LionsDen

Here's why you're beating your head against a brick wall with regards to bringing about any change http://www.speedwaygb.co/news.php?extend.25838 Worth a read. Some really funny stuff in there.

Couldn't believe what I was reading...DH slagging off a man of Peter Karlsson's standing in the sport. Very poor.

Maybe he should. Then he might begin to try and understand why more and more people are giving up on BP. It's dropped off big time since 2011 - and way below what the expected levels were in the planning stage. That's because of the lack of entertainment on offer. Nothing more or less. Being in some sort of stubborn denial doesn't alter that. People have been, they've seen, and mostly, they've not come back. That would appear to be the only way for any change to occur. Big job to take on though, not to mention expensive.

My mole at BP now tells me Kenni Larsen's on his way to Leicester!

As everyone's playing 'guess the rider' I'll go for Artem Laguta. The promoter used to talk about him as far back as 2010.

No-one likes to see speedway clubs suffer crime and I agree with that point totally. However, do you not think that in many ways all the "negative" comments you refer to towards the club are brought upon themselves? After all, the promoter himself said in the Speedway Star a couple of weeks back that he had to "break a few eggs to make an omelette". Leaving aside that he actually made scrambled eggs rather than an omelette, if your modus operandi is to continually look after number one and generally pee off a whole succession of people around you, then you're going to get some of it come back at you. It's almost inevitable in any walk of life. Also, wasn't it him that designed and implemented the useless track that everyone moans about? Most of the negative criticism centres on that fact and it's hard to deflect it away when the club are seemingly in denial about it, and as such have done what amounts to virtually nothing to correct it. As a result it's inevitable the "criticism" just keeps on coming and the only surprise it that people such as yourself are surprised by it. Leicester fans waited 28 years for speedway to return but still ended up with one of, if not the, worst track in the country. By the way, the "bumper night's takings" robbery was after the Premier Fours meeting in August 2011, which were the BSPA's takings.

I'd say more than a coincidence. Some scrap metal to sell and some beer for a party in a caravan. Mind you, what do Leicester Speedway own, that could have been taken, that's worth as much as £40k? Sounds a very high estimate to me. Also, what's happened to the on-site security? Where was that?

No he didn't. DH went ahead with it whilst Sam was away in the States for his brother's wedding back in the spring of 2010. The acrimonious split came about shortly afterwards as it became apparent Sam's input was no longer welcome.

Finally saw some passing after the interval when good rides by Harris, and especially Ljung going from third to first, livened it up a bit. Prior to that I can't recall a single pass after the opening lap back straight unless someone fell off. Talking of which, Garrity's fall while leading heat 9 and on a Bees 5-1 proved to be a bit of a let off for the Lions. Heat 15 was a good race too and well done the the Lions for hanging in there and getting the away point. Must say, I was very impressed by Kyle Howarth. Great to see a young British rider doing so well and I suspect the Bees will miss him tonight.

I can assure you there's no objection from Ken. Spoke to him this morning about this very subject. In actual fact, both of us are happy about the planning application from Beaumont Sporting Complex, believing it's about time they addressed some of these things. It's taken long enough - though I imagine it's been instigated by the council.

Very well put 40-38. And sadly, whatever side of the 'pro' or 'con' fence you sit, this is at the core of the matter, and spoken from the heart by someone who obviously supported Leicester Speedway from the get-go. It's not moaning mate - it's telling it like you feel - and with no "agenda". A hell of a lot of people have been to see speedway at BP since it opened, both local and from further afield, and they've no doubt all formed an opinion on what they've witnessed. They've either become fans, or as I suspect in the majority of cases, decided against coming back on a regular basis. That first season was always massively important in making an impression and ever since then it's been a case of trying to convince and persuade when the product should have done the talking for them. Speedway at it's best can and should be a great live spectacle - not something that causes heated arguments about whether it's worth it or not. The pro-people say "if you don't like it don't come". And indeed many have done precisely that. The unfortunate thing is there's a break-even point in any business model so the emphasis should be on making it a product people want to buy, not one they're invited to walk away from. By the way, been reading this thread with interest, particularly as I didn't go on Sunday, but god only knows where this "civil war" nonsense comes from, other than in the fanciful delusions of mrcts. There never was any civil war about who runs Leicester. That's just silly. It's been DH's baby from the moment planning went in and as far as I'm aware, no-one else has ever wanted it as theirs. People have come and gone in terms of supporting him but there's never been any dispute or attempt to have any other name over the door. Really not sure what mrcts is going on about so perhaps he/she can enlighten us?

