Leaderboard

Like 99% of the people on this forum I realise you are a bit ( lot) of a c0ck, but to tell a 2x European grass track champion that he should count himself lucky to do a lap on what is one of the shïttiest tracks in the UK, just proves you to be the first class cockwomble that you are. You obviously get a twisted pleasure out of trying to be controversial but that comment alone is really out of order. Give yourself an uppercut you waste of space

What a farce. Only the UK promotors and authorities could make an absolute hash out of fixed race nights.

How about the regulation that Poole were going to smash everyone this season? That’s been totally flouted.

If the contract demanded that they have priority then yes. On the wider point, he is a British rider and therefore that contract should not be accepted. When we were dominant in world speedway we acknowledged the principle that home federation fixtures took priority, especially with Poland. It would be good to see the same courtesy offered now in return. Just because a contract is signed it does not make it right.

I'm quite happy with my wording and note that both criticisms come from two people who I have 'crossed swords' with in the past. Perhaps we should be debating what is a serious problem rather than make playground-style attempts at point-scoring? Yes the BSPA may have upset Harris as well. I could have written a paragraph or extended sentence as thread title but I follow a basic principle - 'Keep the headline brief'. The rest can be included in the main body. I know nothing of Harris' position regarding this nor was it speculated upon in the story. I therefore left this out since there were far wider matters at issue than an individual. Whatever the theoretical position of the 'slot system' Britain is already in breach by using Wednesdays and what I considered the most significant part of the story was Poland claiming that our lower tier also only was allocated the Monday and Wednesday slots. This is all semantics. Poland are drawing another line in the sand to claim Friday to Sunday running, excepting international weekends, and no doubt in the long term would love to see those either under their (via One Sport?) control or bundled away on nights they don't want. This is not a case of 'teething problems' of a new, acceptable system. Sweden and Denmark have long worked with a one or two night a week allocation. Britain's needs are different due principally to stadium access and ownership and a need for weekly speedway from March to October, not fortnightly for a dozen weeks or so mid-summer. We've lost that and we've lost our way. Our successful years were based on weekends. We've virtually lost these crucial weekends and this latest Polish muscle-flexing will make that problem far worse. The present PL supporters may be happy to watch 'stars' racing midweek but what we need to re-grow is to recapture the weekends and if that relies on lesser names then fine - I really, really doubt whether the new supporters who we need to attract would even notice their absence. We need to be selling a good night's racing on the right night and regularly. This 'new order' and its 'teething' pains are in direct conflict with this. Is that now clear enough for you? I've written enough professionally over the years to accept critique by those who are qualified to so obviously hope to also meet your demanding standards, Anyway, apart from having to deal with such inanities I'd suggest that Hawk127 has it exactly right. British speedway is fighting for its future and despite the limitations of the BSPA it doesn't deserve to be treated with the contempt it is now receiving. We have given a huge amount to the sport over 90 years - until recently being the only serious place for riders to earn a full-time living for one or to race at the highest levels of team racing. Yes those days are over for now but we deserve a bit more than simply being told to "Go sit in the corner we've given you and don't dare to speak". I'd be a lot happier if I could trust the business controlling Polish speedway. I don't. A rebuild here is required but I do fear that the scale of rebuild will be too much for many 'supporters' to accept.

If practice is more appealing in Poland due to, I presume, not wanting to upset the 'geese that are laying their golden eggs', then surely it now makes even more sense for British Speedway to now "go it alone"? Let's be honest of the GP riders who are willing to ride over here, the only top 10 rider in the world is Doyle and if he wasn't an Aussie, over here for so many years, and as WC able to pick up good money without too much competition, then I would suspect he may have given Britain a miss too.. Ride on nights when you can generate the biggest crowds rather than when your employees tell you when they are available, only pay out what you can afford and let those wanting more carry on earning more overseas if they so wish, and fill your teams with riders 100% committed to British Speedway, meaning they are always available when your business can bring in the most income... Sometimes I do feel that some Promoters enjoy having their ego massaged by dealing with (and becoming friendly with) World Class talent... I would suggest that the income their sport generates is often a lot smaller than their egos in some instances.. Time to face reality for some I reckon....

