Belle Vue National Stadium

[iris123]

 

Wrong kind of speedway though!

 

http://www.rockingham.co.uk/venue-hire/venue-activity/corporate-driving-experiences/

Oops,made the same mistake, only other way around, those Breakfast TV people did when having a speedway rider as guest and thinking he was a car racer.

[Little Thumper]

Oops,made the same mistake, only other way around, those Breakfast TV people did when having a speedway rider as guest and thinking he was a car racer.

 

I blame the yanks for nicking our words and not using 'em right.

 

I mean fancy looking under the hood to find the engine!

[The White Knight]

 

I blame the yanks for nicking our words and not using 'em right.

 

I mean fancy looking under the hood to find the engine!

How did they know it was under the gangster? :unsure:

[colin wood]

So the council are going to pick the new promoters from a list of at least three interested parties.But what are they going to do about the stadium which isn't yet finished.You can hardly justify calling it the National Speedway Stadium with no terracing on the South Stand.With the little snippets of info we are now learning the council failed in building a 6000 capacity stadium ready for the start of last season.Gordon and Morton were left to pick up the tab for temp terracing which meant they had no chance of making a go of promoting the Aces properly.The whole thing has been a farce from day one and one would hope that lessons have been learned and the new promoters get a chance to promote what is still one of the biggest clubs in speedway.IMO not terracing the south stand would be a massive mistake and would affect crowd levels.

[Little Thumper]

So the council are going to pick the new promoters from a list of at least three interested parties.But what are they going to do about the stadium which isn't yet finished.You can hardly justify calling it the National Speedway Stadium with no terracing on the South Stand.With the little snippets of info we are now learning the council failed in building a 6000 capacity stadium ready for the start of last season.Gordon and Morton were left to pick up the tab for temp terracing which meant they had no chance of making a go of promoting the Aces properly.The whole thing has been a farce from day one and one would hope that lessons have been learned and the new promoters get a chance to promote what is still one of the biggest clubs in speedway.IMO not terracing the south stand would be a massive mistake and would affect crowd levels.

 

Thanks for that. Where did you get this information from?

 

I thought that Manchester City Council would agree to lease the stadium to a viable tenant and the BSPA would consider applications from prospective promoters once the previous owners of the club relinquished their claim to the ownership?

I hadn't realized that the City Council were making all the decisions off their own bat.

 

There seems to be lots of information out there but I never seem to know where to find it!

 

Anyway, I'm pleased that so many people appear keen to have a go at running the Belle Vue Arena and/or Belle Vue Aces and clearly, they must have a far better business plan than the previous arena tenants/speedway promoters whose ship seemed to be half sunk before it had even left the harbour.

 

So, colin wood, if you hear any more snippets of information, I for one would be very interested.

 

Many thanks.

So the council are going to pick the new promoters from a list of at least three interested parties.But what are they going to do about the stadium which isn't yet finished.You can hardly justify calling it the National Speedway Stadium with no terracing on the South Stand.With the little snippets of info we are now learning the council failed in building a 6000 capacity stadium ready for the start of last season.Gordon and Morton were left to pick up the tab for temp terracing which meant they had no chance of making a go of promoting the Aces properly.The whole thing has been a farce from day one and one would hope that lessons have been learned and the new promoters get a chance to promote what is still one of the biggest clubs in speedway.IMO not terracing the south stand would be a massive mistake and would affect crowd levels.

 

Who do you think should pay for this construction work - Manchester City Council, the new lease holders of Belle Vue Arena or the new promoters of Belle Vue Speedway?

[Daniel Smith]

 

Thanks for that. Where did you get this information from?

 

I thought that Manchester City Council would agree to lease the stadium to a viable tenant and the BSPA would consider applications from prospective promoters once the previous owners of the club relinquished their claim to the ownership?

I hadn't realized that the City Council were making all the decisions off their own bat.

 

There seems to be lots of information out there but I never seem to know where to find it!

 

Anyway, I'm pleased that so many people appear keen to have a go at running the Belle Vue Arena and/or Belle Vue Aces and clearly, they must have a far better business plan than the previous arena tenants/speedway promoters whose ship seemed to be half sunk before it had even left the harbour.

 

So, colin wood, if you hear any more snippets of information, I for one would be very interested.

 

Many thanks.

 

Who do you think should pay for this construction work - Manchester City Council, the new lease holders of Belle Vue Arena or the new promoters of Belle Vue Speedway?

