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The most progressive development in UK speedway in recent years was the building of the NSS, which took more effort and determination than anything Matt Ford has achieved and if you're looking for promotions who have raised their game you may want to consider Glasgow, Isle of Wight, the present Belle Vue promotion and maybe others as well. They have managed it without creating the controversy that always seems to surround Poole and are trying to move the sport forward in ways that benefit not just themselves but the sport at large. Matt Ford has done an excellent job for Poole but little to benefit UK speedway.

This is completely the problem and why many speedway supporters dislike Poole. The attitude that as long as Poole win, hammering the sport as a whole into the ground is an acceptable cost.

Spot on.... Watch any of the PDC darts streams from the 'floor tournaments' that take place almost weekly around the country as qualifiers for other TV tournaments. Many have no commentary at all.... Many are played in sports halls in front of 'one man and his dog' and sometimes played out in front of no public whatsoever. If a stream has any commentary it is often just someone detailing the scores.. It can very often be therefore mind numbingly dull, with the only sound heard being the match score announcer and the 'thud' of a dart going into the board. There's no way on earth watching that would get you 'into the darts'... Then equate that to watching darts on Sky and ITV... The SAME 'sport'. The SAME players, MVG, Anderson, Cross, Wright, Lewis, Wade etc etc have to play these 'floor tournaments' but its millions and millions of miles away from exactly the same thing played out on a Thursday night in the PL, in front of huge 10,000 crowds with commentators shouting out loudly what's happening above the ear splitting crowd noise. .. Tatum and Pearson bring their passion to the Sport, and as it's a high adrenaline, high octane Sport, there is nothing wrong with trying to impart how exciting it can actually be to a (often ignorant of Speedway) watching nation.. More power to their elbows (and vocal chords)...

When I saw the title of the thread I feared Philip Rising had fallen on hard times.

And reading the last few posts you wonder why Poole fans get defensive about our club. Say enough rubbish enough times and people actually start to believe it! Here’s a fact for you. Poole use the same rules as every other club. The problem is, the majority of the other clubs are owned by promoters who just don’t have the same savvy/money/ability/dedicated time to compete and that’s why over the last 20 years Poole have become the most successful club. Nothing will change because there’s currently not another promoter out there as dedicated to the sport as Matt Ford. It’s a fact. It’s his full time job and he demands success. As Middlo said at P&P, many clubs would see making the playoffs a successful season, but to Poole it was abject failure to bomb out in the semis. It’s up to other promotions to raise their game. If they were all of the same ilk as Ford the sport would be in a healthy state in the UK.

Just joined this forum as I’m sick of reading the dross people keep posting. Newcastle have signed 7 riders willing to try their best for the club and as a supporter that’s all we can hope for, a rider going to try their best in every heat they ride. It’s time people get behind the club instead of keep stating how much they are going to struggle, stay positive as paper teams never win the league anyway and get behind the lads and support the diamonds.

If Ford had his way the league would end up with Poole A,Poole B,Poole C,Poole D,Poole E,Poole F,Poole G,Poole H and Poole J.... He must be the most diss loyal promoter in speedway.Win at any cost.Sign as many agents as he can.The rules are there to be (broken) manipulated..In his book. The worst bit is 90% of their fans don't want to,can't see it,or don't care.

The PR side over the winter has been terrible truth be told. This promotion have been getting away with it far too long because they are 'new.' They're not new anymore though but people are still cutting them slack. I actually think the club has regressed on the communication side since Len Silver left and I never thought that was possible. Press and practice is a good way to get fans excited for the season. Not much happens granted but as it is free you get floating fans in attendance. The sound and smell, the new riders etc. can convince someone who may not be thinking of attending many/any meetings otherwise. Have been falling out of love with the sport for some time now, it's a real shame as I'm a stone's throw from the track. Don't feel like I'm being offered anything from the club to make me even consider attending at the moment. And for anyone who wants to wheel out the 'if you don't use it you'll lose it' argument then save your breath.

IT is that time of the year again ... Speedway Star's "big issue'" it's pre-season special, is available from Thursday at no extra cost despite being almost three times as big as the usual weekly format. It will be available at tracks over the Easter period and from all the usual outlets ... newsagents, supermarkets, etc. And, of course, via a subscription. The digital version, online at 12.01 am on Thursday, can be purchased with the Speedway Star app for just £2.49 from the Apple or Android stores. Or you can call Dave on 020-8335 1113 and have it delivered to your door.

As we celebrate 70 years to this day that the club rode its first ever match, they have also announced that we now have a team sponsor for the season in staggs bar in Musselburgh.

