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Berwick Statement


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Sadly you are right. We can only hope that there are enough rich Benefactors or Investors to go around.

Here's hoping.

Recent events at Glasgow show there is reason for hope.

 

Berwick has 50 years of history and a very loyal fanbase. It's not a bad proposition for the right person/people.

 

Speedway will sort itself out in the long term. This might actually be a good time to come in.

Edited by bigeddiechek
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Here's hoping.

Recent events at Glasgow show there is reason for hope.

 

Berwick has 50 years of history and a very loyal fanbase. It's not a bad proposition for the right person/people.

 

Speedway will sort itself out in the long term. This might be the right time to come in.

I sincerely hope that you are right. I mean that for all of the threatened Tracks.

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Speedway will sort itself out in the long term. This might actually be a good time to come in.

 

Lets hope so, but Berwick`s situation is very much short term, weeks in fact before the club give their intention to run or not.

 

Speedway`s recovery may not include Berwick, we must hope that the club finds its new investment, or new owner.

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I sincerely hope that you are right. I mean that for all of the threatened Tracks.

When something is at a low it can be a real opportunity.

 

The sport needs fundamental changes, and they simply will happen. With a good period in place to carry out all the pertinent due diligence, there is time for investors to asses the opportunities.

 

If I had the cash, would I take a punt?

Actually I would. It is a tangible business has some unique aspects.

 

It has longevity, everything with longevity goes through cycles, but always pulls through.

 

There are always casualties, hopefully not Berwick, but those left standing always prosper when change occurs.

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Rather ironic I read in another one of these informative PR's a few years back - Berwick had one of the biggest budgets in the league

 

I presume then we overspent on riders like Alden Complin etc or was that more horse rubbish from the club?

That I believe was a rather stupid quote from someone who had no right to be making quotes regarding the club and now is no longer there.
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To quote their newsletter:

 

At management level the club runs very well, very smoothly. We enjoy a massive wealth of adminstrational experience and an exceptional range of worldwide contacts throughout speedway through the services of Lawrence Heppell, Dick Barrie, Dennis McCleary and so many other tireless volunteers.

 

These people have proven their ability to serve the directors, and allowed Berwick's reputation within speedway to rise to a level where we can be looked upon as the BSPA's, Sky Sports and even the FIM's go-to club when a safe pair of hands are required to present the biggest of events.

 

As a going concern therefore, this is not a bad club to become more involved in -- but the time required and finances involved should not be underestimated. However, the directors have offered potential investors or buyers more than two months to declare their interest and allow due diligence to be carried out (on both sides of the table) before any deadline day.

Despite all the superlatives being put across by the current promotion , it smacks of we need someone with more money than sense to come in and prop up what is a failing business.
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Unfortunately, there are many folk locally who would rather moan than try to do anything about saving the club.

 

An awful lot of people will say "I knew this would happen. Berwick has nothing"

 

We have control of our own destiny.

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Please do not become the next Newport. Your track could/has become a regular on the international circuit for hells' sake. They love it, we love it{note Diamonds supporter} even SKY justifiably love it. Too many grounds are under threat from developers. You at least are safe from that, but the noise police will stop you from ever doing another lap if you close. Don't let it happen. I was at Newport's last meeting up at Ashfield and I don't want be a witness to Berwick's demise also.

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Please do not become the next Newport. Your track could/has become a regular on the international circuit for hells' sake. They love it, we love it{note Diamonds supporter} even SKY justifiably love it. Too many grounds are under threat from developers. You at least are safe from that, but the noise police will stop you from ever doing another lap if you close. Don't let it happen. I was at Newport's last meeting up at Ashfield and I don't want be a witness to Berwick's demise also.

 

 

Unfortunately, there are many folk locally who would rather moan than try to do anything about saving the club.

 

An awful lot of people will say "I knew this would happen. Berwick has nothing"

 

We have control of our own destiny.

 

We did have, if enough of us turned up, but we didn't.

Now it is down to the hope of a speedway enthusiast who wants to invest in Berwick.

 

Could be a shrewd move for the right person.

