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Honestly IMHO Dick has spelled it out quite succinctly and he is only stating what everyone is aware of, Workington went through this a few years back and the supporters club morphed into the Friends of Workington Speedway and then in to the Workington Speedway Supporters Trust and those bodies injected 20 thousand pounds into Workington Speedway over two seasons becoming the clubs biggest individual sponsor paying for things like medical cover ambulances and other sundry items that go into running a Speedway team and it still didn't save the club. As much as Dick can be a "dick" and isn't everyone's cup of tea he has hit the nail right on the head here and the new Supporters Club needs to support the club; its always nice to run subsidised coaches and give the riders lump sums but the priority has to be keeping the club afloat first and foremost otherwise you can raise as much money as you like but if there is no club to support what do you do then. You still go to the GP but pay for it yourself anyway! Watch TV Speedway and go to the odd meeting up and down the road rather than have a local club to support. Very short sighted in my view All revenue streams need to be coming back to the club to keep the thing viable and you don't need to hand over the cash because lets face it what the issue is here; is that certain folk can think that when they are handing over cash that the promoters just put it straight into their pockets and subsidise their "Playboy Lifestyles" which is not the case. (Courtney's Playboys lol, Sorry Scott) All clubs are operating on a shoe string and the difference to making a small profit or a small loss can be the lifeline that keeps the promotion operating rather than folding another club due to large debts and unsustainable losses. If the Supporters Club worry about where the cash is going commit to paying for something all season, Medical Cover doesn't come cheap pay this direct, the Referee needs to be paid for, meeting fuel and tyres possibly, security or stadium rent, whatever it is; it helps and takes pressure off the promotion. Also it needs to be stated transparency is the key and if you tell people where the funds are being spent and how they are benefiting the club most (not all unfortunately) come on board and understand why this course of action is being followed. Keep an accurate ledger and follow good governance. Keep the faith Bandit Fans and get behind your promotion to ensure you have a Speedway team in the town to support because in this day and age it will be very difficult to resurrect a club once it has gone Good luck with the new Supporters Club Regards THJ

Sam Hurst, only rode NL for Newport and Weymouth (well a bit of PL for Newport but out of his depth). Reasonable amount of talent and a good set of balls but lacked the dedication to make it any further.

Totally Agree. People need to be positive, although I know its hard. The period on ice will give the club time to sort its debts out, and regroup and see where they are regarding running again. The way things worked out, and the fact that no one expected the club's season to last until the end of October, meant they had precious little time to assess their situation, before the AGM came along and they had to start talking about 2019 !!! Plus, although I know its unlikely, it gives a whole year almost for them to find new sponsors or for one to come along of his own volition. I think the period on ice will be an opportunity for them to run more special social events this year, all hopefully laid on to raise cash for the clubs future, and not least to ensure fans stay interested ! WATCH THIS SPACE !!

Well said Norman

Scott Courtney praised the Supporters Club for having a bit of class last season. End of the season we handed over £1000 to the STARS project and in Scott's words bridges were being built. There has been a few digs lately in blogs on the Dirt Page regarding the existing supporters club, all I will; say is that if your going to put something on a website that is read by fans and supporters at least get your facts right.

There is one simple fact at Workington Speedway and a lot of other clubs. Not enough fans attending meetings to cover the costs. Sponsorship can only cover so much so for years Laura and other promoters have subsidised our speedway so we can still watch the sport we love. This is unsustainable going forward and Workington will not be the last club to close this year. I'm very surprised there were not more clubs closed during the winter. You only have to look to the premiership one man owns three clubs how can that be right ? The sport is sliding away to nothing and very fast. The riders spend a fortune on equipment and obviously ask for signung money and points money to achieve this but there is not enough money in the sport no more.

Think many of the riders with a bit of experience will up their averages nicely like Mountain, Bacon, Bailey, Perks & Wood. Newman is more than capable but might be forced to ride a bit out of position in a poor side. My bigger issue is with the non improvers filling a place for yet another year, Kurtz, Covatti, Harris, Bates etc either riders on the way down lining pockets or going no further but still blocking up places for riders who might.

Reverse that order ol mate,Ipswich starting to take shape ........

Traditionally tracks in this country staged a full season of meetings. My team Wimbledon ran 38 in 1980!. It works for Len Silver at Kent, less isn't always more.

