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Hazzman

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Posts posted by Hazzman

  2. Posted · Edited by Hazzman

    The problem would be finding a buyer, because its not an easy business to make money. It takes a lot of man hours to run, & if you put in 70+ hours a week into it, & dont make any money, your enthusiasm will quickly evaporate. It has been said before, but the best thing the fans could do, is raise the money to alter the track.

     

    There were and still are a lot of helpful volunteers at Beaumont Park. Quite a lot have left because of Hemsley. That time would be shared across a decent number of people. Ermolenko was the very first to go and then it just continued.

     

    As for this raise the money, I find that disappointing in two aspects when people suggest that.

     

    Firstly you wouldn't expect any business to get it's customer to pay for the business' mistake.

     

    Secondarily, there were volunteers/fans who helped build the 'stadium' under Hemsley's direction. It would be particularly gutting to hear that they would be expected to put money down in order to correct the track. All those hours being considered a loss.

     

    We can moan about the track all day long - regardless of how it's dressed up, it's a considerable chunk of money. What is more worrying is the recent news of falling out with sponsors, issues with the tractor hire etc. etc. That suggests a cashflow issue. Didn't Hemsley dismiss the woman who did the books recently?

    • Like 1

  5. Posted · Edited by Hazzman

    My point was that everyone is saying that crowds will diminish if no track work is completed. This I believe only applies if they stay in the premier. Should they go Elite then it would be like a new start and even if the track was not touched then the crowds would increase. Short term therefore, the worry of reduced crowds would be eliminated but would merely paper over the cracks which may become more apparent in later years of Elite league, as they are now in the premier.

     

    My personal feeling is that Elite League would eventually kill the current promotion. Give it three months and I think the bills would not be equal to the gate receipts.

     

    The problem is that we (the supporters) keep being told that the racing is great when it obviously isn't.

     

    If the promotion came out and said that they had made a mistake but that they couldn't fix it due to lack of finance, I think most people would accept it as long as they were given a possible timetable and maybe the costs involved.

     

    To be told that this would happen during the winter and then find out that what had actually been done was almost nothing just made things worse.

     

    Regarding Coventry, when Leicester closed I started going to watch them regularly (although they were the old enemy) but gave up as the racing was boring. I ended up just picking the odd meeting when the opposition was strong. I don't want this to happen at Leicester.

     

    Hear hear. Like most sports, fans want open-ness. As it stands passive fans like me will not go due to the lack of entertainment. In Leicester, if you are a sport outside of football and rugby...you've firstly got to be successful and then make a show of it, the Basketball team are currently doing that leading to sell-out whether their matches are in Leicester, Loughborough or this weekend at Wembley.

     

    I don't think the facts are right about the co promotors wife going this week, As I was told about this at the first home meeting that she had gone due to a fall out with Hemsley on press and practice day over the office running for the proposed Coventry meeting.

     

    She is badly missed at the club as I am told she did nearly all the admin work and got the club a good name by paying the riders on time and detailed breakdown of money earns and deductions. She also did a lot with the programme so wonder if that's why price has gone up if having to get a company to do the layout and production each week.

     

    To be fair it's not really the fans thing with internal club politics unless it affects team performance as just like a fall out in a normal workplace.

     

    Another person you can stick in the 'dismissed' category with Hemsley. Surely many can see why the likes of Volty are worried about the whole promotion? The bottom line is we all care about Speedway in Leicester and Speedway in general. The fanbase will always be split with postitive and negative; some fans will be encourage by the promotion's decisions, others not so.

     

    I personally believe the reason why there is such a furore over the track etc. is that everyone connected to Leicester Speedway etc. including fans etc. had a dream of seeing Speedway back in their city and then this dream was painted to them in artist impressions with full scale plans. Those plans were far from the reality but most of us thought 'well to be fair it's a decent arena for a sport like Speedway still and if the track's alright, I don't really care'.

     

    When you've not had your own club for so long, the winning doesn't matter so much, the racing does (particularly when you had Blackbird Road as a home track - another factor for the 'moans') The track is not alright, it's a disaster really but the promotion promise changes. Changes which end up minimal. Then the promise is made again but it's minimal, in fact the distance added is a bit of joke IMO. It's as if I made changes, so the problem with the fans now.

     

    Can't help but feel that Hemsley was a victim of his own ambition. When the finance didn't come through, rather than scale down the plans and provided a great track with minimal facilties, he wanted an 'arena' but the money was never there for day one to do such a project. Ultimately his vision of the arena differed with that of a lot of fans (or dormant fans) wanted (e.g. a great track). Maybe sometimes that ambition translates into arrogance and ignorance to some people who worked extremely hard to get the track built and then get the team ticking over. It's that same streak which probably made him a champion of his sport and he uses the same approach - bit like Bradley Wiggins, hardly makes him an amicable bloke.

