G the Bee

One of the biggest clubs in the country, not been on track in a competitive fixture for over a year, given a lifeline to return. You would think this thread would have hundreds of posts by now. The fact that it doesn't speaks volumes. I for one am not interested in doing what Cradley have done. Track share after track share and the accompanying uncertainties over whether we run the following year. Season after season in the lowest league watching has-beens and never-wills with the odd genuine rising star thrown in for good measure (who, of course, will not stick around very long). For me, this is not a Coventry team, and I have no interest at all in supporting it. We have no affinity with this league, other than a poorly supported Storm team which was very much a supplement to the main Bees team. To drop to NL racing at Brandon would have been a huge ask. To do so at another track... No thanks. I'd rather have no club at all than a pretend club. I suspect I'm not alone.

The thing is, I don't even miss it. No doubt this is partly because I could see the writing on the wall and over the last season or so eased myself of it and found other interests. But the real reason is that the sport is simply not as good as it used to be. That's from someone who, up until the last few seasons, barely missed a home meeting No, I don't miss it at all.

Can't say I blame them. Why would Rye fans turn out to watch a meaningless challenge with their top riders missing against a team they have no affinity with? And if as many Bees fans travel to Rye as travelled to Poole, they won't be packing the terraces with away fans. Unfortunately, once the early season challenges were done, this was always going to happen. I'm afraid the ship left port in March and we were left waving at the dockside.

Changing the subject, can anyone explain to me why we couldn't have ridden the whole season at Leicester? I think the proposed Bees team would have been competitive so there would have been every chance of decent levels of support.

Two days to go. Looking forward to this. Any update on team news (from both sides)?

The main body of the Rye team is full of 'big name' riders who are past their best. A top 5 of ex-Bees who had their best years at Brandon and Davey Watt who has struggled for a few years now. Get the Rye track grippy and they'll be ok at home, but they'll struggle away. I couldn't understand the optimism before the season. The Bees team for 2017 was miles better. I didn't rate it particularly highly at first, but over time, it grew on me. I think it would have done ok.

Respectfully, I think that's a bit of a low blow there. Whether Chris knew about the potential issues for this season or not, he gave 11 season's stirling service for the club and owes us absolutely nothing. And I thought the way his transfer request was handled, openly and respectfully before the end of the season showed real class. The club has been on its backside for years. I don't blame him for one second for asking for a move. In fact, I'm glad he got out when he did. If there was one rider I would have wanted to avoid being caught up this sorry mess, it would have been Bomber. I suspect many others feel the same.

With Bomber, my own opinion is that if the track has a bit of dirt on, he'll be as good as anyone around Rye. But if it's going to be slick, then it could be a season of struggle. Even at Coventry, he could struggle if it was slick. And there were few better riders around Brandon than Bomber. I hope I'm wrong, because as a home fan, there are few better sights than watching Bomber pick opposition riders off week in, week out.

I tend to agree with the posts above. I can see more and more scrabbling about for riders as the season goes on. And, bearing in mind each fixture is an away fixture, I'd be gutted to have made plans to travel only to be faced with load of last minute rider drop-outs.

This is one of speedway's biggest problems. I've posted this before, but it's worth bringing up again. For years I tried to get my son into the sport, but the fact is, he's bored to tears by heat 4. Why? Because in about half an hour, he's seen about 4 minutes of action. It's why speedway simply cannot attract a younger audience. The modern generation expect entertainment instantly. They need something going on in front of them all of the time. The world has changed hugely in the last 20 years but the sport is stuck in the 1970s in terms of what it thinks constitutes an acceptable standard of entertainment. Every speedway meeting should have 20 heats, with the aim of having them all done and dusted in about an hour and a half. The whole way the meeting is run should be with the aim of giving the supporter as little 'down time' as possible. The riders should have 30 seconds after a race to exit the track, which is still ample time for the winning rider to pop a few wheelies to entertain the fans. The two minute time allowance should be halved. After this time, the one-minute time allowance for the next heat would be sounded. At the end of the one-minute, the start marshal needs to be able to signal to the referee to put on the green light. Any rider causing the start marshal to be unable to do this would be excluded and fined. Unsatisfactory starts for rolling would be more heavily penalised. Instant exclusion and a fine for the rider deemed to be moving before tapes up. If a rider knew rolling would hit them in the pocket with a double-whammy, they would all stop doing it. Riders should never be allowed to return to the pits. Even in the event of a delay for a fall, the riders not involved in the fall should have to wait on the centre green until the re-run. Riders should not be given as much time as they are currently given to get themselves ready after a fall. Far too often I see a rider get up, walk back to the pits and then take an age to get ready for the next heat. If their preferred bike is damaged, clogged up with shale, got bent bars etc, tough luck. Use your spare. Strictly timed brief grading intervals after heats 5, 10 and 15. These would replace the traditional interval at heat 10/12. Referees need to be tougher. They are in charge of the meeting, not the riders. We're in the entertainment business. It's about time the riders and promoters started to realise that, because I honestly think very few of them actually do.

