Newcastle now closed !!!

[geoff100 1,420]

9 minutes ago, Gaz said:

Maybe he might want to ask his mates to put details on here of how much the club  is up for sale for, confirm details about the air fence and anything else he wants to!

Communication not his strong point so always has to go through other people 

Went to several meeting never once saw him in the pits trying to gee up the team,and at last meeting was cooking burgers total p take .

[Gaz 214]

5 minutes ago, geoff100 said:

Went to several meeting never once saw him in the pits trying to gee up the team,and at last meeting was cooking burgers total p take .

Totally agree, didn’t see team manager geeing up the team or trying to motivate them either, it was tough to watch 

Edited June 26, 2022 by Gaz

[Winditon 233]

12 hours ago, speedy19902006 said:

First of all for myself, I was one who gave Rob more slack than most, the way I seen it was that he put his hand in his pocket (twice over if things are to be totally believed) when others were not prepared to and essentially gave Newcastle the stay of execution that would have been 3 years ago or whatever it was - and to be honest for that fair play to him he was prepared to give it ago when it seemed that others would not, so to keep an argument somewhat balanced and constructive I think he needs credit for doing that. And in business / life it is always far easier to spend someone else's money than it is your own...

***HOWEVER*** (before I get my head detached before people read to the end of this post )

1) I cannot stomach what essentially feels like totally lies now in an attempt to essentially liquidate the assets whilst under the guise of "doing it now to give Newcastle the best chance later" this is utter rubbish - as what is well documented now and proven with the sale of track equipment and such like, seems to me like he said one thing to keep the heat off him whilst doing something totally at odds with his statement in the other all underhand and devoid of transparency and integrity.

2) What boils by proverbial urine to be honest and probably leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of fans (which I suspect Rob probably does not understand) is the air fence debacle. And this cannot be sorely put onto Robs toes and the previous ownership need to bare some responsibility, however (and please correct me if I am wrong but this is / was my understanding) the air fence was afforded through a just giving page and whip round at the time the regulations came in (or this is how my memory serves me anyway) meaning all clubs had to have one to operate. That and I believe a few large singular donations from individual fans allowed the air fence or a vast majority of it to be bought. Therefore to sell it off to try and recoup monies lost just seems unethical and wrong to be honest and this is a point I will further explain further down in looking to any future we may have. But for the ownership that Rob bought from to use the gesture of the fans and such like to inevitably increase the sale price as its another asset with value to purchase that is integral to running a meeting is kind of wrong in my opinion - however seems like Rob also sees it as fair game.

3) Given the very publicised sponsorships the club received from various generous business, families and individuals - I am sure this would have been done on the understanding that essentially sponsors and people putting their money in, heat sponsors, race day programme advertisements etc etc that they were doing so expecting to get March to Septembers worth of advertisement (race day banners, pictures, website advertisement etc etc) in return for their hard earned money... Surely given the debacle they should be looking for some sort of pro-rata refund on what they did not get against what they initially put in? 

4) What are the ramifications on the other co-owners / an or promoters who put money in? Do they get anything back? Surely this cannot be just Robs decision to make, they must have some course of action they could take?

5) All the actions talked about in this thread seem to me to be the actions of a person who has no intention of speedway running again at Newcastle, selling the assets to run a meeting removes any / all value, the only thing it seems he could sell would be the name? Not to hard to get around in the future I'm sure..."Newcastle Pheonix's" (for one year only as its a crap name but would be great before reverting to something more akin to the Diamonds or Diamunds ")

