albyhere

Gawd. What an arrogant presumptious shower on here. Everybody knows your conversations and have the nerve to come out and call complete strangers " liars. " Not for me thanks. I'm off. Ta ta. Enjoy your prejudices.

What the heck are you on mate ? I have no need to copy anything. I am intelligent and articulate enough to compose my own posts of my own opinions, and if you care to look I am a very infrequent user of this site. I have no clue as to what you referring to in the "copy and paste " jibe. I suggest you have an inordinately high opinion of your abilities to see things others don't. .

Astonishing. There you are in your omnipresence, not knowing me from Adam, or where I live, or who my friends are, can state quite categorically that I didn't have the conversation I quoted. You call me a liar online. I have reported this to the moderators.

So. You are calling me a liar ?

To those who responded to my original post and actually read the thing, and actually got the point, I thank you. To the rest who goodness knows where in left field they reside, with their personal and sarcastic non sequiturs, let me put it in simple terms, just for those who may be a wee bit hard of thinking. I was referring to TEAM riding. Not individuals. Each rider can and does take bookings where he can get them, and good luck to them. I was talking about how a rider could turn out for one TEAM one night ( or day, ) then the very next night, turn out for another TEAM, in a different lLEAGUE. Then the very next night, turn out for yet another TEAM in, incredibly, another COUNTRY altogether. Now translate that to a footballer or whatever in your TEAM and ask yourself how it would look. As stated originally, if perhaps say, Rooney turned out for Man. U. one game, then another night for Reading, then another day for Galatasary. A farce no ? My point was that it loses our sport credibility in the eyes of the general sporting public. There is, despite certain isolated cases quoted here, NO other sport where this happens to the extent that it does in speedway. Be it football, used here as an EXAMPLE, or rugby, or any TEAM sport you can think of. I totally agree with the comments that it is one of the reasons why we have a dearth of home grown talent. Promoters just take anyone almost who can ride a bike to a certain degree of competence, rather than risk nurturing a young BRITISH rider. And unfortunately, this is with the blessing of the ruling body of the sport. Oh and by the way, I was asked how it works.

I recently had a chat with an old friend who is sports mad, like me. We got around to speedway as is my way, and although he has been to meetings, he isn't a supporter as such. When we got round to who rides for who ( whom ? ) etc he laughed out loud when I tried to explain the way riders can ride for two different teams, in two different leagues, at the same time. To compound the matter even further, when I said riders can also ride for different teams in DIFFERENT countries....at the same time, he nearly fell out his seat. I heard later he had passed the information around and got the same response from everyone. " You must be joking. " You know what, when you look at it like that, he has a point. It IS farcical. What other sport in the world allows that to happen? Imagine footballers say, one plays for Man. Utd. AND plays for Reading Town AND plays for Galatasary. And he's not alone, not by a long chalk. It looks utterly preposterous. It's little wonder we don't get the credo we actually richly deserve. To those of us who are supporters, we see nothing wrong with that, but to outsiders, we must look like the provincial aunt Sallies who are just playing at being " a sport " in the accepted sense. We have little credibility. What to do about it ? Not a lot I fear. Being the dangerous sport it is there's not a lot of riders to go round, hence the current setup, but my goodness, it does look plain daft.

Yess! Result! II said a wee while ago if we signed Theo and Anders I'd be happy. I rate these two guys highly. Well done promoters, and welcome back Theo. Now the Pijper must be paid, and I'm happy to pay my share via the turnstile.

" So out of the new faces last year, who let us down? " Eh, Harley Horwood. James wright. And sorry to say, young Joe. I'm sorry mate but I really don't understand this antipathy towards a rider of Theo's indisputable calibre just because he's not ' new.' I honestly believe we've had enough of ' new ' untested riders. At least for now. Perhaps in another few years. The bottom line is, the Tigers performance last year was in the main a damned disgrace. We need to get back some credibility in the sport now and we'll only do that on the track. With riders who can score, irrespective of who they are and what their past is. Crikey I'd even consider a certain American who also rode for the Eastern side. Jeez. I don't believe I said that.

Amazing. You've forgotten already all the "new faces " we brought in last year ? Look where we ended up.

Que ? You serious ? I suppose the fact that as you state, he was at reserve means that since then, every time he came back with the Monarchs, or anything else, he was at times unbeatable doesn't count. Wearing I may add his TIGERS outfit. If memory serves me right, he scored 15 points last time. This is NOW. That was THEN. Move on.