I think you've over-reacted. I'm not sure I understand what I said that was rubbish? Do you think these promoters are offering meetings against a Bees team out of charitable benevolence? I suspect the meetings will be a nice little earner for both the Wolves and Peterborough promotions during a quiet part of the season when riders are looking for track time. That was the point I was making. Personally, I think we are dead, buried, down and out, but I appreciate the sentiment of your post, For what it's worth, I'll be at Peterborough. My own personal opinion is that we've just become another Cradley, but as long as people like Jeff keep the flag flying, I'll support them.

I'm not knocking it, but it's a no-brainer from the promoters. We're a cash cow now, and the promoters know it. We'll bring huge crowds to these meetings. In losing Coventry, they've also lost one of their biggest away followings. These fixtures will compensate for that.

Really. The BSPA being reluctant to invest in something that would improve the match night experience for their customers. Something that would have contributed to bringing the sport out of the dark ages. I find that hard to believe. Maybe they were worried that the bright light it emits would keep the rows of OAPs awake whilst they are trying to catch 40 winks whilst the tractor goes round and round between races.

Precisely my thinking. Speedway already has a Darby and Joan image, and this is just going to compound this. How many working people can get to Brandon for 4pm on a Friday? There is a reason sports events don't take place on weekday afternoons! I know people are well intentioned, and perhaps I just feel negative at the moment, but a small crowd of OAPs standing outside the gates looking sad isn't going to make a blind bit of difference.

But there was the money, you've said so yourself. The Sky money. The money which went into the pockets of the riders. It should never have been allowed to happen, certainly not to the extent it did. But the promotions did not work together, they competed with one another. The richer clubs spent out Sky money to attract the big names, competing with each other rather than working together for the long-term benefit of the sport. I'm sure the Bees promotion were just as guilty of it as anyone. How much was Brandon sold for in 2002? Wasn't it something like £1 million? How much would the repayments on a £1 million bank loan have been over 20 years? How much of the yearly pot of the Sky money would it have cost the BSPA? Now offset that against the benefits of owning Brandon, not just to keep the Bees running, but to develop as a centre of excellence for the sport. A facility which could (realistically bearing in mind its location and availability) have produced a conveyor belt of new British talent. But where was the vision to do something more productive with the Sky money? Where was the leader with the long-term vision? Where did dishing that money out on GP stars (pretty much none of whom can be seen here anymore) get us? Nowhere. You were part of the BSPA, were you not? So it's not surprising you will fight their corner. But answer me this. Name me one other sport that has received Sky money and Sky exposure for the last 20 years and been in a worse position in the present than it was before the Sky money came into the sport? That is, in itself, a damning indicment of the way the BSPA have run the sport for the last 20 years.

I was responding to the post above, which stated the Panthers v. Bees challenge is still going ahead. To be honest though, that would not be my ideal scenario. Ideally, a neutral venue would be hired and a Bees team (led by Chris Harris) would ride against another team made up of riders with connections to Coventry Bees (perhaps led by Scott Nicholls). Profits for the meeting (which would probably draw a huge crowd) to be shared between the SRBF and GB Youth Speedway.

There should be one more meeting. A proper opportunity for the Bees fans to say goodbye. Because that is what it is. I don't for a minute believe this is just a one-year sabbatical And Chris Harris should be riding for the Bees as captain too. I'm sure Kenneth Bjerre would have no problem stepping aside for him for a one-off. Kenneth could ride for the Panthers to strengthen their team up to Premiership level. They would be turning the fans away at the gates!

If anything proves what a short-sighted organisation, stumbling along from one-year to the next, the BSPA are, it is the events that have culminated in today's state of affairs. We can talk all we like about whether Sandhu, Horton or the BSPA are to blame. As I said in a previous post, the real damage was done in 2002 when the Ochiltrees sold to a speedway outsider. To my mind, the BSPA should never have let Brandon be sold outside the sport. It was well known around that time that the Ochiltrees were looking to sell or, at the least, looking for extra investment. The BSPA should have had a bit of foresight and purchased the stadium from the Ochiltrees. It could then have been turned into a centre of excellence for the sport. The administrative offices would have moved there from Rugby, a youth academy could have been set up, every major BSPA shared event could have been held there (it's central location with excellent motorway facilities would have made it ideal for this). The stadium could have been available for riders to practise outside of meeting times. We all know that a constant bugbear of British riders is that they struggle to get the same amount of practise time as their Polish counterparts. The possibilities were huge. The running of the Bees as a speedway team could then have been franchised out to a licensed promoter at a fair and reasonable price and made money for the association. The stock cars, which draw excellent crowds, could also have made money. Over time, Brandon could have become speedway's equivalent to Twickenham (albeit a stadium which also stages weekly league meetings and, of course, on a much smaller scale). As good a stadium as Belle Vue's National Speedway Stadium is, I've constantly found it a source of amusement that we have spent years bigging up the development of, and giving a fancy (meaningless) name to a new stadium which is no better than Brandon (at least a Brandon which had not been allowed to deteriorate for the last 10 or so years). Of course, for this to happen, it would have meant that the BSPA promoters (of all leagues) would have had to have seen past the self-interest, partisanship and short-term thinking that has always characterised their organisation. It was never going to happen, was it. Hence the greatest stadium in the sport at the time was sold to someone who wanted the land to build houses on. And here we are, 14 years down the line, reaping the results of the BSPA's lack of vision (in more ways than one).

