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Its about the same distance for me as Ipswich so I'll certainly be attending a few at both

Without disrespecting the other second half/MDL riders you can only beat whats in front of you and the level in those meetings is way down on previous years. Eli is a steady rider, he gets round and a lot of his points last year were picked up when others fell (not his fault). He has improved his gating and knows how to be a road block which helps a lot of slick tracks. That said there aren't really any riders missing out by him taking the team place so i hope he makes a go of it.

I know last winter it was said he asked for more than Louis was willing to pay him and hence we stuck with king over him instead. No idea if that figure was more than Doyle was getting, that to me sounds somewhat exaggerated and most likely hyperbole but as I say no idea on the actual numbers. he rode well for brummies for the most part last year, was decent in the grand final second leg too guesting for Ellis, solid in the Aussie champs and a decent year on the continent last year, for me he’s a rider who’s career is on a decent upwards trajectory and one id have liked to see back with plenty of room for average improvement.

Why is that? Meadows was impressive riding in second halves at Birmingham last season.

Well, when I was involved in it 10 years ago, there were plenty of riders taking part in a dozen MDL teams. Any shortage of riders now is the result of the complete indifference shown by the BSPL or whoever is in charge. No effort has been made to encourage new riders, so what do they expect?

Good post. Promoters are always bleating about the lack of punters coming through the gate despite their (apparent) efforts to promote the sport, yet here we are with a team supposedly ready to compete in the next few weeks and nobody in the area is aware of what is going on! If this was a business venture, you'd expect the owner to at least make the public aware of their intent and efforts to be up and running this season, with a back up scenario of being ready for the following season if time runs out. This happened when Leicester returned, with the initial intention of running in 2010, but did not come to tapes (can't remember the reason) until 2011. The difference here though is that Leicester had a fan base in place because their campaign to brought the sport back to the City. The situation is being totally driven by the BSPA. My glass remains half empty, but like everyone else on the forum, I'd love to see it work.

I think Ipswich made a small profit last year and I would imagine Buster breaks even as he own's the stadium but the rest I would imagine loose money year on year.

Northampton 'Load of Cobblers'.....

Of course Northampton will lose money, all of the Premiership clubs do. It can only be viewed as a hobby for any promoter now and if you don't believe that ask Cairns, Tolley, Buster etc

Who are we talking about?

When you see stocks at Odsal on youtube there doesn't seem anything like 10k watching Neil.

The premiership with 6 teams is still a joke. Northampton have no fans as of yet. These are stone wall hard truths. I'm really hopeful Northampton gets thousands turning up week in week out but there aren't even any fixtures out yet. No advertisement. No news. Nothing told to the locals of Northampton speedway. Just rumours. So the people turning up are already speedway fans but they don't even support Northampton. I'm positive there is a new club, but I'm not exactly jumping for joy either. That's because we've lost so many clubs in recent times. Sorry for the negativity but if we all stop moaning nothing changes. Everything just carries on as normal. The fact that many fans online have voiced there concerns of a 4/5 team league has forced Phil Morris to add a new club. I honestly think if everyone pretended everything is great they would have done a 4 team league. Without us negative trolls things would get even worse. Fans have a voice and I'm using it to force change. Change like Northampton which is great news. Shame this couldn't have been sorted months ago...

Doesn't the lad want more dollar than Doyle though for turning out, maybe Mayfield aren't going to be as generous with the wages as Tolley was last season.

At the moment there's some disappointing names in the seven, must be struggling to get riders.

I would’ve wanted rew in my engine room this coming season

You know what team pushed hugely for the limit to be increased. 😉

Morley will always be a decent signing, think Meadows will get found out once again now that the league is back up to a decent strength and be very surprised if he lasts the season.

Can I borrow your crystal ball?

Looking at the teams, they seem a lot stronger than last year, not surprising given the increase in points limit. I wonder if this is why a lot of teams dropped out. Was wondering if this may work for next year, to try to get more teams back; Have two leagues, bit like NDL and NDT last year, but call them NL1 and NL2, with a, say 42 point limit for NL1, and 36 for NL2, (NL2 for any teams who would want to run in a cheaper league). Riders can still double up, but would give more opportunities for lesser riders, more matches for those hoping to improve, and more fixtures for stand alone clubs, like Buxton, who initially implied they wanted to enter both NDL and NDT.

I like the new badge.

Northampton "Nicks"?

"The Premiership with five teams is a joke..." Northampton rumoured to be joining. "No point doing that, it will never work." Northampton likely to be announced shortly to boost both the Premiership and British speedway. "What's the point? Won't have a fanbase and will be gone by the end of the third year." Honestly, the negativity on here is unbelievable. You either want British speedway to expand and do well or you don't. And if not, it begs the question why?! The fact we have a new team running should be cause for positivity and support, not derision and ridicule from quite a few on this forum. Joke.

Has anyone else crunched the numbers? How is this team under the limit?

Fair point re King and a weaker league this coming season, who ever swaps in and out of number six over the season Ippo should have the strongest rider in that position all season long assuming Northampton haven't gone for a similar strength in depth line up and have managed to get Anders Thompson reduced down to four points.

Could it be Northampton Bees.