Agreed. It was an extremely sycophantic piece of journalism at best. The Star does this a lot. In this particular instance it's obvious "eggs" read as "people", some of whom, and one in particular, contributed massively to help DH get his track up and running.

I admire any speedway rider - as I think most of us us non-riders would agree. However.... Ole Olsen back in the good ole days, and Mauger too. Looking back I guess they were just too good and it irked me as a young lad supporting the Lions. Never liked Mitch Shirra either. And most annoyingly, he seemed to love riding at Blackbird Road. These days it would be: Bjarne Pedersen - just find him boring to watch Krzysztof Kasprzak - you never know whether he can be arsed or not. Tomasz Gollob - so much talent yet not only was he often reckless he could also be arsey and/or not bothered. Talking of Poles... throw in Kolodziej, Protasiewicz and Walasek too. Boring. Heart always used to sink when they were in the GPs.

Blackbird Road Leicester. What a track that was! So many racing lines and the Lions hardly ever had a home track advantage because all riders loved racing on it. I know we have speedway back in this city these days but sadly there's just no comparison between Blackbird Road and the gate and go processions at Beaumont Park, or whatever it's called these days.

Volty is the perfect example of the disillusioned Lions fan that some seem to think only exist in the imagination of others, or are those with agendas or chips on their shoulders... blah blah blah. What nonsense. Where have all the crowd gone from that first season? And why? Does anyone bother to ask or just assume the stay-aways are all wrong? Like every speedway club Leicester needs it's people through the gate, and despite various rose-tinted posts saying Leicester's gates compare favourably with certain other tracks (most of whom are in dire trouble!) the number who attend has dropped considerably since 2011. I know there's the 'new track' syndrome but even so, it's quite a drop off. I'd never hide the fact that personally I'm a disillusioned Lions fan and much to my dismay, I see no connection with what goes on at Beaumont Park to the club I grew up with at Blackbird Road. That's all long gone and I accept that. Yes it's speedway back, but not as I knew it. I was involved in their return and I was motivated by that single aspiration to see the Lions back and roaring as I remembered, but I guess it was a different era and people have different agendas these days. A shame, but that's the reality. Like a few others I got peed off quite early, with the management, the mind-numbing alleged spectacle of the racing and several other associated behind the scenes issues. I went pretty much every week throughout 2011 but haven't been back since. That was my decision and to be honest I don't miss it. I still take an interest via friends, the media and forums etc because frankly, after 4 years of campaigning to get it back it's hard not to. Anyway, back to the point in hand, as a early dissenter I've had many a disagreement with Volty, even in PMs, when he used to defend Leicester Speedway with some passion and always tried to look on the positive in the face of what I perceived as many negatives. He always had a rational argument to make back then and he still does now. I always respected his viewpoint even if I disagreed with it. I've never met Volty so I'm not defending a mate or anything but surely, instead of getting on the case of people like him, who let's not forget has informed us he was both a season-ticket holder and a sponsor year on year, people should be asking why has he had this change of mind and what can be done to put it right because like it or not, it's symptomatic of why people don't go to Leicester Speedway in the numbers they used to. Surely any sensible business would want to analyse why consumers don't want its product? If I saw my sales drop off I'd want to know why and do something about it, not sit back and dismiss the customers as wrong. The people who come on here moaning about the moaning (to the extent where Jim starts a separate 'tongue-in-cheek' thread!) could do with taking a slightly different angle and asking the question 'why?' rather than simply dismissing it as agendas and other such nonsense. Personally, if I had any agenda, I'd use a different and much more potent vehicle than a forum to do something about it so that argument is really rather silly at best. As I say, I don't go anymore, but I don't want Leicester Speedway to fail. Too many of us put too much into it to want that. I would always prefer the people who's responsibility it is to get their heads out their backsides and do something to stop people like Volty walking away instead of disowning them or ignoring them.

