Peterborough Panthers 2023

[Lurcher 52]

so it looks like 2024 really has been written off already.  Thats a real shame as once you miss a season it is normally over, look at what happened at Swindon,  :-( 

[TTT 1,229]

We was never going to run in 2024 because you have to declare your intentions at the AGM and that was impossible considering the short amount of time we had to get everything done by (AEPG were never going to go quietly)

Michael Tomalin said a while back on facebook that we may have to take a step back in order to take two steps forward so this isn't a shock to the system.

Keep the faith because AEPG are just using an intimidation / bully boy tactic in order to try and make people blink by thinking the game is up, If people give up hope then it means they'll give up the fight and by giving up the fight it means the pressure would be eased on AEPG who are already on the backfoot with Planning rejections, objections etc.

The consortium are Peterborough Speedway through and through so we know that we've got a team who'll give it their all for us and that's all we can ask for. Us fans just need to back them every step of the way.

[Elyboy 3]

On 11/10/2023 at 4:26 PM, OldNutter said:

Just come across a piece on the PT at https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/people/search-for-for-jobs-saving-solution-goes-on-after-east-of-england-showground-car-depot-plans-were-rejected-4400651 that shows that the objections to the EoS closure have put an effective and very painful boot on Butterfield's throat.  He has gone bleating to the council about the loss of 160 jobs if the DHL parking has to close down.  The article also comes clean and exposes what we already know that the DHL contract is his way of paying his loan on the site for the next FIVE years and that all of the closures of events were so that he could get somebody to pay him more than the events would pay while he got his development sorted out without having to do any work  himself.  Clearly, all those showground events need not have been evicted/rejected, never mind the close-down of the speedway for quite a while and the plans might well have slipped through without all this hoo-har if Butterfield had been less greedy.  It just shows how little research was done to study the local area and people rather that just opening a little office in the town and pretending to be a local.  At least now we know just how little this gang considered the people of Peterborough and surroundings.  The 160 jobs being claimed are just there to keep this awful lot in business to pedal their retirement fund plan along.

I hardly think the prospect of the transporters and pollution from that depot for the next five years is quite in line with the aims of the farmers who created the showground before the magic money tree growers came along and not quite what all of the neighbouring residents had in mind until they heard this real truth forced out.

Keep the boot on their throats and watch out for the next panic money-making plan to surface.

See the update in the ET that AEPG  been stopped using Dunblane Drive and using other entrance till new planning application in January  .

PCC just pushed problem on another group of residents without any consultation  I wonder  and hope this is a new application so people get a chance to object 

Save the showground for all the shows ,entertainment  leisure and sports not a factory  

[Bald Bloke 3,287]

3 hours ago, Crump99 said:

That'd be Mick Bratley with no official position who is trying to save the club as well as helping to organise, and attending, the Save Peterborough Speedway rally on Saturday Nov 18. One assumes that Buster will be there to offer his support and also address the fans who've filled his coffers during his tenure. The AEPG shackles are off now so he can explain what he's been playing at throughout 2023.

So are you saying MB isn't to believed, when he says things like

" Trust me, it really isn’t like that" and 

"The fence needed replacing during this close season anyway, it was rotten and held together by various bits and pieces.

It’s important to note that AEPG instructed Buster to do this otherwise they would have employed contractors to do it and send him the bill. It’s been estimated that the removal of everything will cost £25k to £30k. Buster is most definitely not the bad guy here." 

That i shouldn't believe what he is saying.. I thought he was 1 of the consortium of 6. 

[Bagpuss 10,781]

12 minutes ago, Bald Bloke said:

So are you saying MB isn't to believed, when he says things like

" Trust me, it really isn’t like that" and 

"The fence needed replacing during this close season anyway, it was rotten and held together by various bits and pieces.

It’s important to note that AEPG instructed Buster to do this otherwise they would have employed contractors to do it and send him the bill. It’s been estimated that the removal of everything will cost £25k to £30k. Buster is most definitely not the bad guy here." 

That i shouldn't believe what he is saying.. I thought he was 1 of the consortium of 6. 

If there was one person on this thread who I'd believe and who's word I'd trust it'd be Mick Bratley.

Edited November 14, 2023 by Bagpuss

[Bald Bloke 3,287]

1 minute ago, Bagpuss said:

I'd there was one person on this thread who I'd believe and who's word I'd trust it'd be Mick Bratley.

Exactly that. 

[chrismorton 332]

So is 2024 completely written off then?...I am appalled with Buster Chapmans antics over the course of this season and how he has let this happen..I still feel in different hands things could have been different.

[Haza 1,774]

33 minutes ago, chrismorton said:

So is 2024 completely written off then?...I am appalled with Buster Chapmans antics over the course of this season and how he has let this happen..I still feel in different hands things could have been different.

Have to agree should have been handed over to the consortium months ago then 2024 could they could have had half a chance to have sorted it with stadium owners  it really does look like the sale has been block deliberately from where I’m sitting . 

[Crump99 4,476]

16 hours ago, chrismorton said:

So is 2024 completely written off then?...I am appalled with Buster Chapman's antics over the course of this season and how he has let this happen..I still feel in different hands things could have been different.

Yes, yes as is everybody (well from Peterborough anyway), and possibly?

