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Buster Chapman - Is He Good For The Sport?


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Tried to screw over BV. Tried to steal a BV rider despite all clubs agreeing not to. More of a hindrance than a help to Coventry. Took the BSPA pile of cash to move in the EL in 2011 leaving Peterborough and Coventry in a mess. Since taking over as BSPA chairman the sport has kept the fans in the dark more than ever and seemingly lurched from farce to farce. As for the mess Lynn are currently in, NL club closing during the season and the Premiership team/club being a mess.

 

Just what good as he done for the sport?

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Tried to screw over BV. Tried to steal a BV rider despite all clubs agreeing not to. More of a hindrance than a help to Coventry. Took the BSPA pile of cash to move in the EL in 2011 leaving Peterborough and Coventry in a mess. Since taking over as BSPA chairman the sport has kept the fans in the dark more than ever and seemingly lurched from farce to farce. As for the mess Lynn are currently in, NL club closing during the season and the Premiership team/club being a mess.

 

Just what good as he done for the sport?

He rode at Oxford in their junior team...if that counts!

Edited by steve roberts
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He doesn't exactly come across as intelligent or inspire confidence, then again, the new league set-up and junior development set-up are still in early days and they are an attempt to change and hopefully better things.... I just wish he'd make Kings Lynn into a good race track.

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He doesn't exactly come across as intelligent or inspire confidence, then again, the new league set-up and junior development set-up are still in early days and they are an attempt to change and hopefully better things.... I just wish he'd make Kings Lynn into a good race track.

Does anyone in speedway come across as intelligent!!??

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Tried to screw over BV. Tried to steal a BV rider despite all clubs agreeing not to. More of a hindrance than a help to Coventry. Took the BSPA pile of cash to move in the EL in 2011 leaving Peterborough and Coventry in a mess. Since taking over as BSPA chairman the sport has kept the fans in the dark more than ever and seemingly lurched from farce to farce. As for the mess Lynn are currently in, NL club closing during the season and the Premiership team/club being a mess.

 

Just what good as he done for the sport?

Think you've said it all without actually saying it..

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Does anyone in speedway come across as intelligent!!??

John Berry did but when he stood in becoming 'Speedway's First Chief Executive' he later withdrew because he felt that he wouldn't get the backing of the BL Management Committee and it's members.

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John Berry did but when he stood in becoming 'Speedway's First Chief Executive' he later withdrew because he felt that he wouldn't get the backing of the BL Management Committee and it's members.

 

herein lies the problem even now

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I get the feeling everyone sits around the table at the Committee meetings with a loaded pistol aimed at their own foot.........

 

I thought they all had shotguns because that way they cant just shoot themselves in the foot ............ they blow the bloody thing off. :lol:

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Buster was excellent at being a Big Fish in a Little Pond ( KL and the area ) he developed the Saddlebow Road stadium into a great local facility. He does not have the diplomatic skills and "deal" skills required to develop the whole sport via his role within the BSPA. In particular he does not have the communication skills to get the supporters nationwide behind his ideas. He is too thin skinned and sees contributions from other people as not having any merit - when in fact good ideas often come from feedback from those who are interested enough to offer it. Needs to listen more, consider the available options more and think through the likely outcomes ( i.e. averages this season, doubling up etc ) and how they will impact on the sport before deciding that THIS is the way forward.

That is the BSPA as a whole and not only Buster.

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He's great. A worker. Doesn't sit back and wait for things to happen. It's easy to critique anonymously. This is a guy that loves the sport and wears his heart on his sleeve. It's the being open part that gives people sticks to beat him with. The sport isn't too bad right now. It's certainly better than it was last season and teams are beating teams all round. The odd bad meeting / problems to deal with but when won't that be the case. Threads like this are really frustrating because all that happens is negatives get magnified.

 

To mention 2011 is discraceful. Coventry and Peterborough were big time out of order. Imagine if teams hadn't moved up. Coventry and Peterborough would have blackmailed speedway into getting their own way to the detriment of the sport and Coventry had previous with that over mid season strengthening.

 

This year Coventry were doomed due to in house issues. It's a shame it happened and Coventry closed but if all the stadium sandu and Horton couldn't work it out it was never going to be.

 

Who wouldn't want Craig cook. As a lynn fan (who can be critical when it's deserved) I'd have been gutted if we had tried. It wasn't illegal. It was a verbal agreement. Worse things happen. Maybe if there wasn't a verbal agreement belle vue wouldn't have screwed over Richie Worrall .

 

People will only read the headline and the first few posts though so well done in the negativity. It's a reason why most fans don't bother with the forum because it's full of people who can only see the negative in everything. Narcissistically halfwits and lynch mobs.

 

Hard to start a topic on that though because everybody is anonymous.

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I think one or two things are moving in generally the right direction - I think its a massive thing but its time we prepared for life after GP riders. We need one British League and a NL but the BL would have to be cheap enough for Scunny, Worky, etc to be able to exist in it.

In any case after Brexit it may be quite difficult to employ non UK riders while UK riders are available. There ARE enough riders IMO but there isn't we have to go to 6 man teams.

It really is time to face harsh facts, however local heroes are popular - I've never supported a top tier side it was always div 2 and nothing gave me more pleasure than watching Wilcock, Dixon, etc - and they weren't world class but were loved by Teessiders

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Like all things in life, talking about something is the easy part, actually carrying out what your talking about is another thing!

 

While undoubtedly Buster Chapman has his flaws, probably doesn't delegate enough, will minipulate situations in his favour and will try to deny/ cover up faults, all common traits of those in management, his overall his contribution to speedway has been very beneficial.

 

I dread to think what state King's Lynn speedway, (indeed if there would even be a King's Lynn speedway now?) would be in without the hard working contributions of Buster!

 

That said its obvious this season that all is not rosy in the King's Lynn speedway garden. Buster needs to look at things and realise things are not what they should be and if they continue as they are then the long term future of speedway at King's Lynn maybe threatened.

Edited by 25yearfan
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I like buster but the sport I love is a total shambles and I have never felt so detached from it ,It has no direction or fun and for a team fan no purpose , is buster to blame ? Well maybe not entirely but he is at the top so he has to take the blame

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For someone who seemed to be hailed as the saviour of the sport when he got the job I think it's fair to say he hasn't exactly lived up to it. Nothing has changed, the sport is still in decline with no obvious plan to help and the same dodgy decisions are made especially in the NL where it seems there's a different rule for every day of the week.

 

The farce at Kings Lynn this week should be properly investigated but how can it be when the head of the BSPA also owns that club? It always ends in that same old answer of needing someone independent to come in and run it. Ideally they would observe everything for a year and work on a plan to take things forward before taking over at the BSPA (if they haven't been frightened off in that time!) but there is clearly no chance of promoters happy to be told what to do by an outsider so everything will stay as it is.

 

If it is true that certain riders refused to ride in that meeting then it is very poor that they seemingly have escaped without bans. It just sums everything up, you have a 16 year old kid in Jack Parkinson-Blackburn who was struggling in the Championship and quit Sheffield, probably in the heat of the moment, and he's given a ban for withholding his services meaning he also loses out on riding for Birmingham for a month. But here with senior riders deciding they've had enough halfway through a meeting creating another mess which will lose fans it gets pushed under the carpet and nothing will be said.

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