RebelDan 203 Posted October 14, 2019 I think you need to read between the lines here. This seems like posturing ahead of the AGM by Ford IMO. He wants Wednesday night racing to protect his business interests which is fair enough - the timing is ahead of the AGM though to lay a marker to other Promoters. Would the top league survive with just 6 teams ? I don’t know I’m speculating but I suspect he has no intention of dropping down he just wants a change of race nights and is letting other promoters know this ahead of the AGM. Also whatever price he wants for the club is less likely to be achieved if Poole are in the 2nd tier. Just my opinion of course not being close to Poole or Ford before someone hijacks my post! 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steve Shovlar 10,439 Posted October 14, 2019 Just now, RebelDan said: I think you need to read between the lines here. This seems like posturing ahead of the AGM by Ford IMO. He wants Wednesday night racing to protect his business interests which is fair enough - the timing is ahead of the AGM though to lay a marker to other Promoters. Would the top league survive with just 6 teams ? I don’t know I’m speculating but I suspect he has no intention of dropping down he just wants a change of race nights and is letting other promoters know this ahead of the AGM. Also whatever price he wants for the club is less likely to be achieved if Poole are in the 2nd tier. Just my opinion of course not being close to Poole or Ford before someone hijacks my post! I don’t believe moving back to a Wednesday from a Thursday would make any difference to crowd levels. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RebelDan 203 Posted October 14, 2019 1 minute ago, Steve Shovlar said: I don’t believe moving back to a Wednesday from a Thursday would make any difference to crowd levels. Didn’t Ford say they’ve dropped by 25% (can’t recall the exact figure) with the change of race night ? Has it seemed a visibly smaller crowd this year ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skidder1 7,633 Posted October 14, 2019 20% lower and yes it has been obvious. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steve Shovlar 10,439 Posted October 14, 2019 I don’t believe the change of race night has made the 20% drop. I believe there are several other factors. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skidder1 7,633 Posted October 14, 2019 1 hour ago, mikebv said: It's been mentioned that there is a new TV deal, with money on the table.. (?) If that is the case you could only presume it's not considerable if a Premiership promotion (a very successful one), is not ruling out dropping down and sharing in its 'bounty'? Who says the new (Eurosport?) TV deal is only for Premiership clubs? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,260 Posted October 14, 2019 5 minutes ago, Skidder1 said: Who says the new (Eurosport?) TV deal is only for Premiership clubs? Good call... It would need to be a fair few quid though to go across a lot more teams.. One thing is for sure for me, Matt Ford is no mug and will make the right decision for his business.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fliss44 346 Posted October 14, 2019 23 minutes ago, The Doctor... said: Perhaps it's because your recent reputation and accusations aimed at other members aswell makes you an easy target. You've made allegations of bullying once or perhaps twice towards others if my memory is correct, and now this. If you were someone who i had time for, i would be saying the close season is perhaps the time to take a step back from the forum for a few months before you say something that gets you in genuine hot water. But i don't think you'd take the advice anyway. I couldn't agree more. Time away from the forum may give time to reflect and come back refreshed? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Speedtiger 327 Posted October 14, 2019 1 hour ago, mikebv said: It's been mentioned that there is a new TV deal, with money on the table.. (?) If that is the case you could only presume it's not considerable if a Premiership promotion (a very successful one), is not ruling out dropping down and sharing in its 'bounty'? Agreed Mike, but the fact is a TV deal is not the silver bullet and a ‘must have’ that speedway needs. The original Sky TV deal didn’t help stop the downward spiral of speedway, truth is Sky could see it coming and bailed out...and the pathetic BT TV deal doesn’t pay a significant amount of cash because they didn’t need to. A TV deal doesn’t bring in the much needed atmosphere of income generating fans through the turnstiles, in fact TV keeps them away! Take a look at a normal BT TV broadcast this season, if you were a company paying good money to advertise would you want your product to be associated with speedway? To reboot speedway the TV deal would have to be worth millions and then a huge amount invested in promoting and improving the product...and the spectator experience and redeveloping stadiums and frankly that won’t happen. The cold hard fact is speedway is bust and Poole and many other clubs, more than you think, are in a desperate financial state and up ‘for sale’ and not surprisingly there are NO takers! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
