Jump to content
British Speedway Forum
fentigers79

Mildenhall Speedway

Recommended Posts

I understand how Ray must be feeling after the sad loss of his Jean but I donot believe he is helping his own cause by staying silent,or not showing his face.

 

If you employ staff under contract like the riders surely they should be be the first people that are made aware of the situation( Good manners I would call it ) then supporters and sponsors.Surely if Ray personally made a statement on the Mildenhall Fen Tigers forum it would help to keep the people up todate after speaking to the riders face to face.

 

SimonB and Halifaxtiger are spot on,it far better to meet someone in the middle and get some finance for the business than to stick out for what you value the club and finish with nothing. Ray must remember at the end of the day Dave Coventry hold the upperhand because he owns the stadium and has to sanction any new owner if he does not purchase it himself.

 

Having known Ray for many years I find it very difficult to work out the way his mind is working but feel the time has come when he cannot hide behind his loss of Jean anymore and need to sort out his affairs.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

ray mascall told me the riders will get paid when he gets paid for his licence. what i dont understand is why ?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

ray mascall told me the riders will get paid when he gets paid for his licence. what i dont understand is why ?

Nor do I unless Ray simply does not have any more money ? The problem with this is that the licence is only worth what someone will pay for it and that looks like nothing at the minute, hope I am wrong though.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Nor do I unless Ray simply does not have any more money ? The problem with this is that the licence is only worth what someone will pay for it and that looks like nothing at the minute, hope I am wrong though.

 

Thing is.With the situation with the stadium.Nobody will even consider buying the club.I certainly wouldn't :(

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I understand how Ray must be feeling after the sad loss of his Jean but I donot believe he is helping his own cause by staying silent,or not showing his face.

 

If you employ staff under contract like the riders surely they should be be the first people that are made aware of the situation( Good manners I would call it ) then supporters and sponsors.Surely if Ray personally made a statement on the Mildenhall Fen Tigers forum it would help to keep the people up todate after speaking to the riders face to face.

 

SimonB and Halifaxtiger are spot on,it far better to meet someone in the middle and get some finance for the business than to stick out for what you value the club and finish with nothing. Ray must remember at the end of the day Dave Coventry hold the upperhand because he owns the stadium and has to sanction any new owner if he does not purchase it himself.

 

Having known Ray for many years I find it very difficult to work out the way his mind is working but feel the time has come when he cannot hide behind his loss of Jean anymore and need to sort out his affairs.

.

Totally agree Dennis, your post

sums up the position excellently in my opinion.

The riders need to know exactly where they stand as by the middle of next week they will be a month without a meeting as well as being owed money for meetings already run. They deserve better!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
The fate of Mildenhall's future is due to be announced today (Wednesday, 28 July) with the likelihood of a successful takeover of the club. Stadium owner Dave Coventry revealed that two businessmen had agreed rent negotiations with him and he was optimistic of a deal with outgoing promoter Ray Mascall. However, Sunday's home fixture against Buxton has been postponed, their third meeting to be called off. National League co-ordinator Peter Morrish, who was praised by Coventry for his handling of the talks, confirmed that a positive announcement was imminent.

 

Mascall, who has come under increasing criticism from supporters and sources close to riders for alleged non-payment of the last three meetings, issued the following statement: "Attendances in the last half of last year were 480-500 a meeting, that being the reason why John Adams and myself put together the team for this year that we did. It transpires that attendances this year have been a very disappointing (300-350 a meeting) and with an away meeting to have the riders to pay for as well means that it was costing more to run than the takings coming in. With the short illness and death of my wife in May, which has had a traumatic effect on my life, it is only recently that I have realised how bad the situation is regarding Mildenhall. I am not in a financial position to put any more money into Mildenhall to prop it up, hence my reason to say enough is enough. "At the moment, I stand to lose £17,000-£18,000. If my wife was still alive then this situation would not have arisen because the problem of fallen attendances would have been seen and addressed."

 

Sounds more hopeful

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Fingers crossed for you all Simon not just for the speedways sake but also Ray Mascall who obviously cares deeply for the club or he would not have bought it in the first place.Hopefully another beginning for the tigers and beginning of the end of a traumatic time for Ray :unsure:

Edited by SLIGHTLY ROUND THE BEND

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Fingers crossed for you all Simon not just for the speedways sake but also Ray Mascall who obviously cares deeply for the club or he would not have bought it in the first place.Hopefully another beginning for the tigers and beginning of the end of a traumatic time for Ray :unsure:

Agree 100%, not many winners no matter the outcome. Without knowing any background in the negotiations I hope that it works out well for Dave Coventry who, despite the noise issue hanging around his neck appears to have worked hard to keep Speedway at the venue and has remained positive in his postings.

 

Hopefully the riders will be paid, mostly young lads the bills fall also on their families - if there are hardships as supporters maybe we have to llok at ways to help.

 

Without Ray & Jean we would have lost the Fen Tigers 18 months ago, however harsh though we have to remember that come the end of the day it is a business.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

A horrible, horrible mess. I don't think Mr Coventry wants speedway at Mildenhall anyway. With his track at Dover closing they can have stock cars every week at Mildenhall then, even on a Sunday!

