BurntFaceMan

PIRATES chief Matt Ford has first option to sign Australian star Troy Batchelor for the 2017 season. Ford has more than eight points with which to recruit his final rider and former Grand Prix charger Batchelor, who last rode for Poole in 2007, would fit into the septet. Kacper Gomolski (7.71) would be another possibility, while Ford could turn to Pirates asset Brady Kurtz (7.65) for a second straight year. The Poole promoter has first call on the likes of Batchelor and Gomolski as he was granted access to the retained list of former Peterborough co-owners Rick Frost and Julie Mahoney when they took a step back from the sport. It is understood the arrangement is due to continue for one more year as it is a three-year maximum period. Ford has a close relationship with Frost and Mahoney given the duo's plant hire company, Readypower, has been Pirates' main team sponsor for the past two years. The club is currently in the process of searching for a replacement sponsor since the Readypower deal came to a close. Src: http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/sport/14962426.Speedway__Pirates_have_first_option_on_Batchelor/

Admin doesn't care about the forum. Just leaves it to run and collects the advert money.

Maximum media exposure? In the Daily Echo? I can only imagine that he waits for a very slow news day before making his announcement

Hi Lioness, I did say originally that I appreciate that you no longer fill that position. But it does state clearly to other members that you are the one and only global moderator. Additionally I appreciate that trolls get banned, but I also appreciate that abuse members do not. It just seems incredibly unfair that a member could call another member a very offensive term and get away with it, but a member that "trolls" (the most ambiguous term on the internet) could be banned. Just think that anybody who believes in honesty and justice would inherently feel that there is something very unjust about that.

The thing that really bothers me is this.. "You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually-orientated or any other material that may violate any laws be it of your country" Yet so many members get away with consistent abuse, and other members get punished for generic rules like "trolling".

I think it would help if bans were transparent. A ban database for example, like many forums employ. Forums are really special places. They are these fake little digital worlds but they host entire communities. When certain members of a community are exiled because their opinions differ to those of the admins and moderators then you have a real problem. Gater1 for example... is he banned? Banned permanently or temporary? What did he do, what evidence did they have? I appreciate you might not do that anymore, but your profile proudly says "Global Moderator", and so people look to you for advice, leadership and enforcement of equality.

One of the very best riders in the world.

The Aussies like to live in the UK as it's near to the European leagues and it feel's a lot more like home.

Really hope Chris signs for Kings Lynn. Will be very disappointing to watch Holder put the Poole boys to shame at home but thoroughly pleased if he finds a team place.

Mate... I've been using the internet for 10 years +. And I'm 24...

KKS thing is really boring now. How many aliases do you think this guy has? And for what reason? Use your noggin.

Pillock. I've met you! I've spoken to you 3 or 4 times! I don't think anybody is a lier mate. I mean, you do have that squiggly red line under words you spell wrong, right?

Oh, and I've met you too! We've actually met a few times.

Yes... that gives me 23 years to have come across Tidgy. I love how the only comeback you have is "bit suspicious that you know who Tidgy is". Oh, I'm 24 by the way.

I'm talking dross? That's the best thing I've heard all year, and there's not much time left to top that. Banging on doors? Shall we really go over this? RIAS - Andrew Marchington (R.I.P.) - Massive fan of Speedway and good friend of Matt Ford Castle Cover - Andrew Marchington... again Readypower - Quite literally owned by two Speedway promoters Where exactly has Matt been banging doors mate? I live in Poole. I've lived in Poole since the day I was born. I worked in Poole town center for 6 years. Not once (bar a roundabout) have I naturally came across Poole Speedway. My mother works at the same school Middlo's children attended. Not once did they do a single thing at the school. What work exactly do you think Cecil is doing to promote Poole?

It's a lot easier to sell American flags in New York than it is Iran.

I remember Tidgy from years back. Postman right? The guy talks sense. You can blame Poland and the GP's? What, are the thousands of fans we used to have traveling to Poland for their speedway fix now? Matt has had sponsors every year because it's a piece of p1ss to sponsor Poole. If he had no team sponsor whatsoever he'd still make more throughout the season on admissions alone than some clubs make with admissions and a sponsor. The quality is massively decreased. I mean, seriously. This isn't just a case of cutting the points limit, this is a loud and clear message to supporters that British speedway can no longer compete with other countries. That message also goes out to potential sponsors. It's a very sad year for supporters, promoters and up and coming British riders who will struggle to make it anywhere near the GP's with absolute no real competition. They've created a league that simply does not support or attract growth. That's a fact I'm afraid. And before anybody bangs on about Jason Doyle riding for Swindon, just take a look at the huge chunk of points that his appointment required. I really don't think we'll see Swindon competing for the title this year.

We're lucky to live in the speedway town. If Matt moved to another club he'd have a very rude awakening. I get that some people will think this is a positive move, but let's be honest, most of us on here are die hards. The general paying public aren't.

Oh yeah, I'm sure they've slashed them. You live in Poole too right? Tell me, apart from a few ingeniously creative roundabout signs with "Poole Speedway" on, have you actually come across any mention of Poole Speedway? The occasional story in the local rag and almost no word of mouth isn't very appealing to a team sponsor. The fact is there are a lot of supporters out there like me. We want to see the best riders in the world over here. Those supporters like me will see this season as a massive hit to the quality and they will not be attending. As a result of that, further cuts will need to be made in 2018 and the same thing will happen again! It doesn't take a genius to see that there is absolutely no future with that approach. Don't get me wrong, I'm not just trying to contrary, I'm not looking for an excuse to be upset, I just genuinely cannot justify paying anything more than £10 to watch riders of this standard. To be honest, I wouldn't even pay that. Even if it were completely free it's just not that interesting to me to watch inexperienced and over the hill riders racing. That doesn't give me goosebumps, it doesn't get me excited, it doesn't get me talking throughout the week. Just my two cents, and I fear the two cents of a good chunk of the many thousands who don't all post on this forum.

Then stop charging the public as much for it or do a better job promoting it. Personally I just can't see myself attending speedway next year at those prices. I only really know a couple of other fans in real life and they've said the same thing. I'm sure out of the couple of thousand that attend each week there will be at good chunk that won't bother at that price. Apply that to the whole league and that's tens of thousands of pounds less next year. Come 2018 this cost cutting exercise just starts over again.

I think that's a pretty feeble explanation. It's not like fans are kicking off because of a slight rule change, they are kicking off because the league has been diluted so heavily that we've become one of the poorest speedway leagues in the world.

This new league format is going to really hamper up and coming Brit's. They simply will not get the experience they need over here riding against premier and national league riders. Drop them into the Polish leagues and they will flounder. I think it will be a long time before any new British GP riders come along.

Then stick to the 50 point limit too.

Ohhh! You were just being a dick! I get it now.

https://youtu.be/dWiH-GIxbRI There you go. It took literally 10 seconds. Not like it's cracking the enigma code