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Generally agree with you, something to remember though, if your customer does not like what you provide, you end up with no customers. My own small business relies on providing what the customer wants at a fair price and with a very high standard of service, and if I were to stray from that path, I would soon be out of business. Time the speedway world stood up and listened to the paying public

No wealthy speedway riders? The likes of Crump and Rickardsson would of made well over a million during their careers without doubt - you can guarantee the likes of pedersen and hancock are more than a bit wealthy as well

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Despite all the superlatives being put across by the current promotion , it smacks of we need someone with more money than sense to come in and prop up what is a failing business.

Speedway, as we know it, is a failing business, hence the number of promotions who are currently struggling. Unfortunately it is reaping what it has sown over years of running the sport into the ground, allowing costs to spiral while continually treating it's customers badly. Like a lot of people have said on here it needs some big changes made, but as long as the BSPA is run by promoters of clubs, where it is basically a case of looking after yourself, then I doubt the sport will ever change.

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Speedway, as we know it, is a failing business, hence the number of promotions who are currently struggling. Unfortunately it is reaping what it has sown over years of running the sport into the ground, allowing costs to spiral while continually treating it's customers badly. Like a lot of people have said on here it needs some big changes made, but as long as the BSPA is run by promoters of clubs, where it is basically a case of looking after yourself, then I doubt the sport will ever change.

 

If what you say is true, and I`ve no reason to doubt you, then would there be any businessman out there willing to join something that is failing. Maybe they could turn Berwick round, but when Berwick is only one voice in the BSPA its difficult to see how any new promoter could force the changes needed to make speedway as a whole successful.

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If what you say is true, and I`ve no reason to doubt you, then would there be any businessman out there willing to join something that is failing. Maybe they could turn Berwick round, but when Berwick is only one voice in the BSPA its difficult to see how any new promoter could force the changes needed to make speedway as a whole successful.

I still think a club could be profitable, but it would need a lot of work. Just my opinion but you would need to spend quite a bit of money, firstly attracting fans back, whatever the best way would be to do that and secondly, keeping the fans there, by looking at different forms of entertainment, pre-meeting and between races.

Also, just my opinion, but if you aggressively went after sponsorship, in it's various forms (including corporate) then this would go a long way to funding the costs of the sport. But again, this would need a bit of spending, to go after a full time marketing employee.

To just come along and throw money at a club the way things stand would be wasting money. But the more time and effort you invested, the more return you would get.

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The bottom line is that no matter how many new investors come in or if we can find a new "Sugar Daddy " owner , there's not enough people coming through the turnstiles and that's not just happening at Berwick it's all over the country . Obtaining new investors merely lightens the losses for the rest of the promotion what needs to happen is more fans need to turn up , if we had crowds of 1000 + turning up each week things would be a lot more rosier , unfortunately until speedway takes a long hard look at itself that isn't going to happen , people aren't watching the sport in the numbers they used too anymore , why ? IMHO most are fed up with the way that speedway is heading , fed turning up watching teams missing riders because they're off racing somewhere else , fed up with watching poor racing , fed up with stupid rules , it's time to get back to basics merge the three leagues into 2 12 teams in the top league the rest in the other league , lower league to be predominantly British riders like it used to be , no guests allowed and as many teams as possible to have a NJL team to give youngsters a start in the sport

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The bottom line is that no matter how many new investors come in or if we can find a new "Sugar Daddy " owner , there's not enough people coming through the turnstiles and that's not just happening at Berwick it's all over the country . Obtaining new investors merely lightens the losses for the rest of the promotion what needs to happen is more fans need to turn up , if we had crowds of 1000 + turning up each week things would be a lot more rosier , unfortunately until speedway takes a long hard look at itself that isn't going to happen , people aren't watching the sport in the numbers they used too anymore , why ? IMHO most are fed up with the way that speedway is heading , fed turning up watching teams missing riders because they're off racing somewhere else , fed up with watching poor racing , fed up with stupid rules , it's time to get back to basics merge the three leagues into 2 12 teams in the top league the rest in the other league , lower league to be predominantly British riders like it used to be , no guests allowed and as many teams as possible to have a NJL team to give youngsters a start in the sport

 

I agree with that, but it's not what Berwick need at the moment.

If an investor comes in and then changes turn the sport around, that is the only way it can work.

 

What's done is done with regard to the sport, but it is too resilient not to bounce back.

 

I'm sure it will, and I hope Berwick are still around to be part of it.

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