NEWCASTLE DIAMONDS 2022

[SteveLyric2]

50 minutes ago, Viper said:

I’m not convinced that he will greatly improve the scoring power of the team but George has been struggling for any points at all so a change at the bottom can’t weaken us. I have seen a bit of Jack over the years and it hasn’t ever seemed to work for him at the higher levels in this country but will reserve judgement to give him the chance to shine.

I have no knowledge of what the promotions plan is in terms of making the club more competitive but I can see that Robs comment of a 100% change by this weekend meant that really he had no other choice but to make at least one change. The BWD position may have pushed them into another rethink as I believe under the ‘withholding of services’ position we will only be permitted a 28 day guest facility rather than the rolling guest option while is was injured. I would believe the promotion would have wanted to retain BWD (using 8+ average guests) and replace a lower average rider with another that would offer a more competitive side as replacing our guest facility with another rider would not improve the side at all. As I say I have no idea but maybe that, the injury to Matty (not sure how long he is out) and Starkey injury position may mean a lot more surgery is needed to the team. This added uncertainty may mean more time needed to come up with some answers but Rob had committed to a change and this one fulfils his promise without impacting on his longer terms options. I only wish we heard this from Rob himself as again we have radio silence which doesn’t help the mood of the supporters.

Don’t get me wrong I don’t necessarily agree with what is happening. I believe that given where we stand in the league and the trouble we have recruiting experienced riders then maybe looking to the future and building our asset base is the way to go. At least this will show commitment to the future from the owner while showing  we are putting building blocks in place for the next few seasons. Maybe a look across to the Danish market that has previously served the club so well would get a few fans interested again but only if the new strategic policy of the club is articulated to the fans in a way that they understood how it would benefit the club going forward.

A change has to come in the next 4 weeks so let’s see how this all plays out, again over to the owner to show what his vision is for the club as that is the key to managing fans expectations.

I don't get the 'withholding his services' bit as his article in the S.Star makes it clear he is still carrying an injury and is unable to race for anyone.

[Viper]

3 minutes ago, Skidder1 said:

I don't get the 'withholding his services' bit as his article in the S.Star makes it clear he is still carrying an injury and is unable to race for anyone.

Look at the Newcastle article, it’s stated in there in terms of riders available.

What isn’t know is when the interview was conducted with BWD. It may have been before the latest developments which I believe only happened this week.

Edited June 10, 2022 by Viper

[SteveLyric2]

9 minutes ago, Viper said:

Look at the Newcastle article, it’s stated in there in terms of riders available.

Yes I've read that but still don't understand it. If he's injured then he can't ride so can hardly be withholding his services? Unless he can't produce a medical certificate?!

To be honest be a reasonable replacement for Kennett at Plymouth. 

Edited June 10, 2022 by Skidder1

[phillipsr]

Wonder what sort of Visa BWD is on.. surely if hes not capable or refusing to work then he should be on his way back to NZ? 

[mikebaker]

Wilson Dean is going to be remembered for his ridiculous actions after heat 1 on the 25th March at Redcar.

[cinderfella]

3 minutes ago, mikebaker said:

Wilson Dean is going to be remembered for his ridiculous actions after heat 1 on the 25th March at Redcar.

Which were please?

[soupy]

8 minutes ago, cinderfella said:

Which were please?

Knocking A Ronyon off on the warm down lap.

[StevePark]

Taken off Facebook:

Newcastle Speedway would like to clarify the current situation with regards to Bradley Wilson-Dean.

Bradley is currently injured with an aggravated shoulder injury and has a sick note to cover this. At no point has Bradley been banned for withholding his services.

[Viper]

3 minutes ago, StevePark said:

Taken off Facebook:

Newcastle Speedway would like to clarify the current situation with regards to Bradley Wilson-Dean.

Bradley is currently injured with an aggravated shoulder injury and has a sick note to cover this. At no point has Bradley been banned for withholding his services.

So who edits the Diamonds articles for the Speedway Star then? How can an article published yesterday be so factual incorrect today.

Another example of the terrible communication strategy at our club, no wonder we all get confused!

[StevePark]

10 minutes ago, Viper said:

So who edits the Diamonds articles for the Speedway Star then? How can an article published yesterday be so factual incorrect today.

Another example of the terrible communication strategy at our club, no wonder we all get confused!

Out-sourced now, I believe (rather than Eric Thornton who did it previously).  The pre-season preview, for instance, was done by Joe Appleton.

[Viper]

Just now, StevePark said:

Out-sourced now, I believe (rather than Eric Thornton who did it previously).  The pre-season preview, for instance, was done by Joe Appleton.

