Brummies 2024...

[Najjer 2,890]

On 12/21/2023 at 8:21 AM, HGould said:

Tolley in the Star.

Claims to have spent ballpark £300k in past 2 seasons and may be another 70k on top.

Claims to have spoken to Lindgren and "Russians", and "If say Bartosz Zmarzlik wanted to ride in this Country next season we wouldn't be frighted about what the money would be"

Goes on to say he is looking to bring in at least one rider "of GP standard"

Says at end that in further article NEXT WEEK "exciting news for Brummies fans ....and a new challenge way beyond riding in the Premiership"

 

Promotors just can’t help themselves, can they? Almost bragging and wanting a pat on the back to say well done about how much you’ve spent - yet all this does is just show utter incompetence of how he’s spent that money. Poor sides assembled, poor results attained, poor management and worst of all, so far absolutely nothing to entice large numbers of fans (new and old) through the turnstiles - that is the biggest mistake of all.

I really hope 2024 and beyond is successful for Birmingham as it could (and should) have the makings of being a very successful speedway team with a decent stadium and facility and big numbers of surrounding areas to tap into for speedway fans but you can’t help but feel it’s got a common theme to it with other previous owners and clubs dotted round the country.

[FishersGate 522]

35 minutes ago, Najjer said:

Promotors just can’t help themselves, can they? Almost bragging and wanting a pat on the back to say well done about how much you’ve spent - yet all this does is just show utter incompetence of how he’s spent that money. Poor sides assembled, poor results attained, poor management and worst of all, so far absolutely nothing to entice large numbers of fans (new and old) through the turnstiles - that is the biggest mistake of all.

I really hope 2024 and beyond is successful for Birmingham as it could (and should) have the makings of being a very successful speedway team with a decent stadium and facility and big numbers of surrounding areas to tap into for speedway fans but you can’t help but feel it’s got a common theme to it with other previous owners and clubs dotted round the country.

Imagine what clubs like Edinburgh, Redcar, Workington could do with that backing? They would be right up there I reckon mixing it up building even better sides assembled 

[25yearfan 476]

Fair play to Tolley for putting huge amounts into bankroll speedway in Birmingham and also provide the few other tracks who make money another team to ride against thus helping to keep the League going. But one day he will tire of losing money at such an alarming rate so will get out and then who else would be prepared to take on the reins?

 

Trouble is with speedway is the ageing fanbase, its an over 60's club and kids aren't interested or/and have no idea it exists. I suspect if you went into Ipswich Town Centre today with a clipboard and asked people who look like they are under 20 years old what is speedway a large percentage would have no idea and Ipswich is one of British speedways hotbeds and still get decent crowds.

 

Birmingham is like London in that much of the population are ethnics who don't have any interest and likely don't know speedway exists while many of the original White British population have moved away from the City. London had speedway 5 nights a week in the immediate post war years which was before the ethnic migrations to this Country and as late as 1971 London had four speedway teams. Smaller Cities and Towns seem to fare better as knowledge of speedways existence is much more visible and is seen as part of the "fabric" of the area. - I think nowadays London could maybe support one speedway team but it would need a brave person prepared to sp*nk money at a level similar to Nigel Tolley in order to make it happen.

 

The outside viewlines at Perry Bar aren't great but I suspect that more fans would put up with this if a successful promotion was in charge. And going with my instincts I'll be surprised if the Brummies 2024 are challenging to even get into the play off's.

 

Many speedway fans have also been under the impression that the One stop shopping Centre wasn't available anymore for people going to speedway but its been mentioned on here in recent posts that is not technically the case if one knows the parking rules there. Surely the speedway promotion could make this clearer?

Edited December 23, 2023 by 25yearfan

[Toady 231]

I don’t think they could have made any clearer 

BIRMINGHAM Speedway would like to update supporters attending racenights at Perry Barr in 2023 with the following car parking updates.

The previous agreement with the One Stop Shopping centre is NO longer in place and supporters are advised to adhere to the rules displayed should they choose to park there.

Stadium Car Parking remains for just £3 while the Club now also have free parking available at Bracebridge Engineering and Kalsi Kitchens on the A34 Walsall Road.

Season Ticket holders can now park on the VIP Car Park inside the stadium near the changing rooms - however please note there are only a number of spaces available and these will be taken on a first come, first served basis.

[bigcatdiary 3,165]

1 hour ago, Najjer said:

Promotors just can’t help themselves, can they? Almost bragging and wanting a pat on the back to say well done about how much you’ve spent - yet all this does is just show utter incompetence of how he’s spent that money. Poor sides assembled, poor results attained, poor management and worst of all, so far absolutely nothing to entice large numbers of fans (new and old) through the turnstiles - that is the biggest mistake of all.

I really hope 2024 and beyond is successful for Birmingham as it could (and should) have the makings of being a very successful speedway team with a decent stadium and facility and big numbers of surrounding areas to tap into for speedway fans but you can’t help but feel it’s got a common theme to it with other previous owners and clubs dotted round the country.

And then signs Sam Ermolenko as team manager, who has shown in his tv summaries that his only qualification is a degree in talking complete bollox.

