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Do the promotions really listen ? I remember about 7 years ago when Adam started riding in the UK one of these “how do we gauge public opinion” threads came up on here and I suggested a simple questionaire slipped into a program and a suggestion box near the exit. Most if not all people who buy a program have a pen (or can borrow one). A few questions filled in with their contact details at the end isn’t the hardest thing in the world. 1, you know really what the punters think and can maybe act on some of the suggestions 2, with their contact details you straight away have a database where you can contact people with offers etc. its really not that hard eh ?

So far as I am aware the Newcastle promotion have a similar reputation, yet still struggle to attract riders. The point is that, whether it's Poole and/or Glasgow or not, there is a disparity between what some clubs can afford. Not the fault of those clubs, they live within their means. My point is that their isn't sufficient clubs left to sustain the three tier structure so the Championship needs to be a sustainable standard for the majority, which inevitably means less professional and featuring less expensive 'international' standard riders. But whilst clubs with larger budgets remain in the Championship the rest will try to be competitive on the basis that if they're not the crowd levels fall. Either way is unsustainable in the long term unless you can reduce costs. You could argue that if speedway in Newcastle is unsustainable (due to a Sunday race night and/or high stadium rental etc) then they should drop down to the National League but that's the problem. Even if Belle Vue and Cradley continue it's a maximum six team league which just isn't viable and not great news for the development of young British riders who struggle to make Championship level pay (Thomas, Wood etc). With only 22 tracks in operation, now would have been the opportunity to have restructured to two tiers, widening the gap between both and getting rid of doubling up for all bar British development riders. Workington's demise last season should have been the tipping point. How many more will fall before it's inevitable?

The only thing Poole's money does is always ensure that riders are paid correctly and on time! The main reason to go SGBC is to recoup some losses from sponsors going bust mid season and to get back their traditional raceday ie Wednesdays. Not sure that any of that affects the Diamonds situ which I hope is sorted asap.

Fruitcake

The new system for the Championship is based on how all American professional team sports work bar MLS. The leagues are split into conferences and a team's results, while including games against teams from other conferences the league is split into several sections and a team only competes with the teams in its own conference for play-off spots. There's nothing to say in the AGM report that the following is due to happen which is worrying, but if not they are iin trouble.. So we have 12 teams, including either Newcastle or Plymouth. These are split into two conferences/sub-divisions. All 12 race 32 matches, 20 against their fellow conference members and 12 against sides from the other conference. Here's the key - you run two league tables, one for each conference and the top three from each qualify for the play-offs. Now, if we only had an odd number of teams it still works. Say if we have five in the north and six in the south the northern teams ride 28 times, 16 against fellow northerners and still 12 against the southerners, making 28. The southerners will still race 20 times against their fellow conference members, but only 10 against the northerners, making 30 matches. So, at season's end, five northern teams will have ridden 28 matches but the southerners 30. If there was just one table that would be ridiculous but if all five teams competing for the three play-off places are only compared with each other it doesn't matter if the third placed team qualifies with fewer points than the fourth placed team in the south it's probably due to the latter having ridden more matches. Run two league tables, one for teams that ride 28 times and one for those who ride 30 matches and take the top three from each. Whether the north division races 30, 32 or 132 matches, as long as in league terms they're only competing with teams that have ridden the same matches it'll be academic. Running one league table is where the problems start. And you thought the match points system was complex..... The logic of Edinburgh travelling twice to Glasgow but only once to Kent is obvious. The alternative is to run a one home, one away league plus a pair of early season regional leagues as we have before - and what was the verdict? Dismissed as 'meaningless. Realistically the only way to prove the point is to run the season, let people realise that it's only the teams in their own half of the country that they're initially competing with in league terms - until the essential play-offs. One thing that gets avoided here is, say we run with 12 tracks in 2020 then by some miracle we get an application from a revived Rye House, or Oxford or even a better funded and planned Plymouth bid for 2021 they wouldn't have to be rejected for fear of running a league with odd numbers! As far as the supporters are concerned until the play-offs they are competing in a five or six team league with extra competitive league matches to give a 14 or 16 match home schedule which is a damn sight better than the paltry 10 in 2019!

The second option makes a stronger team than the alleged one.

The problem as I see it is that fans & sponsors have lost the feeling that the 7 riders representing your club are yours. We have almost completely lost this connection. Most if not all of 2019 championship teams consisted of 7 riders that also represented another U.K. team. This is also a huge problem with credibility when trying to convince newcomers to support our sport. Equally wholesale team changes during the season do the sport great harm as do the huge changes season on season. Question: As a sponsor would I buy rider X (my local team favorite) a new bike, only for it to be used while riding for another team? NO.