Shush! That means Shovlar is accusing Matt of smoke and mirrors.

Unfortunately, we only have other promoters and at least one rider's word against My Pairman's. There is also symantics at play here, there may not be a "GP Rider Rule" but that doesn't mean riders haven't been re-assessed. As I said, it is the lack of transparency which annoys me more than anything. It just seems to often go in Poole's favour.

How are Somerset going to hammer us then? No chance of that happening unless there are catastrophic crashes. Poole are a far superior team this season.

Talking of drips, another cracking contribution

TBF it looked quite a bad injury. He couldn't even walk on it. So fair play to him for riding on for Somerset. Would have been easier to duck today. Shows his commitment to British speedway

Personally, I don't see that Matt Ford or Poole do a lot wrong. In many ways Ford reminds me of the late Ian Thomas as both tend(ed) to upset people (but not worry about it) due to: pushing rules (which are the same for everyone) to the limit, signing the best riders available to them and wishing to do the very best they can in order to promote their club(s) and make them successful....

So basically the usual cash flow issue which kills many companies. Their fault.

Used to have the odd lunch with Stewart a while back and saw first hand how much the club meant to him , the man bled red & white this must be a really difficult decision for Stewart to make. All the best in whatever you do Stewart and hope you can still attend he will be a big miss.

Wow...... All the best to Stewart, always said hello even tho’ I’m a “beast from the East”

That has come out of the blue , i hope it's not health issues resurfacing .

You don`t think you are replying to he of the multi usernames.

Is it though? Why are Zagar, Woffinden and P Pawlicki a 9, but Kildemand returns on his old average? Why are the riders above re-assessed but other non-GP riders, who just happened to have sign for Poole, not re-assessed? I agree it sounds like a conspiracy theory, but without any transparency from the BSPA about how rules are applied, I can understand how some fans think it looks like favouritism.

Didn't a couple of teams try and 'up their game' not so long ago. How did that end up for the speedway family?

If someone tries to take the corner at Peterborough like they do at Lakeside they will be in big trouble lol.

Bit of a rip off to pay to watch someone so far off the pace that the only question is which 3 pointless rides they take. That's not Bowtell's fault, it has applied and will apply to plenty of other riders (Panthers included). It's the structure that allows it that's wrong.

hence being a new dad

I HAVE been a vocal and vociferous critic of many things in speedway for over 50 years and could come up with a long list of things that are wrong with the sport today. Nigel just screams, sounds like a monkey, doesn't use any words. Do you actually read what you write? Of course, he is not everyone's cup of tea, no one is, but your comments are so ludicrous that no one will take them seriously.

Nothing wrong with Pearson and Tatum on TV. Much prefer there exuberance.

He'll say he's in But then pull out In out in out mucking teams about He does as mummy says and let's you down and fans they get a clout Oh Robert Lambert Oh Robert Lambert Oh Robert Lambert Knees bent, arms stretched loading a van van van

THINK you are on a different planet to most of us ... planet of the apes by the sound of it.

No you don't he has stated that he is not signing for anyone in 2018 to concentrate on he's exams and also said to people at Birminghams p&p that he's parents were very much against it so I think it's best to leave the lad alone to study and don't try turning he's head. By the way you can't have a 2 pointer in the nl . It has been suggested he may ride for a few teams as a unattached rider but the rules have changed and he would attain a average so he is unlikely to do that . He will probably just do 3 meetings right at the end of the season and start 2019 on a 3.00 average having achieved top grades at school that's my guess anyway ..

It's getting difficult to understand how the one 8 and over rule was passed. So far fans have reported that promoters at Wolverhampton, Swindon, Poole, Belle Vue and now Rye House are against it. Even if Belle Vue weren't allowed to vote that is still a majority against it.

What Poole fans are they then? I don't go on about what other teams fans I find arrogant. It's just people who can't debate properly use that as a comeback cos that's all they have.

Yeah I wasn't comparing him to Speight's career, just last seasons appalling 0.50 average. Having seen Kean in action last season you could be right but I bet they score a similar number of points.

First impressions of reading a tersely worded statement like that are ousted. Minimal information, succint and to the point. Health issues would perhaps be indicated by stepping down temporarily. SD is a tiger through and through and regardless of the circumstances deserves our absolute thanks.

I thought the highlight was seeing Marcelina Rutkowska again- it`s been a long winter

Agree Glasgow & IOW turned their club around big-style and what Morton & Co achieved at Belle Vue in getting that marvelous stadium & track built is nothing short of fantastic....