     

    I think it's gutting for a lot of Leicester folk because you see Scunthorpe's approach to build their track and creating their club bit by bit to make something brilliantly successful.

    • Like 3

  6. Posted

    No different to footballers going out on loan to other clubs, then going back to their own clubs again.

     

    It's a lot different; a player doesn't play for two different teams in the same week.

     

    They have to be at another club for a minimum of a month. There are also lots of restrictions on ages and numbers. For example, in the Premiership a player must be loan for the minimum of six months (transfer window to transfer window).

     

    No point comparing Football to Speedway.

  8. Posted · Edited by Hazzman

    I suspect not a lot of people have heard of it but I suspect 'Inside Speedway' are basing themselves on the success of the Blizzard.

     

    The Blizzard is a quarterly football magazine which adopts a pay what you like policy. Most of it's readership is subs. It's very no frills i.e. very little adverts or glossy features, instead it concentrates on providing the very best journalism regards football. It almost allows a media where a journalist can go into great detail regards a subject. I'd say the articles are either historical, interviews or in depth investigations as opposed to 'news'.

     

    Ultimately it's providing something different from what else is out there. They can not afford to publicily stock the magazine in newsagents etc. So it relies on word of mouth. The success is in the quality. If it's not very good, it will fail. If it's good, it may break about even and continue producing.

  9. Posted

     

    3.and whether the current state of the complex and problems in resolving it is in part due to what i think is an extraordinary revelation that the development appears to have been granted by the council on a basis of a series of 'good faith' agreements between the council and the businesses originally earmarked to use it.

     

     

    Theres a condition of the planning permission regards the programme of the overall site. That would be the first issue with the Council.

     

    Then the lease which is favourable to BSC Ltd. and had a set time for review after the first few years of the Speedway was in operation. It's time for that review. Typically on the Councils side certain people have left albeit retirement or redundancy.

  10. Posted · Edited by Hazzman

    The land around the stadium is empty for one main reason the state of the UK economy no businesses are interested in building sports facilities at present. The club have offered the land back to the council if they want to build football pitches,basketball courts or even a children's play area but the council don't want to and can't afford it.

     

    Business is not necessarily the issue. It's became more political and very complex. There were other missed opportunities at the time and in a city which elects it's mayor, the councillors feel a bigger need to score points.

     

    Without going into detail, the approval of the 'sports complex' had a lot of knock-on effects elsewhere which included missed grants for the land, the proposed extension of a school and destruction of a velodrome. I'll admit to not knowing anymore about it though.

     

    I don't know a lot of particulars either but there's a lot of talking about the lease on the land.

     

    Hoodwinked is an apt word.

  11. Posted

    I don't know if the changes will make any difference and to be honest, I don't think anyone does. At least not until there has been a few meetings.

     

    I think it probably wise to reseve jugment until that has happened. All I will say is that I hope they have got it right this time. I personally can't stand another season of follow the leader every week.

     

    Spot on. I am the sort of casual fan the club need to target. First season I went about ten meetings and then gave up on the track. Went one meeting last year to see a slight improvement albeit largely down to a better Leicester team. This season after a couple of months of tweaking with the surface, I'll visit again. If the track fails to dish up worthy entertainment, I probably will not return until further alterations have been achieved. I've had friends ask about visiting and work colleagues but I have told them to save their money; as the experience of meetings in the past two season would probably kill their interest altogether.

     

    However, without wishing to worry anyone I think the big issue regards Leicester Speedway will eventually be the rest of the site. Opposition is building to the eyesore of landfill and the rest of the land being under used (particularly as some of it was proposed to be be used as football pitches etc. as part of a Football Foundations scheme). The local community lost a facility in parkland and recreation and Beaumont Park as a whole would probably be the cheapest option in providing that facility again in the local area.

     

    The Speedway club missed a couple of chances to house other minority sport teams on the site. I can feel a storm brewing on it.

    • Like 1

  12. Posted · Edited by Hazzman

     

    the SCB just as you can't run football outside of the F.A., and you couldn't open a McDonalds franchise without buying one off McDonalds corporation.

     

     

    Interesting point. You can under a slight different guise I.e. lots of 5 a side leagues without FA affiliation.

     

    So if you dress it up slightly different, ie. differing format may you could.

     

    The disturbing point here really is how dismissive the BSPA/SCB has been. Most sporting leagues have to hold affiliation with the national body and very, very rarely are the leagues/competitions dismissed with such ignorance.

  14. Posted

    A GP in Russia remains very much on the table. IMG have an office in Moscow, which helps, but Togliatti is probably more likely than the Russian capital at this moment in time. Humphrey is right, however, that staging events in Russia is a logistical nightmare although I understand it is getting easier as far as visas, etc, is concerned. Ensuring payment is made might be the biggest concern.

     

    Personally think Togliatti is a red herring. The mayor who heavily supported the Speedway club is now in jail for corruption. The city's crime rate is booming and it's been a victim of Chechen terrorist attacks.