orion 7,614 Posted October 14, 2019 On 10/12/2019 at 8:49 AM, Sidney the robin said: You are so wrong the points Mike make to me are sound exciting even.The crowds have dropped because people have become disillusioned nothing to do with the standard of rider they have found other thing's to do in there life to replace speedway.There is one great guy on this forum who is a great example last year i recon he went to about 50/70 meeting's at various tracks in the uk He loves speedway he was an ex rider but he has only been to 7/8 uk meeting's this year he has replaced the uk with European meeting's.He says the variation is poor poor facilities and generally speedway in the uk is poor value for money entertainment wise nothing to do with the level of rider. So if had Top division polish standard teams you thinks crowds would not go up ? please don't reply with your normal we not got the money because that has nothing to do with the point being made . Your mate is a poor example ..the rider level dropping is why the entertainment level has dropped . what I find so scary about speedway fans is the lack of understanding about the need for decent riders to bring the crowds in . of course most of them are really old and will turn up to watch any old rubbish 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pirates Of Poole 761 Posted October 14, 2019 24 minutes ago, Steve Shovlar said: I don’t believe the change of race night has made the 20% drop. I believe there are several other factors. No it isn't and the club if they were completely honest would see it too. 1. Didn't stop me going but I met 3 people at the Wimborne Whoppa grass track meeting who said not bringing Chris Harris back was the last hurdle for them and they have been going for over 20 years! how many more people had that view? He may not win every race but he entertained them! 2. Poor track conditions, which I know a lot of money has been spent over the past 3 years which clearly has not worked - Get that right and people will return. The Good Friday meeting this year done the business damage with some new fans going for the first time plus others not returning who have been going regular. 3. Losing some major sponsors & clearly the carpet company going bust owing us thousands has not helped! I can name some more too..... Its all about the bigger picture! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
poole keith 909 Posted October 14, 2019 good post pop and of course "darcys meeting"done a helluva lot of damage Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lisa-colette 6,022 Posted October 14, 2019 1 hour ago, The Doctor... said: Perhaps it's because your recent reputation and accusations aimed at other members aswell makes you an easy target. You've made allegations of bullying once or perhaps twice towards others if my memory is correct, and now this. If you were someone who i had time for, i would be saying the close season is perhaps the time to take a step back from the forum for a few months before you say something that gets you in genuine hot water. But i don't think you'd take the advice anyway. I thought that after the run in with Sue and Janet tbh. I seen to be very reactive for some reason. I can resist Gavan winding me up but others seem to push my buttons atm. Once the Poole team is done I normally have a break from the forum til the meetings start in April anyway. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BobC 664 Posted October 14, 2019 The Pirates are MY team and always will be. Whatever League we race in, I will be there. Once Pirate fan, always a Pirate fan. No other team will ever come close. I have said to friends for at least 3 or 4 years the we are no more than a Championship side with perhaps just one stand out rider. This season has proved we are no more than that level. It has been a struggle to generate any enthusiasm for the 2019 team,tbh. I think lots of people feel the same. On the occasions that I have been to Wimborne Road you can quite clearly see the lack of crowds, also there is a poor atmosphere. I dont drink or smoke. I can however relate to a smoker trying to give it up. I am fed up with it all right now. Once the season starts again, I will be following the Pirates in what will be my 65th season! 10 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
foreverblue 6,087 Posted October 14, 2019 5 hours ago, The Doctor... said: Excuse me ? You wrote this "I'm not sure I would want to meet anyone who thinks it is okay to talk about a stadium being on fire" That's a little different from the rather back-peddling reply above. So are you saying that a person has to lay into every previous post on the thread before posting themselves ? Just admit you got the wrong person in a frankly borderline defamatory accusation there regarding arson. oh and @foreverblue i'm a reading fan, so how is that not neutral ? Because you obviously dislike Poole so that makes you not neutral. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
