Workington 2019

[teaboy279]

6 hours ago, A.N.Other said:

They will have to clear their debts, to assure the BSPA they are viable to run again in the future. 

It's about time the BSPA did something to prove that they are viable.......

[SteelShoe]

If you determine fitness for purpose as not losing money you may only end up with a couple of clubs. Last season it was widely recognised that nearly all clubs with the odd exception lost money, Championship and Premiership. Combined losses mooted to be around £900K.

 

[waytogo28]

7 minutes ago, SteelShoe said:

If you determine fitness for purpose as not losing money you may only end up with a couple of clubs. Last season it was widely recognised that nearly all clubs with the odd exception lost money, Championship and Premiership. Combined losses mooted to be around £900K.

 

Not at all surprised and believe it completely. What it says, if correct, is that neither the BSPA nor UK speedway is "fit for purpose" as a professionally organised sport. The last AGM decided that " all is well" and no change was needed in the structure of the UK sport. Except for a change to a yellow helmet colour forced on them by the rest of the world.

[montie]

7 hours ago, A.N.Other said:

She has already stated in as many words, that no buyer has come forward.  And can you really see the BSPA allowing such a move, when it involves ANYTHING that might just possibly HELP Workington Speedway Club ? 

what total and utter crap you speak,seems to be looking from the outside that all involved have done all they can to keep the club going,but it was missing one vital thing....   MONEY

 

[phillwhitewasmad]

Without reading all this thread was just wondering if they had considered going national League for a couple of seasons . The lower costs may mean that speedway is sustainable 

[mac101]

3 hours ago, cityrebel said:

It's been a few years since i visited Northside. Could it be a potential NL venue in the future.

Don’t think so might be too small although they did run amature meetings there but would need a lot of upgrading 

[SteelShoe]

10 hours ago, Tsunami said:

 Worky weren't at the AGM either were they.

 As far as I know Worky were at the AGM.

[Byker Biker]

8 hours ago, A.N.Other said:

She has already stated in as many words, that no buyer has come forward.  And can you really see the BSPA allowing such a move, when it involves ANYTHING that might just possibly HELP Workington Speedway Club ? 

tbh the BSPA have been patient over the couple of seasons that the cash flow hasn't worked, my beef is purely the interference and lack of fixture cooperation that has made this situation far worse than it would have been. The persistent refusal by some clubs to accept dates and the removal of dates already agreed not withstanding the Management Committee's inability to enforce some of those clubs to commit has contributed. I don't believe that this has been malicious, they just never think about the medium to long term consequences of their actions (or lack of) and it just doesn't seem to matter that clubs generally throw 5 and some 6 figure sums down the toilet every year.

[TotallyHonestJohn]

11 hours ago, Tsunami said:

I think the assets will come under the control of the BSPA, and if Worky has speedway debts(BSPA, Riders, other clubs) the BSPA will sell the Worky assets to pay off speedway debts as a priority.

Not the case Dave last years debt is manageable and will be sorted; and as pointed out below and mentioned earlier in the post, its only if the club totally fail and end up being annulled do they loose their assets  

11 hours ago, Byker Biker said:

Only if they're annulled

Totally Correct

11 hours ago, Tsunami said:

I am sure he BSPA would not allow the transfer of assets, if the licence holder has speedway debts. They would look after those within rather than let non promoters sell their assets and keep the money. in any case during this year, the 7 riders that Worky signed, will be controlled by the BSPA in the same way they control foreign riders.  

Not quite correct either as the riders are still assets of other clubs and as such resort back to that status just means they are back into he mix as riders without clubs; their status wont change also if any Workington assets are used they will still get the loan fees whilst the licence is on "Ice" and if they confirm that there are no buyers and they intend to wind up the business and do not run next year they will be able to sell the assets

11 hours ago, Neila said:

Just out of interest what assets/riders do comets own, I can only think of mason and Rene who are riding, probably others on list who have retired.

As you have outlined with Kyle Howarth and a couple of junior riders but non of them amount to a hill of beans cash wise with a possible return of between £15/20k max for the riders they own. (that's just my assessment could be more but may be less) 

11 hours ago, Heedthebaw said:

So who’s going to buy the assets ?  No club has any spare money, apart from one  in the North

Totally valid point and the asset based system is slowly changing with the BSPA seeming to be building up a centralised asset base meaning they will end up holding all the riders. Looking at recent changes in BSPA company status things are slowly changing behind the scenes and this will cause further ripples and consternation throughout the sport 

11 hours ago, mac101 said:

No one but the BSPA will get loan fees every year 

It is getting that way and there is a conspiracy building under the surface here (I believe) which will anger even more fans, definitely a case of "watch this space"

11 hours ago, Byker Biker said:

Yes that's correct and the loan fees will go into the pot but this is a cash flow situation that will be resolved but not in time to start the season. The members who refused fixtures last season, withdrew Friday fixtures and allowed the finals all to be run in just over a week need to take a long hard look at themselves. Plenty of clubs owe money but this isn't the first hiccup at Workington that has taken a while to sort, if the BSPA want to try and retain a shred of respect they will allow them to put the licence on ice until the cash flow situation is resolved. It didn't help matters that the rest of the league met last week to agree fixtures and Workington was excluded from that meeting so even if they did come to the tapes in 2019 they'd get the *rse end of the fixtures. In my opinion the responsibility for the decision not to run lies with the sport as a whole and not just Laura, "There by the grace of God go I" should have been on every Promoter's lips this morning just like "chuck her under a bus" was last week! (allegedly of course)

Totally Correct

9 hours ago, A.N.Other said:

You are correct that the BSPA have allowed the club to put their licence on ice (for this season anyway). But if the club had not acted quickly enough and notified the BSPA that they wish to do this asap...then the BSPA would have closed the club down, virtually without warning !  That is why Laura had no choice but to put it on ice as soon as she did !  (What a lovely bunch of chaps the BSPA are !)

Totally correct

1 hour ago, montie said:

what total and utter crap you speak,seems to be looking from the outside that all involved have done all they can to keep the club going,but it was missing one vital thing....   MONEY

 

Although crudely put you are correct it has all boiled down to money at the end of the day and the club could have started the season however if the same constraints and factors remained for this coming season as the last one then the club would have potentially folded around the end of July beginning of August and folding mid season would have done no one any favours really. The big gamble would have been to start the season and pray some of the (one time only and returning) fans who watched the  cup matches came back and bolstered the crowd levels. However that was to big a gamble to take due to the fact that if the team weren't winning from the start of the season the fair weather fans would have drifted away as they had done in the past leaving the club up a creek without a paddle

1 hour ago, phillwhitewasmad said:

Without reading all this thread was just wondering if they had considered going national League for a couple of seasons . The lower costs may mean that speedway is sustainable 

Average crowds currently of 450 to 550 with a lot of discerning fans who wouldn't come to watch National League racing unfortunately so the crowd dips to what? half that figure 250 to 300? Eastbourne and Lakeside for sure will tell you that they had larger crowds than that and struggled to make it pay in the National League, also being mainly a Southern based league with the most Northerly team in Manchester meaning greater travel costs and then there is the Stadium costs as the Rugby Club would still want their cash regardless so there would not be any reduction there. I looked at this option last year and it is even less viable than the Championship. It may sound crazy but the better option could have been to go up a league rather than down then this may have generated a crowd of 800 to 1200 which would have supported a reasonable team but again that is one hell of a gamble to take

58 minutes ago, Byker Biker said:

tbh the BSPA have been patient over the couple of seasons that the cash flow hasn't worked, my beef is purely the interference and lack of fixture cooperation that has made this situation far worse than it would have been. The persistent refusal by some clubs to accept dates and the removal of dates already agreed not withstanding the Management Committee's inability to enforce some of those clubs to commit has contributed. I don't believe that this has been malicious, they just never think about the medium to long term consequences of their actions (or lack of) and it just doesn't seem to matter that clubs generally throw 5 and some 6 figure sums down the toilet every year.

Totally correct and sums much of this sad situation up I'm afraid

Regards
THJ

Edited January 15, 2019 by TotallyHonestJohn
Spelling,

[Lord Skid]

Sell their stockpile of GTR ENGINES, that might help.

[jenga]

59 minutes ago, Lord Skid said:

Sell their stockpile of GTR ENGINES, that might help.

what GTR engines are those lord nugget . speaking of nuggets . there is a job going @ kfc for you . its a window cleaner . its window licking good .  bring your own tongue ! ! !

[Tsunami]

1 hour ago, Lord Skid said:

Sell their stockpile of GTR ENGINES, that might help.

What stockpile of engines ? I was told that the agreement that BSPA has with GTR was a large sum up front, and then a contribution to every engine sold up to a maximum number of engines.

[Tsunami]

3 hours ago, TotallyHonestJohn said:

1.  Not the case Dave last years debt is manageable and will be sorted; and as pointed out below and mentioned earlier in the post, its only if the club totally fail and end up being annulled do they loose their assets  

2. Not quite correct either as the riders are still assets of other clubs and as such resort back to that status just means they are back into he mix as riders without clubs; their status wont change also if any Workington assets are used they will still get the loan fees whilst the licence is on "Ice" and if they confirm that there are no buyers and they intend to wind up the business and do not run next year they will be able to sell the assets

3. Average crowds currently of 450 to 550 with a lot of discerning fans who wouldn't come to watch National League racing unfortunately so the crowd dips to what? half that figure 250 to 300? Eastbourne and Lakeside for sure will tell you that they had larger crowds than that and struggled to make it pay in the National League, also being mainly a Southern based league with the most Northerly team in Manchester meaning greater travel costs and then there is the Stadium costs as the Rugby Club would still want their cash regardless so there would not be any reduction there. I looked at this option last year and it is even less viable than the Championship. It may sound crazy but the better option could have been to go up a league rather than down then this may have generated a crowd of 800 to 1200 which would have supported a reasonable team but again that is one hell of a gamble to take

 

1. Pleased to hear it is manageable, assuming you are meaning speedway debts. My main point was that I could not see BSPA allowing riders being sold and allowing Worky to keep the money if there was substantial debts.That situation would be shady with some promoters with them wriggling out of the debts they owe internally.