Take offense Poole fans if you like, but here's another Ipswich fan with an opinion From the outside looking in, so to speak, Poole have been most successful because they were, notice were, able to bring in successful riders to their teams, trick, loram, ward, holder, all riders who cut their speedway teeth at other clubs before Poole came calling. Just using shanes as an example, they never stick with anyone who they "feel" isn't cutting the mustard. British boys have no future at Poole because they aren't allowed to progress naturally, which is such a shame, because they seem to like Aussies better I could say more but won't

Why would i put you on ignore? your opinion is valid you are entitled to it but you are not consistent Poole have had a great run success wise over a long period.Middleditch did not win all those trophie's by luck and by the way handling big stars keeping everyone happy is not easy.As for the Shanes debate you are totally WRONG would a team in trouble believe replacing a two pointer would be the end of there troubles just be truthful Shanes was shafted how is MS still there?.Even with Nielsen in the team the problems were still there replacing Shanes did not make a lot of difference do you think James scoring 4 rather than 2 was the difference I don't.

Time to stand up to the Poles who seem to want to rule the speedway world. This should be the final straw but cannot see the U.K. authorities doing anything other than roll over and let the Polish clubs treat the U.K. with contempt. Unlikely to happen but someone ought take the ‘fight’ to them. Change the format in the U.K. to one main league and the NL. Meetings to be run Thursday,Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday (for TV). Overseas riders permitted except Poles who cannot commit to league racing over here because their association will not allow them to ride on these days. Look towards internationals with the likes of Germany, Latvia, Czech etc. Have two parts to a meeting. The reserves in any team must be NL riders who double up. Squad system if necessary for all clubs. Something needs to be done to defend British Speedway.

I don't think he has been particularly harshly treated by Redcar - changes needed to be made to Redcar's team with the priority trying to win at home and Theo has been the worst performing rider in home meetings. He's not a youngster or a Bears asset so was the obvious first rider to replace. To fit Theo in Berwick have dropped a rider too - it happens! Maybe John will be sticking two fingers up to Berwick.

Kennett on a 5.27 Premiership average for a reason, he's on a downward slope. In Lyager, we saw glimpses of what he could do & since having a year & a half riding in other leagues against riders of a similar ability, he has done very well. Against the Polish leagues big boys, he is not starting many meetings & when he does, he is, maybe, just out of depth. He would be a good acquisition, again, for the Scorpions & should get a true average after a new 4H4A meetings covered. He would, also, take Stefan's place at no2 & ride with Steve when he returns.

I've said it before already but I'll say it again - The Premiership is the top division and therefore should take priority over anything else and the rest should fall in line. Promotors should of been ruthless at the AGM and hammered home the Monday and Thursday fixed race nights and not been put off by Ipswich, Redcar and Sheffield. The fact that Denmark is taking priority over Britain on a Wednesday is an absolute shambles position to be in. I read on here somewhere the other day that Robert Lambert is meant to miss Kings Lynn visit to Poole because he is due to ride in Denmark. How has it come to that? Shambles.

MFF totally owned.

Boz stole my thunder - utterly ridiculous to claim Redcar deserve bad luck for daring to change a losing team.

I know but when you look at the teams Poole had when they won those league titles it's completely different to now. Look at Man City for example they've won a couple of premiership titles because they had the team......But before the money was invested in them they were only in the Premiership to make the numbers up. Steve McLaren could manage Bayern Munich and they would still walk the Bundesliga.....Because they have the team.....But the fact is McLaren is not a good manager. So my point is that Middlo might not be as good as people think he is. I'm not saying he's a poor manager because he isn't. People say look at Middlo's record but when you look at the teams we had those year's as well. It makes Middlo's job a lot easier to do. For example the last 4 league titles. 2011 - Holder & Ward were in the team. 2013 - Ward, Hancock, Holder, Pawlicki 2014 - Ward, Holder, Janowski, Pawlicki, Milik 2015 - Janowski & Holder as a top two. Its different times now......Middlo's skills are being put to the test now. Just like every other manager in the league. Poole have not got the best out of riders in the last few years. We are not talking about 1 or 2 riders we are talking about quite a few riders. So you have to look at the bigger picture and think why is this happening. Who is to blame for consistent underperforming riders. Just like any other sport you have to look at the manager. Then you look at Swindon and how well Rosco does with the resources he has and how well he does with his riders. Middlo has done well when he had the teams consisting of riders above. I'm spot on regarding Shanes.........Stand by everything I said on that debate.

