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Today's bad news that Workington have withdrawn from the 2019 Championship (second tier), despite winning the treble last season, should provoke the BSPA into a crisis meeting. In our last issue of Backtrack (No.89) we listed 56 British league venues that have closed since 1970. Since the edition came out, the loss of Rye House, Buxton and now Workington has seen the death toll rise to 59. It is doubtful if any will ever resume league status. If the Comets, a track that opened in 1970, cannot sustain second division speedway after winning three trophies, what chance does the sport in this country have of survival? Glasgow have arguably the best PR machine in the sport behind them right now, earning lots of national coverage in Scotland and beyond. They have invested heavily in riders. But where has it got them? Their owner's recent statement should be taken as another warning shot. No-one can be surprised if the Tigers' management don't decide to cut their losses and come to the conclusion that they've given it their best shot but enough is enough. The odds on them coming to the tapes for 2020 must already be slim, or lengthening. Leicester, Rye House in recent times have found to their cost that chucking good money at top riders is no recipe for success and, more likely, a quick path to financial disaster. I was especially alarmed by the recent announcement that Buxton, the archetypal third division venue where many a young Brit was discovered, has pulled out of the National league due to unsustainable rising costs. They have been around for years but, sadly, have been betrayed by their own peers - the third division glory-hunters who ignored the ethos of what was meant to be a training, development league for young British riders in pursuit of silverware. Buxton's withdrawal should have served as a neon warning sign to the sport's governing body but their story seems to have been glossed over, ignored, outside Derbyshire. What are experienced 'old hands' doing nicking a living from a league meant for novices trying to learn the game? If there isn't already an age or experience limit, the Nl should impose one so that only one rider per team is over, say, 25. And NO-ONE who has any real experience of top flight or Div 2 racing should be occupying a team place. So what should happen to stem the tide? BRITISH SPEEDWAY has to become amateur, riders must go part-time and return to the days of the old BL1 and BL2/NL of the 60s, 70s & 80s, when many racers had a day job to supplement their speedway earnings, or vice-versa. If today's riders are performing in front of mere hundreds of spectators, rather than thousands, then they are really operating in an amateur sport and should not be paid as professionals. Speedway needs to take a long, hard look at itself and reality must finally kick in. Most non-league football teams are part-time. Players train Tuesdays and Thursdays and play Saturdays and midweek. They fit it in around their 9-to-5 job. Speedway riders must accept how small what they do really is in terms of spectator sports. As former Ellesmere Port middle order rider Duncan Meredith says: "Most of us back in my day had a job and my job subsidised my racing. We loved racing - the money was just a bonus." It's time to go back to those days. A backward step? Not if it stabilises the sport in the immediate short-term and enables it to survive and weather the current UK economic storm. Promoters need protecting from themselves and stop burying their heads in the sand. They must stop 'thinking big' - look where that got Leicester, Rye House and Glasgow, among others, in recent times and by propping up the Premiership Buster Chapman is merely applying a tiny sticking plaster to a large, gaping wound requiring major surgery. The BSPA has to start thinking SMALL and apply self-imposed reality checks that are long overdue. Scale down budgets to realistic levels and don't pay out more than you take at the turnstiles and sponsorship. It's simple economics of life. There is a chronic rider shortage across the board, the use of guests and R/R has escalated out of all proportion. I'd love to see a study of how many DIFFERENT riders appeared in each of the 3 divisions last season, and another list showing how many appeared for multiple clubs. The result would be eye-bulgingly horrific. So come up with a revised race format for six or even five-men teams. Six-men teams were used in the 60s and in the top flight in 1998. If there aren't enough riders to fill 7-men teams, then change the format. Doubling-up is killing what little credibility British speedway has left. If, in 10 years, British speedway has unearthed a new wave of young talent, then a return to 7-men teams can be considered. Until then, the BSPA must immediately go into crisis-survival mode, cut its cloth accordingly and stop paying out money to riders that it simply cannot afford, before more tracks are lost forever. Of course, reducing team members and changing race formats won't bring many, if any, new fans through the turnstiles. But what it will definitely help to do is RETAIN the current, rapidly declining fan base. Promoters should stop thinking of ways to try and lure a new, younger supporters (if any do), because 98% of teenagers will never be interested in speedway, and focus fully on keeping their existing customers.

Been on this forum a long time over 5 years..............took plenty of abuse , flack call it what you like But ive never felt the need to either delete my account and start again or change my name which makes people look a bit sad, needy and a tad pathetic Never had more than the one account.....if people dont like me or what i post then it doesnt affect me that i feel the need to be someone else. To be fair even people like Starman and Shovlar with the amount of stuff they get thrown at them have only ever had the 1 account

That’s the attitude that closes clubs down your called a supporter to support the club through good and bad times how many worky fans are now thinking wish I had supported my team now they don’t have a one

The question is how many more have to go to the wall before Chapman and co realise they have little left to manage. He has patched up one league for his own benefit but seems to forget that if the paying punter does not like it they simply will not turn up. Nothing has changed and Ipswich nearly closed once before. History has a habit of repeating itself. Could it happen again at Ipswich? Possibly because like so many club supporters that have drifted away, all the majority wanted was a weekly fix with riders who would race for their team and not a ‘team select’ but this not going to happen. Rider costs are out of control and punters have a view re the value they are prepared to pay. The gap is too wide and cannot be made up by sponsors any longer. They could have one professional league and two amateur leagues with part time riders. To expect three leagues to be sustainable on a professional or semi professional basis is living in cloud cuckoo land. The BSPA need to get a grip and take a long hard look at what they have done to the sport, bite the bullet and deal with costs and look at whether the sport can survive the next five years and how many teams they are prepared to lose on the way. Alternatively relax the rules and let clubs operate open licences and try a stop the decline in track closures. Once lost rarely do they return within a reasonable time frame.

