sandwichspeedwayfan

Having read through this a little and did a little research, I'm not going to even pretend to be an expert here as firstly I've never visited the stadium - much like AFC and secondly my main interest is Speedway so am not clued in to the Car and Greyhound history, but there are certain points that need addressing... 1. This is not a return to Plough Lane, AFC were formed in 2002 as a protest to the original Wimbledon moving to Milton Keynes, the original Wimbledon FC has a dissolved date as 2004, therefore AFC are not returning to Plough Lane 2. As others are pointing out Wimbledon moved away from and effectively kicked a sport out of it's national stadium - a grass pitch had to be laid which ended the chances of Hockey being played there. Since then the stadium has now been demolished and rebuilt. A lot of people turned there back on Wimbledon to AFC for this reason and it is painful to watch AFC now doing this to two other sports. 3. It has long been established that clubs usually only build a new stadium or redevelop existing one's when there is a demand for the extra capacity (eg, Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea etc) a side that averages a gate of 4000 on a good day doesn't need an 11,000 seater stadium, the rent levels could be crippling to the club as we saw with Coventry City over a period of time after they relocated to a new stadium that was bigger but after relegation there was no longer the demand for tickets led to problems with their stadium owners and money owed. 4. This also affects the local area, the two pubs mentioned by Teaboy probably have a large portion of their takings from days when Bangers are staged (and most probably Speedway as well). Whilst the stadium is worked on they will lose a large amount of their takings. Having worked in a pub, in the current economic climate there are not so many social drinkers due to the high costs of alcohol and also a shift in the generations and social activities. Not only the pubs though other local services will lose money from people coming to watch for the time being. In conclusion, I feel this is a bad move for all parties. The local economy will lose regular income that came from the Bangers and Greyhound events, especially whilst the redevelopment especially AFC Wimbledon are taking a huge gamble here and if it fails it could be the end for them which personally I wouldn't like to see but I know a few who would. Lastly, all those decent folk from the Bangers, Greyhounds and Speedway who since 1928 have been flocking to Plough Lane and our now left just memories and a bitter taste at the way this has been handled. But I would like to close with a plea to those few AFC fans who feel the need to dole out abuse about this, consider the points I've made and if you feel they are familiar that is because its how you would/should have felt when Wimbledon FC was ripped from your heart and home and sent up the M1...

Chris Harris Warsaw 2015 - 7 points after three rides just beaten Janowski and Gollob (I was a lone bit sat in an all Pole section at this point how I'm still alive is beyond me) given their next races on paper Bomber's being easier than Matej's could have finished ahead top only for a rule that no-one knew had been introduced before the meeting and has since been scrapped where a GP could be abandoned at heat 12 to be implemented - A Polish fan even said "what the odds it was abandoned cos Bomber was looking the best rider" other mention for Bomber - Melbourne could have had 9 points ended up with 0! Notable mention Shaun Tedham at Kent 2013 for Stoke - 7 rides - 0 points! ouch!

My Main issue with Pedersen is he fails to apologise when he is dangerous - the incident with Zagar was coming from about lap 2 he was diving inside him every bend. I am all close racing and hard riding the fans want to see it, but it seems strange that he is always involved in these incidents. So the proposed idea could be tried out. The other issue with Pedersen is in his press conference he says he has never punched anyone - but he has ran Emil Sayfutdinov repeatedly into the fence after a race in Copenhagen (2012) and did the same with Andersen in Cardiff (2010) after they did moves which he'd be proud of. it seems he's happy to dish out hard riding but not take it

Coventry have announced there squad and Rye House announced that they will use Dan Blake, Luke Harris and Danno Verge

If everybody knew there was a major problem with the Coventry track on Friday night/Saturday morning, could they (the BSPA) not have moved a late switch to another track in the Midlands area (Birmingham, Leicester or Wolves)? Advised fans through all our social media channels, there website etc. and asking us the fans who maybe aren't travelling or even if they were to tell people and post it on our pages and in return the BSPA lowers admission prices for the meeting. And for those fans who had then paid to stay in Coventry they then asked them to send the invoice to them and they reimbursed a percentage of the fee for the trouble caused or had to cancel the trip cos they were using public transport to Coventry and then couldn't make a connection as I realise changing accommodation would be a hassle at last minute. This would IMO create a better image of the BSPA respecting Fans and sympathising with us, and be less of a farce.

on a light hearted note to tonights events - in the interview with Darcy Ward - did he seem less squeaky than normal?!!

I think in order for the EL to be a success. it needs to be regulated the way the Polish Leagues and Swedish Leagues regulate there's. With the use of British Under 21 riders as reserves at each club and keep them as reserves for the whole season. it would also mean our young riders are given track time which will aid their development.

With regards to the Mason/Schramm situation. I think it would be a benefit to the team to have two experienced riders in the side. Though I may be biased as David Mason was my first ever favourite rider as a 6 year old supporting the old Sittingbourne side and Chris has been a mate of mine since 1998!! My Kent Kings side if it were possible would be: 1. Ben Morley 2. Jack Kingston 3. Benji Compton 4. David Mason 5. Chris Schramm 6. Adam Kirby 7. Connor Coles

The teams for tonight are available on the Kent website, Schrammy and Chris Mills who were due to ride for Wimbledon both have PL fixtures tonight, Kasper Lykke and Stefan Nielsen are riding instead. Andre Cross is the only former Don (I believe) listed in the team.