It would be the worst thing for any young Brit to sign for Poole. They have an atrocious track record with discarding them. there are some very exciting young kids coming thru and it’s a pleasure to watch their development. Hopefully they will choose very wisely when selecting who to sign for.

Do you mean the same Berwick who are so far unbeaten and are sitting 3rd in the league...…. Good luck

You change from day/day you gave it large before the season started saying Poole would p... the league you put your head on the chopping block but when you got it wrong you cannot take the flak.Who i feel for are the real Poole posters on here we all know who they are who are real people and have a balanced opinion.It is a funny thing to say but i want Poole to turn it around they are good for the league i want the sport to prosper as a whole and for it to get stronger.

Oh course George could be waiting for trigger happy Rathbone to sack Nicholls ..... I was surprised at least 4 didn't go after the Workington debacle ...........

But you have never quite grasped the fact that most people only expected James as a two pointer to score his average.If the rest of the team had been doing there jobs James would not even of been mentioned.Last year as the year went on James got better the simple fact is James was made the scapegoat but plenty have over the years.Loyalty patience it does work at Swindon we have Adam,David,Zach all riders that Rossiter believes in and they can be part of the future for years to come.

No offence taken here, I knew what he meant!

hopefully we will see the team that will see the season out.in two weeks time maybe waited to long for chris one more change would give us a good chance of making the playoffs imo

The track was set out by David Hemsley and he went ahead despite many good and knowledgeable people imploring him to change his mind and pointing out the errors. He then spent 4 years trying to fool people into believing that it was producing top class racing. To cut a long story short he eventually gave into pressure and agreed to some limited changes which had very little effect, and later to more significant changes but only what was possible within the scope of the arena's footprint. He presented the BSPA with an open goal to ban him as a Promoter, and thank goodness they took their chance although I think he was also becoming a thorn in their side by having the cheek to suggest better ways to run the sport, many of which seemed to make sense. What I'd suggest is that if you can come up with realistic proposals as to how the track and the arena could be changed, preferably based on calculated and researched Engineering & Design, and which is affordable within a very, very (i.e. nowt) budget, give Damien Bates a call. I live in hope (not the place near Sheffield)

At the after match press conference at Swindon both Ellis and Morris said that there were some tracks they didn't like. Both said Lakeside (Eastbourne and Rye house) and they are both now riding for Lakeside and scoring well. So just because a rider doesn't like a track doesn't mean that they can't get used to it.

Hi all, our greatest challenge is our location sadly, and we too understand what its like to travel as we do it week in week out, throw in to the mix speedway schools, shows, and my normal job things are pretty stressful and time is always tight. Now, I am the first to admit we have not performed on the track... few of you will know what it is like in the build up to a meeting do the best you can for your club, fans, sponsors and rider and then get totally hammered.... it sucks, it hurts, it make me personally want to drive for miles and miles.... but then we get emails thanking us for a great night out, how much the kids love coming to the island, how much the first "education destination" group loved their visit and then there is our school.... all of which helps.... we dont have a magic wand, we are not millionaires prepared to bankroll the club - it must pay for itself. We cannot offer points money I hear of, engines, frame kits, - all of our riders tyres come from sponsorship (mainly My First Skid) as does the fuel. Going back to the point.... the island isnt an attactive trip every week.... once or twice a season I imagine its great and riders love it, but weekly its not so easy. The riders who come here must be prepared to go that extra little bit and in return they have 20 plus meetings at home. In all honesty I am not sure what the answer is, I hope our form returns (although we know we struggle as reserve and I have some, I think, interesting ideas for this for the next AGM) and our riders start to do justice for all the effort that everyone, including themselves, put in to the club. Many thanks Barry