Coventry 2017

[pete cc 322]

What is it about Coventry? Firstly the football club & now the speedway club. ( The whole damned city is closing down.)

[dj350z 2,266]

What is it about Coventry? Firstly the football club & now the speedway club. ( The whole damned city is closing down.)

 

But the London Wasps were very happy to come to the city and look what a great success they are making of it!!

[Ommer Mon 381]

I'm very sad to see the Bees frozen out of the League.

 

Having suffered similarly at Cradley I can say its a very long, hard and painful road to get back.

 

I hope they have more luck and a more helpful Council (not difficult as Dudley have been somewhere on the scale of useless to downright obstructive).

 

Good luck to those who try to sort it out from here.

[Woz01 3,589]

Local newspaper Coventry Observer launches a Save our Bees campaign. It's been 1 day and people are taking action.

[piston197 192]

 

But the London Wasps were very happy to come to the city and look what a great success they are making of it!!

Maybe the Newport wasps would be welcomed too, another travesty of selling off a Speedway site for commercial purposes

[sancho 28]

So, according to that piece in the Coventry Observer - there never was a deal for Sandhu to re-instate Brandon after the fittings & lights were ripped out. Who did make that claim? Horton? BSPA? Cllr Stokes? Or did it just pop up like an urban myth?

Press Release - 30th November 2016

By Coventry Stox, Nov 30 2016 01:49PM

Last night Mr Sandhu held late night talks with Councillor Stokes to broker a deal to protect his assets and to allow the Stock Cars and Speedway to continue at the stadium. A deal was reached for the next three years for the continuation of Speedway and Stock Cars after an intense night of negotiations.

The deal was worked on overnight and it has been confirmed this morning that all parties are happy with the resulting agreement. Mr Sandhu has agreed to replace all the assets and reinstate the stadium fit to run next season at his cost. He has agreed to fund this because he loves speedway and stock racing with a deep wish to see it continue for the next three years and beyond at a new facility. He would have rather signed the agreement weeks ago but it was important that the partnership between Stox and speedway using the building continued as one would fail without the other so his actions were always to protect not just his assets but also both sports.

The agreement would at this stage never happened without Councillor Michael Stokes who has gone beyond what ever could have been expected and has managed to keep both sides in dialogue rather than allowing it to fall apart publicly. We will continue to work closely with Councillor Stokes on finding, securing and eventually building a replacement facility as we are now on a clock for the eventual closure of the stadium. Our commitment to make this happen is undiminished and if anything it has made us as a group more determined to make it happen.

Lastly we would like to say how pleased we are that the employees, contractors, and suppliers have a secure future for the next three years as many have worked on site for decades so this uncertainty has hurt them the most. Without these people we would find it impossible to run the stadium to the current high standards and they have proved that they too have gone beyond what could be expected which we will never forget.

We welcome our renewed relationship with Councillor Stokes, Mick Horton and the Coventry Bees as an opportunity to grow stronger together and to tackle the future jointly.

[Woz01 3,589]

What is it about Coventry? Firstly the football club & now the speedway club. ( The whole damned city is closing down.)

The City is actually thriving with redevelopment and 1000s of jobs coming into the city in the next few years.

[Fromafar 10,359]

This will probably be the last straw for me. I supported the Bees as a kid, then Reading with my kids, and the Bees again with my kids when I moved back to the Midlands. There's no point just blaming Sandhu or Horton or mysterious men casting spells behind the scenes. Sandhu didn't close Reading. He didn't close Oxford. He wasn't behind Eastbourne going doen the leagues, or Ipswich. This is a sport in decline and there is no collective management trying to stve off the pressures from developers or noise complainants. There is only one question to be asked on this forum:

 

 

WHO WILL BE NEXT?

I am afraid it's goodbye from me and unfortunately, I fear, many others.

No disrespect to the fans , but Swindon will be the bookies favourites.

[thebaron 434]

The demise of Coventry Speedway is a sad indictment of where speedway has ended up.

 

You can mess around with League branding and all you like; but you have to say that the professional structure of speedway in the UK has been declining since the mid 1990's. There is no sense of the Speedway Governing body being able to place a 'stake in the ground' and stop the 'slide' (pardon the pun) by holding existing ground; or being able to reclaim old or new ground.

 

In a nutshell we're in a 'right two and eight'.

