xvcjk 79 Posted June 21, 2022 Horrible day for everyone involved with Newcastle speedway. Can only hope there is someone out there willing to take over for next season. Not a great situation for British Speedway as we could now be looking at Newcastle, Birmingham and ourselves not coming to tapes next season. The revival of Oxford this season and hopefully Workington (Northside) next season gives us hope for the future but it isn’t looking good with more tracks / teams being closed down. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gambo95 91 Posted June 21, 2022 2 hours ago, Sings4Speedway said: The bigger problems aside from making the sport look a total shambles is the impact on other clubs Redcar for example went there, spent a fortune on rider points and will have no corresponding home fixture to help cover this deficit. Any season ticket holder who hasn't seen Newcastle visit their track will have lost out this year. The governing body that accepted this crock pot team into the league should also be accountable for the demise. All that has been achieved is a promotor has made back some of his initial losses and scarpered leaving everyone else to pick up the pieces. Devastating news from Newcastle. On the point about meetings. What happened last year when Redcar had Eastbourne at home but didn't have to go to Eastbourne? Would expect the same thing to happen this year (if they had to pay something last year I would expect them to get something back this year). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ray c 2,299 Posted June 21, 2022 Surely the time is coming for one top league and a development league or similar just an option 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KEITH M 850 Posted June 21, 2022 Don’t know if it’s been mentioned or even exists anymore but don’t clubs have to pay a massive fine if they withdraw in the middle of a season? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,278 Posted June 21, 2022 (edited) 10 minutes ago, KEITH M said: Don’t know if it’s been mentioned or even exists anymore but don’t clubs have to pay a massive fine if they withdraw in the middle of a season? Used to be a "bond" to pay creditors etc if it all went "T" up... I think that got changed to "x" amount of total assets needed given having the cash to put up the bond became prohibitive for some.. Bottom line is, as an example, if you are losing £5k a week with 10 weeks left and can potentially get find £20k for stopping, you are still better off... NB. And if you have other solvent businesses the last thing you want to do is declare bankruptcy given all the ramifications that this would bring.. Edited June 21, 2022 by mikebv Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fina 78 Posted June 21, 2022 7 minutes ago, KEITH M said: Don’t know if it’s been mentioned or even exists anymore but don’t clubs have to pay a massive fine if they withdraw in the middle of a season? cant see what the point of that would be if the club is already insolvent & with mention of a hefty debt to HMRC for unpaid VAT from previous ownership it sounds like Newcastle is. Surely all it would do is put a possible buyer off & if club went to liquidation most of the fine would be written off when any assets shared among creditors. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Roger Jacobs 554 Posted June 21, 2022 4 hours ago, Jaizer said: Again, grant chose to put this cheap team together..if you go back and read messaged from THJ there's numerous evidence of this. Nothing to do with the league set up!!! The league set-up didn't help, because with the points limit that was chosen they must have known there weren't enough riders to ensure a reasonable distribution. Certain teams must have pushed for the higher points limit to suit their own needs, e.g. three established heat leaders and/or new imports in preference to the Rising Star programme. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jaizer 2,864 Posted June 21, 2022 15 minutes ago, Roger Jacobs said: The league set-up didn't help, because with the points limit that was chosen they must have known there weren't enough riders to ensure a reasonable distribution. Certain teams must have pushed for the higher points limit to suit their own needs, e.g. three established heat leaders and/or new imports in preference to the Rising Star programme. Don't really know who would've, of top 6 in the league only Scunthorpe started season with anything other than an all British reserve pairing Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fromafar 10,363 Posted June 21, 2022 45 minutes ago, ray c said: Surely the time is coming for one top league and a development league or similar just an option How many years have people been saying that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nickinho 429 Posted June 21, 2022 1 hour ago, Shadders said: Nobody likes to see a speedway club close down. I’ve seen my club go to the wall twice and it ain’t nice. It was always gonna be a struggle with the team that was put together. Just not competitive Nothing to do with having a competitive team if the cause of the closure is running out of money. It was a half-assed promotion team with no real drive. Charlatans basically. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyPresley 102 Posted June 21, 2022 22 minutes ago, Roger Jacobs said: The league set-up didn't help, because with the points limit that was chosen they must have known there weren't enough riders to ensure a reasonable distribution. Certain teams must have pushed for the higher points limit to suit their own needs, e.g. three established heat leaders and/or new imports in preference to the Rising Star programme. Exactly this 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jaizer 2,864 Posted June 21, 2022 (edited) 54 minutes ago, ray c said: Surely the time is coming for one top league and a development league or similar just an option Did it work in 96 last time it was tried? I was a mere naive 12 year old at the time and memory was it wasn't great and was disparity between the sides. I remember Dukie ermelenko being pretty good at shawfield though. Then again that might have been slighted by it being "the Scottish monarchs" Edited June 21, 2022 by Jaizer . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wardey 36 Posted June 21, 2022 35 minutes ago, Fina said: cant see what the point of that would be if the club is already insolvent & with mention of a hefty debt to HMRC for unpaid VAT from previous ownership it sounds like Newcastle is. Surely all it would do is put a possible buyer off & if club went to liquidation most of the fine would be written off when any assets shared among creditors. Hi Fina. The VAT debt from the previous owners was already dealt with under the previous Ltd Co entity that Rob & Co took over. When I say dealt with...that business was declared bankrupt. Then a new Ltd Co was formed which is the current business. Hope that helps 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Roger Jacobs 554 Posted June 21, 2022 9 minutes ago, Jaizer said: Did it work in 96 last time it was tried? I was a mere naive 12 year old at the time and memory was it wasn't great and was disparity between the sides. I remember Dukie ermelenko being pretty good at shawfield though. Then again that might have been slighted by it being "the Scottish monarchs" It failed. Thanks to vested self-interest the "top" clubs didn't release riders for those brave enough to move "up". Consequently, there were uncompetitive teams, and the whole point of the amalgamated league was wasted. 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
penchev 342 Posted June 21, 2022 (edited) Obvious there is a problem with the sport in this country rye house , Swindon , Somerset , Eastbourne, Lakeside and now Newcastle all closed in such a short space of time , also Edinburgh facing up to finding a new home , and rumours that Poole are in similar situation with there stadium? (8 clubs now face it that’s a problem ) is it the polish ruling that is having an effect and the lack of riders being available? Kings Lynn for example being told sorry but NKI is being recalled, absolutely bonkers that Newcastle probably faced the problems of riders committing to the club as it was not stable after last season and some riders would find it too big a gamble to sign for them? Some clubs are thriving but across the board it does not seem to be enough ? Edited June 21, 2022 by penchev Share this post Link to post Share on other sites