The fixture congestion has very little to do with the Play-offs (IMO), it has all to do with the gaps in the fixtures from May-August.  Fill those gaps when racing can take place and you get rid of the congestion in September/October when the weather is a damn site more "iffy" than May-August. BTW, I don't like the Play-offs either. I also don't like Semi Finals and a Final in an individual meeting either. Top of the League/Top Scorer after 20 heats should be crowned Champion in my book. But (sadly) Play-offs are here to stay.

In an ideal world the sport would be big enough worldwide to support riders racing for one team full stop. That’s flying pigs territory though.  I understand your point about doubling up but there’s no other sport to my knowledge where a competitor is competing for multiple teams in the same week, racing with and then against the same rider tooth and nail from one night to the next. It’s shambolic really.  First we need to get rid of doubling up (except between the “development” league and the “professional” league), the next step after that would be to work towards guests being scrapped too. 

Tiger was a top man . Ex Halifax Dukes alongside King Kenny and Demon Doug Wyer .

Having read the preview for the Sheffield Ipswich meeting, it was blatantly obvious that little effort was going to be made from an Ipswich perspective. “Should put on a show for the paying public” etc etc, but Ipswich have far bigger fish to fry and the reality is it’s natural to hold back and not risk injury with a grand final less than a fortnight away. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Ipswich riders were on some sort of staggered guarantee for that meeting, helped by the sponsor. From the managers comments, they certainly had little interest in exerting themselves. 

Doubling up was a great idea when it was first introduced. It allowed a second tier rider to share a reserve spot with a top flight team.    It’s now gotten massively out of hand and needs to revert to what it was a couple of lower league riders sharing one position in the next league up. long term the sport here needs to become a mix of amateur, semi pro & pro riders. Developing enough riders so that teams can have a type of squad system. using the structure we currently have. MDL solely for amateur riders who ride in the uk using standard cheaper equipment so opening the sport up to more participants. The top MDL riders could hold squad positions in the second tier but no more than 2 per second tier club & only 1 can be used at any time. The second tier a mixture of amateur & semi pro riders with controls on equipment costs to allow riders to compete & not have to pack up because of costs. Again the top riders can hold a squad position in the top league a maximum of 2 per top flight side & only 1 can be used at a time. The top flight a pro league along the lines of what it is now. As a rider if you wish to be a full time pro then you need to have the ability & desire to progress through the ranks to a point where you can support yourself as a pro. However before you can expand & develop your rider base we will need to do some sort of merging of the league to stabilise the sport for the next 2 or 3 years . My thoughts require a long term commitment to a strategy that will hopefully begin to grow the sport.

What did he say?