[uk_martin 1,606]

42 minutes ago, Toady said:

I don’t think they could have made any clearer 

BIRMINGHAM Speedway would like to update supporters attending racenights at Perry Barr in 2023 with the following car parking updates.

The previous agreement with the One Stop Shopping centre is NO longer in place and supporters are advised to adhere to the rules displayed should they choose to park there.

Stadium Car Parking remains for just £3 while the Club now also have free parking available at Bracebridge Engineering and Kalsi Kitchens on the A34 Walsall Road.

The whole point of this "non-message" was to highlight that the Bracebridge Engineering and Kalsi Kitchens options were open to the fans. Which is not to say that they weren't "unofficially" open to the fans before, as many had been parking there anyway for many years already. Another of Laurence Rogers's "smoke and mirrors" efforts to make out that the fans were getting something out of some kind of new sponsorship deal, thereby also highlighting that more and more sponsors were coming on board.

As has been said already, the parking at the One Stop Shopping Centre, as long as the rules were adhered to meant that anyone parking after 4pm would have free parking until the end of the meeting without any problems, it's just couched in a form of words that puts doubt in the minds of people who want solutions spoon fed to them, rather than working things out for themselves.

[FishersGate 522]

1 hour ago, bigcatdiary said:

And then signs Sam Ermolenko as team manager, who has shown in his tv summaries that his only qualification is a degree in talking complete bollox.

Dave Helmsley wanted him at Leicester a while back. He asked for 50k a year so God knows what tolley is paying him 

[Lefty 1,268]

1 hour ago, Toady said:

....BIRMINGHAM Speedway would like to update supporters attending racenights.....The previous agreement with the One Stop Shopping centre is NO longer in place and supporters are advised to adhere to the rules displayed should they choose to park .....

Together with being 'caught' at Tesco parking Leicester with a dragged out meeting, i considered the above was enough to stop me attending Birmingham Speedway and also to not shop at the One Stop. 

Am I alone?

PS: I do miss playing 'frogger' across the A34 when the flyover was there!

Edited December 23, 2023 by Lefty

[bigcatdiary 3,165]

1 hour ago, FishersGate said:

Dave Helmsley wanted him at Leicester a while back. He asked for 50k a year so God knows what tolley is paying him 

That doesn’t surprise me and says nothing for Hemsley whose claim to fame was building a lovely stadium and a complete crap racetrack.

Edited December 23, 2023 by bigcatdiary

[Toady 231]

3 hours ago, uk_martin said:

The whole point of this "non-message" was to highlight that the Bracebridge Engineering and Kalsi Kitchens options were open to the fans. Which is not to say that they weren't "unofficially" open to the fans before, as many had been parking there anyway for many years already. Another of Laurence Rogers's "smoke and mirrors" efforts to make out that the fans were getting something out of some kind of new sponsorship deal, thereby also highlighting that more and more sponsors were coming on board.

As has been said already, the parking at the One Stop Shopping Centre, as long as the rules were adhered to meant that anyone parking after 4pm would have free parking until the end of the meeting without any problems, it's just couched in a form of words that puts doubt in the minds of people who want solutions spoon fed to them, rather than working things out for themselves.

I get what you are saying, but when the parking agreement was in place and the meeting ran over then no pcn would have been issued.The last thing you  want when leaving speedway is a pcn so the club whether or not you agree just cleared the water .As @Lefty has said below its put him off attending.

[Pauldoveyspeedway 144]

23 hours ago, BryanUgest said:

Very open interview from Nigel Tolley in the Speedway Star.

You have admire anyone who has put nearly £300,000 into a club, sadly whilst he continues to allow Laurence Rogers to make business decisions, his investment will continue to be poured down the drain.  

2024 is likely to follow 2023 and 2022 pattern, an uncompetitive team, over paid and under performing.

What line of business  is N.Tolley into ????

[Lefty 1,268]

6 minutes ago, Pauldoveyspeedway said:

What line of business  is N.Tolley into ????

Playing, "Brewster's Millions" ? 

[Big Al 708]

4 hours ago, FishersGate said:

Dave Helmsley wanted him at Leicester a while back. He asked for 50k a year so God knows what tolley is paying him 

I'd have wanted double that to work for him

[FishersGate 522]

3 hours ago, bigcatdiary said:

That doesn’t surprise me and says nothing for Hemsley whose claim to fame was building a lovely stadium and a complete crap racetrack.

I speak to him at most meetings and he has unbelievable regret at the shape of the track. He actually brings it up often for a laugh but in good spirits. 

[uk_martin 1,606]

1 hour ago, Toady said:

I get what you are saying, but when the parking agreement was in place and the meeting ran over then no pcn would have been issued.The last thing you  want when leaving speedway is a pcn so the club whether or not you agree just cleared the water .As @Lefty has said below its put him off attending.

I agree with everything that you say. Who would want to risk a PCN? The sad thing is that the "clarification" statement that the Brummies put out, backfired on them, quite needlessly, in this case, as a PCN would never have resulted, no matter how long the meeting went into the night, assuming that Lefty parked his car after 4pm.