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We've heard for weeks that Lynn are dragging out the release of the team to maximise media exposure. What happens they announce a team member on the same day as they announce a new team sponsor. Can anyone explain how this maximises media exposure

I make it 22 weeks from the start of November until the first week in April before the first meeting of the 2019 season. That's plenty of time to get at least 30 decent news stories into the local media. I'm no comms expert but came up with this in 15 minutes, took me longer to type it out than think of it. If this was my job, it should be even easier. Now I'm sure some of this has been done but to be honest, the whole build up to this season has been so non-existent, speedway has hardly featured in my thoughts (and that off the back of a decent season). Might be off on some dates/timings but this is back of the fag packet stuff on a dull afternoon at work Not all of this is for the media but for things such as social media, keeping fans engaged and wanting more. Week 1: Determined to build on disappointment of last season, defiant message, we'll be back blah blah Week 2: Build up to the conference Week 3: Conference news, team manager thoughts, confirm pricing, season tickets etc. Ex-Young Stars and our assets getting rides in the Championship Week 4: Many team building options, looking at different riders blah blah. Hope to have signing news soon Week 5: Announce rider 1, thank Tru7 group for their sponsorship. Looking for new team sponsors/appeal to businesses to get involved etc etc Week 6: Announce rider 2 Week 7: Just before Xmas, push season tickets, merchandise etc as last minute gifts. Christmas present for fans with announcing rider 3 Week 8/9: Christmas period so lots of other stuff, taking people's attention. Do short sharp stuff. 12 days of Xmas (great old riders, race highlights, famous meetings, build up to announcing rider 4) Week 10: Announce rider 4, Week 11: Update from either rider 1, 2 or 3 on pre-season prep. Built up about training camps, equipment builds, hopes for the season. Ex-Young Star Josh Bailey being in Australia (future Star etc) Week 12: Announce rider 5. Have video footage from training camp (showing one or all of the 5 announced riders rather than p*****g most fans off by saying the team was there but we won't tell you who it is yet) Week 13: Update from rider 1, 2, 3 or 4 (not same one from Week 11) with the same kind of pre-season update. Week 14 (this week): Announce new team sponsor giving them full coverage for that week Week 15: Announce riders 6+7 (maybe reserve duo). All team announced and done now. Details of a fans forum/meet the team night before start of the season Week 16: Training camp update showing all the riders present Week 17: Team manager thoughts on pre-season prep. Got the team I really wanted, looking at team riding order, partners blah blah Week 18: New team logo with new sponsor, hint at racesuit design (if having them) Week 19: Announce team & vice captain/team bonding session update Week 20: Final pre-season round up, start to build the local derby meetings. We've been top dogs in East Anglia last few seasons etc etc, want that to continue (all good natured stuff but get people talking) Week 21: Press practice, fans and sponsors meet the team evening and then coverage and sound bites after the event Week 22: Build up to first meeting Tie in things like competitions for maybe a season ticket in conjunction with local media (KLFM, Free Paper, Lynn News) and should get you plenty of coverage. Team announced by mid Feb. Plenty of build up, bit of variety but mainly a speedway story of some sort every week from the end of the season to the start of the next.

Never fulfilled his potential?!? British Champion, GP Rider, GB International, top division rider in Poland and Sweden. Apart from being World Champion (which only 1 person can be each season) I'd say Scott has had a top class career. Way better than most other Brits in this modern era from the turn of the century. Most definitely NOT one of those Brits to not reach maximum potential. He's had a career many Brits today would wish they could replicate.

Nail. Head. Hit. All this talk of maximising exposure yet they name a rider and a team sponsor at the same time. That's two good news stories that would get good coverage but one will get less coverage than the other. That will probably the sponsor story as more people would be interested in the team. If you were a sponsor, you'd want maximum exposure for your £ rather than being relegated to a sub-story. This is just basics

Happy Friday everyone

Agree top post, but have to disagree with the second part, someone with so many positive thoughts would not fit in promoting Speedway...

