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Is This The Worse Team Ever To Win The League?


IainB

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Ford probably thinks it's time to get out whilst the business still has some value left in it.

And I doubt he wants to stay around and try to help speedway in the UK recover from the mess that he has contributed to in a big way this century.

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37 minutes ago, Steve0 said:

Ford said last night it was available for anyone to make him an offer.  In the current economic climate, there won’t be a queue of people looking to take it off his hands.  Speedway as a sport in the UK is on its knees - anyone would be mad to invest in a speedway club - unless they had very deep pockets and were prepared to lose money!

I doubt any buyer would careless about the rest of the clubs in the UK, Poole Speedway with the crowds they get will be a profitable buisness.

its like saying pubs are dying so I wont buy a pub thats busy all the time and has madr money annually for the last 20 years, because other pubs are dying and closing.

speedway promoters do not lose as much money as they say, every year the likes of Dave Tatum at Stoke say hes lost a fortune yet still the next season Stoke are running under his promotion. It just doesnt wash with me. And the same with a number of clubs. 

Poole Speedway regulary attracts over a thousand paying customers a week , unless Ford asks for silly amounts of money then it would be an attractive buisness venture for someone.

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2 hours ago, jrs said:

Ford probably thinks it's time to get out whilst the business still has some value left in it.

And I doubt he wants to stay around and try to help speedway in the UK recover from the mess that he has contributed to in a big way this century.

I think you've hit the nail on the head here, like him or loathe the cheat, you can't deny that Fraud is a shrewd business man and he can see the writing on the wall... Peterborough, Redcar, Plymouth, Coventry all in trouble, Poole up for sale, Rye House/Lakeside closing mid season, it's only a matter of time until the current speedway setup in this country collapses, unfortunately for Fraud most of the value has disappeared out of his club, mainly down to his win at all costs approach... You reap what you sew

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He is clearly getting out while he is still ahead. Hopefully he will change his mind and stay as the sport needs successful promoters.

I'm sure that Matt Ford sees what happens every year, with the sport getting weaker and weaker, and he can see that there is a risk of him losing out sooner rather than later if it continues down the current path.

At least he is doing a better job of selling it than Peterborough, who are, effectively, saying that they are selling because they can't get crowds in. Hardly the way to encourage buyers.

Yes, this is probably the weakest team to win the league. Last year was, also, until this year. And next year will probably be even weaker still.

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6 minutes ago, Grachan said:

Yes, this is probably the weakest team to win the league. Last year was, also, until this year. And next year will probably be even weaker still.

Much as I dislike the modern day Poole setup, I was genuinely thinking if this was the poorest team to win the top League in the UK... I think the strongest was possibly Ipswich 1998 or maybe Cradley 1983... But I have no idea of the strengths of teams from yesteryear when a lot of teams could have been made up of "amateurs" perhaps the more mature fans on here will know

Edited by iainb
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Just didn't seem like two matches to settle the biggest domestic title. Perhaps fans can now see how the season is manufactured to allow certain teams to just hang about while the others do the hard digging but turn up when the awards are handed out.

Crowds didn't seem that impressive, either, when you base your argument that "bumper" crowds help subsidise the seven months that precedes them.

Greg Hancock's suggestion that more points should be awarded for the latter rounds of the GPs to keep interest alive was ridiculed. But for 16 years that's all the top league in Britain has done, in a way. 

 

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Not Poole's fault but it's sad to see a team led by an aging, past his best Chris Harris win a league pretty comfortably. You can't really understand how it's possible until you see KLs team is essentially a PL side with a top number one and it becomes clear.

British speedway is done for at the top level.

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3 minutes ago, JCookie said:

Not Poole's fault but it's sad to see a team led by an aging, past his best Chris Harris win a league pretty comfortably. You can't really understand how it's possible until you see KLs team is essentially a PL side with a top number one and it becomes clear.

British speedway is done for at the top level.

Is that the same 'past his best' Chris Harris that came from behind to beat the then 'World Champion' in the final heat of the semi-final play off....to secure his team victory?

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3 minutes ago, GiveusaB said:

Is that the same 'past his best' Chris Harris that came from behind to beat the then 'World Champion' in the final heat of the semi-final play off....to secure his team victory?

Chris Harris was well worth his position in the team. 

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27 minutes ago, cityrebel said:

The poole crowd on Wednesday did seem down on previous finals i had attended there. Last nights crowd at Lynn was probably the biggest since the world cup was last staged there.

I agree the crowd at Poole was not quite as big as previous years, and the probable reason is that it was the first leg.

The crowd last night at Kings Lynn was very big indeed. The biggest crowd at Lynn for league racing in years I was told by Lynn fans standing around us.

I love the playoffs. So much better than just a straight forward league formatt. We have had joy and heartbreak in those playoffs but the sport as a whole benefits and they are not going to go away.

 

Edited by Steve Shovlar
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FOR SALE :- POOLE PIRATES SPEEDWAY  !!! THE BEGINNING OF THE END !!! WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD INVEST IN SPEEDWAY AT THIS TIME  WITH BRITISH SPEEDWAY IN THE TURMOIL IT IS IN ?!! AS I SAID,  THE BEGINNING OF THE END , NOT JUST FOR POOLE BUT MANY OTHERS !!!

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2 hours ago, iainb said:

Much as I dislike the modern day Poole setup, I was genuinely thinking if this was the poorest team to win the top League in the UK... I think the strongest was possibly Ipswich 1998 or maybe Cradley 1983... But I have no idea of the strengths of teams from yesteryear when a lot of teams could have been made up of "amateurs" perhaps the more mature fans on here will know

Definitely Cradley 1983, 7 heat leaders, they were an incredible team

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2 hours ago, iainb said:

Much as I dislike the modern day Poole setup, I was genuinely thinking if this was the poorest team to win the top League in the UK... I think the strongest was possibly Ipswich 1998 or maybe Cradley 1983... But I have no idea of the strengths of teams from yesteryear when a lot of teams could have been made up of "amateurs" perhaps the more mature fans on here will know

The Belle Vue team from 1972 was very strong with a heat leader trio of Collins, Mauger and Sjosten.

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