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Some on here have been saying for quite a while now that Promoters should be Promoting the sport. Workington bring in a female rider and are accused of it being a PR stunt. They just can't win, can they?

Your vendetta against Plymouth is pathetic as is your total lack of respect for the ndl,which is where the future of British speedway is nurtured,not some hellish place that teams you have a vendetta against get banished to as some form of punishment.

I know the word legend gets thrown about far too easily nowadays but the guy is an absolute legend of British speedway! I know it’s a bit of a standing joke of who is Harris guesting for tonight but one thing is sure the day he retires speedway will be all the poorer for it.

Thats a bit of an arrogant statement mate, Plymouth are generally well supported with a decent away following it's just a pity that a lot of riders don't want to travel down to Plymouth for home meetings, plus the racetrack is not a favourite of many riders though Mark Phillips has tried to extend the track a little over the close season, I wish Plymouth all the best for 2024 and hope they can get some decent weather to complete the Track improvements.

I've got my doubts any club would truly consider signing Jason and expect it to be people jumping to conclusions. However, if Plymouth do then I really cannot see them recovering from the decision. I can completely appreciate he's done his time and ultimately Jason does deserve the opportunity at rehabilitation and leading some form of normality. But being a sportsman is a completely different kettle of fish, it's not just a job or a normal 9-5, you're front and centre in the public and an inspiration to younger fans. Would I want my kids cheering on someone who has robbed a vulnerable disabled person at knife point? Absolutely not and I can imagine most would feel the same. Also need to consider the negative media that'll come from it. The press will have an absolute field day with it dragging Plymouth and the sport through the absolute mud.

Many will remember your Club as a bit of a joke until Ben Duffil came in and transformed it in to the progressive Club it is today. Your vendetta is puerile and just emphasises how apt your name tag is.

Sadly because it fits an agenda used by a minority of the people on this platform. Sadly, this minority won't be happy until they see another club fold and close, without realising the knock on effect of such a decision. It would leave an entire region, not just a city/town - the whole of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Gloucestershire without a team. Just let that sink in for a minute? Millions of people without a team to support, they'd rather that happened than see the Gladiators make a good go at things. I really feel for Mark, he's constantly getting battered from all sides (including by riders from other clubs!) despite doing what he can with what he's got. People are more than entitled to their views I get that, hence why we are on a public forum discussing it however most of the time, it's not constructive, it's not helpful and it's hurtful what people say about the Gladiators.... However, it's us against the world and we're going to embrace that!! "No one likes us, we don't care... We are Plymouth..."

You do realise that just because it’s an internet forum and you are using a Nick name, it doesn’t mean you can’t be sued for slander? I can’t comment on the actual test speedway does trackside as these tests differ but from my pharmacy experience for those thinking ‘oh a list is issued of banned substances’ it’s not really as simple as that. Medication can have things in it that you don’t expect - that’s how Alain Baxter lost his Olympics medal, he took a sniff of Vicks. some assume OTC meds are ok but that’s not the case - many common meds such as hay fever relief tablets can’t be used as it would make you fail the drug test. All that is before taking into account that two medications taken together can heighten the strength and effect of a drug - that’s why people used to take the OTC Co codamol with full strength Coca Cola. It is a minefield and from the basic information we have then it is probably best to wait for the lab results and comments before judging an individual. Even then though Bandits Fan, it’s wise not to open yourself up to slander accusations with random accusations Just my opinions obviously

Only 1 "positive" for Glasgow tonight

We'll see . It could be some medication he takes . Couple of years ago Kyle Howarth was guesting for the Monarchs against us and he failed a test and wasn't allowed to ride . Turned out it was Night Nurse and he was back riding the following week for his clubs . So too early to hang Lee out to dry yet

I always think if you are going to say ‘someone told me but I’m not going to say who but they are a rider’ then you shouldn’t bother. Firstly if you won’t name your source don’t say it, secondly if your source was talking to you off the record it’s not exactly enhancing your credibility if you run on a public forum to imply it to make yourself look important. At least that’s what I’ve been told by someone who knows these things and is famous but I can’t tell you who

You seem obsessed with men's helmets!

