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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.

Jordan Stewart & Erik Riss confirmed tonight. Very happy with that.

I think the ever growing swathes of empty spaces in the stadiums provide a lot of data based feedback all by themselves.. As said before, the Promoters will know the reasons but simply cannot fix them without a radical overhaul of its complete operating model and business plan.. And that isn't on anyone's agenda any time soon I would think..

Poole fans should defo put scunthorpe and Redcar on the list of tracks to visit.

Or even (1) Nicki Pedersen 8.61 (2) Charles Wright 6.52 (3) Chris Harris 6.01 (4) Erik Riss 6.61 (5) Adam Ellis 6.33 (6) Ricky Wells 4.00 (7) Broc Nicol 4.00

It may not be with the people who think it's not an issue. The people who have an issue with it might be part of the missing fans. Nobody has asked to find out.

Doubling up is not an issue.

His last average that I can see is 5.43 from 2015. One month contracts should not be allowed at the start of the season.

Goalposts moved it seems ; 'THE MANAGEMENT OF PLYMOUTH GLADIATORS SPEEDWAY ARE VERY DISAPPOINTED TO ANNOUNCE THAT THEIR APPLICATION TO JOIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE IN 2020 HAS PROVED UNSUCCESSFUL ON THIS OCCASION; BUT THE CLUB IS DETERMINED TO BUILD TOWARDS A FURTHER APPLICATION IN 12 MONTHS TIME.HAVING BEEN GRANTED PERMISSION TO PUT ITS CREDENTIALS TO THE SPORTS GENERAL COUNCIL AT THE AGM HELD IN COVENTRY THIS WEEK, THE REQUIREMENT OF NEW AND PREVIOUSLY UNFORESEEN CONDITIONS OF ENTRY; WHICH WOULD HAVE MEANT INCREASED FINANCIAL ASSURANCES AND BONDS HAVING TO BE PAID IMMEDIATELY, MEANT THAT THE PROMOTION HAD NO ALTERNATIVE BUT TO WITHDRAW THE APPLICATION ON THE GROUNDS OF THE MEDIUM AND LONG TERM FINANCIAL SECURITY OF THE CLUB.PLYMOUTH GLADIATORS WILL NOW FOCUS ON BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL TEAM FOR THE 2020 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE, WHILST STRENGTHENING ITS COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS MODEL AND INCREASING ITS BRAND, MEDIA AND MARKETING AWARENESS AND EXPLORING OTHER SPEEDWAY AND COMMUNITY RELATED AVENUES TO INCREASE IT'S SUPPORTER BASE AND TO FURTHER EVIDENCE AND DELIVER THE LONG TERM PROFITABILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY, IT HAS SHOWN IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS.THE CLUBS MANAGEMENT TEAM WILL FULLY UPDATE ALL SUPPORTERS ATTENDING THE FORTHCOMING END OF SEASON PRESENTATION EVENING ON SATURDAY 30TH NOVEMBER AT KINGS TAMERTON COMMUNITY HALL'.

I see we have the same troll posting under another name, what a plonker.

Of course it is, but let's be honest we know that anyway.. They have done pretty much the only thing they can.. ie deliver more meetings with 'local' rivals without increasing any costs.. Rob was 100% right when he said fans don't want "tinkering"... They want radical change!!!! Simply not going to happen though.. It is what it is, it won't change because it either can't or those who run it are not capable of making it happen... Lets be fair, if things could change then those who run the sport would have done so by now such are the glaring deficiencies... We have what we have, (again), survival and getting everyone through to the end of the season is the 'measure of success'. "Bringing everyone to the table".. Rinse and Repeat once more just like it has been for at least a decade, probably more, and will be 'ad infinitum'... Just accept it, it would make life easier.. And with the SGP, the SON, the SEC, Poland and Sweden beamed live into our living rooms for a great many weeks of the season, we can still watch a host of excellent, 'properly ran' Speedway.... And can then get the added bonus of watching the domestic offering off Eurosport for what it is... And with the NSS, Peterborough, Swindon (and Sheffield with Andrew Meridith now doing the track), showing quite a few matches, I am sure there should be some very decent racing from the UK.. Sit back in your armchair, crack open a can, and just enjoy watching the racing... Since 2000 in just 19 years, TWELVE clubs have gone (maybe THIRTEEN if Newcastle don't run) and only SIX have come in, therefore lets make the most of what's left... (While we still can looking at that closure rate trend)...