[Bald Bloke 3,287]

22 hours ago, Haza said:

Have to agree should have been handed over to the consortium months ago then 2024 could they could have had half a chance to have sorted it with stadium owners  it really does look like the sale has been block deliberately from where I’m sitting . 

It was for sale before the season started..  You can't just give it away. It has a value.. If MT had bought it like he said he was going to do 10/11 moths ago, and make it the "Man City of speedway", you  might of had half a chance, and work on the new site underway that he was going to buy.... People seem to forget that bit.  As i said in a previous post, I hope MT steps up this time round ! ,  and a price that both parties are happy with can be agreed.

If as some think, brown envelopes might be involved, we will find out soon enough. But as far as i know the club is still for sale, and negotiations are ongoing.

Edited November 15, 2023 by Bald Bloke

[Crump99 4,476]

On 11/15/2023 at 6:20 PM, Bald Bloke said:

It was for sale before the season started..  You can't just give it away. It has a value.. If MT had bought it like he said he was going to do 10/11 moths ago, and make it the "Man City of speedway", you  might of had half a chance, and work on the new site underway that he was going to buy.... People seem to forget that bit.  As i said in a previous post, I hope MT steps up this time round ! ,  and a price that both parties are happy with can be agreed.

If as some think, brown envelopes might be involved, we will find out soon enough. But as far as i know the club is still for sale, and negotiations are ongoing.

And the club said " Over the winter there was an on/off scenario whereby the club may have changed hands. However, given the uncertainty over the longevity of Peterborough Speedway, it was understandable that a sale did not take place" (what bit's to get? That's quite clear) and CJ said: " If I could afford it I would buy the speedway tomorrow, not at the price that he might be asking for, " so what value did he put on something which new owners would have to fight for extra time from the off and he himself claimed was only a one year situation? For a allegedly smart businessman he now owns something worth bugger all: a club without a home at the moment needing genuine people to fight for its future existence because the owner seemingly did bugger all in that direction in 2023. He was well aware of the situation and he could have at least have put up some resistance or sensibly stepped aside made it easier for someone else to have a go. Hanging it out until the end when you claim to have no interest and want out anyway makes no sense whatsoever, or perhaps it does because he's successfully taken down a more successful local rival and plundered their assets for his truelove. Perhaps that was the calculation?

Whatever though, it's not too difficult for people, rightly or wrongly, to feel uneasy about the situation and question it. I doubt that we'll ever find out anything, if there is anything to find out of course, so I will not be holding my breath on that one.

Edited November 16, 2023 by Crump99

[cowboy cookie returns? 747]

12 hours ago, Bald Bloke said:

It was for sale before the season started..  You can't just give it away. It has a value.. If MT had bought it like he said he was going to do 10/11 moths ago, and make it the "Man City of speedway", you  might of had half a chance, and work on the new site underway that he was going to buy.... People seem to forget that bit.  As i said in a previous post, I hope MT steps up this time round ! ,  and a price that both parties are happy with can be agreed.

If as some think, brown envelopes might be involved, we will find out soon enough. But as far as i know the club is still for sale, and negotiations are ongoing.

I don’t get why MT is given a hard time. It’s perfectly possible that the figure the club was up for sale for last winter coupled with cost of developing any new site made it unviable. Or there was/is no guarantee of finding a new site.

As a business man either of those scenarios would make it impossible to go ahead with a purchase as it makes the club almost worthless from a financial point of view.

As an individual would you have brought a house last November that you knew was going to be demolished the following October that would then have zero value.

I’m not knocking the efforts to keep your great club going I wish you all the best. 

[Crump99 4,476]

3 hours ago, cowboy cookie returns? said:

I don’t get why MT is given a hard time.

Built up expectations, was continually playing smart and cryptic on social media (aided/hindered by Flappy who he thankfully seems to have shaken off at the moment at least) but he hadn't seemingly done the deal. Or if he thought he had then it was a sharp introduction in to the world of shark infested custard and Butterfield's intransigence. He's not the first and he'll not be the last but if he's serious about a Panthers future then perhaps he's learnt that with this lot and people like Butterfield it's securely dotting the i's and crossing the t's first and sing your praises second. Of course he could have backed out himself and left Chapman in the lurch, who knows?

Edited November 16, 2023 by Crump99

[TTT 1,229]

Good to see Richie Hawkins at the protest today, He's shown more support to Peterborough Speedway during these tough times than Buster Chapman which says it all really.

I'll repay the compliment by cheering on his Witches next season whilst we sit the season out and hopefully others will too instead of heading down to the AFA to line Busters pockets after he signs multiple 2023 Panthers riders in an attempt to lure you in.

[Arch Stanton 2,255]

19 minutes ago, TTT said:

Good to see Richie Hawkins at the protest today, He's shown more support to Peterborough Speedway during these tough times than Buster Chapman which says it all really.

I'll repay the compliment by cheering on his Witches next season whilst we sit the season out and hopefully others will too instead of heading down to the AFA to line Busters pockets after he signs multiple 2023 Panthers riders in an attempt to lure you in.

https://x.com/rhr_211/status/1725934252108202118?s=61&t=WGGG_bqEEeOH78cfmD9Reg