The riders not having been paid is nothing short of robbery in my view. Mildenhall have had so many promoters who haven’t been able to make a go of it. The only one who seems to have broken even was Dingle Brown, yet he was told he had to get an air fence [which they should have anyway] to carry on and he passed on to Mr Mole to run, yet he didn’t have to have an air fence!

Mildenhall is hanging on by the skin of its teeth, with extremely poor crowds. If it’s taken over again then I’m sure within a short space of time we will see Mildenhall up for sale again. Unless major changes are made to encourage loads more people to come through the turnstiles I really can’t see Mildenhall having a future.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Whilst i am not privy to what rent anyone pays for Mildenhall Speedway, surely there has to be a way forward, between Mr Coventry and any prospective promoter..and this lies in what rent is paid to the stadium owner.

Mr Mascalls figures indicate the crowd figures for this year are 300+ average. That brings in an income of £3000 riders have to be paid the minimum of what? £5 per point for an average of 90 points for two meetings 1 home 1 away, thats £450 quid for 2 meetings, now i have no idea what the mileage allowance is these days, i am sure someone will tell us, but just say we pay each rider £40 per meeting x 7 riders x 2 meetings this equates to £560 travel expences, so the costs of covering two meetings for the riders alone would be aprox £1110 even if £10 per point was paid, which i am sure some teams dont, it would then come to £1560, so that leaves just under £1500 to cover rentals and other costs, if a figure of say £750 per meeting was paid minimum; based on an attendance of 250, <this would be the critical figure> and a sliding scale then brought in of say £50 for every 10 spectators over and above that figure, plus the Stadium gets the Bar takings, Introduce a Car Park Charge £2 per Car 50/50 Speedway and Stadium.

 

I am sure if something along those lines were introduced then Speedway could survive at Mildenhall, obviously there has to be trust between the Promotion and Stadium owner, but that has to be the way forward long term..

 

I am sure the Greyhounds at Mildenhall dont get anywhere near that figure for crowds, especially mid week, but they seem to survive, and whilst i dont know what prize money levels are for the greyhounds, i am sure they must pay out at least £30 per race x 10 races per meeting = £300..admission to the greyhounds is probably £6 with probably 150 max there on a saturday, and a good attendance mid week would be 100, just add up and compare...

Edited by greyhoundp

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Whilst i am not privy to what rent anyone pays for Mildenhall Speedway, surely there has to be a way forward, between Mr Coventry and any prospective promoter..and this lies in what rent is paid to the stadium owner.

Mr Mascalls figures indicate the crowd figures for this year are 300+ average. That brings in an income of £3000 riders have to be paid the minimum of what? £5 per point for an average of 90 points for two meetings 1 home 1 away, thats £450 quid for 2 meetings, now i have no idea what the mileage allowance is these days, i am sure someone will tell us, but just say we pay each rider £40 per meeting x 7 riders x 2 meetings this equates to £560 travel expences, so the costs of covering two meetings for the riders alone would be aprox £1110 even if £10 per point was paid, which i am sure some teams dont, it would then come to £1560, so that leaves just under £1500 to cover rentals and other costs, if a figure of say £750 per meeting was paid minimum; based on an attendance of 250, <this would be the critical figure> and a sliding scale then brought in of say £50 for every 10 spectators over and above that figure, plus the Stadium gets the Bar takings, Introduce a Car Park Charge £2 per Car 50/50 Speedway and Stadium.

 

I am sure if something along those lines were introduced then Speedway could survive at Mildenhall, obviously there has to be trust between the Promotion and Stadium owner, but that has to be the way forward long term..

 

I am sure the Greyhounds at Mildenhall dont get anywhere near that figure for crowds, especially mid week, but they seem to survive, and whilst i dont know what prize money levels are for the greyhounds, i am sure they must pay out at least £30 per race x 10 races per meeting = £300..admission to the greyhounds is probably £6 with probably 150 max there on a saturday, and a good attendance mid week would be 100, just add up and compare...

 

The problem is "the other costs":

 

From memory and not a definitive list:

 

Insurance

BSPA fees

Referee fees

Programme printing

Medical cover

Track prep and machinery

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Not to mention whilst I understand you use £5 as an average figure, I doubt the top riders in the NL would race for that week in week out. I'd imagine double that would be more the standard rate.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

for any prospective promoter at mildenhall there is a lot of work involved in getting ready for a speedway meeting after saturday night car racing. with low crowds and little financial reward you have to admire anyone for taking that on. good luck for the future you will need it. :unsure:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The problem is "the other costs":

 

From memory and not a definitive list:

 

Insurance

BSPA fees

Referee fees

Programme printing

Medical cover

Track prep and machinery

 

I defer to your greater knowledge on these matters Neil, however i would exclude program printing as this should be covered by sales.But it still leaves £1500 ish, in the pot to cover 6 of those items, and i have not included any income from Corperate, and individuals which the aim would be to try to get the PM in every race covered. so though no-one would ever get rich at Mildenhall, if cost cutting was introduced i am sure it could survive, though from time to time there may be cash flow difficulties, such as a run of home rain offs, and three away meetings without any income, but this would/should balance out over a season..

 

Rhidassa; I did bring in £10 per point in my £1560 figure.

Edited by greyhoundp

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

 

Rhidassa; I did bring in £10 per point in my £1560 figure.

 

 

Fair play - apologies, I skimmed your post whilst being distracted by other things.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now

×

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Privacy Policy