 

Any new owners will be lease holders going by what everybody's posting so further stadium development can only be the responsibility of the owners, the city council.

[SteveLyric2]

 

Thanks for that. Where did you get this information from?

 

I thought that Manchester City Council would agree to lease the stadium to a viable tenant and the BSPA would consider applications from prospective promoters once the previous owners of the club relinquished their claim to the ownership?

I hadn't realized that the City Council were making all the decisions off their own bat.

 

There seems to be lots of information out there but I never seem to know where to find it!

 

Anyway, I'm pleased that so many people appear keen to have a go at running the Belle Vue Arena and/or Belle Vue Aces and clearly, they must have a far better business plan than the previous arena tenants/speedway promoters whose ship seemed to be half sunk before it had even left the harbour.

 

So, colin wood, if you hear any more snippets of information, I for one would be very interested.

 

Many thanks.

 

Who do you think should pay for this construction work - Manchester City Council, the new lease holders of Belle Vue Arena or the new promoters of Belle Vue Speedway?

I should try reading the Speedway Star Thumper - they have quite a bit of 'official' info!!

[B.V 72]

 

That mean before any work can take place it will need council approval. And they obviously will work to a budget formula as they are spending ratepayers money and there must be many non-speedway supporters in Manchester who are NOT speedway fans.

They in their turn will expect their elected councillors to look after money they have paid in rates and may not view the development of a speedway a justified expenditure outlay. Ratepayers in the majority will feel there are may items like rbis disposal, road repairs, care for the elderly and similar are in greater need.

Let's hope my views are not proved to be correct. It could be - and we must hope I am wrong - that he council will only maintain Belle Vue to a safety margin standard. Then it will be the job of the leaseholder to make improvements - and there again such work will probably have to be council approved and to a standard they demand.

On the other hand if the council do not do the work(the work they should have done in the first place and that seems to have played a big part in the previous promoters down fall) and the new promoters pull out do you not think that the council should answer to the public for spending millions of pounds on an unfinished stadium that is unfit for purpose.A stadium that has (reported) 3 promoters that are interested in paying rent for.Rent that would be lost because they have not finished the stadium.Leaving them with a stadium that is only being used by an american football team with a few hundred supporters the only other sport that has shown any interest in using the stadium.

As a rate payer i might ask a few more questions if a purpose built speedway stadium is not being used because the council did not finish off the work, rather than them spending the money they should have done in the first place and the stadium bringing in revenue.Its like them building a new council estate and no one will rent the houses because the tenants have to pay for the bathroom to be put in.

[The White Knight]

On the other hand if the council do not do the work(the work they should have done in the first place and that seems to have played a big part in the previous promoters down fall) and the new promoters pull out do you not think that the council should answer to the public for spending millions of pounds on an unfinished stadium that is unfit for purpose.A stadium that has (reported) 3 promoters that are interested in paying rent for.Rent that would be lost because they have not finished the stadium.Leaving them with a stadium that is only being used by an american football team with a few hundred supporters the only other sport that has shown any interest in using the stadium.

As a rate payer i might ask a few more questions if a purpose built speedway stadium is not being used because the council did not finish off the work, rather than them spending the money they should have done in the first place and the stadium bringing in revenue.Its like them building a new council estate and no one will rent the houses because the tenants have to pay for the bathroom to be put in.

I love the analogy B.V72. :approve:

 

:rofl:

[pugwash]

Plumbing the depths of analogical humour, so to speak.

[Tsunami]

Plumbing the depths of analogical humour, so to speak.

Water under the bridge now.

Edited January 1, 2017 by Tsunami

[pugwash]

Water under the bridge now.

True, but still memories flooding back of the water hydrant incident which was a convenience.

 

I'll get my wetsuit.

Edited January 1, 2017 by pugwash

[Phil The Ace]

Had to copy and paste from a BV page

 

The following was posted on the belle vue army forum and fans page on Facebook. makes interesting reading.

 

"The council requested an investigation and report into the track issues. The comprehensive report was compiled by Arup's. It's filled with very technical jargon but the main problem was the tarmac from the hockey pitch that wasn't removed and the geotextile membrane used was not as specified nor the same as the rest of the circuit.

 

This as you say effected the ability of the track to accommodate moisture in the most unpredictable and frustrating way.

In certain environmental conditions all was well in others the surface became soft and boggy.

