Fen Tigers Fans Meeting Sunday 1st August 2pm

[Nikko 181]

Fen Tigers Fans Meeting, Fenman Bar, West Row Stadium, Sunday 1st August 2pm.

 

Further to numerous phone calls, emails and communications since the announcement that the Fen Tigers would be closed for the remainder of the 2010 season a meeting has been arranged for Sunday at 2pm where fans can get together to discuss possibilities for the future.

 

The meeting has been arranged with the full cooperation of Mildenhall Stadium owner Dave Coventry who was happy to open up his facilities to the fans. At a difficult time for the track itself it shows his commitment to having speedway at the West Row track and Dave will be in attendance.

 

Former Mildenhall Speedway Commercial Manager Neil "Nikko" Day arranged the meeting after speaking to a number of fans on Thursday who wanted to get together to see what could be done.

 

Day is keen to stress that the meeting will not be able to give specific answers to what has happened over the past few weeks but is the chance for the fans, sponsors etc to get together to try and move forward and show people, including any potential new owners the depth of feeling and size of fan base that the Fen Tigers have.

 

Day confirmed that he will be asking Team Manager John Adams and Team Sponsor Neil Watson from Art and Stitch to attend as both have many years experience in speedway.

[mummycaz 0]

We will be there Neil. Thanks for getting this organised so quickly. Lets hope that many supporters, riders, track staff etc. can attend. Will be great to all get together to discuss the future.

[rhidassa 73]

Unsure if I'll be able to (attending a festival in Hertfordshire Saturday then going home late/early doors Sat night/Sun morning), but if I'm able to I'll pop along.

[Nikko 181]

Hopefully some of you will have heard the interview on BBC Radio Suffolk on Friday teatime, there should be a followup interview on their breakfasy show on Monday. Thanks to BBC Radio Suffolk for their interest.

 

Now BBC Look East have also contacted me today to ask if they can come to the meeting and film some interviews so hopefully as many of you can make it as possible to show your support.

 

As always with local news if something else happens that takes priority then they may be called elsewhere so lets hope its a slow news day tomorrow and we can get the Fen Tigers on the Sunday night news.

 

Finally many thanks to Dave Coventry again for agreeing to let us have the Fenman Bar tomorrow and agreeing to let the BBC film at the stadium.

 

Hopefully see you all tomorrow.

 

Regards

 

Nikko

Edited July 31, 2010 by Nikko

[Nikko 181]

Just another gentle reminder of todays Fans Meeting at 2pm at the stadium.

 

On my way up from Kent now so look forward to seeing as many of you as possible this afternoon.

 

Regards

 

Nikko

[Young51 156]

Just another gentle reminder of todays Fans Meeting at 2pm at the stadium.

 

On my way up from Kent now so look forward to seeing as many of you as possible this afternoon.

 

Regards

 

Nikko

Good luck to everyone there at Mildenhall.I hope speedway is up and running again sooner rather than later

[bruno 1,790]

yeh good luck to everyone i enjoyed my one and only visit there for the 4s even tho it was rained off.lets hope something can be sorted

[cityrebel 2,960]

any news from the fans meeting today?

[Nikko 181]

any news from the fans meeting today?

 

A brief summary of yesterdays meeting.

-----------------------------------------------------

 

Approximately 200 fans turned up to the meeting along with riders Barrie Evans, Joe Jacobs and Nick Laurence as well as Academy riders Adam Portwood, Sam Woods and Niall Strudwick.

 

In all I would say it was a very positive meeting (hope fans will post their thoughts over the coming days).

 

Highlights:

 

Dave Coventry confirmed there had been talks with the BSPA and the previous promotion from himself and a couple of interested parties but nothing could be agreed. He confirmed that the BSPA had informed him that as there was no resolution by last Wednesday the club would not be able to ride again this season in the NL. Dave also confirmed some of the details regarding the current fight the stadium faces but again was confident of a positive outcome. Back to the Fen Tigers Dave is very keen to ensure that the Fen Tigers ride in the NL again in 2011 and will be looking to discuss this with the BSPA/any interested parties again this week.

 

John Adams confirmed that he wanted to finish what he had started, and wanted to come back next season and win the league in 2011 as the chance was taken from us all in 2010. He thanked all the riders and fans for their support.

 

I confirmed that we would continue to run the Nikko Racing Fen Tigers Academy for the remainder of the year. I informed the fans that I had received phone calls from numerous clubs and promoters asking if we could take our Academy team to run second halfs which I am more than happy to do to keep the Fen Tigers name racing in 2010. There was also talk of running some Fen Tigers Select meetings away this season, which we will look into.

 

Following on from a Q&A session, where a number of fans raised some very good ideas, we are also happy to confirm the following:

 

- The end of season presentation will still take place in October as planned and the Supporters Club will keep everyone up to date on this.

 

- A fans committee was agreed, to keep things ticking over the coming months. The committee, made up of local fans, will meet to discuss fundraising, awareness campains etc to ensure that any new promotion knows that there is a solid group behind them. The committee will keep in regular touch with Dave Coventry, John Adams and myself.

 

Finally it was good to see the BBC turn up and they recorded some interviews for last nights BBC Local East and we are again due to be on BBC Radio Suffolk this morning.

 

Hope that helps, and we will continue to post any news we get on this forum in the future.

 

Regards

 

Nikko

[neil3065 21]

While its disappointing that the confirmation has been receieved that what was a promising 2010 season has come to a premature end, and the team has been broken up - let's hope that the club can re-group over the winter and come back stronger for 2011.

 

Mildenhall has always had a loyal fan-base, even in the third tier, with what's been a disjointed fixture list format in recent seasons. The club has a loyal band of volunteers who have worked hard in assisting successive promtions to run the club. The gates have been disappointing this season, but that seems to have been down to a lack of organisation in early meetings.

 

The key thing that any prospective promotion needs to bring is leadership - organisation and co-ordination from the top, to get everyone working together for the good of the club, to harness that willingness of the volunteers in staging consistently well promoted Speedway. If that can be achieved, then I've no doubt that gates will rise from this season's average to higher figures that have been seen in previous years.

Edited August 2, 2010 by neil3065

[Icicle 896]

The very best of luck to all at Mildenhall...great wee place & great people...It's a pity I don't have thousands of pounds to help!

 

Hope to visit & see Midly racing again in 2011!!

 

The very best of luck to all at Mildenhall...great wee place & great people...It's a pity I don't have thousands of pounds to help!

 

Hope to visit & see Midly racing again in 2011!!

[gibralta 1]

While its disappointing that the confirmation has been receieved that what was a promising 2010 season has come to a premature end, and the team has been broken up - let's hope that the club can re-group over the winter and come back stronger for 2011.

 

Mildenhall has always had a loyal fan-base, even in the third tier, with what's been a disjointed fixture list format in recent seasons. The club has a loyal band of volunteers who have worked hard in assisting successive promtions to run the club. The gates have been disappointing this season, but that seems to have been down to a lack of organisation in early meetings.

 

The key thing that any prospective promotion needs to bring is leadership - organisation and co-ordination from the top, to get everyone working together for the good of the club, to harness that willingness of the volunteers in staging consistently well promoted Speedway. If that can be achieved, then I've no doubt that gates will rise from this season's average to higher figures that have been seen in previous years.

Very truthful post Neil - I'm sure no one could justifiably disagree with a single word of it.

[Laser558 0]

Do such things as open licences still apply so that individual meetings could be run just to keep speedway going at Mildenhall which was a bit like Rye House use to run many years ago?