I'm biased! But even looking at it objectively, you would be hard pressed to make a case for Wigg. Tatum was generally more consistent and he won every major individual title in the sport, some of them many times over, other than the top prize itself. In his peak years (his Coventry years) he was one of the few riders who you felt could match the powerhouse Danes consistently. In 1987 and 1988 in particular, he was outstanding. Nevertheless, I always felt he was never the same rider when he left Coventry at the end of 1990. I would have loved to have seen him and the returning Tommy Knudsen back together at Brandon for 1991 and 1992 as I felt that the close but respectful rivalry between these two Coventry legends brought out the best in both of them. In terms of longtrack, it's a shame their careers did not overlap more. Simon was (sadly) coming to the end of his career when Kelvin became established.

I don't post on here much any more. Today is an incredibly sad day for the sport, but one which has had an air of inevitability about it for many years now. To me, it was always a case of 'when' not 'if' this day would come. For my part, and in no small part because of the above, I've spent the last few years (and especially the last season) gradually letting my interest in the sport wane. From a position not so long ago of having a season ticket, barely missing a fixture, re-arranging holidays around the fixture list, and basically living speedway, I quickly got into the habit (especially last season) of picking and choosing meetings and missing them altogether with the slightest excuse. To be honest, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be, but it was something I needed to do. It's been heartbreaking watching Coventry stagger on from one year to the next, a pale shadow of the club it was only a few years ago. The club has never recovered from the events of the 'Winter of Discontent' but, to me, the damage was actually done when the Ochiltree familiy sold up back at the end of 2002. Coventry Stadium needed to be sold to a person or persons who would have been a long-term custodian of the club, the stadium and everything it stood for. Now, I don't know the ins and outs of the amount of people who showed an interest in buying Brandon in 2002 and I am sure that finding people to buy speedway stadiums to actually run speedway (and other associated businesses) rather than buying the land to develop on is easier said than done. But there is no escaping the fact that, ultimately, it was sold to someone who had no association with the sport and who subsequently admitted that he brought the stadium to build on. From that moment, the nails could be heard being hammered into the coffin. To be honest, if you could have told me in 2002 that the club would last another 14 seasons, with some great successes along the way, I wouldn't have believed you. Thoughts of a new stadium, at least in the short-term, were pipe dreams. I had little interest watching the team stagger on for another season in a track share or even attending a broken and dilapidated Brandon. It's been bad enough watching how badly neglected the place has become over the last 5 or 6 years. The club, and all of the history that goes with it deserves better than that. At least we've gone out with a bit of dignity. I know this statement is going to upset some, but much of me just feels relieved. Sad but relieved. There are many parties who have blood on their hands today. Few come out of this sorry state of affairs with any credit.

Disappointed with BBC Coventry and Warwickshire. Jeremy Heaver was providing a detailed and eloquent explanation of the situation until the presenter rudely cut him off to go to the travel and to play a 50 odd year old pop song. Unbelievable.

The team's still crap though!

Perhaps its time to just let it all go. Awful team. Stadium seemingly ripped to shreds. Why carry on for just another season? I never believed there would be a new stadium at the end of the three years. There wasn't. I don't believe there will be one for tbe forseeable future. We're just putting off the inevitable and its heartbreaking to see a club with the history and pedigree of Coventry Bees staggering on like this. We're another Cradley. Still, even if we do come to the tapes in March, that bloody awful team they have put together will make walking away all that bit easier.

Absolute rubbish Coventry. That's me done for the season. Not paying good money to watch us throw meetings away like that. Woryna has his best ever meeting for us, was flying, and yet Bates and Sergeant get 4 rides each. When other teams have a flying reserve, they get 6 or 7 rides. Woryna was a shoe in for Bates in 14. Unbelievable.

With respect, I hope that comment is not aimed at me. I wasn't moaning about the walk at all - or the time or distance it took. What I did find annoying was that, having purchased my ticket, I had no idea where to go and I felt that some signposting was in order. I was then given directions from a steward which, according to 'Superace' was incorrect. If people are wondering around not knowing where to go (and I was not the only one) and then stewards give out information which is not correct then something is not right. It's constructive criticism, not moaning. All they need to do is improve signposting a little or perhaps put more detailed directions on the back of the ticket.