 

Speedway has allowed itself to be shunted out into the fields; on back of the 'green' staszi's' relentless drive to close down anything that perceived as not environmentally friendly. Look at all the proper stadiums closed to speedway since the 1980's including my local tracks Bradford and Halifax.

 

What has to happen to save Speedway is for the governing body to get a grip of this extremely precarious situation and make its own statement of faith in the sport here in the UK. What I am suggesting is that SpeedwayGB after the loss of such a historic venue as Coventry should counter that by re-opening at another legendary venue to show its own faith in its own product.

 

SpeedwayGB needs to enter into negotiation with Bradford Council and the RFL to re-introduce the sport to Bradford and that would be a clear statement that the Governing body of the sport is prepared to reclaim a lost major stadium for the sport. Speedway needs Odsal Stadium and what is more it will never be easier to revive this historic track. With the Bradford Bulls RLFC on their backside financially; Odsal Stadium crying out for regular use here is a great opportunity to start reversing some of the damage.

 

We would have Cardiff; Belle Vue; and Bradford as major venues for the sport and that would help put the handbrake on what looks like a slide into professional sporting oblivion otherwise.

Edited February 27, 2017 by the outsider

[Gazc 7,093]

Come on Belle Vue - do the decent thing now and sign the Brits who need work.

And some PL clubs can ditch their lowgrade foreigners for the likes of Sarjeant and Nielson

Never done the decent thing with Richie Worrall a Belle vue assett so wouldnt hold my breath.

[robert72 845]

It was said by Sandhu's camp that he would put the stuff back once a deal with Horton was agreed, which we were told it was. The problem is Brandon Estates didn't want Sandhu operating at Brandon and wouldn't let him put stuff back anyway. Maybe a tad convenient.

That's the problem when families have a big fall out.

[mudflaps 664]

Mick Horton - man of straw strikes again...

Should be banned from promoting for life...

[Woz01 3,589]

That's the problem when families have a big fall out.

I do wonder if Horton or someone else will name who Brandon Estates actually are. Wouldn't surprise me if it was Sandhu's family, Heaver previously said Sandhu did persuade Brandon Estates to sponsor the Bees.

 

BBC Cov and Warwickshire radio have a Brandon special at 6pm with Bomber, Danny King and Rory Schlein

Edited February 27, 2017 by woz01

[Coventry_Bee 467]

With the club "on ice" how do the contracts of the riders stand? I doubt they go to the BSPA.

 

I am sure Chapman was right and if we had of gone to Leicester there was a huge chance we would have folded completely so maybe short term pain and long term gain in all this. I see Jeff and David Rowe have put out support and not letting the club die which is really good to have such backing, however its still Mick's club so we need to really hear from him and see what is his plan now. Reality will really set in come a few weeks time and when a few of our riders are named elsewhere, wouldn't be the first time team changes have been made before a wheel is turned.

 

I have had a few break ups in my time but this is 10 times worse .. Woke up this morning and had to double check I hadn't been in some nightmare.

[Meadowbank Ghost 0]

Not a Coventry fan (Reading Racers RIP), but hate to see speedway teams like mine disappear, and detest devious, greedy developers who haven't got the guts to front up in public about their intentions and plans.

 

Been doing a bit of digging around on the net; here's what I've found so far;

 

Brandon Estates Ltd is registered in Jersey. It's practically impossible to find out who are the 'beneficial owners' or directors of a private registered company in Jersey. However you can find out who the shareholders are, by paying the princely sum of £4.00 here to download the 2017 Annual Return : https://www.jerseyfsc.org/registry/documentsearch/NameDetail.aspx?Id=300208

 

In addition, another company called Brandon Estates Ltd was registered in the UK on 27th March 2013. Although its business was stated as real estate development, It appears to have been a totally dormant company, which never traded or had any assets, and was dissolved on 3rd November 2015. When it was registered, it had 4 shareholders (1 share each), all of whom were listed as directors; Tajerab Khan (address in Knowle), Indermohan Grewal (Walsall), Ian Butler (Sutton Coalfield), Stephen Jeffrey Butler (Solihull). Khan & Grewal resigned as directors on 2nd April 2013, but remained shareholders.

 

The names involved in the UK company may or may not provide a clue to the ownership of Brandon Estates Jersey Ltd, or may provide some kind of link to Sandhu......

 

Anybody ? In the meantime, I'll keep digging...