The proposed regionalisation is different to the previous incarnation in 2014 when " Teams will meet all other Teams in a League table on 2 occasions, 1 at home and 1 away and by ballot additional Teams to make a total of 14 home and 14 away fixtures. ". The proposal for 2020 is " Clubs race opponents from their own section twice at home and twice away, and opponents from the other section once at home and once away. " That removes the lottery element and gives each Club 16 home league fixtures; meeting the five same Group Clubs twice, and the six other Group Clubs once.

Barry Bishop does that every week and I have seen Adrian Smith do it, too

Hopefully we won't need to replace anyone!!

Me too but it would be welcomed if he did. Whilst he didn't set the world alight during his short stint he certainly showed enough to convince me that with a full season he would be the No1 you would hope and expect him to be

It may be about right but I would still say it should therefore be declared that he has been assessed that way as opposed to using the 2011 average That way if another rider returns to the league after such a long break he can be reassessed fairly rather than a precedent having been set of using such an old average It's not just about NP but thinking a few steps ahead as to how someone else may use such a decision to manipulate a future change to gain unfair advantage

As there has been no attempt to address the situations of doubling-up and guests, the tinkering with the format will make little difference to the dwindling and ageing band of spectators.

Indeed. If anyone is interested, that blog is connected to a Facebook page I run. It's called Continental Speedway and all are welcome to join. It has mostly Polish stuff, particularly livestreams of all televised matches - not the same type of links as provided on here, along with YouTube videos afterwards. Please note I'm not trying to pinch anyone from here, merely to provide an additional method for folk to follow leagues across Europe.

Some people are just going to moan whatever - and we have several really good examples here on the BSF...

Same as when Long Eaton were fighting to survive, and one of the major issues was that residents didn't want speedway as it attracted the "wrong sort of people" (bikers). Really? If people have a legitimate concern, I have no problem with that, but when they simply manufacture these concerns thanks to ignorance and prejudice (or simply resort to downright lies), then yes, I do...

Wouldn't have Tungate in a month of Sundays and to be honest the way he left the club I doubt Louis would even consider him

One thought, don't bother

Let us hope the NL can move forward next year with The real job of developing young British riders for the future

Another agm which does not take on the real problems of Speedway moving forward. essentially status quo and the promoters burying their heads in the sand once again. i despair with the BSPA

Stefan has not let the Scorpions down but has been beset with injuries(again) & confidence. He is always there at the post meetings in the clubhouse & is honest. I truly believe he is a better rider than Simon, who performed well on his return, with it showing that the sport is a confidence thing, being in your head & on track. I do not think Simon will up his average but Stefan would improve his to around the 6 mark.

Don’t be daft, they’d need seven.

Incorrect, BW. I seem to recall it being said that he wouldn't go even it was free To be fair, he is anything but the only one that this thread applies to. For my own part, I really don't understand why someone who doesn't go to speedway, has no interest in watching (even on the box) and wouldn't go if he didn't have to pay is a member of a speedway forum and comments regularly.

He only has one. Free Entrance.

Agree to an extent, he WAS disappointing if truth be told but on the other hand, we know he’s a quality rider and what he’s capable of. Maybe a full season and starting from the beginning we’d see the rider we all know? He also has an attractive average for a rider of his pedigree that he’d surely increase. We simply can’t go in to next season with Klindt and King as our heatleader duo, that has disaster written all over it. We’re gonna need another top end rider from somewhere and I personally think we’d be mad to turn Iversen down on an average over just over 7.

If Newcastle go (and let's hope not), that's 13 gone in 19 years.. Thats 1 club going every 1.46 years... Surely someone who is involved in running the sport can see that what they currently have (and have used for far too long) as an operating model and business plan simply doesn't work..? How many will go before it gets sorted? Best of luck to the Diamonds... NB Did all these 13 clubs get £5,000 fines for closing?

Even though he said he wants to be at Ippo and Ippo want him. Sounds a bit strange. Unless Sheffield are offering more money?

Don’t worry it’s all lost in translation. He’s coming over next season just to show his face with a view to getting something permanent in 2021. Nowt more than that

I think Poole will be surprised at how competitive championship league is, I am sure the Poole fans will enjoy visiting new tracks. Will any of you venture North as we don't get many southern visiting fans.