Risky approach not editing the content before publication.

[Fromafar]

The whole show seems to be shambles at Brough

[ruffdiamond]

8 minutes ago, Viper said:

Risky approach not editing the content before publication.

Just cannot get the staff man. 

[bloom89]

I hate to say this but since Rob has taken over the club it's become an embarrassment, he's twice put together massively under strength sides, the team manager merry go round, dropping the gems after a couple of meetings, the will we run or won't we. The track debacle and now the two versions of events from club and rider this weekend we just seem to bounce from one disaster to the next. 

Now say what you want about the previous promotion and they may not have been everyone's cup of tea but 8 times out of 10 they would put a competitive team out on track.

There's no doubting Rob is a great businessman but his speedway decisions leave a hell of a lot to be desired. We've effectively signed one average reserve to replace another after bringing him halfway around the world and only giving him a few weeks you have to wonder whether the deal to bring in BWD was yeah I'll come but you sign my mate as well who knows?

I understand riders maybe unwilling to want to ride on Sunday because of Poland or whatever but in the past we've had the Worralls, Kerr, King, Barker, Starke they have to travel a hell of a long way to come here but they did so why can't we get them now? 

And looking at some of the shambles we as a club seem to go through it's going to get even harder for riders to ride for us imo. 

I sincerely hope Rob can pull a rabbit out of the hat because if not I really fear for us lasting the rest of the season! 

[Viper]

16 minutes ago, bloom89 said:

I hate to say this but since Rob has taken over the club it's become an embarrassment, he's twice put together massively under strength sides, the team manager merry go round, dropping the gems after a couple of meetings, the will we run or won't we. The track debacle and now the two versions of events from club and rider this weekend we just seem to bounce from one disaster to the next. 

Now say what you want about the previous promotion and they may not have been everyone's cup of tea but 8 times out of 10 they would put a competitive team out on track.

There's no doubting Rob is a great businessman but his speedway decisions leave a hell of a lot to be desired. We've effectively signed one average reserve to replace another after bringing him halfway around the world and only giving him a few weeks you have to wonder whether the deal to bring in BWD was yeah I'll come but you sign my mate as well who knows?

I understand riders maybe unwilling to want to ride on Sunday because of Poland or whatever but in the past we've had the Worralls, Kerr, King, Barker, Starke they have to travel a hell of a long way to come here but they did so why can't we get them now? 

And looking at some of the shambles we as a club seem to go through it's going to get even harder for riders to ride for us imo. 

I sincerely hope Rob can pull a rabbit out of the hat because if not I really fear for us lasting the rest of the season! 

I totally see your point but as I’ve stated before a lot of the issues you have raised could be controlled if the club had a proper communication and engagement strategy to bring fans into what is happening, especially around some of these events you have quoted.

I have nothing but admiration for the work that Rob and the promoter put in just to get a meeting on at Brough and I know we need to cut our cloth accordingly but (and it’s a big BUT) the poorly worded statements, split platform messaging and lack of fan interaction either at meetings or between them to discuss barriers, blockers and future plans is where our supporters lose the faith. I know Rob has had a lot of issues since picking up the club, continues to have issues with other things but the fans can only judge on what they see and are told.

The latest post on Facebook is the prime example. Poorly worded with no context and being used to right incorrect information published in another media form. I see some additional context has now been added but the confusion has already been created from the original post as to what it’s about.
 

It’s simple stuff and is so frustrating that it can cause loyal fans like yourself to get frustrated, especially if you had the opportunity to understand some of the drivers that have led to the points you have raised.

I’ve posted this so many time, the club need Rob to keep running but without a fan base it hasn’t got a chance. It’s time to look at how this area can be improved but honestly I can’t see that happening.

Edited June 10, 2022 by Viper

[screm]

Newcastle Speedway would like to clarify the current situation with regards to Bradley Wilson-Dean.

Bradley is currently injured with an agravated shoulder injury and has a sick note to cover this. At no point has Bradley been banned for withholding his services.

The article in the Speedway Star didn’t come from any officials here at Newcastle Speedway.

Let’s get behind the Diamonds tonight at Edinburgh!

[StevePark]

6 minutes ago, Viper said:

I see some additional context has now been added but the confusion has already been created from the original post. 
 

 

.

Just so people know what has been added:

The article in the Speedway Star didn’t come from any officials here at Newcastle Speedway.

