Gismo

Josh Pickering has already re-signed for the Monarchs

I don't know about Town asking for any volunteers, however, it would not surprise me if the new stadium plans are just that. With the news that Toshiba are pulling out of the proposed Moorside build, it would not surprise me if the new stadium plans get shelved to.

The amount of rain it has dumped down and is still continuing to do so, the track staff will certainly have there work cut out, trying to get these meetings on.

I couldn't agree more, promoters need to do more for visiting fans, pull in more visiting fans and your likely to attract more home fans back. Last season Workington Comets had a meeting away to Peterborough put back to a 17.00pm start from a 15.00pm start, this was not an issue as they had gave 7 days notice. However, Peterborough then announced they had parted company with Kenneth Hansen and had signed Chris Harris as replacement, this was shortly after they were beaten away. It was also announced that the meeting with Workington had now been put back another 2 hours to 19.00pm giving fans 48 hours notice before the meeting. That meeting never went ahead as the heavens opened barely minutes before the 19.00pm start. I have no doubt that if Hansen had not been released, that meeting would of gone ahead at 17.00pm as stated and there would of been a result. If that had happened in football or rugby, there would of been repercussions for the club, fines and point deductions would likely have been enforced.

It's all well trying to cram in speedway when the weather is more favourable, the trouble is you end up with weekly fixtures in a very short period, with nothing for weeks on end. I have booked to go on holiday for a month from the 26th July, in that period we are due to have 5 home league fixtures, infact we have 6 home league fixture in a 6 week period. Considering the season started in April, for me personally our home meetings have been crammed into to short of a period. I am more keen on the league side of speedway than cup's, would like to have seen the league start before the cup's, with these kicking in later. That way, if your team is having a poor show in the league you still have the cup comps to look forward to and hopefully keep the fans still enthused. This time last year we already had 5 home championship and 1 KOC meeting, this year 2 home championship shield meetings so far. If it was not for the forum, then there is very little to keep me motivated and I end up doing other things in my spare time.

You would like to think it will. Should this be the case, then Laura would have to make a tough decision. Does she go down the route of BWD for the season or bring back Mason when he recovers from injury. When you see the Comets results on the road in previous seasons, then these last two away results will have certainaly lifted the moral of the club, do you risk jeopardising that by bringing back Mason.

Dejavu again, no fault of the promotion though. Why is it, we always seem to be playing catch up, some clubs will actually have had 3 league meetings (weather permitting) before our first league meeting. Should be all clubs start their league fixtures in the same week, not a month in advance of other clubs.

I doubt it has anything to do with Ty, Workington or speedway in a whole. The home office lately have been diabolical in the handling of visa's of all categories, mainly due to most visa's are now processed in Sheffield. In the past, those applying to settle, visit and work in the UK would of applied at the local British embassy of origin, not anymore. I know people who have been waiting months for visa's, some are now on unpaid leave as they are still waiting for their visa to be renewed, yet they a re here legally. One friend I know applied for a settlement visa for his wife, their application was recieved on the 27th October, it took till the 15th Febuary before they got the visa, 16 weeks. You are only allowed to apply 3 months prior to employment and its actually been taking over 3 months for some work permits to be approved.

Which they do, trouble is, it comes across as very lax in informing the general fans of any news Both the speedway and rugby share the same ground, yet on the official rugby website it was announced they would be trialling a new admission procedure to access the ground. This was live on their website a good week prior to the opening fixture, yet on the Comets website, fans were only informed the day before. Infact the rugby club were offering a £2 reduction on advanced ticket sales in the hope to help publicise the new access to the ground.

It’s actually refreshing for some of the stalwarts openly posting their personal disappointment. The trouble is, I feel it is too little too late, people have been voting with their feets. Supporters clubs/trusts should also be there to voice the issues and concerns of the general supporter too. unfortunately that never seems to come across and we are deemed as only being negative towards the club. Hopefully with you taking up your disappointment with the promotion then it will be addressed, those closer to any club will have more clout when issues are raised. When the die hard supporters start posting their disappointment on an open forum, just think what the general supporters are saying to family, friends and work colleagues etc etc.

With having kids myself you would think so, not so when it can take 2 hours plus to complete a meeting, the attractiveness soon diminishes. Like my 13 year old daughter says "If I wanted to see tractors going round in circles, then why not go to the local farm". Kids nowadays are brought up with the internet, instant information and streaming. Its not only speedway that has an issue with attracting the younger generation, football also has the same problem. Football clubs are only now starting to address this issue, football clubs are now offering discounted match day and season tickets to young adults, this is varied in age from the clubs, some, its 21 year old, some even have it have 24 year old's as a young adult. Football clubs also offer exceptional savings on season tickets, most clubs you would have to miss 4-6 matches before your out of pocket, they also reward loyal supporters with the best deal. An example, Huddersfield town promoted to the premier league. Adult season ticket £199, 8-17 year old's £79 and £29 for under 8 year old's and if you had been a season ticket holder for the last 9 years, then you paid £100. Huddersfield having been running these promotional season tickets for 2 years now, the 2015/16 season they averaged 12,000 per match roughly, in 2016/17 they were averaging 21,000 roughly, so far this season they are averaging 24,000. True, they got promoted and have been doing well lately but still they have seen season ticket numbers treble without knowing their success. Where speedway lets fans down, in my eyes, they treat their fans with contempt. If a meeting is cancelled before a wheel turns, you are entitled to a full refund, even up to 48 hours before the re-staged meeting you are still entitled to a full refund, failing to do so, is illegal. If you have a ticket for an event, it will state, time,date and venue, if the event is cancelled the contract is then void and a full refund must be issued on request. If the event is abandoned, this does not apply and its down to the discretion of the organisers if full or partial refunds are issued. You then have a meeting between Peterboro and Workington with a 3.00pm start, this is put back to a 5.00pm start to allow track preparation, then 48 hours before the meeting, a team member is sacked with a replacement being named and the meeting is put back another 2 hours to 7.00pm start. Now, if a football club had put back there match to allow one of their players enough time to return from international duty so they could be in the starting line up, there would be up roar, fines and point deductions would follow from the FA. I have watched many live sport events over the years, football, rugby, boxing, cricket, athletics, F1, Le-mans etc etc. but watching a heat of speedway seriously takes some beating, but the way its being run, it has got me beat.