of Shelbourne Park in Dublin at the turn of the century.

 

The Irish government has a much stronger affinity with greyhound racing than our government over here (the Irish President often presents the trophy at their Greyhound Derby final) and the Shelbourne development was completed as an early part of the Irish building boom that spectacularly went bust a few years later.

 

What's more, Shelbourne's only a few minutes' walk from Dublin's smaller version of the London Docklands modernisation and just a couple of miles from the city centre, making it much more accessible for anyone wanting a lively night out ... compare that with Plough Lane being a few minutes' walk from nowhere special and several miles from the centre of London.

 

You can easily see what's happened at Shelbourne by putting "South Lotts Road, Dublin" into a google-map search ... the home straight and grandstand are on the north side of the site while the smart flats that funded the greyhound revamp were built in an L-shape around the 1st & 2nd bends.

 

Paschal Taggart's an ideal figurehead for greyhound fans hoping for the desperately needed improvement of London's last surviving track but it's still a long shot that he can persuade Risk Capital / Gaillard Homes to sell the site at a fair price, never mind actually deliver the revamp.

 

Meanwhile, with Ian Perkin's name so prominent in the attempt by speedway to get its foot in the door with Mr Taggart, didn't the BSPA take a major dislike to Mr Perkin (or was that Steve Ribbons they couldn't stand?) during the Dons' years in the Conference League ... I can't help wondering that even if Mr Taggart successfully revamps the stadium, would the speedway authorities welcome a revival of the Wimbledon Dons so heavily associated with Mr Perkin ?

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

Meanwhile, with Ian Perkin's name so prominent in the attempt by speedway to get its foot in the door with Mr Taggart, didn't the BSPA take a major dislike to Mr Perkin (or was that Steve Ribbons they couldn't stand?) during the Dons' years in the Conference League ... I can't help wondering that even if Mr Taggart successfully revamps the stadium, would the speedway authorities welcome a revival of the Wimbledon Dons so heavily associated with Mr Perkin ?

 

Thanks for the helpful background about Mr. Taggart's work and standing in the Republic.

 

You are though completely out about Ian. Ian and the fans-run 'Wimbledon Speedway plc' who ran the Speedway from early on in the 2002 season through to the end of 2005 had a perfectly good relationship with the BSPA - there were and are no such problems.

You may well be thinking of the less than good relationship (for reasons frankly I can never fathom) between the BSPA and Steve Ribbons - but Steve, though indstrunmental in getting Speedway back at Plough Lane in 2002, had no involvement with Ian or the 'plc' from mid-2002 onwards and wouldn't be involved now either I'd assume.

[salty]

Just to clarify, the Bord na gCon (Irish Greyhound Board) is a semi-State company and Paschal Taggart presided as chairman for about 10 years up until 2006.

 

Taggart certainly has the werewithal to do the necessary at Plough Lane (as long as RCP are receptive to a reasonable offer) and I do believe he has the interests of Greyhound Racing at heart. If he feels that the Speedway community can help swing things with Merton Council then I'm sure he'll welcome any support.

[arthur cross]

You are though completely out about Ian. Ian and the fans-run 'Wimbledon Speedway plc' who ran the Speedway from early on in the 2002 season through to the end of 2005 had a perfectly good relationship with the BSPA - there were and are no such problems.

You may well be thinking of the less than good relationship (for reasons frankly I can never fathom) between the BSPA and Steve Ribbons - but Steve, though indstrunmental in getting Speedway back at Plough Lane in 2002, had no involvement with Ian or the 'plc' from mid-2002 onwards and wouldn't be involved now either I'd assume.

 

Those who are interested in a possible Norwich revival (see thread

Norwich To Return ?)

 

are not very happy with SR at the moment. Here's a taster of the latest happenings but you need to go back further to see the sad current state of affairs since the "lavish promises" of this time last year.

http://www.speedway-...ic=70858&st=360

 

Thanks for clarifying that I'm more likely to have been thinking about Steve Ribbons than Ian Perkin in terms of any awkwardness a decade ago.

