Tai Woffinden book at £8.99

[Guest]

24 minutes ago, chunky said:

I love commenting expertly! Thanks for the tip about the Facebook group. If I need any help with it, could I ask you? Or would it be better for me to ask a real journalist like gustix?

...who was once sent to report AS SPORT some game with men chucking feathered pointed items at a cork circle with numbers on it. I fell asleep after five minutes.

[BWitcher 12,453]

1 hour ago, gustix said:

...who was once sent to report AS SPORT some game with men chucking feathered pointed items at a cork circle with numbers on it. I fell asleep after five minutes.

Good to see you were professional and took your job seriously.

[chunky 6,096]

15 minutes ago, BWitcher said:

Good to see you were professional and took your job seriously.

Professional enough to think it was made of cork...

[czechhero 32]

I don’t know about you, but I absolutely refuse to buy anything that’s not priced in guineas. 

[Hawk127 1,359]

Now number 10 in the Hardback non fiction according to the Times on Saturday. Does not state how many sold but the fact that it is in the chart is something 

[iris123 20,991]

Guess Gustix got a copy then to help boost sales

[cityrebel 2,960]

1 hour ago, Hawk127 said:

Now number 10 in the Hardback non fiction according to the Times on Saturday. Does not state how many sold but the fact that it is in the chart is something 

Incredible, I'd say.

[Mike.Butler 601]

its on my Christmas list....

[BWitcher 12,453]

13 hours ago, Hawk127 said:

Now number 10 in the Hardback non fiction according to the Times on Saturday. Does not state how many sold but the fact that it is in the chart is something 

Once again Woffinden laughs in the face of his jealous detractors.
 

 

Edited October 7, 2019 by BWitcher

[BWitcher 12,453]

13 hours ago, iris123 said:

Guess Gustix got a copy then to help boost sales

And Adonis, perhaps he's reading it on his latest 'holiday' from the forum.

[Tigerblade 221]

If anyone has a Kobo instead of a Kindle (a Kobo is Rakuten/play.com version of a Kindle) and in the Kobo VIP club, I got mine at £5.47, although I don't know if it's still that price.  Someone has given it 5 stars, so there's 2 of us at least that own one! I've not got around to it yet. 

[OldHawk 72]

I am very late posting any comment to this as I waited until the book was under £5.

I have to say that I feel the book was ill advised.

Tai comes over a a bit of a money grabber with little thought for British speedway for which he has not done anything like enough to help a sport in crisis.

He admits deciding to be British to gain a 10k sponsorship offered only to brits and says his heart breaks when he sees the Aussies pulling on their Australian race jackets.

He is really an Australian and his disregard the UK speedway says it all. For me it doesn't cast him in a good light at all.

 

 

[RobMcCaffery 2,752]

12 minutes ago, OldHawk said:

I am very late posting any comment to this as I waited until the book was under £5.

I have to say that I feel the book was ill advised.

Tai comes over a a bit of a money grabber with little thought for British speedway for which he has not done anything like enough to help a sport in crisis.

He admits deciding to be British to gain a 10k sponsorship offered only to brits and says his heart breaks when he sees the Aussies pulling on their Australian race jackets.

He is really an Australian and his disregard the UK speedway says it all. For me it doesn't cast him in a good light at all.

 

 

I agree entirely. He clearly states that he considers himself an Aussie and that he only rode for GB to satisfy a generous sponsor. I had hoped for insight into matters that Tai had been involved with. All I got was to see the spark of ruthlessness that makes many champions. I prefer the ones that aren't quite so cynical and ruthless. There were some who were a joy to know.

I have long defended Tai as British. Scunthorpe is definitely British and his father Rob most definitely was. I'd hoped to finish the book on Tai's side. Sadly my reaction is the opposite. He is a modern man. I prefer the past.....

On a production note, it was pretty clear which bits were inserted by Peter Oakes wholesale - the historical back-up to a point being made, for example. 

It was an interesting read but left me greatly saddened. It'll be hard to support the guy in the SGP, knowing his only interest in racing for GB is professional. He's not one of us. I wish he was. I'd rather have a determined, sincere British failure than an Aussie success pretending to be a Brit. Before reading this book there is no way I would have said that, so it was a worthwhile, if misguided read. With someone as authoritative as Peter Oakes behind the project it's pretty clear that Tai got his way. 

I bought my copy on Kindle for £5.03. It was just about value for money, mainly as an exercise in Peter Oakes' knowledge and superb writing ability on our sport.

 

 

Edited February 17, 2020 by RobMcCaffery

[Ben91 1,743]

Got Tai’s book for Christmas, I wouldn’t have bought it myself seeing as Tai is still an active rider which for me means I’m buying an incomplete story. As a Rye House fan of course I was interested to see what he has to say about his time at the club however there wasn’t too much about it (understandable considering what Tai has gone on to achieve). 

I think Tai’s stance on the British/Australian thing has always been clear so it came as no surprise to me. I don’t see why it is an issue either. He is both British and Australian, people can have more than one nationality and be passionate about both. As a Brit myself we benefit from having one of the best riders in the world competing for us, he is the ultimate professional and is trying to push for the national team to become a more professional outfit. That can’t be a bad thing. 

The book isn’t a classic, it highlights how good Tai and his team are at marketing though. The book was on sale in high street shops and supermarkets, for a book about a fringe sport like Speedway to be in those markets is incredible promotion. Hopefully in 10-15 years, or whenever Tai hangs up his kevlars he will revisit his career in another all-encompassing memoir. 

[RobMcCaffery 2,752]

16 minutes ago, Ben91 said:

Got Tai’s book for Christmas, I wouldn’t have bought it myself seeing as Tai is still an active rider which for me means I’m buying an incomplete story. As a Rye House fan of course I was interested to see what he has to say about his time at the club however there wasn’t too much about it (understandable considering what Tai has gone on to achieve). 

I think Tai’s stance on the British/Australian thing has always been clear so it came as no surprise to me. I don’t see why it is an issue either. He is both British and Australian, people can have more than one nationality and be passionate about both. As a Brit myself we benefit from having one of the best riders in the world competing for us, he is the ultimate professional and is trying to push for the national team to become a more professional outfit. That can’t be a bad thing. 

The book isn’t a classic, it highlights how good Tai and his team are at marketing though. The book was on sale in high street shops and supermarkets, for a book about a fringe sport like Speedway to be in those markets is incredible promotion. Hopefully in 10-15 years, or whenever Tai hangs up his kevlars he will revisit his career in another all-encompassing memoir. 

The marketing is impressive. I disagree with you that he is both British and Australian in his mind. It's pretty clear in the book that Australia is number 1 to him and there is no number 2. Riding for GB is just a business deal like riding for Sparta Wroclaw. 

I would have liked to hear more of his speedway past but he really only seemed to want to justify himself and his actions.