Hoggy

Wow, your'e really on the negative stuff aren't you? Come and have a chat with me after the meeting on Thursday and I'll try and help to balance your opinion. No tricks at all but I need to understand why you are battering King's Lynn so vehemently. It's no good us announcing a signing until we have secured contractual obligations and fulfilled legal criteria. I get it that it hasn't been a brilliant season but whilst we are working to improve it give us a break ffs! No guarantees but we're working on it

Really, really upsetting news, I owed him a great debt of gratitude when the 2008 financial crisis hit and I was made redundant he was able to help when all my funding partners gave me the cold shoulder. Despite my loss of appetite for the sport Steve was one of the guys I called from time to time to keep in touch, just awful news. One of his best decisions he made was to put an English speaking presenter into the Belle Vue 80th Anniversary celebrations, somebody who was used to the open top bus life!

Morning All, beautiful day in Yorkshire, have fun!

Thank you, no harm done

I'm always very gracious and praise visiting supporters with thanks for visiting Derwent Park, so when you get round to it, apology accepted.

He probably would have if he'd known

I'm not knocking you're post, your comments are totally understandable. The decision to clear the stadium was taken for two reasons; we had concerns that access for the emergency services would be restricted, due to congestion, placing spectators at risk and Dan's dignity, there were a lot of distressed people and any plan to move him would have exacerbated that and could only be accomplished once the stadium was clear.

Thank you, fortunately Rasmus thought it was reading in KPH !

Morning, It's a pretty empty feeling many of us have this morning, please don't let this thread descend into the usual forum bitching, life really is too short - trust me. Like you all I sincerely wish Dan a full and speedy recovery. Cancelled flights, the delayed start, and non arrival of the ambulance all conspired to undermine what promised to be a great Speedway meeting and make this a night to forget. I apologise to anybody who felt there were any shortcomings last night it was a day and night from hell for everyone connected with the club. Also, it is a policy agreed with the Medical Officer not to comment on injuries or play music/make announcements whilst somebody is being treated on the track unless asked to do so, the PA system is loud and effective and drowns out communication between the medics and injured party so I regret not being in a position to keep you completely informed. You saw us preparing for the Air Ambulance as this would have brought the emergency doctors but this was changed due to flight logistics issues never the less the Doctors from the Air Ambulance team tore across the county by car to fulfill their commitment and duty, just incredible. Jacko spent most of the morning liaising between myself, Nicolai and Rasmus once their flight had been cancelled and all options were looked at to get them to Derwent Park including a Helicopter charter. The nearest we could get them to DP was Manchester to land at 5 pm so a request was made and supported by Lakeside to delay the start by 30 minutes. Nicolai and Rasmus started their shuttle around Europe and Jacko and I put in contingencies to cover myself as announcer/presenter and both riders in the event of further delays so that it was game on whatever happened. If Jacko didn't look at the Lakeside website please do forgive him, at the end of the day the Lakeside team was Will's responsibility and would have had to have been cleared with the Referee at some point. Let's not make anyone feel too bad about that at the end of the day both clubs gained nothing from yesterday and have the opportunity to race each other again. I really would like to praise Nicolai and Rasmus they could have so easily given up and stayed in DK and I do hope they are ok after their white knuckle ride to DP in the back of the Funmobile

You missed out this bit "Apologies for not being able to keep you informed, I'm only allowed to give out some information on the instruction of the Referee but you could see what I could see, that water from the bowser had dropped onto the track we were working on it, it's not hard" Now if that's insulting please accept my apologies that wasn't the intention but to get some of the verbals I did was uncalled for, I don't make the decisions, never the less I'm pleased you came and as you are well aware last night my presentation was not up to the usual standard, sorry.

This is absolutely and categorically untrue Godfrey please don't keep repeating it

Can I tell Leigh that's per point? He really will appreciate your generosity particularly as it's for charity and I'd be so bold as to say the club will match your donation up to a tenner a point on Leigh's first max, how's that?

Not so I'm afraid. Thank you for the good wishes by PM everyone

Thanks you for your kind comments Dick, let's be honest I don't know you and you clearly don't know me. What I do know is that your opinion of me is somewhat confused with your opinion of others, instead of undermining my credibility why don't you endeavour to do something about yours? I'm not perfect by any means nor am I bitter and twisted about anything that hasn't worked out for me. Life is just too, too short. Enjoy your evening and by all means give me a bell if yiu want to talk about it.

Match reports have predetermined reserved space regardless of other sporting action and are copied and pasted from Josh or Pearson's copy straight in, they are told how many words or paras and this can be submitted until 10pm the night before. The Star notify us on a Tuesday/ Wednesday if they have space for a picture in Friday's edition and they tell us what pic they want then reserve the space no later than Wednesday, Andy Garner usually fires the picture to them by e mail before he leaves the stadium.. Simon's piece has to be with them 2 days prior, match preview Monday for Wednesday and all other copy takes pot luck alongside all other sporting activities. We try to have something ready to go or hold something back for use at short notice in case we get extra space. The page planners and the Sports Editor have been very, very good to us over the years, we have no divine right of coverage and we work closely with them and BBC Radio Sheffield on timings to get the widest possible exposure.