Somerset should of just come out and slaughtered him, not tried to protect him about struggling to find a mechanic. Berge simply couldn't be assed and that's that, and in the process completely destroyed Somerset's team further.

Ricky Ashworths progress to be aired on BBC1 Breakfast show next Thursday 14th at 6.40, 7.40 & 8.40

Colin Pratt is a widely respected and very experienced organiser within speedway but not someone who is bringing the younger dynamism with marketing knowledge that is likely to bring in a new generation of fans. In fact, he has been at the core of speedway administrators who have allowed UK speedway to dimish and dwindle over the last twenty-five years.

These would have been good contributions if the title of the thread had been "The Name's Not the Same"

Amazing !.......Speedballs suggestion sounds great however let me get this right, he is suggesting at week 15 we announce the last two team members, week 15 is as far as I can see is mid to late February, which has not happened yet, with four riders already announced it is likely that by the end of February we will know the full 1 to 7, more or less in line with Speedballs timescale, this is exactly what KL is being continually critisised for, but is now being praised........by the same people !

According to this week's Star (07 feb) josh has a british grandmother. Therefore he is entitled to an Ancestory Visa which is valid for five years. All he has to do is come over and collect it. Presumably it enables him to do just about any job he wants (?) and as such he doesn't need a work sponsor.

Yeah, he's only represented GB in the under-21 SWC, and was runner-up in the British Under-21 Championship, so he's not that well-known. Oh, and a British grass-track champion... Sreve

Haha, I don’t know about the first bit. There really is nothing earth shattering there. It’s all basic stuff that takes hardly any thought. But there on lies the issue, there is very little thought to speedway fans in general. All the media stuff, just like the promoters is like an old boys club, controlled by the same faces giving the same rubbish to fans across up and down the country. How many times did we see cut and pasted tweets across clubs twitter feeds for live updates. Just embarrassing and amateurish. Most club websites look like they are from the 1990’s. Speedway in this country is dying on its arse and they are helping drive in the nails. The only club’s who do it well are Glasgow and the IOW in my eyes.

Speedball you are far too intelligent and well qualified to be media consultant for Lynn speedway Enjoy your footie ground hopping and occasional speedway outing

So basically just a way of drumming up a bit of interest on a dull friday in the off season. Potentially adding a few more bums to seats to for practice and encouraging a few more riders to actually turn up to practice.

Agreed, they could have announced the full team before now, unless there may be a team change, and had each rider and sponsor put out a report, one a week or fortnight so there was continue news about the team. Information about each rider, his history and thoughts and hopes about the new season would have kept up some interest.

Precisely this. He isn’t going to intentionally build a crap team which will lose home meetings and nobody will come and watch. The management obviously saw how well these riders worked together in 2018 and wanted to keep as many of them together as possible. Really like the look of Peterborough, can understand why people think Buster has splashed out on them and scrimped on Lynn but I don’t see there being too much between them come September based on the starting line ups.

PERSONALLY think this is something that will appeal to the riders more than the general public, most of whom won't see the time trials anyway.

Agree Czech golden helmet is a big accolade scotty finished in the top 10 in the world on 4 occasions and has a record number of British titlesI really don’t see that as underachieving

Doesn't explain why they did two "big" announcements in one day

Just read the article myself and I think it’s a load of crap... Being going to speedway 40 years and I think it should be all about skill not who is the fastest... I think Formula 1 Grand Prix is like watching paint dry.. Hopefully speedway Grand Prix wont be going the same way

He certainly has form on that score, considering similar departures from elsewhere, when you consider his ongoing Longtrack commitments etc and the varied race days in the Championship, I'm surprised he agreed to sign in the first place. with that in mind, I'm not surprised he is still in the BV line up, with the fixed race nights. Maybe in the future, Championship clubs with give him the very wide berth he deserves, based on his history. Blotted copybook and all that

How do you think non-KL fans find out this news??? Try checking social media, local news sites and websites - and sometimes even the Speedy Star?!