2. Yes of course, I had included loan riders who would obviously be back on the market under the control of their own promoters. Do the loan fees to these clubs get returned, assuming they have already been paid of course.  

3.  We talked about starting a NL team last year in the future but currently it would not be viable, mainly due to, as you say, the league being too southern based and BV being the nearest team for derbies. Also there is currently a shortage of Northern based riders of that quality who could stock that team. There was also the possibly of a combined team say with Redcar sharing the home meetings on an equal basis but, until the new riders appear like they will in future, that idea has to be on the back burner for now. New riders that could emerge on the 500 scene in the near future are Archie, Danny, Alex, Elliott, Jack W, Sam McGurk, following by Luke. Healthy prospects there. 

[TotallyHonestJohn]

1 hour ago, Tsunami said:

2. Yes of course, I had included loan riders who would obviously be back on the market under the control of their own promoters. Do the loan fees to these clubs get returned, assuming they have already been paid of course.

Honestly

Loan fees paid up front!!! never been known, clubs are usually still screaming for them to be paid in September and October let alone at the start of the season... But you can always live in hope... lol

Also sent you a PM with some relevant information

Regards
THJ

Edited January 15, 2019 by TotallyHonestJohn
Spelling,

[Tosh1218]

Sad what’s happened , but why declare to run if money problems from last weren’t sorted. Really feel for Stevie Worrill ravaged by injury last season at Scunthorpe and agrees and signs a deal with Workington this season and won’t even get to tapes

[Shadders]

You’d need bottomless pockets, be barking mad (or possibly both) to invest in speedway these days. 

Edited January 15, 2019 by Shadders

[proud panther]

Whatever happens in the future for Workington, Laura has got my full respect. To put so much of her own money into the club she obviously loved is amazing, in my opinion.

 

[H20]

There is one simple fact at Workington Speedway and a lot of other clubs.

Not enough fans attending meetings to cover the costs. Sponsorship can only cover so much so for years Laura and other promoters have subsidised our speedway so we can still watch the sport we love.

This is unsustainable going forward and Workington will not be the last club to close this year.

I'm very surprised there were not more clubs closed during the winter. You only have to look to the premiership one man owns three clubs how can that be right ?

The sport is sliding away to nothing and very fast.

The riders spend a fortune on equipment and obviously ask for signung money and points money to achieve this but there is not enough money in the sport no more.

[StevePark]

4 hours ago, Tosh1218 said:

Sad what’s happened , but why declare to run if money problems from last weren’t sorted. Really feel for Stevie Worrill ravaged by injury last season at Scunthorpe and agrees and signs a deal with Workington this season and won’t even get to tapes

Stevie Worrall will still be riding for Belle Vue in the Premiership.  Tero Aarnio won't be in the Premiership (unless he signs at a later date for someone) and it completely knacks Mason Campton.

Totally agree with your first sentence. 

[Carlislecomet2]

5 hours ago, Tosh1218 said:

Sad what’s happened , but why declare to run if money problems from last weren’t sorted. Really feel for Stevie Worrill ravaged by injury last season at Scunthorpe and agrees and signs a deal with Workington this season and won’t even get to tapes 

Yes it is sad but what was Laura meant to do? Think positively and put a competitive team together for 2019 in the hope additional sponsors came forward as she was presumably  led to believe they would or think negatively, wait for all the top riders to be signed up and if the additional sponsorship came through then try to put a complete team of NL riders together? If the latter had happened the sponsors would not be happy, the crowds would have dropped off even more and we may have had to pull the plug mid season.

THJ has already stated that last years debts were manageable and will be sorted. I believe that Laura has gone about things in the right way, and after the sacrifices she has made over the past 6 years to keep speedway alive in Workington does not warrant any criticism whatsoever.

No doubt there will be some supporters up and down the country complaining that they have paid for their season tickets and been misled out of a couple of meetings, however those people should just feel grateful that they are going to see some speedway this year, unlike those at Rye, Lakeside and Workington.

As for the riders, yes it is unfortunate for them however hopefully they will get fixed up elsewhere even if some may have to wait a month or so. I cant for instance see Steve Worrall, Kyle Bickey or BWD being out of work for long, though granted they will be taking someone else's place!

To speedway fans elsewhere, please make the most of what you still have.