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Thought I'd chip in my thoughts on this one. I follow the forum but never really post anything. Firstly I am Speedway through and through, come from a family with a long connection to speedway I have family members that have helped build tracks, been mechanics and sponsors (team and rider). I have travelled all over the country for speedway and have spent quite a bit of time in Vastervik Sweden following Speedway, I mention these things as I would consider myself an avid hardcore supporter of not just Newcastle but the sport in its entirerity. I was brought up on Berwick speedway but naturally gravitated to Newcastle as I got older and they are my local club. For myself I hold the belief that if Newcastle can survive at all it has to move away from Brough Park at some point. This is a view I have held for years and spoken to friends on the terraces about. I go to Newcastle to support my local club, but the product on offer is not up there with the likes of Berwick, Glasgow etc. Anytime I have brought friends to Newcastle Speedway to introduce them I feel I have found myself making excuses before they get there about it not being the best racing etc. I want to make it clear that I don't put this down to the riders, the club or anything like that. For me I find that at Brough Park there is an element of detachment from the racing. You are so far away from the track its hard to FEEL speedway. When you go to Berwick, Glasgow, Armadale, Redcar etc you are so close to the action it is simply breathe taking. You get a feel of the speed, the thump and tire squeal of the bikes roaring past you. You can physically see the skill of the rider shifting weight on the bike, doing different things to overtake etc etc. Unfortunately at Brough because of the sheer geography and set up of the stadium this makes these things that make speedway very hard to appreciate. Its only people that understand speedway can see and appreciate these things from afar. New goers or people trying it out for the first time simply will not see what its all about. However put the same people literally next to the track and I feel the story would be very different. I have had some amazing nights at Brough Park and some memories that I will never forgot and have seen some amazing racing there but its not consistent enough to pull new people into the sport. I honestly hold the belief that Speedway in its purest from is the best sport in the world and the product can sell its self - however it needs the right environment and ingredients to let it thrive and unfortunately for me Brough Park does not offer that up close, get hit with shale, roar of the bikes flying past you experience... Add to that the rent and overheads of running meetings and all the connecting issues with Brough Park, I do not think its holds the answer long term. Not an easy task to find a new venue or field in order to relocate but I'd rather be in a farmers field right up close to the action (with less overheads) than in a swanky stadium. Secondly just as an idea my friends at Edinburgh are involved in the Trust fund set up for the Monarchs, maybe something that could be considered if a future for Newcastle is at all possible. Where people that can and want to set up a monthly direct debit of an amount they are happy to donate into the fund. The fund has a board and the club actually approach the Trust Fund to ask for a specific amount and what it is to be used for. I feel this is something that could be invaluable to Newcastle if a future can happen. It allows an element of control of both parties both the club and its supporters on where money gets spent and provides a safety net for the club as and when they may need to invest or have unexpected costs arise. It also allow supporters for feel more vested into the club. Thirdly I am not minted I wouldn't even consider myself well off however I have worked hard to put some savings away. If anyone on here is involved in anyway with a consortium I could donate a small sum in the thousands if a package could be put together (please feel free to get in touch). Similarly the lad I come with said the same he would happily chuck a few grand in and is in a position to do so... if it allowed the club to survive. This will not be ground breaking money it will not scratch the surface of what it is going to take but non the less it will help boost the fund... Lastly hats off and my personal thank you to Rob and the team that tried. The club would have been in this position years ago had he not come in, then to run in what is still a covid year is an unbelievable achievement of determination. Something that we need to hold on hope to and explain to potentially interested parties is that attendances this year cannot truly be used as future indication. We will not know the true figures of regular attendees until the immediate effects of Covid have worn off. I can see in my work/business figures that covid has still got a grip on things (entertainment industry).

