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You would have thought that, around at least, five years or so ago, "someone" would have noticed the ages of these lads who are now into their 30's and 40's, and thought... "Who will replace them?".... Obviously, around this time, "someone" also diluted the NDL level, and very few teams have ran a second team, or any meaningful NDL races during their meetings, possibly, due to riders no longer being assets? Meaning a team could train up a rider, financially support him, and then another team pays him more to join them.. A properly disjointed plan, which smacks of a lack of clear vision and leadership.... Which is really the ultimate issue for UK Speedway..

Pleased to see you’re still around 👍

As we all know there are no easy answers we are probably now at the stage of least worst choices, another big issue with doubling up is given the acute shortage of riders in the UK when someone like Lawson or Wright for example retire its not one but two teams that then have a problem of being a rider short for the next year.

And that is the frustration.. Like so many things, the obvious conclusion of so many of the ridicuous parts of the operating model and business plan have been warned about on here for donkeys years.. Yet. Those making the plan blindly carried on doing the same thing each year to deliver the obvious, and only, result of what we have today... An amazing "head in the sand" level of leadership..

Its not all down to the riders though. Promotors demand riders turn up with 2 x well maintained bikes. The turnaround time of fixtures and fragility of a modern bike compared a more durable older machine dictates that a third bike/spare is a practical option. Then theres milage picking Jason Edwards out as a standard british double upper (no offence meant) Jason has a 500 mile round trip to home meetings at Redcar. Multiply that by 10-15 depending on cup runs etc, then double it for away fixtures rough estimate 30k miles a year......who would be willing to put that on their own vehicle each year for no sensible offset against the depreciation

You say it's incredible but we should've seen it coming a mile off. As said, Premiership teams can fill their 3-7 with decent riders who are subsidised by Championship clubs, and Championship clubs can get 1/5s who are subsidised by their Premiership club. Everyone* benefits at the same time as saving every club some cash. It's the sort of thing speedway promoters dream of. *aside from fans, who have to watch the sport slowly wain over years and years.

And all to try an win competitions with almost zero reward, and therefore, relevance... With their lack of jeopardy, consequence and authenticity, ensuring that the reward and relevance will always stay so small.... What a plan!!!!!

I rarely post on here now and it's ironic that one who has chosen to post on this particular thread used to continually trawl some of my posts that I had no option but to put him/her on "ignore" as it became tiresome and repetitive! Also there was another who frequents the forum regularly who spouts very bizarre rhetoric and opinions but I guess that's the nature of public forums and one must accept that if one wishes to participate in open discussion?

Reminder meeting is tomorrow 2 pm UK time.

I agree there was a vast differences between the two leagues now the lines are so blurred , Bomber would have been a number one in old NL at his age no disrespect but Scott Nicholls would be no where near the old Gulf league at almost 50 yrs old .

And the majority of the riders rocked up in the pits with 1 bike or 2 if they were lucky strapped to the back of a car, and if they had bike problems they'd fall back on the track spare to use, not like now where they all expect sponsored sign written vans with 3 or 4 bikes in the back.

The difference when I started going in the early/mid 80's was vast Joe Owen was the king of the national league but really struggled even at reserve in the old british league. Jen's Rasmussen was a 5 point Oxford reserve he dropped down and was virtually unbeatable in the old second division. When Havelock & Silver moved up two very gifted young riders at the time it still took them 2-3 seasons to bed in to the top league before they started to kick on. Now days other than a handful of riders the bulk plying their trade in the UK can be seen in both divisions for different teams.

It was used as a development tool so riders could move up to see if they could compete, but with a safety net of being able to still ride in the 2nd tier if they were not of top tier level... Now it is the most important fundamental part of the operating model and business plan, even including which nights clubs have to race on... Incredible how it has been allowed to happen....

They wouldn’t have anything more to add to the Ipswich buy out than their last statement last week. We are now halfway though the latest 2 week window for the sale to be completed. The lease for Foxhall was a hold up but that is now resolved.

True but I don't remember there being doubling down then only up ,once a rider was past it in the old first division they dropped down to the old NL and had a couple years there before leaving the sport .

As it was in the halcyon days of the late 60's and 70's

Half the problem is riders trying to make a full time living out of the sport instead realising it's a paying hobby for the vast majority of them .

Won't get 14 riders as Nora uses 6 rider per team format. Think the make up is 2 heat leaders, 2 second string & 2 reserve standard riders but not sure if it officially done like that or just a gentlemans agreement as not seen any averages or team points limit announced. maybe someone else can confirm? The 2 matches last year had James Shanes, Connor Coles, Ben Morley, Paul Starke & Simon Lambert take part so good NL heatleaders.

Understood. Onwards & upwards. 🤞

We took no further interest in those places after we were told that and have moved onto other land available

To be honest I’m not really bothered, I went to the IOW twice last year and will be going twice again this year, I raced for them for 2 years and was one of my favourite tracks to get too, I thought the ferry crossing was part of the fun

In the main the football foundation & FA look to support amateur football clubs at national level local level. If your proposal was to use a football clubs ground/facility to incorporate a speedway track, then so long as you were not expecting the club to use funds via the FA/Football foundation to finance the new track or associated facilities then there is no immediate reason why the football club would not be entitled to either apply for new or continue with existing funded projects. I appreciate I am not aware of the full circumstances relative to your dealings with the two clubs and the devil maybe in the detail, but it might well be worth asking them what the specifics are as “ground sharing” by itself is not a restrictive issue to funding. Good luck.

Could someone who went to the STAARS meeting, tell us what was said? Thanks

Agreed... but don't they normally drip feed the actual fixtures out a month at a time rather than a whole seasons worth... ps. I love a conspiracy theory 😂

Getting very fed up with this cloak and dagger situation with Northampton. I actually don’t care now if they are they running or not. Five or six teams in the league, still crap. Regardless of where they are in preparation, at least make some sort of announcement to generate a degree of interest. I set up as a consultant a few years ago and never thought to keep it a secret and not tell anyone. Would love to hear the business strategy (if they have one?) of those in charge.