[bloom89]

7 minutes ago, Viper said:

I totally see your point but as I’ve stated before a lot of the issues you have raised could be controlled if the club had a proper communication and engagement strategy to bring fans into what is happening, especially around some of these events you have quoted.

I have nothing but admiration for the work that Rob and the promoter put in just to get a meeting on at Brough and I know we need to cut our cloth accordingly but (and it’s a big BUT) the poorly worded statements, split platform messaging and lack of fan interaction either at meetings or between them to discuss barriers, blockers and future plans is where our supporters lose the faith. I know Rob has had a lot of issues since picking up the club, continues to have issues with other things but the fans can only judge on what they see and are told.

The latest post on Facebook is the prime example. Poorly worded with no context and being used to right incorrect information published in another media form. I see some additional context has now been added but the confusion has already been created from the original post as to what it’s about.
 

It’s simple stuff and is so frustrating that it can cause loyal fans like yourself to get frustrated, especially if you had the opportunity to understand some of the drivers that have led to the points you have raised.

I’ve posted this so many time, the club need Rob to keep running but without a fan base it hasn’t got a chance. It’s time to look at how this area can be improved but honestly I can’t see that happening.

It's a difficult one as you say and many clubs not just ours is very poor for communication but every week the promoters still expect the fans to turn up and pay there hard earned cash. Rule number 1 is always look after your customers because without them you have no speedway.

I've been going since it reopened in 97 and I went every week during the 04 season maybe when Dickie Juul was number 1 until we signed Lyons so it's not about just seeing a winning team, just the whole nights package is like getting kicked in the balls repeatedly imo. It never starts on time meetings always take 2+ hours to run and the past few seasons I don't think the racing has been good. 

[ruffdiamond]

46 minutes ago, bloom89 said:

It's a difficult one as you say and many clubs not just ours is very poor for communication but every week the promoters still expect the fans to turn up and pay there hard earned cash. Rule number 1 is always look after your customers because without them you have no speedway.

I've been going since it reopened in 97 and I went every week during the 04 season maybe when Dickie Juul was number 1 until we signed Lyons so it's not about just seeing a winning team, just the whole nights package is like getting kicked in the balls repeatedly imo. It never starts on time meetings always take 2+ hours to run and the past few seasons I don't think the racing has been good. 

Thing is tho,,, what more could the promotion do with regards communications?

It's not likely to be mentioned on 'Look North' every night, or be front page of the Chronicle every day. I don't do Facebook or Twitter, but still manage to find out, (thru my limited technology capabilities), via the internet. Would you like a letter in the post or them to come round and knock on your door to tell you?,,, If you embrace the technology, you might find out quicker!

As for starting on time, well usually it's not too bad and, for always taking 2+ hours to run very debatable, unless from accidents etc. I have been attending the speedway at Brough regularly for the last 12 seasons and find the last 2 have been run pretty punctually IMO. 

[idanthyrsus]

1 hour ago, Viper said:

I totally see your point but as I’ve stated before a lot of the issues you have raised could be controlled if the club had a proper communication and engagement strategy to bring fans into what is happening, especially around some of these events you have quoted

I completely disagree with this statement.  I started watching Speedway in 1991 at Brough Park.  The promoters at the time were proper penny pinchers, up to the point we were siphoning diesel out of the dogs tractors into the speedway tractors on a sunday morning....

George came along and with help re-instated Newcastle Speedway.  The administration under George has it's detractors, but there was always a competative team put on track.  There was normally a very good rider (if not several), so even if the team didn't do particularly well, we would win the vast majority of our home matches and even if finishing mid-table there was some top class riders to look forward to watching.  Think of the following: Mark Thorpe, Dave Bargh, Paul Thorp, Nikki Pederson, Kenny Larsen, Paul Bentley, Jesper Olsen, Bjarne Pederson and then more recently, Richie and Steve Worrall, Rob Lambert and probably many more I've missed.

As Rob has consistently assembled a very poor team, I think that people have voted with their feet.  Losing by more than 30 points to Redcar was unforgiveable and should never happen again.  For a team to be that poor at home beggars belief.

I can't get to home matches anymore because I no longer live in Newcastle, but I make every effort to get to away matches that are close to me.  But it takes a lot of effort to travel 120 miles to watch your team not even be competative and get smashed every match.

This is why the crowds are down.  Nothing to do with communication.  Remember, back when the previous promotion was putting together strong teams, there was no social media.  The only reall method of communication was via the match program.

The current administration have a lot of opportunities to improve.  Of course, it's more difficult now with the amount of riders that are available, but doing business early is key in this regard.  Hopefully lessons can be learned.