  15. Posted

    I can assure that there is quite major cutbacks happening for financial year 2013-2014 which affects not only rights but other things as well like live inserts into Sky sports news. They wanted to use 29 live sat uplink trucks to cover transfer window but were told by the Bean counters this had to be cut back to 18 and meant some trucks driving between grounds.

    At the end of the day Sky have 4 sports channels to fill and do need lower ranking sport to help fill the schedules, in fact a deal has been done in the last week or so for Greyhounds to return to Sky after previously been cut this was done by the tracks and SIS producing the coverage themselves but will not be full glitzy coverage as before and may not even be in HD

    The Ice Hockey and Netball coverage is brought as a package from Televideo services who produce the programme themselves using own lower class broadcast kit hence why not in HD and they resell this onto Australian for netball and US/ Canada for ice hockey.

     

    Speedway could return if the price was right but I understand very well BSI have their price they want for it but at present that is higher than what the negotiators at Sky want to pay the problem is this team don't really know the sport they have just facts and figures no matter how much the production team and certain people give their imput the decision lays with money guys.

    I have put in a suggestion which I know is being looked into which would cut Sky's production costs and could make it more attractive package but would need some cooperation from some individuals and BSI, it's not for me to say more on here but as a fan I want it to return to our screens

     

    All of this I can totally see and agree with.

  16. Posted

    Can i just say.... I'm sick to the b****cks of ball sports (most esp Football) on Sky. Come on Sky give the less supported sports a break and continue coverage. Its not like we're asking for more, just to remain at what always existed. I'm going to "try" and remain positive until theres an announcement.

     

    They are! The other week when the only football on all weekend was Spanish between 7 and 11 due to the FA Cup, the following sports were on:- Second tier Rugby Union, indoor Hockey, speed Snooker and Netball. Bottom line is that Speedway has to compete with these sports for it's television coverage. As it stands Sky have now got more favourable financial deals in place for the likes of Netball, Basketball and Ice Hockey than what they pay to televise Speedway. A lot of minority sports are willing to offer the coverage for free bar the production costs.

     

    I am also of the opinion that all Sky Sports cares about is it's audience in Football and Cricket. As along as the audience are achieved due to these sports, they get their money back.

     

    here's hoping ESPN step in then, you get that Channel included in the Virgin XL subscription and don't need the other sports channels.

     

    ESPN in it's current guise will not be around much longer. Likely to be more exclusive with high concentration on Football from South America, Italy and Germany.

    • Like 2

  17. Posted

    That is if they are loaded and can afford to do both,most people cant.

     

    If they can get into the stadium within 10 mins of leaving there leicester homes then maybe they should be in the team :rofl:

     

    Didnt the bees come to BP before and several top riders dropped out last min,

     

    If they are loaded.....well that will be the case throughout the season and has been for the past two seasons, Tigers/City often clash against on the same day as Lions but at differing times. The decision is up to the individual. So it's irrelevant really about the Coventry game.

     

    I could personally leave home at 7.20pm and be there for tapes up at Beaumont Park. The choice is again the individual's. The two don't clash, if you are willing to miss ten minutes of either event you can still make it.

  18. Posted · Edited by Hazzman

    I mentioned this 2 pages ago aswel as coventry city who are chasing promotion are home that day, so this match is against 2 big local football matches,

     

    I think leicester should bring in andersen & barker if available and give the reserves a night off.

     

    Except Coventry will be kicking off at 3pm leaving more than enough time to be there for tapes up.

     

    The Derby v Leicester game will however be kicking off at 5.20pm. Still should be finished by 7.20pm, leaving local a good chance to watch the game on the box and still be at the Speedway if they wish.

  19. Posted

    Couple of things: Nice to hear these riders want to join us, must be the reptuation as ontime payers of money.

     

    Encouraged that win or lose, this is a team which if the track changes work will be excellent team to watch and support. Will certainly try to visit early on next season. Bit of a tail but Graversen is good for a few points at home and here's hoping one of the other three have a breakthrough season.

  21. Posted

    TBH I'm most surprised to see you actually admit to that . now if you could get some of the other blinkered Lions fans who post on Leicester threads to adopt a similar attitude maybe some of the more open minded leicester fans may come back . that would make the threads a lot more interesting than just the 6 or so regulars who post the same defensive and boring rubbish every time someone posts with a different view .

     

    Jim,

     

    I think the majority know the track isn't good and it needs adapting. Little tweaks have been made and some successful, others not. Some don't agree with Hemsley's way (stubborness), others more supportive (still learning) whilst some who can't work out tbh are very supportive of the promotion.

     

    However, the constant posts knocking the track, knocking the fans, knocking the promotion are not constructive in any manner. If an opinion is to say 'I don't like the track for reasons a, b and c. I think the following should be done'. Fair enough. But just a stream of the same opinion of 'this is crap' is tiresome.

    • Like 2
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