Of course you are and so am I, if you read Tigerowl's post you will see genuine frustration expressed in a non personal way, it's as constructive as it can be under the current circumstances. A minority continue to be sarcastic and personal and believe that we are accountable through this forum, I am approachable, I will explain and discuss these issues on a one to one basis and answer honestly or say I cannot answer at all. I stopped visiting this forum regularly month's ago, occasionally my attention is drawn to posts usually by family members who are surprised at some of the comments when they can see the time and energy that is put into the sport generally without any thanks whatsoever. Jake Knight was mentioned in the PR because we needed to explain why he was not replacing Damien tonight - damned if we do and damned if we don't. The team news that has caused so much consternation is given to the press on a Monday but it was a day late this week because we did not know if the USA were going through to the Race Off in the SWC. We only publish the line ups the day before anyway and this was done yesterday albeit 4 or 5 hours later than usual because of the delay previously mentioned. Our programme is printed on a Thursday morning and if we are lucky we can make late changes to the racecard but for us to publicise the reasons why riders pull out of individual meetings like they did last week would really put the tin hat on it, injuries excepted of course. What is equally frustrating for me is the fundamental lack of understanding of the complex rules by many fans, even rules that are understood are often interpreted in more than one way. It's almost impossible and this gives the impression we are doing nothing about our problems, we had Adam Roynon under wraps for almost a month but could not introduce him until the regulations allowed, in the meantime we were cursed from a dog to a bitch for allegedly doing nothing. It was suggested by some of the more negative posters that we sign certain riders as a replacement for Simon, one was already out injured another rides in Sweden on a Thursday, another has 5 fixture clashes that would take him to his EL club first, some of these guys simply say thanks but no thanks I'd rather go here or there instead. Just 2 weeks ago a potential number 1 told us he did not want to come to the UK this year and within a week had signed for another club, money was never even mentioned so right now I cannot see a better option than a guest at number 1 not withstanding the possibility that Simon may be in a position to return at some point. Our problems are not unique at all in the current economical climate and some of the solutions go further than Olwerton, only time will tell. Currently we have Richard Hall carrying an injury with Simon, Damien and now Joe in the wars, Richard came back too soon from his Berwick crash, Simon from his Workington crash, Damien from his Somerset crash, Facu from his Sheffield crash and Joe wanted to try and ride tonight but pull out if he can't cope. All of this because they are committed and want to do the best they possibly can for the team, losing Simon has been a massive blow to us all we built the team around him and are consequently exposed, it's bad enough losing meetings and trying to keep spirits up without having to hear some of the ill thought out comments that appear in the public domain. Partners, parents and sponsors all make sacrifices and cannot understand some of the vitriol levelled at their rider."it's only frustration" and "it goes with the job" are excuses used by the perpetrators and show even less regard for the targets. I hope you don't feel this post is aimed at you SS, please view it as a general response to some of the points raised across the thread. Do have a nice day.

Any chance you can help us out tonight please? Bring your kevs and helmet, Jake said you can ride his bike and the ref will sort you out a day licence. If you can do that I'll carry on and find a guest to sort our next problem out but as it takes one and a half days to get copy into the Star and the sub editors often snip important information (they are not Speedway folk you see) please don't expect to read about tonight's line up until Saturday.

I deliberately dealt with the release of Jake separately to Adam's announcement, I did not want Jake's contribution and progress, yes progress overshadowed by the new signing. I find your post pretty callous towards a family who have invested heavily in Jake, Sheffield and British Speedway and for once I dictated that press release because every word of it is true. Our decision has of course been influenced but not by his lack of points it has been about keeping our critics happy, yes we heard the "taxi for Knight" calls which is why we fought back at times but reluctantly have had to give in. Who could have planned on their top two copping shoulder injuries in the same month or proven performers not reaching early expectations, nobody plans for that when they put a team together and remedial action when taken has to be within in the rules and regulations. It is clear that many of the destructive comments, posted here and elswhere I'm told, do not understand the rules as the earliest we could possibly have made an effective team change was last Saturday unless we had chosen to release Jake earlier and bring in another 3 pointer. I have not followed this forum for some time so wil not be entering a debate I'm afraid, what I will say as my final word on the matter is that I will never cease to respect the Knight family for their brave commitment to the Premier League and Sheffield in particular, thank you. David

Thank you for the apology ...........David

I'm very happy to invite you to withdraw your comment relative to Sheffield as it is inaccurate and untrue, alternatively you may substantiate it by contacting our associate sponsors Wosskow Brown Solicitors who will be delighted to verify the authenticity of your comment. We'll pick up the tab, a simple "sorry I got that wrong will be fine" kind regards ..............David

If you have something to say please have the courtesy to say it to my face like most of our disappointed customers have

Roger, I have already asked Phil to pull one of your posts where you have insinuated collusion with Berwick. You may choose to have an opinion but when it is untrue and you maintain that inuendo on this forum then please expect me to get warmed up about it. The riders contract is always with his parent club in this case Sheffield, we (Sheffield) provide the loan agreement to Plymouth or whoever he rides for, Ashworth and Mike failed to agree terms and Ashworth informed me he would sit out the start of the season having told Mike accordingly. It was me who set about finding my rider a job and Berwick were more than surprised to hear from me, this was on the afternoon after their young Aussie had been hurt and having lost 2 of their 2012 team I felt it appropriate to make contact. I am also responsible for telling Ashworth to keep his mouth shut and not make any negative comments towards Plymouth or Mike, perhaps now you will rest your opinion too and no longer cast aspersions towards Ashworth, Berwick or indirectly, me.

I'm trying to contact Paul Wilson from Cleckheaton, if any of you have his details can you pm me please?

I'm trying to contact Paul Wilson from Cleckheaton, if any of you have his details can you pm me please?

Thanks Paul, Stewart has mailed me with confirmation too. Any weather doubters? We are forecast 0.5mm of rain in the morning around 10.00 am which will hardly wet the ground and then nothing until 10.00pm, obviously the wind can change things but it is very much stacked in our favour right now. Thanks ............David