Costs have not been cut sufficiently, that's the trouble. Riders, performing in front of only hundreds of fans, raking in money that cannot be sustained. So here we are.

I am surprised the chosen few didn't announce it on the Glasgow thread.

IF Zagar was offered a good deal worth his while he would ride wherever that was....gullible to think otherwise

Have you not read the post from Phil multi alias?? Stop trolling and stick to topic. Reported too. One sick individual.

Fans through the gates aren't enough to pay the riders, who in turn want to take their money out of the sport by spending on tuners etc. Time to cut costs and at the same time restructuring the whole league set-up. It is speedway's lifeblood.

Deeply deeply saddened indeed by this announcement. Has enough been done to try and raise enough to mitigate against the expected losses that would be incurred next season? well there has certainly been no figures produced about the sums that may be needed and the possibility of an appeal to fans and the wider public such as what helped save the Monarchs. To the parties that pledged financial backing all I can say is where is your integrity, words are indeed cheap. Speedway is in deep trouble, currently it's a mickey mouse setup which is a huge shame because it is deserving of so much better. What other supposedly professional sport would have no prize money for winning the league/major trophies, with the clubs having to pay for their own medals. Then to add insult to injury fine the winning club £3000 for not completing its final fixture at the 3rd legitimate attempt thereby compounding the losses already incurred. The AGM instigated nothing that will reduce the costs of the sport to the riders or increase the entertainment/value for money to fans. I love speedway but it is in serious need of a blood transfusion if it is to stay alive. Up the Comets.

50k was the figure. Isn't it ironic, that 50k would probably kept us going for another season

Gavan is by far not the worst disliked poster on here at all. There are way more candidates that fill that role with much more ease. Gavan makes many reasonable and sensible posts. Some posters do have serious issues with some others on here! Still, each to their own!

not sure there is no money about at all,go to most places on a weekend and they are rammed with folk spending folk just dont go to speedway these days,why? ,im not sure

Apparently a Glasgow fan is reported as breaking the news before the official Worky announcement.

At the expense of who? We have all our team!

Belle Vue one from bottom you are having a laugh more like top or very near

Didn't Laura help out Edinburgh with a rather large cheque once?? If so maybe she could ask for some help back Gutted for the comets,, may favourite place to visit.

It shows the seriousness in the decline of speedway in the UK in general. The powers that be, have hindered the product rather than improved it, again this year they have tinkered around the edges, rather than taking " the bull by the horns" and drastically changing the product. Sarah I admire your unstinting support for your team, but fans will no longer blindly follow their local team for the sake of it. Speedway is a relatively ex;pensive sport especially for a family, more so in a cash strapped area in which Berwick Bandits rely on, Berwick & The Borders. So, unless the product is massively improved I fear the worst for speedway in general, and more so for a club that is cash strapped. AS you know, for the first time in over 20 years I missed a lot of meetings last season, in large very much to do with the level of entertainment on track, which apart from just a few meetings was poor. The Promotion must do a lot better than 2018 as I fear the demise will be even greater. Nobody wants to lose speedway in Berwick, but unless the product drastically improves, I fear for it's demise.

Statement this morning that the Comets will not run in 2019. I am deeply saddened by this news. Although I did not attend every week I loved coming up on Saturdays - a terrific run, some tea and a couple in the Henry Bessemer, some great company and almost always a good meeting. A real shame, but I am not totally surprised as attendances simply weren't good enough.

....or a night with SCB.

Doesn't every Newcastle fan secretly wish they supported Berwick.

Think worky will have a bigger announcement before the season starts ;-)

That sounds terrible imagine regular speedway on regular nights during the summer, even worse if it was first week of May until end of August, all those dreadful nice warm evenings with reduced threat of rain and the whole of September reserved for Play Offs, Cup finals etc. Thankfully everyone will see sense and run erratically, enjoy the Easter weekend washout and embrace the rush of fixtures before the cut off dates / freezing their toes off watching the season wimper out in late October.

With the greatest of respect Kieran like many took a NL place before he was ready and now has been tarred with the brush of a struggling rider, a season or so back in the development leagues and he may feature again. Ryan Mac did largely the same in his previous years at Stoke but has been given several opportunities , he sadly is paying the price for his best year yet at Coventry and then the introduction of the 2.00 limit has partially frozen him out.

I'm sure nick Morris moved to re light his career. Too much pressure in 2018