cityrebel Posted July 8, 2014 Report Share Posted July 8, 2014 The fighting fund is now at a staggering £8345.00 !!!!!!! Proud to be a Brummie. what a great effort! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starman2006 Posted July 8, 2014 Report Share Posted July 8, 2014 The fighting fund is now at a staggering £8345.00 !!!!!!! Proud to be a Brummie. Well done, keep going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agrotron Posted July 8, 2014 Report Share Posted July 8, 2014 The fighting fund is now at a staggering £8345.00 !!!!!!! Proud to be a Brummie. Yay keep the good work up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
25yearfan Posted July 8, 2014 Report Share Posted July 8, 2014 (edited) Great figures for the fighting fund which surely gives any potential new owners extra motivation that taking over the struggling club is worth it? I'd imagine this £8000+ would cover at least 3 of the home meetings which the previous promotion haven't paid the GRA their rental fee? Going back to the previous argument about the 1970s Brummies team - Birmingham speedway were in a catch 22 situation at the end of the 1975 season. They reopened in 1971 and had been getting huge crowds. In 1974-75 they dominated the 2nd Division to such an extent that fans started getting bored so crowds dropped. Birmingham knew that to simulate interest and to get crowds going up again they had to move up but moving up also meant that the many Coventry, Cradley, Wolves and Leicester fans who used to pop along to the Ladbrokes to sample 2nd Division speedway lost interest in going to watch teams they were seeing at their own tracks. This combined with the extra costs involved in top flight speedway and the authorities making it as difficult as possible for the Brummies meant that for a number of years Birmingham speedway struggled. It got better when Dan McCormack took over and the team improved. Birmingham were ticking along nicely until the end of 1983 when they had the rug pulled from under them when the stadium was sold for redevelopment. Indeed I reckon that had the Ladbrokes stadium survived to this day then its likely Birmingham would have never closed down and would of been a top flight club all the way to present? Cradley speedway this year if they walk away with the NL title again will be in a similar situation where they have to move up to the PL next year in order to maintain interest but moving up would create problems such as increased costs and having to charge the fans more to watch them. This led to the club moving to the new but facility sparse, Wheels Project in Bordesley the other part of the City in an unfriendly area outside the traditional speedway heartland. The poor facilities, poor promotion with low funds who in the latter days were actively looking to move away from the Wheels track, poor co-operation from the Wheels owners, watching a poor 2nd Division team after having a decent decent 1st Division team with Hans Nielsen and co combined to attract lowish crowds. The present problems wouldn't be occurring if Tony Mole had taken over at the end of last year and while its proven that Birmingham speedway aren't going to attract crowd figures like near neighbours Coventry, Wolves and Cradley having capable persons in charge would make Birmingham speedway viable! Fingers crossed the Brummies survive! Edited July 9, 2014 by 25yearfan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OGT Posted July 8, 2014 Report Share Posted July 8, 2014 Tony Mole tried to bring speedway back to its most recent home in the late 80s and was only a handshake away from achieving his goal. Unfortunately the guy he shook hands with died and the new stadium owner refused to honour the agreement. Another case of "if only". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brummie Kev Posted July 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2014 Is there a Link to the 'Birmingham Mail' in regard to this please. I have tried to find one - no luck. Plenty of football there! Sadly its not on the Mail website and neither is the Graham Drury article too. Seems they havent put any speedway stories online for the last 5 days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornishfisherman Posted July 8, 2014 Report Share Posted July 8, 2014 Not quiet correct, Joe Thurley was quoted as saying he took the brummies into the BL1 due to falling gates because of the Brummies domination of home meetings - people got bored of the team winning by default! Joe had to buy his way into the top league, To be brutally honest we were not wanted in the top league - it was big enough already without the addition of another team to compete with Wolves, Coventry Cradley and Leicester! but Joe persisted and the Brummies were eventually "allowed" into BL1 (at a price) gates improved and were quite sustainable as quoted recently by CVS who was co-promoter with Dan the Man who took the club back into the NL which killed the club because the Brum punters didn't want second tier speedway, TBF the Wheels venue didn't help - it was/still is a dump but at least it was a venue. Joe was virtually bankrupted by the BSPA's admission fee to BL1 which left little cash available to sign riders and we were totally shafted by rider control which left us with a very uncompetitive team - but the gates were good - in those days people would pay good money to watch the best riders in the world - sadly the same cannot be said of todays "Elite League" Incidentally Joe Thurley at the time that Birmingham was elevated to the British League was a 25% shareholder in Speedway Presentations (Birmingham ) Ltd., and it was the company that was almost bankrupted and not Joe Thurley. He was at that time the partner of John Berry in the very successful Ipswich Promotion. Just thought you might like to know the true facts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinMills Posted July 8, 2014 Report Share Posted July 8, 2014 Incidentally Joe Thurley at the time that Birmingham was elevated to the British League was a 25% shareholder in Speedway Presentations (Birmingham ) Ltd., and it was the company that was almost bankrupted and not Joe Thurley. He was at that time the partner of John Berry in the very successful Ipswich Promotion. Just thought you might like to know the true facts legendary john berry!! if only these people were around spedway nowdays! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The White Knight Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 New shale whatever for? I must admit my first thought was...... has Moley nicked it lol You will be getting a letter from Tony Mole's Solicitors in the morning. :shock: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluPanther Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 legendary john berry!! if only these people were around spedway nowdays! 'These people' had it easy, they opened the gates and the public flooded in. They would be facing the same problems today as current promoters, Speedway is not on the radar of young folk anymore, the digital age is upon us... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABS Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 'These people' had it easy, they opened the gates and the public flooded in. They would be facing the same problems today as current promoters, Speedway is not on the radar of young folk anymore, the digital age is upon us... And therein lies the problem for all tracks. Competition for the leisure £ is greater than in "the good old days". Other attractions have moved on, but speedway is stuck in some kind of time warp. I go every week, but is speedway really good value for money nowadays? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cityrebel Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 No it's not, but old habits die hard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gert Handbag Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 No Idea, but thats what Nigel Pearson has wrote in his article today. Perhaps the GRA have sold it to raise some of he money they are owed. It's called a "Romalpa Clause". Basically if you haven't been paid for it, then as a supplier you can take it back. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldace Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 It's called a "Romalpa Clause". Basically if you haven't been paid for it, then as a supplier you can take it back. Retention of title is quite a bit more complicated than that in reality and only applies to goods you may have supplied. A supplier has no right to seize anything he likes to cover a debt. It is unlikely the GRA supplied the shale so they would not, at this stage, have had jurisdiction to sell it. There is a process to go through before they could dispose of items left on their property by a company in liquidation, which as far as I am aware hasn't even happened yet 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevePark Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 That's a very close minded statement. Tony Mole should carry some of the can for selling clubs to blatant donkey owners. May be goodfor him but the way he goes about his business is horrendous for the sport. If you name all the clubs he'd saved, how many are still alive? But, at the end of the day, it's not up to Tony Mole who becomes Promoters. That's up the the BSPA who interview prospective Promoters and decide whether or not they are 'fitting.' 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agrotron Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 Tick tock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinMills Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 'These people' had it easy, they opened the gates and the public flooded in. They would be facing the same problems today as current promoters, Speedway is not on the radar of young folk anymore, the digital age is upon us... the state of modern speedway was not left in this state from john berry..YES, of course its at a low ebb and no doubt would be whoever is around today, but berry was a very forward thinking promoter..as someone who visited a few tracks in those days, crowd levels werent "automatic" everywhere.. if you look at matt ford today, brilliant bloke for speedway (not in everybodies eyes), but a winner.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cityrebel Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 Ford is a rarity in speedway, a promoter that promotes, but the crowds are still down at poole this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigcatdiary Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 But, at the end of the day, it's not up to Tony Mole who becomes Promoters. That's up the the BSPA who interview prospective Promoters and decide whether or not they are 'fitting.' Whether or not they are fitting. And who for example have they ever found not fitting, you pays your money and get your badge, just a straight rubber stamping exercise, more,s the pity. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 Whether or not they are fitting. And who for example have they ever found not fitting, you pays your money and get your badge, just a straight rubber stamping exercise, more,s the pity. Steve Ribbons? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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