Because he had already committed to Scunny and the loan had been agreed with the promotion, before they made the decision to step down.

Eugeniusz Blaszak.

Opportunity missed yet again (if correct ) thought this delaying to announce the team was to max out media exposure but when you find out via a forum it says it all

I'm so glad YOU said that, and not me or iris123... Steve

Translated as - Have no opinion about what decisions we make " in the best interests of the sport". We offer no information as to how those decisions were reached and anyway it is nothing to do with you. Purely a business decision. We are handling the managed decline of UK speedway as we see fit ( as it belongs entirely to us ). What remains of the sport in the UK after crowd numbers and sponsors fall to an unviable level is equally of no concern of yours. How many clubs are owned by or under the control of any BSPA member is a private matter for themselves only. Yes, please pay by direct debit, whether you intend to go to matches or not - Oh, and bring a friend ( as our dependable marketing scheme has long directed ). You know it makes sense and offers you a stress-free way to enjoy speedway racing.

You would have been better saying nothing rather than some of the absolute crap you put in that.

Where do we start? Have you ever heard of Speedway racing?

Hope they remember to place the ponder in the same place in every bike.

Can't see this having much effect on the racing We have all seen riders having 1st/2nd pick in the semi final and final get well beaten. Tracks rarely ride they same as they do in practise so I think this is a pile of croc. Having transponders is great for knowing who did the fastest lap and close finsihes are no longer left to the naked eye. Thats about it.

It’s obviously been hard road for him but it’s great to see his determination to get on with life the best he can.TopGuy.

All teams have Home advantage tbh, that's the nature of the sport ...

BERGE Could be he went out & got every deal he could get, then with everything on the table realised he had more than he could coupe with? easiest solution drop the rebels! Certainly messed up Gazza's master plan big time..........

Probably because Keith Chapman didn’t put the team together, Ged Rathbone did.

Peterborough look a lot stronger than Kings Lynn to me. Maybe he has accidentally built a crap team!

Sheffield Glasgow Scunthorpe Eastbourne Leicester Berwick Redcar Edinburgh Somerset Newcastle Birmingham Somerset likely to make wholesale changes at some point so their position based on starting line up, but likely to finish several places higher.

Sometime ago I stated that its ok to pick a riding number if you're the fastest. Stupid if you can choose each of your five gates.

I do think he’ll pop up somewhere during the season when injuries inevitably hit, but I’m honestly not surprised in the slightest that nobody has gone with him from the off.

He did have a shocker in his only meeting for Swindon against Eastbourne. Martin Yeates wasn't particularly polite about him when he got dropped. Two sides to every story I guess....

Somehow I am not surprised!!!

Some interesting names here!! http://www.speedwayplus.co.uk/andy_freegard.shtml

Worth every pound in my book. we go to watch two teams race that's my buzz sorted. Already lost my other home team of Workington along with all the other Comets fans and I would be happy to pay a bit more if they had to put the price up if it meant we still have speedway. Still far more value for money than watching them down the road kick a ball about for 90 minutes.

This will please a few https://ipswichwitches.co/long-returns-as-presenter/?fbclid=IwAR1JtKdKCuPAEpf3LM3v2SVv5XhKwubhgihh2uOmoPam3QMtZwJFLaikDPs

What rubbish.

At least then, British riders will get their chance, which many reckon they should be getting in the first place.

CL gets preference i assume,and as much as 9 riders would be missing from the Ipswich/Kings Lynn teams on the Friday,so good call.

The riders will get their money either directly from the promotion or from the bond, in reality one and the same really, in fact haven't at least some of the riders had their money. If the riders did take advantage of a promotion who had no idea about speedway, then more fool them, as surely in those circumstances you would get someone in at least to advise on doing rider contracts. I don`t put blame any of this at the door of Chris Harris.