The Future

Going back to further explain point 2 and why I think it is extremely important is I think we all feel totally short changed by the various cash injections and donation fans have put into the club over the years for promoters and owners to essentially use it somewhat. However I do think we can learn an important lesson from it. Given that the club (if anything is left of it) will or will be near as dammit asset less I think now more than ever the idea of a supporters trust is vital to any possibility of speedway running again in any capacity at Newcastle. Anyone who went to the last meeting at Gosforth and listened to the excellent explanation to the complexities of running a fund and giving the club money by @TotallyHonestJohn will understand it is far to complex, and legally a nightmare to attempt / do. However I do think this shower of rubbish scenario we find ourselves in shows giving the club money and continual whip-rounds does nobody nor the supporter any favour in the long term. However I do believe that this gives us an opportunity to re-think the idea of a supporters fund where by the supporters fund can purchase such things like tractors and track equipment and effectively loan / lease these items to a club/ owner/ promoter for a basic / minimal fee. If this were the case for the air-fence for example it would give the club stability through changes of promoters and owners etc where the assets needed to run a speedway meeting essentially transcend any ownership change. Maybe @TotallyHonestJohn this would remove some of the complexities you so brilliantly talked about and explained in running a supporters club giving / purchasing stuff on the clubs behalf. I do beleive if there is any chance of someone wishing to put speedway on again in Newcastle this would make it hugely more do-able as it is going to be a from scratch start therefore it would surely make it more achievable to a new venture if such items were covered by a supporters club given that any ground up startup costs will be immense! Whilst we have no speedway this could be the time to try and set something up - £10 per month when we are not going to be spending £20-£30 per week as we have no speedway to go to. Such an amount would sharp build up and allow the purchasing of vital assets when / if a new venture were to happen. If nothing happens in the next 5 years all monies to be returned plus any interest generated. Whilst it is ambitious I do think the above issue of supporters money and gifts / cash injections / and fund raises we've had over the years are clearly not handled with the respect and integrity they should have. WE have essentially purchased assets for the club for them to be used to get a outgoing promotion an increased sale price or in this case asset liquidation when in reality there investment in the asset was minimal / non existent yet the promoters / owners are then the beneficiary of the value of the asset. Therefore I think we can think smarter in the future and in the same time provide the club with assets that stay with the club thus increasing long term stability and remove this utter debacle we now find ourselves in.

Whilst I fully understand Rob will have lost a shed load of cash in this venture stripping the assets to try and recoup some of his cash / investment just seems totally short sighted and on the above points quite immoral given the statement put out by the owner, and the fact that the main asset was purchased by the fans (albeit under a different promotion and many years ago) it still feels like a sucker punch and such a nail in the coffin to any chance of speedway starting again as to buy a new one is such a large sum of money.

I apologise if this is wordy it is my second attempt at typing this - I am sure the first one was better written however I managed to delete my first attempt prior to submitting and this is a hastily wrote and heavily streamlined version.

Lastly whilst I am full of ideas and I would love to try and get such an offering of the ground sadly my career would not allow me to hold such a financial position and I simply do not have the time to do it either. But hopefully someone reads this and think it makes sense and could be a go-er and runs with it. 

Cheers

 

Some excellent points. Firstly regarding the air fence i was led to believe they only have a certain life span and then have to be replaced. I'm sure someone will correct me on this. Secondly it's a great idea about being supporter funded and there will be plenty of interest initially but when it comes to the crunch of people handing hard earned cash over no matter how big or small it becomes a different matter. Definitely worth giving it a go though. I know THJ looked into how Edinburgh ran theres but not sure he has any interest now. Although he did say in a recent threat how gutted he was now that we are no more longer again. It needs someone like a THJ to try and get us going again even if it's with advice. 

[StevePark 2,780]

14 hours ago, bloom89 said:

Did Congreve do enough meetings to become an asset? Not that it makes much difference now I suppose. 

 

13 hours ago, StevePark said:

No.

 

10 hours ago, Justgotmecpc said:

Yeah he did I think

As I say above, no he didn't.  Oxford would have been his 8th match, but it was abandoned and so doesn't count.

[Justgotmecpc 1,056]

4 hours ago, Neila said:

As for the wishfull thinking of Edinburgh coming to Brough Park for a season, I don't think in the present financial climate it would work, too high a cost for fans to travel down every week whether it by bus or car. A  lot of local fans won't support any team other than an out and out Newcastle  team, did not work for Glasgow at Workington in 1987 and that ended before the season finished due to the poo incident!!!

