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G the Bee

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G the Bee last won the day on June 27 2015

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  1. G the Bee

    Coventry Bees Nl ?

    One of the biggest clubs in the country, not been on track in a competitive fixture for over a year, given a lifeline to return. You would think this thread would have hundreds of posts by now. The fact that it doesn't speaks volumes. I for one am not interested in doing what Cradley have done. Track share after track share and the accompanying uncertainties over whether we run the following year. Season after season in the lowest league watching has-beens and never-wills with the odd genuine rising star thrown in for good measure (who, of course, will not stick around very long). For me, this is not a Coventry team, and I have no interest at all in supporting it. We have no affinity with this league, other than a poorly supported Storm team which was very much a supplement to the main Bees team. To drop to NL racing at Brandon would have been a huge ask. To do so at another track... No thanks. I'd rather have no club at all than a pretend club. I suspect I'm not alone.
  2. G the Bee

    Coventry 2017

    The thing is, I don't even miss it. No doubt this is partly because I could see the writing on the wall and over the last season or so eased myself of it and found other interests. But the real reason is that the sport is simply not as good as it used to be. That's from someone who, up until the last few seasons, barely missed a home meeting No, I don't miss it at all.
  3. Can't say I blame them. Why would Rye fans turn out to watch a meaningless challenge with their top riders missing against a team they have no affinity with? And if as many Bees fans travel to Rye as travelled to Poole, they won't be packing the terraces with away fans. Unfortunately, once the early season challenges were done, this was always going to happen. I'm afraid the ship left port in March and we were left waving at the dockside.
  4. G the Bee

    Coventry 2017

    Changing the subject, can anyone explain to me why we couldn't have ridden the whole season at Leicester? I think the proposed Bees team would have been competitive so there would have been every chance of decent levels of support.
  5. G the Bee

    Poole V Coventry Select. 19/4/17 7.30pm

    Two days to go. Looking forward to this. Any update on team news (from both sides)?
  6. G the Bee

    Rye House 2017

    The main body of the Rye team is full of 'big name' riders who are past their best. A top 5 of ex-Bees who had their best years at Brandon and Davey Watt who has struggled for a few years now. Get the Rye track grippy and they'll be ok at home, but they'll struggle away. I couldn't understand the optimism before the season. The Bees team for 2017 was miles better. I didn't rate it particularly highly at first, but over time, it grew on me. I think it would have done ok.
  7. Respectfully, I think that's a bit of a low blow there. Whether Chris knew about the potential issues for this season or not, he gave 11 season's stirling service for the club and owes us absolutely nothing. And I thought the way his transfer request was handled, openly and respectfully before the end of the season showed real class. The club has been on its backside for years. I don't blame him for one second for asking for a move. In fact, I'm glad he got out when he did. If there was one rider I would have wanted to avoid being caught up this sorry mess, it would have been Bomber. I suspect many others feel the same.
  8. G the Bee

