Matt Ford - No Sympathy

[Steve Shovlar]

Matt Ford does a good job putting a strong team together each year but I wonder how long the Poole crowd will be happy seeing repetitive 5-1's. They will thrash loads of teams by 25pts or more at home and that can't be exciting to watch on a weekly basis. Is he killing his own income ?.

You gotta be kidding me. Poole fans, the same as any club, want to see their team win. If its a big margin so what? We beat Lakeside last week by a big score but the racing was great.

 

Success = more fans and Matt ford is well aware of that.

[Gavan]

You gotta be kidding me. Poole fans, the same as any club, want to see their team win. If its a big margin so what? We beat Lakeside last week by a big score but the racing was great.

Success = more fans and Matt ford is well aware of that.

blinkered attitude. People more than ever pick and choose their meetings these days. I can't get to my club every week due to family and work so I pick the meetings I go to. For example I won't go and see Ipswich v Redcar but will when we face Glasgow. Back in 1998 we steamrollered everyone and myself and many others I know chose what meetings we went to. What's the point in spending nigh on £60 including fuel to watch boring racing with one team thrashing the other. Poole get big crowds when they win as we all know when they struggled the fans disappeared. If Poole keep winning by big margins it doesn't help the sport as a whole to have a dominant team. Anyway I have 3/1 on Belle Vue and I'm happy enough with their two away wins so far

[BWitcher]

blinkered attitude. People more than ever pick and choose their meetings these days. I can't get to my club every week due to family and work so I pick the meetings I go to. For example I won't go and see Ipswich v Redcar but will when we face Glasgow. Back in 1998 we steamrollered everyone and myself and many others I know chose what meetings we went to. What's the point in spending nigh on £60 including fuel to watch boring racing with one team thrashing the other. Poole get big crowds when they win as we all know when they struggled the fans disappeared. If Poole keep winning by big margins it doesn't help the sport as a whole to have a dominant team. Anyway I have 3/1 on Belle Vue and I'm happy enough with their two away wins so far

 

Not a blinkered attitude in the slightest.

 

Steve is exactly right in what he says. Clubs get their biggest crowds when they're winning.

 

Wolves hammered everyone in 1996, but the crowds were good all season long and the racing top drawer. We may have been winning every week but had riders like PK who rarely made the gate and did all their work from the back.

 

Interesting you reference 1998, are you suggesting Ipswich had lower crowds that year because of their success due to your claim that 'you and many others' picked and chose their meetings? I find that very hard to believe!

 

Personally I don't have the slightest problem with Poole having a strong team year in, year out. That doesn't damage the sport at all, quite the opposite, they are a drawing card when they visit your club. As has been said many times, what damages the sport is the underhand tricks/stunts they have pulled along the way... most of which were simply not needed.

[E I Addio]

Not a blinkered attitude in the slightest.

 

Steve is exactly right in what he says. Clubs get their biggest crowds when they're winning.

 

Wolves hammered everyone in 1996, but the crowds were good all season long and the racing top drawer. We may have been winning every week but had riders like PK who rarely made the gate and did all their work from the back.

 

Interesting you reference 1998, are you suggesting Ipswich had lower crowds that year because of their success due to your claim that 'you and many others' picked and chose their meetings? I find that very hard to believe!

 

Personally I don't have the slightest problem with Poole having a strong team year in, year out. That doesn't damage the sport at all, quite the opposite, they are a drawing card when they visit your club. As has been said many times, what damages the sport is the underhand tricks/stunts they have pulled along the way... most of which were simply not needed.

I agree with all of that, but getting back to the interview in the Bournemouth Echo which prompted the thread it is quite ironic that Ford is quoted as saying "We all abide by the same rules " ..........er .....no you don't Matt. If you did you would still do very well, maybe not win quite so often or so comfortably, but you would still do very well, you would be held in greater esteem by the majority of the fan base , and the sport would be slightly healthier.

[SteveLyric2]

What rules has Matt broken this year?? None. Even Mick Horton said that!!

[heathen chemistry]

What rules has Matt broken this year?? None. Even Mick Horton said that!!

 

give it chance , season only just started

[Trees]

Doesn't matter, mud sticks .....

[waiheke1]

What rules has Matt broken this year?? None. Even Mick Horton said that!!

