WembleyLion

Agreed others have also discovered that the hard way as often it can be a big gamble leaving it late especially when you then bring the riders into the equation who may well be less than willing to ride.

Quite agree with all you say. I’m a diehard who has travelled the world to watch Speedway but yesterday at Buxton was a tough watch! Still at least it didn’t take 7 hours and 15 minutes which it once took at a meeting that I went to in Argentina!

Boothby obviously has (or once had) deep pockets and has put a lot of money into Oxford Stadium Ltd. One wonders how much longer he can keep subsidising operations at Cowley.

Leicester have confirmed they will be in the Premiership.

I agree with your final paragraph and at the end of the day it is only worth what someone is willing to pay. Where there is a very limited market of potential buyers (as with a Speedway promotion) the seller is not in a particularly strong position when it comes to getting a price that they may wish to achieve.

You forgot to blame Brexit as well! 😄

To my knowledge Speedway riders have not been club assets for a very long time mainly because they are self-employed. Clubs once had an arrangement where they bought and sold riders off each other but these arrangements seem to have disappeared. As you say riders enter into contracts to provide their services to clubs and I agree these contracts are probably not worth the paper they are written on in terms of placing a value on a rider. It would be like trying to sell your window cleaner to your next door neighbour!

Through my involvement with a few different riders over the years I have had an opportunity to witness at first hand how well some clubs are run. I have helped riders to manage their finances through completing their accounts, Tax Returns, VAT Returns etc. and in addition I often assisted them in the pits as well so I got to see a lot of the Speedway world at close quarters. One rider I helped rode for the Witches and unlike some other clubs he rode for, he was always paid on time and the paperwork was always spot on. Without doubt it was one of the best run clubs we had dealings with. I have nothing but admiration for the Witches promotion although I really hope the announcement last week will not result in the loss of Speedway at Foxhall.

I suspect there are very few clubs these days that are worth much at all. A would be investor will usually need deep pockets as many have found out over the years.

Cousin I believe.

Maybe a case of ‘Better the devil you know’ 🙂

I don’t think Will is going to be riding for BV on Friday or for that matter Leicester on Sunday as he is due to be riding in California on Saturday!

This looks like an interesting meeting in Holland. Not often one sees British clubs riding abroad these days! https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CWwXTGswh/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The BSPL website has indeed been changed again but it is now showing Glasgow (BSN) once more on 10 October and no mention of Poole (KOC)! I wonder how many more attempts they will need?

Yes whoever has been updating fixtures on the website is really struggling at the moment! Currently Redcar v Glasgow (BSN) and v Poole (KOC) same time same date!