Ha ha. Brilliant. It is discussed elsewhere though, especially at Leicester City Council who own the land and have subsequently gained some lovely piles of mud they didn't have before. Everyone's a winner!

Latest odds on Team Manager's job.... Evens DH (can he resist being on tv?) 3/1 Yulia Hemsley (women know best, right?) 5/1 Gary Havelock (if he'll accept a pay cut) 7/1 Jason Attwood (homecoming for Mr Motivator?) 10/1 Hitler (impressive on YouTube) 12/1 Glyn Taylor (if all the above are n/a and he gets a pay rise) 15/1 Dave Howard/Rob Sensical (Hemsleyite insiders) 20/1 Volty 25/1 Peter Soulsby (he owns the land afterall!) 33/1 David Moyes (might need a job soon) 150/1 Chris Popple 250/1 Jim The Whipper 1000/1 Ken Naylor (not sure those odds are long enough)

And his Twitter spat with new signing Hans Andersen during this year's World Cup. Still blames him for Team GB missing out in 2004 so I can't imagine a happy pits at Brandon if he stays. Mind you, imagine, Havvy and DH working together.... What a Dream Team!!!

So now it's 2 Lions v 3 Bees! Plus 9 guests. Some good riders on show but despite being told otherwise by the promoters and press officers involved, it's hardly a Leicester v Coventry showdown with two fierce local rivals battling it out for the old East Midlands Bowl is it?

I did know that Gemini. It was more of a general observation about the way speedway is these days and fans having to put up with so many guests. This season has been appalling for it and the Bees may be using 'assets' but that doesn't make it a Bees team does it? Last time I looked Fisher, Barker and Tungate were all riding for other EL teams, which makes them guests, and Sargeant is a guest NL rider, albeit one from the Storm. Therefore, and this is my main point, for the promotions of both clubs to try and sell this to the public as a Bees v Lions fixture that rekindles those rivalries from days gone by is a joke. I used to love those meetings and was as passionate as anyone about beating the Bees but this is nothing like that and it's false to sell it as such in my opinion. To read the press releases you'd think it was Wilson v Boocock and Collins v Olsen all over again!!! I'm not against them having a fixture of course (and Leicester certainly need to fulfill season ticket obligations for one thing!) but it's really more akin to an end of season open meeting than a once great rivalry between two historic clubs. This is nothing like it used to be with EIGHT guests included just to make it happen rather than anything like a meaningful Lions v Bees match. I just think they should've waited until (if) they ride against each in a competitive fixture that might actually mean something rather than this somewhat 'forced' challenge meeting only made possible by the use of a staggering amount of guests. Just my view of course and I expect there's plenty who are looking forward to it. Good for them but as a Lions fan of yesteryear I have no intention of bothering with either meeting.

3 Bees v 3 Lions and 8 guests. Farce.

Maybe he should ask the neighbour on the other side instead. Interesting state of affairs when the number one is picked based on whether he can have a chat over the garden fence or not! PS: Favourite Popplism was his renaming of the second half event as the Midland Defence League!

Yes, but on a very long lease. 99 years as 40-38 says above. Makes me laugh to hear the place still described as a "Complex", as if it actually resembled the original plans rather than the reality of an eyesore collection of extremely high mud hills, made from construction industry waste, outside a fenced off enclave containing a track.

Probably the best post I've read on this forum. Sheer bloodymindedness from the owner, who tells everyone they're wrong and that the entertainment is great, coupled with acceptance and apathy from the 'true fans' is a very damaging combination. This forum only discusses that fact, not causes it. Tonight will be a good indicator on whether the Somerset and Ippo meetings were simply down to the weather and a decent watering from Mother Nature. Really hope you guys get to see some decent racing in the sunshine tonight.

The weather forecast for Saturday is warm and dry but that's not great at BP because it seems that the track needs rain to produce a decent racing surface. That's what it got on the day of the Somerset meeting. And the Ippo one before that.