It would be good tho watching Pickering every Sunday & he alone would put at least an extra 400 on the terraces 

[Jaizer 2,855]

7 minutes ago, Justgotmecpc said:

It would be good tho watching Pickering every Sunday & he alone would put at least an extra 400 on the terraces 

Pickering and masters ride in Poland, even if Edinburgh did repeat the shawfield mistake of the past it would be minus those 2 I'm afraid 

[Neila 1,149]

3 hours ago, tyretrax said:

The poo incident had nothing to do with the Glasgow/Workington closure.

The poo incident when they watered the track with a tanker full of slurry (liquidfied cow manure) was the final straw of several incidents like temporary flood light failure ones used on roadworks in the late 80's not being up to standard, poor maintained track, Glasgow track staff turned up late afternoon on a Friday for the evening meeting, also key track staff often  turning up hard on meeting time, after being at work in Glasgow during the day.

The bspa and Glasgow promotion pulled the plug with a few matches left to run, also was not supported well by local comets fans, despite name change to Workington tigers 

[ruffdiamond 6,115]

A wonder if the home straight fence is for sale too?

[robbieblackadder fan club 145]

What I can’t understand is why pay all that money to put a new track in to then close 2 meetings later,why didn’t he just shut up shop there and then

hes starting to show his true colours now a total and utter charlatan 

[leander 495]

4 hours ago, StevePark said:

 

 

As I say above, no he didn't.  Oxford would have been his 8th match, but it was abandoned and so doesn't count.

Not that it really matters, but I think he's done 9 .

Championship:- Leicester (A); Glasgow (A); Oxford (H); Berwick (A); Berwick (H); Missed Glasgow (H); Poole (A); Redcar (H). = 7.

However he also did Edinburgh in the KOC home and away. Whilst these do not count towards riders greensheet averages, they are official BSPL fixtures. So I believe he's done 9.

Edited June 26, 2022 by leander

[Gaz 214]

14 hours ago, Diamonds85 said:

I'd be happy to put in some money (one off payment) into some 'save the Diamonds' scheme... But I'm a bit sceptical now, after having put so much into Rob's reign and got nothing but woeful teams, boring meetings and many times short changed... I am not very rich as it is, so I am very personally annoyed the way Rob has ran the club the last 2 or 3 years... It's pathetic how he thinks he can just nick off  with all this money from the supporters... How can he sell the air fence if the supporters trust purchased it??? It should be property of the supporter's club, sold by the supporter's club (or kept if the chances of us returning are there) and divided up equally between them... But no, Rob's just gonna take the money and run and everyone is gonna let him get away with it... I'm already banned from the Newcastle Diamonds Facebook page now for voicing my opinions there, so I guess we're not allowed opinions, the fans who have been going most our lives... What a joke

F you Rob Grant

You might not be banned now from Facebook page. 
I have been unblocked by looks of it it (for now!) 

[HectorRacing 51]

35 minutes ago, ruffdiamond said:

A wonder if the home straight fence is for sale too?

Probably is and the newly laid shale as well 

[Jaizer 2,855]

1 hour ago, leander said:

Not that it really matters, but I think he's done 9 .

Championship:- Leicester (A); Glasgow (A); Oxford (H); Berwick (A); Berwick (H); Missed Glasgow (H); Poole (A); Redcar (H). = 7.

However he also did Edinburgh in the KOC home and away. Whilst these do not count towards riders greensheet averages, they are official BSPL fixtures. So I believe he's done 9.

KO cup fixtures didn't count when those pesky bandits stole bellego from us in 2012

[JCookie 753]

Think the burger chat was probably more worthwhile to everyone's time than Congreve being an asset.

[highside 118]

If a new promoter does come in there will be nothing left at Brough, it will be the same as when havvy left sad times .