I'm sure I remember reading on here a few months ago that Matt Ford was helping him with his visa application

I find it strange the hassle a "name "has caused at Berwick over the last few years.All I have seen is Norman and the supporters handing over money to the riders which surely benefits the Promotion,have they got a better idea to raise money from the Supporters? All seems a little petty to an outsider like myself no doubt there is more too it though.

Yes, and effective it is to convey excitement. Which is what speedway is meant to be. Seems some just want it to be like at their local track, an amazing race greeted by a polite ripple of applause (if lucky) or a raised programme board. The kind of atmosphere that sends anyone new to the sport to sleep. There was a classic run off race in 1996 between Mikael Karlsson and Ryan Sullivan at Peterborough. I have the race on two tapes with different commentaries. One was full on excitement and the race to this day still give me chills. The other is a mundane commentary with no excitement shown at all. No chills whatsoever, totally destroyed by the commentary. Exactly the same race, two very different results in terms of effectiveness.

Should change your username to Bob Nudd

You did the right thing if your not interested. Those who watched seemed to enjoy the meeting.

Depends who you are..Holder was named.Personal probs(had months off season to sort) now might be visa(had months to sort)Now get a rider who rode in 9GP's on his old UK ave.What are the rules ??

I bet they've even got loads of yellow sandpaper ready to stuff down their pants!

It's tripe best ignored.

Kildemand didn’t want to do a full season otherwise I’m sure we would have used him.

It's the club at fault just as much as the rider. They would be his sponsor and they would know he needs a visa. They should have checked on this too.

Here we go again. New 'name'. same old tired, obsessive argument.... The late Dave Lanning once commented on his lively style that he would get messages in his earpiece from his director "Rave Dave, RAVE!". There seems to be an attitude amongst motor sport producers and directors that the commentators have to snarl like the engines and be extremely over the top, in the style of Murray Walker. If people think that commentators have a free choice then they are deluded. Nigel Pearson has worked extensively for both Sky and Talksport which are associated and both look for the controversial and sensational in the same way a 'red top' tabloid newspaper would. There's a market for it and while it may irritate those who know something about the subject the commentary team is normally focussing on the casual viewer who in a TV broadcast are probably in the majority. Nigel often says "It's all about opinions". Well, I wouldn't agree but then I favour a different form of journalism. It doesn't make him wrong and me right. It's just that different people have different needs. I was rightly criticised for my commentaries that they weren't lively enough, but then I made the mistake of pitching what I said to those who loved and understood the sport instead of simply trying to sensationalise, which to be honest is what most sports commentary tends to be these days outside the BBC. It didn't help in my case that I never got to see or hear my own work. I couldn't receive the channel and everyone was far too busy to let me have copies. Now I realise how I could and should have changed. Returning to the present, the stupid trend to make everything totally black or totally white shows up in the backward majesty's inane claim that Pearson and Tatum just gibber and shout incoherently and is disturbingly familiar and echos the same endless repetition by contributors who seemed to disappear just before another new name took up the 'divine cause'. It's ironic that they all claim that the commentators blabber on incoherently. I'd suggest they look in the mirror. I suspect also it will be one face and one mirror. Endless repetition of attempts to bludgeon their twisted views into others do little for their argument and cause you to be concerned about their mental health. Pearson and Tatum get it wrong sometimes, as did Dave Lanning, as did anyone who dared to try to commentate on speedway. Humans make mistakes. The trick is not to make it your life's cause to keep on repeating it in the stupid hope that others will be browbeaten into joining the divine cause and the loony's tantrum eventually gets his childish way. It's not going to happen.

Over the years if you collected the tapes he has broken you could probably bungee jump from the top of Mount Everest.

The Parable of Poole Speedway. During the winter, Matt Ford decided he would need some help with the club accounts and team building. He advertised the position in the Echo. Three people applied for the job. A Mathematician, an Engineer, and an Ex-SCB official. First up for interview was the mathematician, and Matt decided to test him with a question.... "What is 2+2?", asked Matt. The mathematician looked him in the eye and replied "Under universally agreed mathematical protocol, 2+2 must always equal 4" Next for interview was the engineer. Matt again tested him with the same question. "What is 2+2?", he asked. The engineer looked him in the eye and replied "Under engineering convention, 2+2 equals 4.000, plus or minus the standard tolerance of 0.05%" The final interview was the ex-SCB official. Matt again posed the same question. "What is 2+2?" he asked. The ex-SCB offical looked him in the eye and replied "What do you need it to be?"