No rules broken, but did benefit from the ludicrous decision to use converted Pl averages.

Not going to complain about buzz not being classed as a 2nd string, as that is effectively countered by Davey watt being classed as a hl when he shouldn't have been

[SteveLyric2]

Buzz wasn't on the HL list - you know the list that all EL promoters agreed to!!!! even though he does drop to 2nd string from Monday 18th!!

Edited April 15, 2016 by Skidder1

[500cc]

Buzz wasn't on the HL list - you know the list that all EL promoters agreed to!!!! even though he does drop to 2nd string from Monday 18th!!

 

Did they all agree? I'd assume the list was a consensus. Perhaps he was left off because a decision couldn't be reached !!!

 

Let's not forget that Ford has been known to complain against decisions made by the promoters collective. It is an interesting sport in that the promoters vote on a rule, yet those who oppose the decision will happily publicise their anger. Their are not many businesses where conflicts resulting from internal decision making are played out in public. Unless its the House of Commons !!!

[Woz01]

I'm quite certain they all didn't agree.

[heathen chemistry]

they didnt, but one of them must of caved in eventually...either that or someone from the commitee had the deciding vote if at stalemate. we will probly never know

 

using PL averages for the draft riders was ludicrous, should of used there EL averages to decide there ranking in the draft ...neil vatcher now in charge of the draft

[orion]

blinkered attitude. People more than ever pick and choose their meetings these days. I can't get to my club every week due to family and work so I pick the meetings I go to. For example I won't go and see Ipswich v Redcar but will when we face Glasgow. Back in 1998 we steamrollered everyone and myself and many others I know chose what meetings we went to. What's the point in spending nigh on £60 including fuel to watch boring racing with one team thrashing the other. Poole get big crowds when they win as we all know when they struggled the fans disappeared. If Poole keep winning by big margins it doesn't help the sport as a whole to have a dominant team. Anyway I have 3/1 on Belle Vue and I'm happy enough with their two away wins so far

What was the point in the old days of watching Phil Taylor or Tiger Woods win everything or Man ute etc ..people go to see winners it's a fact of life the same applies to speedway ...the only time Poole crowds have dipped is the season when they were near the bottom and never made the play offs .

[E I Addio]

What rules has Matt broken this year?? None. Even Mick Horton said that!!

We are only 3 weeks into the season !

 

I think it is not disputed ( except by Red Panda and Starman ) that he has a dodgy history as long as your arm.

 

His quote was "We all abide by the same rules" . If you are saying that should be interpreted as "So far this year we have all abided by the same rules" , then that would be true, but in plain English the words used imply that he is convincing the Bournemouth faithful that he always abides by the rules, but we know different don't we ?

 

Personally I don't take his comments too seriously because he obviously has to give Phil Space something to write about on a slack news day , but it does indicate his general contempt for other promoters when he is just as culpable for the present state of the sport as the rest of them . Still it sells newspapers and that's the name of the game.

[SteveLyric2]

The context of the quote and indeed the whole article is clearly about 2016 - it does actually say that - and the rider selections that other promoters have made for their teams. Their selections were their choice as much as Poole's selections were Matt's choice.

 

The rules on team building were approved and agreed - whether unanimously or not - and all had the same opportunities to sign the likes of Andersen, Buzz and/or anyone else for that matter. Just like after May 1st everyone will have the same opportunity to re-visit the original heat leader list again, if the points limit allows.

[BWitcher]

and all had the same opportunities to sign the likes of Andersen, Buzz

 

Edited April 15, 2016 by BWitcher

[Little Nicki]

The rules on team building were approved and agreed - whether unanimously or not - and all had the same opportunities to sign the likes of Andersen, Buzz and/or anyone else for that matter. Just like after May 1st everyone will have the same opportunity to re-visit the original heat leader list again, if the points limit allows.

 

Thought the 'HL List' didn't exist from 01 May, so it wouldn't be there to re-visit it. The inclusion/exclusion of riders on the List that served for team building at the start of the season is the crux of the issue.

 

But there are always different opinions on the interpretation of Regulations, for example the interpretation on the elevation of EL Reserves into EL 1 - 5's this season. Some added the word 'starting' into their interpretation of the Regulation, which was incorrect and has been proved to be incorrect. Maybe the 'misinterpretation' of Regulations is a South Coast phenomena after all?