Well I’ll admit that I was guessing, and for some reason you are laughing, so maybe you can quote the numbers? But from the official Poole website - "The response was immense and overall very supportive towards moving to the lower league.“

Happily have a reserve pairing of Lawson and Sarjeant if possible.

or (1) Nicki Pedersen 8.61 (2) Kyle Howarth 5.58 (3) Josh Grajczonek 7.29 (4) Sam Masters 7.35 (5) Charles Wright 6.52 (6) Dimetri Berge 4.14 (7) James Shanes 3.00 Masters and Pedersen lining up in the same would be very interesting.

There wasn't a rule of needing a 2 pointer...

Concerned the lack of rumoured heatleaders around the league, will we end up with any? Bjerre 7.75 Hans 5.79 Harris 6.16 Tungate 6.59 Kurtz 7.54 BWD 5.47 3.25 Its a possible line up, but would need Buster to make peace with Bjerre and persuade Kurtz over. If that could be the side, could be a contender IMO

Hope Newcastle stay in the Championship league. good luck for 2020

Disgusting.

It is frustrating. A sport or anything that loses customers must surely want to know why. Speedway's decline has been gradual since the mid-80s, and whatever's happened to folk who don't attend anymore. There are weirdos like me who just cling on for old times' sake. And I get called names for saying why I don't attend anymore. But the thousands of people that are allowed to disappear because of various reasons, and yet promoters just get over it by increasing the admissions for the ever-growing small number to cover. Without finding out those reasons, the promoters have a few days at the AGM to sort out the future (for next season) and believe their ideas will halt the slide which they have no idea why the slide is happening. You need feedback. Perhaps a site could be in place for feedback, for old fans, new fans and those who may be getting frustrated. Promote the feedback forum at the track, so those who attend can go back and report their findings. But I guess promoters are fans, and merely wash away any voice of criticism. "If you don't like it, don't come again." There so many reasons why people might stop attending. But no one knows those reasons. And that is what's frustrating.

Being in the CL will be better for DF though. A lot less pressure in his first proper year.

Fair enough. Few teams may struggle for heat leaders then

The other reason you'll need Batch is There'll be a big gap (well ok a small gap) where Bjerre used to be

Don't worry we haven't been sunk just yet, just dropping a league.

Mods please close thread..

Have you got a mirror

someone who cant work out a misspelt word

It's a sad day when any club leaves the Premiership and in some ways, more so when it's a club like Poole, who have been so successful. If it were my club dropping down it would be an understatement to say I would be very disappointed but I would continue to support them whichever league they were in. Far better to be in a lower league than to close down. I have watched a lot of second tier racing and it can be just as entertaining as the top tier. For some, It can be more a psychological issue knowing that the overall standard of riders you are watching is lower. Overcome that and just enjoy it. I wish Poole and all of their supporters well in the Championship. I have my doubts but I hope that the expected financial savings work out and that crowd levels are maintained, if not improved.

Danny King. How about Stefan Nielsen? Don't think Adam Ellis can be fitted in at Brum now they've signed Bomber?

So which heat leaders from any of the Championship clubs would you clasify as 'no good'?!

Nobody has been more insulting and personal than you. You are offended by the fact that I "deserted" speedway - even though I didn't. You are offended by the fact I moved to the US to be with the woman I love. You are offended by the fact the SGP provides an internet service for people who can't watch meetings on TV. You admitted - in public - that you don't watch speedway, but you "have it on in the background". When I poke fun at you by reminding people that you "have it on in the background", you are offended, and get insulting. Look, there are things in this world that I don't like, or simply am not interested, but I don't dedicate my life to sharing all my pent up negativity, and lambast all those who don't feel the same way. It is downright insulting for you to claim that fans of modern-day speedway are suffering from "insanity". This world is a depressing enough place as it is, and we don't need people you spreading your negativity about speedway (and don't kid yourself, you are NOT a fan, although you may have been once), other major sports that you refuse to accept, and whatever else you can't tolerate. In my last few years on this planet, I want to focus on things that bring me pleasure (including speedway) without having to deal with nonsense from you trying to convince me otherwise. You may feel that you have the "right" to say whatever you want, but I will remind you that you also have the right to remain silent.

Now if there was a thread titled i love British Speedway but it frustrates me because......

You could be on to something. Look how glamorous Formula One is perceived to be by the nouveau riche. What a crap sport that is. Plusnet has made a brand of being down to earth Yorkshire and value for money. Maybe that’s what speedway needs. It’s certainly a family sport, a place where kids can run around rather than have to sit in seats in a stand and where they can get up close to the riders and get autographs.