    Rye House 2017

    With Bomber, my own opinion is that if the track has a bit of dirt on, he'll be as good as anyone around Rye. But if it's going to be slick, then it could be a season of struggle. Even at Coventry, he could struggle if it was slick. And there were few better riders around Brandon than Bomber. I hope I'm wrong, because as a home fan, there are few better sights than watching Bomber pick opposition riders off week in, week out.
  9. I tend to agree with the posts above. I can see more and more scrabbling about for riders as the season goes on. And, bearing in mind each fixture is an away fixture, I'd be gutted to have made plans to travel only to be faced with load of last minute rider drop-outs.
  10. This is one of speedway's biggest problems. I've posted this before, but it's worth bringing up again. For years I tried to get my son into the sport, but the fact is, he's bored to tears by heat 4. Why? Because in about half an hour, he's seen about 4 minutes of action. It's why speedway simply cannot attract a younger audience. The modern generation expect entertainment instantly. They need something going on in front of them all of the time. The world has changed hugely in the last 20 years but the sport is stuck in the 1970s in terms of what it thinks constitutes an acceptable standard of entertainment. Every speedway meeting should have 20 heats, with the aim of having them all done and dusted in about an hour and a half. The whole way the meeting is run should be with the aim of giving the supporter as little 'down time' as possible. The riders should have 30 seconds after a race to exit the track, which is still ample time for the winning rider to pop a few wheelies to entertain the fans. The two minute time allowance should be halved. After this time, the one-minute time allowance for the next heat would be sounded. At the end of the one-minute, the start marshal needs to be able to signal to the referee to put on the green light. Any rider causing the start marshal to be unable to do this would be excluded and fined. Unsatisfactory starts for rolling would be more heavily penalised. Instant exclusion and a fine for the rider deemed to be moving before tapes up. If a rider knew rolling would hit them in the pocket with a double-whammy, they would all stop doing it. Riders should never be allowed to return to the pits. Even in the event of a delay for a fall, the riders not involved in the fall should have to wait on the centre green until the re-run. Riders should not be given as much time as they are currently given to get themselves ready after a fall. Far too often I see a rider get up, walk back to the pits and then take an age to get ready for the next heat. If their preferred bike is damaged, clogged up with shale, got bent bars etc, tough luck. Use your spare. Strictly timed brief grading intervals after heats 5, 10 and 15. These would replace the traditional interval at heat 10/12. Referees need to be tougher. They are in charge of the meeting, not the riders. We're in the entertainment business. It's about time the riders and promoters started to realise that, because I honestly think very few of them actually do.
  11. G the Bee

    Coventry 2017

    I think you've over-reacted. I'm not sure I understand what I said that was rubbish? Do you think these promoters are offering meetings against a Bees team out of charitable benevolence? I suspect the meetings will be a nice little earner for both the Wolves and Peterborough promotions during a quiet part of the season when riders are looking for track time. That was the point I was making. Personally, I think we are dead, buried, down and out, but I appreciate the sentiment of your post, For what it's worth, I'll be at Peterborough. My own personal opinion is that we've just become another Cradley, but as long as people like Jeff keep the flag flying, I'll support them.
  12. G the Bee

    Coventry 2017

    I'm not knocking it, but it's a no-brainer from the promoters. We're a cash cow now, and the promoters know it. We'll bring huge crowds to these meetings. In losing Coventry, they've also lost one of their biggest away followings. These fixtures will compensate for that.
  13. G the Bee

    What If....

    Really. The BSPA being reluctant to invest in something that would improve the match night experience for their customers. Something that would have contributed to bringing the sport out of the dark ages. I find that hard to believe. Maybe they were worried that the bright light it emits would keep the rows of OAPs awake whilst they are trying to catch 40 winks whilst the tractor goes round and round between races.
  14. G the Bee

    Coventry 2017

    Precisely my thinking. Speedway already has a Darby and Joan image, and this is just going to compound this. How many working people can get to Brandon for 4pm on a Friday? There is a reason sports events don't take place on weekday afternoons! I know people are well intentioned, and perhaps I just feel negative at the moment, but a small crowd of OAPs standing outside the gates looking sad isn't going to make a blind bit of difference.
  15. G the Bee

    Coventry 2017

    But there was the money, you've said so yourself. The Sky money. The money which went into the pockets of the riders. It should never have been allowed to happen, certainly not to the extent it did. But the promotions did not work together, they competed with one another. The richer clubs spent out Sky money to attract the big names, competing with each other rather than working together for the long-term benefit of the sport. I'm sure the Bees promotion were just as guilty of it as anyone. How much was Brandon sold for in 2002? Wasn't it something like £1 million? How much would the repayments on a £1 million bank loan have been over 20 years? How much of the yearly pot of the Sky money would it have cost the BSPA? Now offset that against the benefits of owning Brandon, not just to keep the Bees running, but to develop as a centre of excellence for the sport. A facility which could (realistically bearing in mind its location and availability) have produced a conveyor belt of new British talent. But where was the vision to do something more productive with the Sky money? Where was the leader with the long-term vision? Where did dishing that money out on GP stars (pretty much none of whom can be seen here anymore) get us? Nowhere. You were part of the BSPA, were you not? So it's not surprising you will fight their corner. But answer me this. Name me one other sport that has received Sky money and Sky exposure for the last 20 years and been in a worse position in the present than it was before the Sky money came into the sport? That is, in itself, a damning indicment of the way the BSPA have run the sport for the last 20 years.
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