lisa-colette 6,028 Posted October 28, 2021 I always enjoyed going to Oxford. I hope they are in the same league as Poole, as don't really have anyone that close atm. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EnglishRoundabout 1,752 Posted October 28, 2021 On 10/27/2021 at 4:27 PM, orion said: The most sensible post on this forum for a long time . What is scary is people think they will get big crowds because fans from Swindon , Reading , Cov will go . that never happens in great numbers and never will . Every one who has try to run speedway at Oxford money since 2000 has lost money and broke 3 of them hence why it closed down . As arnieg said find a level that allows them to run for season after season . Talk of top league etc is insane To put things in perspective, during Oxford’s last season in the premier league, their home match against Swindon had an attendance of around 500. 200 of them were from Swindon. There was simply no appetite for Speedway at Crowley. The new promoter must ask him/her self, ‘ What has changed?’ 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ruckerroo 792 Posted October 28, 2021 Be lunacy to jump into the highest league. Sustain not skint should be the mantra . 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sidney the robin 4,735 Posted October 28, 2021 (edited) 20 hours ago, cityrebel said: Reading got excellent crowds at Tilehurst and the first few seasons at Smallmead. Oxford on the other hand had decent crowds in the Nielsen/Wigg era, but a succession of different promoters struggled there. City you are right Reading got half decent gates in the 80s I went regular and Oxford with Hans/ Wigg, Cox , Dugard ( ect ) were reasonably supported.To comeback in a crap version of our British league would be madness now though they should tread carefully. Edited October 29, 2021 by Sidney the robin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ghosty 500 Posted October 28, 2021 The carrot that attracts teams to the Premiership is the T.V. money. That's one positive V the many negatives. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
1 valve 558 Posted October 29, 2021 (edited) 10 hours ago, Ghosty said: The carrot that attracts teams to the Premiership is the T.V. money. That's one positive V the many negatives. Is there is any “TV Money” actually paid directly to the clubs these days? The big money disappeared when Sky moved on after which, the benefit has been diluted down mainly to “TV exposure”. Better than nothing but not something big enough to attract new clubs to the Premiership? Edited October 29, 2021 by 1 valve Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fortythirtyeight 840 Posted October 29, 2021 13 minutes ago, 1 valve said: Is there is any “TV Money” actually paid directly to the clubs these days? The big money disappeared when Sky moved on after which, the benefit has been diluted down mainly to “TV exposure”. Better than nothing but not something big enough to attract new clubs to the Premiership? The last ‘TV’deal was only a fraction of the SKY funds and even when SKY paid up then Premiership clubs took the majority stake leaving only a few grand for the championship clubs . No club should be relying on payouts to help them run these days . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hilly 170 Posted October 29, 2021 21 hours ago, EnglishRoundabout said: To put things in perspective, during Oxford’s last season in the premier league, their home match against Swindon had an attendance of around 500. 200 of them were from Swindon. There was simply no appetite for Speedway at Crowley. The new promoter must ask him/her self, ‘ What has changed?’ To be fair, crowds were getting gradually smaller for the past few seasons. That particular year, the promoter alienated virtually everybody there to the extent that seasoned regulars stopped going, hence impossible to continue. Have to run on Fridays, make sure you can run at a sustainable level and go from there. Anything else would be madness. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Falcon1983 557 Posted October 29, 2021 Also comes down to the ego of the landlord also does he want his track in the top flight on TV? Could be suicidal of course I still think Friday night championship racing will be the outcome Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skidder1 7,636 Posted October 30, 2021 The new Oxford Stadium owner (The greyhound chap) clearly stated in his interviews, press release and Oxford Mail article when he took over that 'Friday night would again become Speedway night'! OK that was probably before he fully appreciated all the 'politics' of British Speedway such as the race night 'pecking order' amongst other things!! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ghosty 500 Posted October 30, 2021 19 hours ago, Falcon1983 said: Also comes down to the ego of the landlord also does he want his track in the top flight on TV? Could be suicidal of course I still think Friday night championship racing will be the outcome I think Rob Godfrey has "overall" rights to run on a Friday night, wasn't that one of the factors that saw the sad demise of Workington? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
IronScorpion 1,407 Posted October 30, 2021 21 minutes ago, Ghosty said: I think Rob Godfrey has "overall" rights to run on a Friday night, wasn't that one of the factors that saw the sad demise of Workington? Absolutely false. The Friday night pecking order is Edinburgh, Scunthorpe, Glasgow & Redcar. The sad demise of Workington was caused through their late start in putting a team together which meant paying higher than normal wages. Their brilliant season, winning the treble, also, was a high price to pay in wages & towards the end of the season when there was a lot of meetings to squeeze in to a small time frame, punters picked & chose their meetings. The Godfrey saga was based on being unable to find guests when teams changed from their normal race night to fit in a Friday night meeting. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Arch Stanton 2,254 Posted October 30, 2021 Great to see Oxford back whichever league they choose to run. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iainb 5,011 Posted October 31, 2021 (edited) 17 hours ago, Ghosty said: I think Rob Godfrey has "overall" rights to run on a Friday night, wasn't that one of the factors that saw the sad demise of Workington? I seem to remember it also impacting Lakeside? Is Rob Godfrey the man to preside over the most track closures in his tenure? Edited October 31, 2021 by iainb 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fortythirtyeight 840 Posted October 31, 2021 18 hours ago, IronScorpion said: Absolutely false. The Friday night pecking order is Edinburgh, Scunthorpe, Glasgow & Redcar. The sad demise of Workington was caused through their late start in putting a team together which meant paying higher than normal wages. Their brilliant season, winning the treble, also, was a high price to pay in wages & towards the end of the season when there was a lot of meetings to squeeze in to a small time frame, punters picked & chose their meetings. The Godfrey saga was based on being unable to find guests when teams changed from their normal race night to fit in a Friday night meeting. You are wrong. Godfrey moved Scunthorpe to a Friday , from Sunday’s , at the same time Glasgow demanded to move to a Friday and Workington asked to move to Fridays. Redcar were moved to a Friday to accommodate the Thursday night Premiership only regulation, Fridays being their alternative race night anyway. As Workington weren’t at the AGM you can work out the result of who got what as there were too many applicants for Friday nights. Godfrey and Glasgow were on the top table so Workington were told ‘ no ‘. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