 

In that case, good luck to Mr Perkin and the rest of the Dons supporters but I still fear it's going to be a long-drawn-out process especially after Risk/Gaillard announced short-to-medium-term operations-leases a few weeks ago with all 4 of their dog tracks (reckoned to be 5-years at Wimbledon and 15-years at each of Belle Vue, Perry Barr & Hall Green) which has been interpreted as an extra barrier to anyone trying to revamp any of those sites,

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

Gosh this looks like a poem!!!

[salty]

Hardly a "war of words" though. Just reporting what was in the public domain a couple of weeks ago.

[arthur cross]

Boris Johnson has already pledged to retain greyhound racing in the capital as part of his strategic plan and supported similar projects in Catford and Walthamstow.

 

That's all very nice to hear that the Mayor of London has a strategic plan for greyhound racing so let's check how useful his support's been elsewhere.

 

Catford (like Wimbledon, part of the Greyhound Racing Association tracks owned by Risk/Galliard) was closed down without any notice or farewell meeting in November 2003 ... the site (in between the two railway lines on the western edge of Catford town centre) didn't come close to being redeveloped for over 9 years until the go-ahead was given in May this year for 589 homes to be built on it in a £117-million project ... the best hope for the dogs is that one or two of the streets might be named with a 4-legged theme.

 

Walthamstow (owned by generations of the Chandler family steeped in betting-related businesses) was closed with 3 months' notice rounded off by a farewell meeting in August 2008 after the Chandlers chose to sell the site to developers London & Quadrant just before the financial crisis ruined L-&-Q's redevelopment viability ... the greyhound industry along with both the most local Conservative MP (Iain Duncan Smith) and most local Labour MP (Stella Creasy) kept campaigning for L-&-Q to cut their losses by offering new bidders the chance to restore dog racing to the track ... instead, Boris Johnson gave the go-ahead last October to Waltham Council's deal with L-&-Q to do a £50-million project comprising 294 homes, a community-run sports centre, allotments and a children's nursery ... try fitting a new dog track around that lot !!

 

Good luck to anyone wanting to keep greyhounds or restore speedway at Wimbledon when it comes to strategic planning by the Mayor of London.

[25yearfan]

Boris Johnson supported the retention of greyhound racing at Catford and Walthamstow?

 

Catford shut 10 years ago and has to my knowledge been built on and Walthamstow shut 3-4 years back but hasn't been built on yet

 

Wouldn't it be nice if Wimbledon stadium was bought by Mr Taggert and was redeveloped into a multi use venue staging dogs, SPEEDWAY, stock cars and other events AND AFC Wimbledon comeback to another site in the borough!!!

 

I'm sure if a new Wimbledon speedway had all the right elements than then the venue could sustain Elite or Premier League racing!

[salty]

Thanks. I'll use my contact there to suggest they drop coverage then? The W&SLP can then perhaps turn their attention to helping AFC Wimbledon return to the Plough Lane area?

Did I say that?

Just pointing out that one party declining to comment hardly constitutes a "war of words".

Has the W&SLP made any comments regarding what they would prefer to be the chosen plan for Plough Lane?

I repeat, there is nothing there that wasn't in the public domain 2 or 3 weeks ago.

[arthur cross]

 

The W&SLP has given the opinions of ALL parties in regard to the proposed Wimbledon Stadium project. As a respected local newspaper (established 1863 and winner of many awards for its journalism) it gives the opinion of all sides in these matters. This enables its readers to judge the issues put before them and to pass their own judgment at the end of the day.

 

:::::::::::::::::

 

Arthur - I would like to make it clear that this quote used by you =

 

gustix, on 10 August 2013 - 12:09 AM, said:

 

 

Boris Johnson has already pledged to retain greyhound racing in the capital as part of his strategic plan and supported similar projects in Catford and Walthamstow.

 

is from the South London Press. It is not as it appears to be as used my comment.#

 

 

Dear oh dear !! ... a perfect example of how to get far too unnecessarily tetchy on a forum !!

 

If you lift a newspaper's article into your post, the only way anyone can quote from that article in subsequent posts is by quoting it on your behalf (and using the general guidelines of this forum, I didn't want to waste bandwidth quoting the whole of the SLP report when I was only referring to its sentence about Boris Johnson's strategic planning for dog racing) ... you chose to lift that article onto this forum, so you shouldn't be surprised if your name then gets attached to it being quoted afterwards !!