The league is going to be poor but I still think that team is way below what will be needed. I don't want to see Steve Worrall in a BV race jacket next season.

No don't remove it yet, we all want to see whst shoveit has to say

Kerr weak at 5. Reserve only for me, but average a bit high.

Your post makes very depressing reading from a Newcastle perspective, but I think you are spot on Financial "investment" from individuals does not make sense as you will never get a financial return on your investment and your capital will be dissipated over a period of time again with little or no return. Business sponsorship coupled with a source of media income is really the only way this sport can make its way at Premiership/Championship level coupled with THJ's witty quote about someone starting with a large fortune prepared to end up with a small fortune. I suspect Newcastle have been on borrowed time for a couple of seasons and I for one really just pray for a miracle as the prospect of Sunday night without speedway at Brough is unthinkable. Just so sad if we close that the English family in particular along with the whole team (Steve Brock, Andrew Dalby, Roy Clarke, Graham Smith, Dr Jenny Hogg, Lawrence Heppell, Graeme Patterson, track staff, Martin Phillips, Phil Day, Barry Wallace and apologies to anyone I have missed ....) behind the scenes who have put so much into keeping the Diamonds going will have ended their involvement without the fans having an opportunity to show their recognition for all they have done!!

So, these last 2 pages based on the statement from the AGM is peoples opinions. There is no fact that if Newcastle do not run then Plymouth will take their place needing a restructuring of the North/South divide. With regards to the Chairmanship, Rob Godfrey has been fair & put forward a case that the rules were adhered to that were put in place at the 2017 AGM for the 2018 season. Some teams were not present at that AGM but they should have stuck to the rules in place rather than being confrontational in changing race nights when the fixtures were made. Damian Bates made it known this year that his involvement in speedway made it difficult with his business interests, probably being similar in 2020. Has anyone posted true facts yet on the AGM that is not their own opinion?

As I posted on the other thread assuming Newcastle run then it's 16 home league fixtures plus KO Cup against different opposition. More fixtures more variety Wednesday race nights (except when away at Kent Somerset and Brum). What's not to like?

I’d have thought the biggest draw to Belle Vue for Wright would be the lack of travelling for home meetings.

Given Len Silver's reputation in his Rye House days I'm surprised we've had over 30 minutes since the announcement and his team hasn't been named yet!

Similar situation to last year when he had a team agreed/pencilled in only for the VOTE of the promoters at the AGM agreed to a lower points level & we had to change riders around.

Good luck to Glasgow next season. Brilliant owners who have improved every aspect of the club. They are entitled to pay good wages, & some people are jealous of this. Hope they win the league next season.

You stay on this (your very own) thread and leave all the others to speedway fans

You got that right! You should see me during the season, sometimes almost tearing my hair out trying to get everything organised whilst also going to work, looking after my parents etc. However, I wouldn't be able to do what I do, or the site be as good as it is without the absolutely amazing team I have around me....they need a medal for putting up with my sometimes very stressy and increasingly desperate text messages! To everyone else, huge thanks for all the kind messages, it really is very much appreciated.

This is a very wierd championship. How can British riders and German riders enter this? Makes no sense at all. Should be limited to Oceania countries licenses.

Where does the money come from to attract this sort of team? Attendances overall are probably down, that is not because of a lack of world class riders, maybe a small % is but you would need to quadruple attendance to generate a gate to even consider having 2 world class riders in the same team never mind 6 Poland didn't grow through promoting the sport and offering value for money in terms of ticket pricing They grew from local government backing, tv backing, a shed load of sponsorship, in fact polish speedway could give tickets to fans for free and survive healthily... No TV company will give British speedway the money to compete with Poland, they had that before and failed to utilise it. The next 5 years is all about watering it down as much as possibly year-on-year offering the opportunity for younger riders to progress through the divisions and hopefully after 5 years we have a batch of 16-23 yr old riders who are making up 50% of most teams.

It's never ideal when you miss the first couple of months of the season, you're playing catch up from the start. Both Nick and Jacob suffered in that respect. I would certainly give them another chance. Nick is a much better rider than his current average