Due to the unique nature of the problem and the fact it has never been encountered before conventional solutions were adopted to solve the problem and these were only to do with the top surface. To frustrate matters further work carried out on the shale seemed to do the trick but in reality it was just favourable environmental conditions lulling us into think all was well.

 

The best illustration of the unpredictable conditions was around the time of the full behind closed doors team practice. This lasted several hours with Aces, Colts and others taking to the track and giving it the thumbs up. A press release with comments from Mark Lemon saying all problems were sorted and the track was good to go followed.

Two days later people congregated around turn three near the track maintenance gate to witness water bubbling up from below. The following meeting was then called off and bends three and four fully ripped up and the investigation put in place.

 

There are many photos in the report with one showing an amount of used nappies used to fill the base. This isn't a key issue but illustrates the level of workmanship in this area.

I think the contractor was keen to finish and therefore not receive any penalty payment requests due to missed deadlines. The main contractor employed a sub contractor to carry out the track groundworks.

 

The council own the report and have since placed an embargo on its publication.

 

The council and contractor have many multi million pound projects in place in the city.

 

###

To put it mildly the council were not keen on rocking to boat with their preferred contractor and anyone instigating such action was seen in a very dim light indeed. When the option to sweep them, oops I mean things under the carpet was presented to them by a third party they jumped at the chance."

[OveFundinFan]

Well that should shut up more then a few on here who have strongly condemned Gordon and Morton for carrying on with the Peter Craven Memorial meeting whilst knowing there was a problem on bends 3-4.

Clearly there was a FULL practice session lasting SEVERAL hours with Aces, Colts and others taking part. They were happy with the track giving it a and followed by Mark Lemon saying "all problems were sorted and the track was good to go".

There is a lot yet to come out IMO, but will it.

[mikebv]

There definitely was testing going on the day before as I watched it when picking up my tickets...

 

Thought that was common knowledge...?

 

Hence the frustration I would have thought from the Promotion, re the opening night itself...

 

As previously alluded to, maybe the different weather conditions from an early afternoon (I was there around 1pm) to the evening conditions the next day, effected the moisture below the surface of the track..?

 

Obviously this impacted the Promotions finances, as did paying for the South Stand Terrace each month, which should have been part of the handover and paid for by the Council..

 

Maybe that also consequently then meant no money to promote or market locally either the venue or the team...?

 

It did appear that 'build it and they will come' was the only strategy but I would be surprised if that was the Promotions original plan to entice fans to the place and that funds would have been set aside for promotion and marketing but sadly ended up in refunds and hire costs..

 

Would be interesting to find out the truth but probably we will never know, as even settled claims out of court often have confidentiality clauses...

[PHILIPRISING]

Well that should shut up more then a few on here who have strongly condemned Gordon and Morton for carrying on with the Peter Craven Memorial meeting whilst knowing there was a problem on bends 3-4.

Clearly there was a FULL practice session lasting SEVERAL hours with Aces, Colts and others taking part. They were happy with the track giving it a and followed by Mark Lemon saying "all problems were sorted and the track was good to go".

There is a lot yet to come out IMO, but will it.

HOPEFULLY in SS shortly when we know that the future of speedway at the NSS is assured, which hopefully won't be very long now.

Edited January 4, 2017 by PHILIPRISING

[The White Knight]

HOPEFULLY in SS shortly when we know that the future of speedway at the NSS is assured, which hopefully won't be very long now.

I'll definitely buy that one.

[waytogo28]

I hope that among all those things that might "come out" is where did the turnstile revenue go, if it did not go to pay riders promptly and up to date? What bills were made a priority and were they in fact paid. Who took what out of the turnstile income? In speedway too many people, sadly, like to draw a veil over such things but if the truth does come out, I hope it comes out fully. Someone has to be responsible for the collapse.

[MattK]

I hope that among all those things that might "come out" is where did the turnstile revenue go, if it did not go to pay riders promptly and up to date? What bills were made a priority and were they in fact paid. Who took what out of the turnstile income? In speedway too many people, sadly, like to draw a veil over such things but if the truth does come out, I hope it comes out fully. Someone has to be responsible for the collapse.

Nothing will ever "come out". When are the facts of the plethora of failed speedway promotions ever reported in the public domain?

[Trevor]

If the stadium had been handed over to BV complete, and ready for action, with South Stand with the permanent terracing that was on the plans, it is most likely none of the following drama would have happened.