Humphrey Appleby 13,960 Posted January 3, 2016 Sadly the people who run the sport do so for their own ends and there is no cohesive plan for the sport in this country. It has been mentioned before but maybe someone independent from the day to day running of a club could be the answer. A 'Bernie Eccleston' type character (for all his faults) has grown F1 massively from a self centered sport with everyone fighting for their own interests into a global phenomenon. There's no way that speedway could even be in that league but there are lessons to be learned from someone who's job description is the growth of the sport. I would suggest getting the youth of the world interested would be a great start. F1 was always associated with the rich and famous and glamour, and Bernie Ecclestone merely leveraged that. Barry Hearn took popular indoor pastimes with low setup costs whose participants were paid a pittance, and marketed them to television as cheap ways of filling airtime. Speedway has none of those advantages - expensive to run, easily affected by the weather, and not a sport followed by monied classes. So yes it needs an independent entrepreneur, but no independent entrepreneur would touch the sport with a bargepole because it represent a risky and most likely poor investment. John Postlethwaite was probably the closest the sport came in recent times, but even with F1 marketing experience and backing from a self-declared blue chip company, was not able to take speedway to anything approaching a major league sport. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
speedibee 3,091 Posted January 3, 2016 F1 was always associated with the rich and famous and glamour, and Bernie Ecclestone merely leveraged that. Barry Hearn took popular indoor pastimes with low setup costs whose participants were paid a pittance, and marketed them to television as cheap ways of filling airtime. Speedway has none of those advantages - expensive to run, easily affected by the weather, and not a sport followed by monied classes. So yes it needs an independent entrepreneur, but no independent entrepreneur would touch the sport with a bargepole because it represent a risky and most likely poor investment. John Postlethwaite was probably the closest the sport came in recent times, but even with F1 marketing experience and backing from a self-declared blue chip company, was not able to take speedway to anything approaching a major league sport. Wasn't postlethwaite only involved in the GP . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pugwash 3,208 Posted January 3, 2016 Wasn't postlethwaite only involved in the GP . Reading in the EL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
speedibee 3,091 Posted January 3, 2016 Reading in the EL oh yea I remember , Jumped ship when he found out he had to Actually pay riders/transfer fees , instead of cherry picking other peoples assets for free Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PHILIPRISING 7,298 Posted January 3, 2016 (edited) POSTLERWAITE was commercial director at Benetton when Michael Schumacher was their lead driver and also had an executive position at Pepsi-Cola before setting up BSI under the umbrella of Benfield Greig, the blue chip company that Humphrey alludes to. The reasons why JP became disillusioned with British speedway and sold Reading were not exactly as speedibee appears to suggest. Edited January 3, 2016 by PHILIPRISING Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Humphrey Appleby 13,960 Posted January 3, 2016 The reasons why JP became disillusioned with British speedway and sold Reading were not exactly as speedibee appears to suggest. Yes, because he was losing money at Reading and on other enterprises. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Long Eye 278 Posted January 3, 2016 Turn speedway into a betting sport so there is less reliance on dribbling idiots coming throuhg the turnstiles. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Garry1603 353 Posted January 3, 2016 Turn speedway into a betting sport so there is less reliance on dribbling idiots coming throuhg the turnstiles. Unfortunately speedway is too easy to 'fix' and I think it would lead to corruption and further bad publicity. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PHILIPRISING 7,298 Posted January 3, 2016 Yes, because he was losing money at Reading and on other enterprises. THE prime reason why he bought into Reading was on the premise that they would have a new stadium and one that would be available throughout the week and offer modern corporate facilities. Didn't always agree with John and had plenty of disagreements with him but was very surprised that he went in without being 100 per cent sure that the new Smallmead would rise from the ashes of the old. He was also bitterly upset at losing the championship play-off to Peterborough the previous season. JP is passionate about everything he gets involved with and always wants to be a winner. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
speedibee 3,091 Posted January 3, 2016 THE prime reason why he bought into Reading was on the premise that they would have a new stadium and one that would be available throughout the week and offer modern corporate facilities. Didn't always agree with John and had plenty of disagreements with him but was very surprised that he went in without being 100 per cent sure that the new Smallmead would rise from the ashes of the old. He was also bitterly upset at losing the championship play-off to Peterborough the previous season. JP is passionate about everything he gets involved with and always wants to be a winner. he was certainly on a Winner with BSI , sadly Britsh speedway was the loser , THE prime reason why he bought into Reading was on the premise that they would have a new stadium and one that would be available throughout the week and offer modern corporate facilities. Didn't always agree with John and had plenty of disagreements with him but was very surprised that he went in without being 100 per cent sure that the new Smallmead would rise from the ashes of the old. He was also bitterly upset at losing the championship play-off to Peterborough the previous season. JP is passionate about everything he gets involved with and always wants to be a winner. I assume he was bitterly dissapointed because someone else didn't build a new state fo the art stadium ,then let him have it for nothing and build their own business around his schedule . the land was available and still is as far as I know to build the stadium .so he should have spent his own Blue chip money instead of expecting someone else to spend theirs Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Humphrey Appleby 13,960 Posted January 3, 2016 THE prime reason why he bought into Reading was on the premise that they would have a new stadium and one that would be available throughout the week and offer modern corporate facilities. A supposedly astute businessman believed in promises from Gaming International? Even if it was going to happen, it would have been at least a couple of loss-making years away. I'm afraid running weekly speedway where you don't have pick of the plum dates or free access to the best riders is also a very different proposition to the SGP, even if you didn't have several other unsuccessful businesses to contend with. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PHILIPRISING 7,298 Posted January 3, 2016 A supposedly astute businessman believed in promises from Gaming International? Even if it was going to happen, it would have been at least a couple of loss-making years away. I'm afraid running weekly speedway where you don't have pick of the plum dates or free access to the best riders is also a very different proposition to the SGP, even if you didn't have several other unsuccessful businesses to contend with. AND those several unsuccessful businesses were? he was certainly on a Winner with BSI , sadly Britsh speedway was the loser , I assume he was bitterly dissapointed because someone else didn't build a new state fo the art stadium ,then let him have it for nothing and build their own business around his schedule . the land was available and still is as far as I know to build the stadium .so he should have spent his own Blue chip money instead of expecting someone else to spend theirs SOMEWHAT jaundiced view of the reality. Gaming International were at one stage hoping to jump on the casino bandwagon and would have welcomed a speedway tenant but when that prospect failed to materialise their enthusiasm waned to the point where we are now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
speedibee 3,091 Posted January 3, 2016 AND those several unsuccessful businesses were? SOMEWHAT jaundiced view of the reality. Gaming International were at one stage hoping to jump on the casino bandwagon and would have welcomed a speedway tenant but when that prospect failed to materialise their enthusiasm waned to the point where we are now. I could say the same about your views on matters , since everyone knows your employers are in the pockets of BSI .it's hardly surprising you wish to paint a rosy picture when the reality is Postlethwaites decisions were simply hard cold business . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iris123 20,994 Posted January 3, 2016 Bottom line is he tried and failed.You can try to pass the buck to someone else,just like when anything goes wrong with a BSI meeting.In the end he was the one who believed the wrong people or was out of his depth. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Trees 2,814 Posted January 3, 2016 Unfortunately speedway is too easy to 'fix' and I think it would lead to corruption and further bad publicity. Too right it is, hence why betting was prohibited for donkeys years ...... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