 

But actually, you've kept digging a bigger hole by praising the reputation of the SLP even after "25yearfan" as well as myself have pointed out the SLP's talking absolute rubbish if it reckons Boris Johnson has a strategic plan for greyhound racing ... so far any such strategic plan from the Mayor hasn't actually benefitted greyhound racing and in our different ways, "25yearfan" as well as myself have seized on the two examples of Catford & Walthamstow to prove it.

 

Although I don't live in the area any more, I grew up just a few miles away from Plough Lane, supported Wimbledon FC at Plough Lane in all four divisions of the Football League, regularly attended Wimbledon greyhounds and so I'm well aware of where the South London Press fits into that area's media (just like any local paper, it can be a good voice for local campaigns but it'll often ignorantly throw in sentences that are clearly wrong like the one linking Boris Johnson with strategic planning for greyhound racing).

 

I was also at the same school (but a year below) as the Racing Post's long-standing Wimbledon greyhound correspondent Richard Birch and still have some friends and contacts linked to that sport ... up until recently, I regarded Paschal Taggart's revamping plans for Wimbledon as a bit ambitious but still hoped they could be achieved (and I hope my previous comments on this thread reflect that view) as I'd love the Greyhound Derby to be staged at a venue worthy of its history rather than the current dump.

 

However, after reading Mr Taggart's lavish plans for greyhound prize money in the Racing Post a few days ago (more than trebling the current total of prize money on offer at the track for routine nights, never mind even grander plans for special nights), I'm now of the opinion that his proposals are much more about headline-grabbing on the back of his Irish reputation rather than a really well thought-out way of giving London a 21st-century greyhound stadium ... he seems to think whatever worked in Dublin at Shelbourne Park over a decade ago is bound to work as well in London at Wimbledon when there are huge economic and geographical differences involved (as I've already explained on this forum).

 

Yes, speedway still needs to piggy-back itself onto Mr Taggart's plans ahead of Merton Council's deliberations on 11th September because it's the only realistic way of getting the Wimbledon Dons back on track at that site ... however, I'm less optimistic than ever about Mr Taggart overcoming plenty of hurdles in his way just to have the chance to revamp the stadium, never mind where speedway fits into any of his plans.

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

The other activities currently still at Wimbledon Stadium are:

Greyhound racing

http://www.lovethedogs.co.uk/wimbledon

Small oval car racing “stock cars”

http://www.spedewort...?name=Wimbledon

 

Is the squash club (set up by Roger Cearns) still open?

[Parsloes 1928 nearly]

Yes that's it - though the website is VERY misleading as it describes it as follows, "Christophers Squash has a strong reputation as the most friendly squash & fitness club in Wandsworth."

Er, it's neither in Wandsworth the place nor indeed Wandsworth the London Borough as the stadium is situated in LB Merton...!!

[arthur cross]

Yes that's it - though the website is VERY misleading as it describes it as follows, "Christophers Squash has a strong reputation as the most friendly squash & fitness club in Wandsworth."

Er, it's neither in Wandsworth the place nor indeed Wandsworth the London Borough as the stadium is situated in LB Merton...!!

 

Yes, the stadium's in Merton rather than Wandsworth as its London Borough ... but only because when the London Boroughs were drawn up in 1965, the boundary between the two included the northern edge of the stadium site to keep it totally within Merton instead of partly within Wandsworth !!

 

I'm sure I've seen it reported (probably in the Racing Post) that the historical deeds of the stadium mention that it does straddle the two local authorities that existed when it was built because this quirk has been mentioned as another obstacle towards redeveloping the site.

 

Certainly, anyone living a few minutes' walk north of the stadium is comfortably within LB-Wandsworth ... it's also the case that Wandsworth was well known as a town centre in that part of London before it was picked as one of the 32 names for the London Boroughs whereas "Merton" was a bit of a botch-job for the next-door borough as Merton Park is a small district compared to the sizeable towns of Wimbledon, Tooting, Morden and Mitcham that are all within that borough (neither Wimbledon nor Mitcham would back down over the borough being named after each other, hence the Merton compromise).

 

Given all the above info, I can understand the squash club marketing themselves as being in Wandsworth even if they're offically in Merton.

Edited August 11, 2013 by arthur cross