100%... Litigation would be enormous if anything happened which COULD be attributed to someone who has just not passed a drugs or alcohol test.. The ref and the clubs complicit in letting him ride, could face prosecution, as could the governing body... Even the rider himself could sue if he got injured as "you let me ride"... You don't pass, you don't ride...

Surely the justice system is there to punish those who deserve it. Once they've served this aren't they then given the chance to resume their place in society or should they continue to be punished for the rest of their lives? (And please don't think I'm condoning his past actions)

Fancy Berwick to just sneak this 61-29.

I understand the frustration about the testing procedure but what if the rider be allowed to participate in the meeting after providing a non-negative result & then is involved in a track crash with the other rider receiving injuries that mean he must miss a few events. How then would the insurers look at our procedure if we knowingly allow a test failure to race in the event. how would the 13 other riders feel about taking to the track with a possible drug user. i understand that as a paying spectator you expect the perfect event each time but what of the others involved within the sport that work hard to produce the product you come to watch. The rules may not be perfect but if we are call bound by the same rules then it must work.

It wouldn't, but years ago bikes could be ridden in any conditions, riders were prepared to ride in any conditions and the public turned up in any conditions. It's frustrating but I'd much rather an early call than pay to get in and see Buster going round and round with the blade while fourteen riders who have no intention of riding anyway stand about with arms folded looking miserably at the track and the sky. Been there, done that too many times.

Regarding Celina, two things can be true, she can/is absolutely deserving of an opportunity to ride in the Championship because of her exploits on the continent and it can also be true that Workington have a savvy promotion and knew it would be good for promoting the club to get in business with Celina. She deserves every opportunity to perform at this level just like every other 4.00 foreign rider who is new to Britain, if she achieves close to a 4 point average this season then it is a highly successful one. She was certainly on the pace at Northside, away from home will be difficult but again it is for most newbies to Britain. The difference between Celina and most other 4 point newbies to the league is that her results will be much more heavily publicised and scrutinised.

No going to disagree with you there. Unfortunately those who run the sport and ultimately run teams in higher leagues cannot see that a higher level in the NDL will generate a higher level across the sport. Instead the NDL was viewed as a competitive viable product and therefore a threat to higher divisions and was dumbed down rather than focussing on developing the product higher up.

i had one and was in that much pain wife went to stay at her sisters, she came back though guess it was a case of abscess makes the heart grow fonder

That document on the PCC planning portal that gives the AEPG rebuttal of the speedway at the EoES is very telling. The obvious anger in the tone of it shows how much Butterfield is hurting and how much the fact that he had no idea at all about anything to do with speedway was in his mind all along.. The fact that he didn't even understand the position of speedway in the sporting hierarchy of the country is an obvious open personal failure on his part. It shows that he has had no intention at all of even considering speedway as a part of his thinking when he used the standard proforma approach to the development planning structure. That exposed level of incompetence has become personal now. In that document he has exposed the extent to which he was intent on only considering the bog-standard development type carbon copy that has succeeded when used by others in the past down south. That hollow personal crusade approach makes it very clear that the sort of activities that have made the EoES so valued by the community were never going to line his pockets to the extent he thinks he needs to survive. That makes him simultaneously both dangerous and vulnerable. The AEPG approach is to make a significant point in the low number of times a section of the EoES would be used for speedway. On it's own that simplistic outsider understanding is obvious in every part of the Butterfield plan. No separate proper spectator sport can ever hope to get close to making a profit without becoming a part of a shared multi-use volume occupancy. Even the new Spurs stadium has been designed to take in American Football, Women's Football and huge pop concerts plus more. Moreover, if you are shouting your mouth out about only allowing one more year of occupancy to anything, including speedway while you draw your plans up was always going to make sure that having more than one speedway team riding at the EoES was going to be impossible to justify. The lack of speedway in Peterborough is solely down to one misguided outsider. Any multi-use sport facility of the kind that anyone with a single brain-cell would contemplate to future-proof the continued community value of the EoES would have to be designed to accommodate a wide range of sports, both inside and outside. The areas under the grandstands could be able to house gym-type sporting facilities, squash, badminton, martial arts and so-on. The centre green could be used for grass type sports like local school football and hockey championships and so on. Add that to the fact that the local plan only approved 650-ish houses by including the LP30 sections because it was making sure that there were proper large spaces to carry on the EoES legacy of events rather than the Butterfield concrete jungle of houses, the hotel/pub that no brewery will ever want to take on and daft posh-boy psuedo-sports concrete shells, mean this ill-conceived pile of dross should be consigned to hanging on a piece of string in the smallest room so it is at least doing something useful.