[E I Addio]

The context of the quote and indeed the whole article is clearly about 2016 - it does actually say that - and the rider selections that other promoters have made for their teams. Their selections were their choice as much as Poole's selections were Matt's choice.

 

The rules on team building were approved and agreed - whether unanimously or not - and all had the same opportunities to sign the likes of Andersen, Buzz and/or anyone else for that matter. Just like after May 1st everyone will have the same opportunity to re-visit the original heat leader list again, if the points limit allows.

If it was in the context of 2016 only then perhaps we can assume he had turned over a new leaf which indeed will be welcome news. We'll see how long his Damascene conversion lasts!

 

Let's just put the team building issue into context. Poole don't appear to have done anything wrong on that front. They do of course have Rick Frost on board which helps enormously, I would love to have had Hans at Lakeside as second heatleader just I would have loved to have had Freddie Lindgren or Max Fricke but we don't always get our wish list. Most fans understand that. The whole thing about people actually being jealous of Pooles team kicked off as part of Starmans usual idiocy because that's the way his childish mind works, and one or two have unfortunately taken the bait.

 

Insofar as Poole have built an exceptionally strong side that really is a condemnation of the state of the sport rather than Matt Ford, who has within the rules done a good job (with a little help from his friends).

[van wolfswinkel]

Matt Ford has made Poole the dominant force in British speedway, same as Man U dominated the Premier, even though they have been underhand/cheated at times, they come up with a winning formula very year. Most people are jealous of the top team, but it's his living and passion, and it's up to the other promoters to aspire to their success. I bloody loved it when my local club Swindon beat them in the Grand Final, and their visits to The Abbey double the crowds, which would probably apply to most tracks. Everyone loves to beat the top team.

Shows how much league speedway in this country has gone downhill though when over 2000 is considered a big crowd...what a joke. Some non-league football clubs wouldn't be happy with that.

The 8-club meet 4 times a year Elite format is boring, so are 65-25 one-sided drubbings, and teams and crowds get weaker. With blank racedays and ever-increasing match cancellations, the lack of a new stadium at Swindon, the farce at Belle Vue, when they should have been celebrating the new stadium, increasing number of guests and r/r, and the amateur way the sport is run. None of this which will encourage the missing thousands to return to this great sport. But speedway always survives in one form or another. Would prefer an 18-team league as they had from 1965-80s when British speedway was massive, second to football for attendances, and about 10 different teams won the British League. Need to get more local youngsters interested in riding speedway. At present would rather watch the GP, or a decent football, rugby, cricket match or horse race, than this so called Elite League.

Edited April 16, 2016 by Downsman

[BWitcher]

Matt Ford has made Poole the dominant force in British speedway, same as Man U dominated the Premier, even though they have been underhand/cheated at times, they come up with a winning formula very year. Most people are jealous of the top team, but it's his living and passion, and it's up to the other promoters to aspire to their success. I bloody loved it when my local club Swindon beat them in the Grand Final, and their visits to The Abbey double the crowds, which would probably apply to most tracks. Everyone loves to beat the top team.

Shows how much league speedway in this country has gone downhill though when over 2000 is considered a big crowd...what a joke. Some non-league football clubs wouldn't be happy with that.

The 8-club meet 4 times a year Elite format is boring, so are 65-25 one-sided drubbings, and teams and crowds get weaker. With blank racedays and ever-increasing match cancellations, the lack of a new stadium at Swindon, the farce at Belle Vue, when they should have been celebrating the new stadium, increasing number of guests and r/r, and the amateur way the sport is run. None of this which will encourage the missing thousands to return to this great sport. But speedway always survives in one form or another. Would prefer an 18-team league as they had from 1965-80s when British speedway was massive, second to football for attendances, and about 10 different teams won the British League. Need to get more local youngsters interested in riding speedway. At present would rather watch the GP, or a decent football, rugby, cricket match or horse race, than this so called Elite League.

 

Another pathetic post.

 

The moment you use the words 'so called Elite League' may as well ignore anything else you say.

 

It IS the Elite League in this country as it is the highest standard.

 

The 'so called' league is the Premier League.