Not sure where Bickley is going to get a ride now Workington have closed and struggled for much of 2018. Best of the NL guys coming up and most likely to progress imho are Kemp and Brennan and Flint. I am fearful some NL to CL are sacrificial lambs to just fill a slot. Looking at those with some CL experience Shanes ; Mountain and Bowtell should improve average considerably.

I hope the new 2 pointers grab their chance and make great strides led by Kemp Bickley and Flint

With the 4 point decrease in overall points limit, shouldn't riders averages improve naturally? Because primarily of a lower standard most seasons?

Of course, you are assuming they can read!

Arguing with yourself now Geoff!!

Nah I'm sorry. I don't buy the whole "use it or lose it" speedway is way beyond point now. The diehards don't cut it anymore. Promoters need to work on the sport and make it worth the admission and the only way they're going to do that is working on the overall presentation and quality. If it's not there, the sport will die regardless. The sport is absolutely on its arse and scaremongering has never saved a club and it never will.

Been on this forum a long time over 5 years..............took plenty of abuse , flack call it what you like But ive never felt the need to either delete my account and start again or change my name which makes people look a bit sad, needy and a tad pathetic Never had more than the one account.....if people dont like me or what i post then it doesnt affect me that i feel the need to be someone else. To be fair even people like Starman and Shovlar with the amount of stuff they get thrown at them have only ever had the 1 account

It worries me that we have people in charge of clubs who constantly tell us they lost many thousands of pounds last season and yet carry on. Then you hear that Rye House, no better than a second-tier club but foolishly (perhaps)went into the top flight and who closed before finishing last season, offered ridiculous guarantees to riders. These are supposedly businessmen, who have made their fortunes away from speedway. I am not a businessman, but I wouldn 't even buy a season ticket in today's speedway climate. Yet the custodians of our sport can't wait to tell us how much they lost.

The fun has gone out of speedway. Why bother to leave the house to attend the track to cheer on boys who have as much commitment to your team as the next land developer who has designs on the venue? Not to mention spending nearly £20 admission in the hope you won't be kept waiting in the cold for two hours or more for 15 minutes of action. Youngsters have a variety of other things to do nowadays so you can't really expect to lure kids and expect them to wait 10 minutes until the next race. If we don't lower our aims and commit to having a league set up which favours the old art of team speedway rather than tinkering with rules to allow riders a decent living in whatever division that can accommodate them, we are done. Speedway is primarily a team sport, where riders turn out in the colours for those on the terraces. That has been completely lost in modern-day speedway. It is important now just to fix the riders up with enough dates in their diary to make a living. The riders are being put ahead of the fans. One night during the 90s I realised that riders I had grew up supporting actually began to feel they were doing the fans some kind of favour. It was the night one particular meeting was held up for around 45 minutes because some competitors had been delayed in Sweden from the night before. Any other entertainment business would have made sure it didn't happen again. But it has, again and again. When you feel that the team you used to glow red-faced just cheering on hasn't anybody in it who would commit the same because it's just a job, and they have a short career, I suppose you can point to the start of speedway's latest death threat. Speedway should make up its mind. Either return it to a team sport - banish the double up and down farce - and give a reason for fans to return, a love for a team of seven of their own riders. Otherwise, what does it exist for?

Whoooosh!!

Yes, he was the fall guy when we made en mass changes in one go. Most fans were sad to see him go. Very professional, top notch bikes, first class gating, and was only going to get better. You have got a rider with lots of potential. Only downsides, forgets to look for team mate on the outside at times and not keen on an interview in English. IMHO he is a good signing.

Revisiting the watch mans previous comments, I wonder how many Comets fans would now be happier to have the option to pay £20 for an evenings racing?

If barker has some decent equipment underneath him he's gonna score big at reserve expect him to be a 6pt at end of season

Jake Allen has the potential too, could even end up your No1

Just as an aside did anyone see the pictures from the WA state title meeting in Oz? Nice 'retro' racesuit for Cam - one at least 5 years old. Id say that shows his training programme is on track

The Aussie champs arent usually a guide as i said Tungate always does better in them then he does over here. That said Kurtz and Morris were average in them last season and had poor seasons, and if anything they are both worse this time around. Fricke , a true number one doing great and good to see Chris Holder showing some form. And how good does Lidsey look and he is at reserve for Belle Vue , if he brings a small amount of that form over here will be the signing of the season