The difference this time is that it was a reserve rider who returned the non-negative result. Last year (and the year before, when Ben Barker was snagged) it was riders in their team proper who had their licences temporarily suspended (rightly and properly, rules is rules) on the night, in which case the programmed races could be covered by the team's reserves. Eliminating the problem of a three-rider race, which seems to be the main factor in getting people's knickers twisted. So, if it happens again -- and it will, sure as God made little apples -- if it's a rider in the team's 1-5, no problem, no 3-man races. If it's a reserve, Heat 2 has to go with three riders -- hardly "cheating the public" and certainly a fair price to pay to keep the sport free of banned substances, no?

Just did a wee bit of maths, to test the entire team every meeting it would cost £78.40, in the super grand scheme of things that isn't a lot. To lab test a sample costs £120 (off Googley search £60 if done on mass) So simply charge every rider £5.60 a meeting to ensure a 100% clean sport. If you get a "non negative" result the rider forks out the £120/£60 to prove their clean or not. Don't ban the rider on the night but upon return of the lab test. Teams aren't affected, fans get a proper meeting.

As someone who has whizzed into many a cup for work and in fact been involved in the administration for testing when I was in college. If they are using the 10 strip test kit, it will have flagged up and indicated what it's detected. Cocaine is one of the strips, opiates is another strip, amphetamine,benzodiazipine etc etc. The rider and tester will have seen what's flagged up. So they are the only ones who will know exactly which strip has flagged up. Certain OTC or Prescription painkillers will flag up containing an opiate, decongestants can flag as amphetamines. Riders should as far as I know be supplied with a list of all band substances, which they can make their doctor aware of so they prescribe around the list. But don't forget they are operating to WADA standards in a sport that's underfunded at best and riders who are part time racers full time other jobbers, they don't have nutritionists and medical teams surrounding them. If a mistake has been made from a prescription drug then consideration should be taken. If recreational drugs have been used, then the book should be flung at the rider. But watching the Keyboard warrior brigade spouting utter clueless nonsense is hilarious.

As much as I’ve criticised rogers in the past, how on earth can you blame him for any of the teams performances this season? He didn’t pick the riders this season, the management team as a whole did, rogers merely did the phone calls. as for the way the team is performing, the way the team is being run and the changes being made or, not made on race nights, this is NOTHING to do with Laurence this season. Those decisions are being made by Sam Ermolenko and Chris Adam’s. i didn’t expect t this current 1-7 ( that’s with Pawlicki, not NICHOLLS ), to win a meeting all season but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by our efforts in every meeting up until tonight. So much so, that I went to tonight’s meeting actually daring to think that we were in with the chance to get not only the win on the night but, to also have a chance of getting the bonus point. More fool me !!! This was our worst performance of the season . Three riders should have gone home ashamed of themselves tonight but if you had been there, you would have seen that Flint did well and didn’t deserve to be taken out of his last ride. cook was riding in the team not at reserve where he has done reasonably well so far so, he can be excused to a degree Brennan was outstanding as was Nicholls . how can a rider as experienced as Milik forget to turn his fuel on! What a numpty. You can’t blame Laurence Rogers for that now can you ? you can’t blame rogers if many many top riders turned us down and we had to make the most of those who would ride for us . Ritchie Worrall went on public record as saying it was disgusting that NO TEAM had offered his brother a team place then surprise, surprise, he is suddenly a Birmingham rider …. The one team desperately struggling to sign seven riders…. You can’t surely put the blame for that solely on the shoulders of Laurence rogers now can you ? Pawlicki getting injured pre season, was nothing to do with Rogers. That injury completely altered the way the team would have been set up and meant several riders were having to ride out of their planned position snd, Milik having to ride at number one where he was never going to cope. That was not laurence rogers fault. Pawlicki is back on Thursday and the team should be better balanced . I’ve been to every meeting so far home snd away and will be at kings Lynn on Thursday when our season truly begins. get your backside down to Perry Barr for the next meeting and support both the management snd the riders and let’s all hope our fortunes take a turn for the better