What the heck is going on ? Read this. Taken from The Monarch's website THEO PIJPER TO MOVE ON Sunday 1 December 2013, 12:48 UK BY MIKE HUNTER The Scotwaste Monarchs have told Theo Pijper that he won’t be in their side for the 2014 season, and so the Dutchman who first rode for us in 2002 will be looking for another club. It was obviously with considerable regret that Monarchs have taken this step, but under the rules no club can have every rider they would like even from amongst their own assets. Theo said this morning “The important thing for me was that the club were able to tell me one way or another, and I’m grateful that they have, it was becoming a bit worrying. “I’ll need to sit down now and work out what my plans will be for the new season. At the moment I am not doing the Longtrack, I would like to get a wildcard in that but because I rode for Edinburgh at Workington rather than doing the Long Track Challenge at the end of last year, that might count against me. “I am sure we will still be along at Armadale on Friday nights.” .............. Now correct me if I' m wrong but are we or are we not looking for riders ? Is Theo available ? Is he an extremely popular rider who clearly loves it at Ashfield ? Is he heat leader quality and is local ( I believe. ) If the answer to all of this is YES, which it is, then what in the name of the wee man are the promotion doing about signing him ?

Whilst it's fun to speculate, and for some to illustrate their impressive knowledge of who's all out there at this time of the year, the fact is it's a bit like asking how long a piece of string is. Too many imponderables. For me the fact that we have signed young Anders Thomsen is reason enough to confirm an interest in next season. I have said before, I rate this young lad highly, and all being well, he could be a top rider in the not too distant future. Now if we could re-sign Theo Pijper too I really wouldn't bother who else comes to us. Whoever they are, they will either become favourites, or at worst, shown the superb loyalty Tigers fans show to every rider who dons the famous stripes. It's what we do.

".....I think the directors have failed in their remit. Advertising and "promoting" this final meeting, only to then pull the plug with a somewhat feeble excuse of certain riders being required elsewhere seems about par for their course. " Crescent Girl. Amazingly yesterday's ( Saturday's )Scottish Sun and Daily Record had today's ( Sunday ) meeting, the Fence Fund, Glasgow Tigers Select v Rest of the World Select, still advertised as being on. Now that is just plain wrong. It shows a total inability of the owners to keep the newspapers up to date with what's going on, AND the paying public who aren't familiar with what is going on in the background, with the runnings of this club. Two points from that. The papers won't like being left out of the loop and made to look stupid, plus any poor sod who turned up to watch that match, only to find nobody there, will be very reluctant to ever come back again. A shambles all round.

"......It will be an absolute disgrace if James Grieves does not get his Farewell Meeting. " The meeting referred to was meant to be first and foremost a fundraiser for an air fence. The promotion decided, I believe at the last minute, to also hail the great JG's achievements at the same time. I am sure James would be the first to admit he's had a fair number of 'farewells' to and from his fans, all richly deserved. The only disgrace here is the way the owners have gone about their business to round off this year. No Ashfield Classic. No Heathersfield Helmet and now no final meeting to raise fence funds. There's three meetings, at least, where I am sure a fair bit of dosh could have been raised. Quite apart from depriving us fans of our speedway. May I also remind everyone? 2013 League. Matches raced 24. Points won 9. That's just plain embarrassing. My point ? Blunt I know, but I don't believe in beating about the bush. Are they up to it ?

Folks. I am astonished that nobody has picked up on the significance of this decision not to hold the last meeting. Remember this meeting, as well as a farewell to the great JG, was also to raise funds for the air fence which MUST BE IN PLACE by the start of the next season. Now if the promotion have already lost £50 K from this season, are we really to assume that they are now going to cough up the needful for the new fence out of their own pockets ? £25 k I believe. I am afraid for me at any rate, the alarm bells are ringing loud and clear. I acknowledge there will be fundraising throughout the close season but what guarantees they will hit the target? Remember, the owners HAVE to promise to have that fence in place at the beginning of the season, or they will NOT GET A LICENCE to race. Unless I am very much mistaken. That brings us back to the initial question. Are they, the owners, willing to cover the cost from their own resources ? We are hearing precious little on that front. It is to my mind, highly unlikely, given the tone of the announcement on the official website. The begging bowl is definitely being rattled already. But, given the number of blank weeks we've had over the course of the season, several opportunities have already been missed to raise funds, and now we won't even get the one meeting dedicated specifically to doing just that, raising air fence funds. Cancelled. I hate to say this, and I hope to goodness I am so wrong and will happily eat humble pie if so, but I think we're going down. I think they're looking for a way out, or a new buyer. Otherwise....... We need to hear what the intentions are from the owners. Are they wanting out ? Can they find the cash, not just to start next season WITH an air fence, but also have enough to get through the year ? Just where do we, the fans, stand before we cough up our own hard earned cash towards the fund ? Right now there's too many questions and precious few answers.