Gary I know you are passionate about your team however it is difficult just to pluck a figure out of the air but I will give it a go to try and get peoples minds focused at what you will be looking at to run a successful venture for the first season. If you read the BSPL rule book start up costs of £30k for your bond with the BSPL and £15k against your rider asset's will need placing with the BSPL; now if you don't screw up this is returnable and just sits with the BSPL for however long you want to run until the next person comes along and takes over those costs. You have the good will of the current promotion so buying what few assets he has (very few) riders; the tractors; water bowser; grading tools; sound system; amplifiers; starting gate fencing and air fence; so lets say for arguments sake £25k for those; then you have your annual seasonal fees to the BSPL that have to be paid for licences; insurance; management and administration costs and other essential items (which again you may get back at the end of the season from the shared events however that's not guaranteed) and you have your start up costs at the start of the season to get the track ready set up the team and you need funds in the bank to run your first couple of meetings and especially if you start with a few away meeting as these will need to be paid for before you generate any cash through the turnstiles and at a conservative estimate you need about another £40k in the bank to cover these costs So as a start up and as a very rough guestimate you will need around £110;000 to set the thing up and running. Then the next thing is addressing the crowd numbers and what type of team you can procure that will give you a chance of being competitive and this has two main factors crowd numbers to rider costs and a hard core of 350 dedicated home fans only gives you £7k at 20 quid a head for rough figures and to put a meeting on at Brough costs around £2500 leaving you £4.5k for points money so over 2 meetings that's a rough average of 45 quid a point and when you see the rising star riders on 40 quid a point guarantees it means really that the rest of the team need to be around the 45 to 50 quid a point mark and that is really stretching it as top riders are looking for 65 to 95 quid a point at this level which will mean if you over extend this budget you will need to find the short fall from somewhere which could be as much as 4k over the two meetings that you need to find which is either 200 on the gate or other revenue streams to cover an average team cost on say an average of 80 quid a point across the full team... ARC may be open to offering a two year lease if whoever comes in can show a sustainable business plan and meets all their rules on how they want their facility used and to run the following year my estimate would be another 50k to run that second season (as all bods would be in place)… Now this is where the fun starts as it would give you 2 year to get the next stage sorted which would be to get into your own venue (note I have not said stadium) and again there needs to be some hard talking on this one but my angle would be "lets stop blowing our collective brains out trying to make a profitable business out of this club; many have tried over the years and it is just not achievable so thinking outside the box (hopefully) lets look at running a not for profit organisation that will potentially open up funding streams not normally available to normal businesses" here are a couple of links for light reading which will give an idea... What we need to know about CIC and CIO organisations... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_interest_company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charitable_incorporated_organisation Now I do not want to build up any false hope here its only an idea and it may not even be allowed but to my mind it needs explored further and the funding will need to be in place to run for a couple of seasons until we get to a position where we can jump ship to a new venue but it will be a very long hard slog and potentially a very expensive one. Unless there is an entrepreneur out there who likes a gamble and a risk; because if we could get 3/4ers or even 2/3rds of the crowd who came to last nights wake against Birmingham then "jobs a good un" as the saying goes and the thing is viable for someone to have a go at for sure and I was very surprised at the turn out figure last night of 1232 and many thanks to everyone who turned out (blew my guess of 750 to 850 right out of the water) I am off on a break now for the next 5 days and wont have a signal (or a very limited one that's for sure) to answer all those who pull my figures apart however they are only educated guesstimates for a rough guide to give people an idea of how big the task is... By the way I am just the facilitator and the ideas man... I'm too fat and too old for a job... Honest... Regards John

Thé fact that the powers that be have consistently failed to find a top named league sponsor for the last two decades tells you all you need to know

Again, it ultimately goes back to credibility.... I can 100% guarantee that literally thousands of Wroclaw fans wouldnt' be chanting Woffy's name if he had top scored the previous Sunday for Gorzow whilst covering a Zmarzlik injury absence... A performance from him which could then result in Wroclaw's omission from the play offs and Gorzow's inclusion instead.. That is really the bottom line as to the lack of atmosphere, and lack of crowds over here.. You cannot make any "emotional investment" into "your team" because, for many weeks of the season, it will just be an ad hoc hybrid of everyone else's.. With the ("your") rider doing the lap of honour potentially riding against you a few days later.... If Poland ran the same system as the UK, then they too would have low attendance levels, no major sponsorship of teams and leagues, and TV companies would be using their coverage as very much a second thought "filler", like we have, rather than by having to out bid each other to win the contracts to show it... Some people still believe that anyone who pulls on their teams' colours are "their riders" and will cheer them on.. Which is fine if some want to suspend reality and believe that... I would suggest looking at the numbers through the gates these days, that this is an ever dwindling number who are still prepared to "pretend" that what they are watching is "real", and actually has some purpose and relevance..

There being buried at Wimborne Rd as theres plenty of holes there big enough to fit a body in already

It was a 5-1 you got that bit right

Poole may well be taking up a legal challenge against their landlords - Stadia UK who are the current leaseholders of the Council-owned stadium - who are trying to impose a massive rent increase on the Poole promotion without any negotiation!! Having solicitors as one of the club sponsors and also a partner of Matt Ford in his French business offers good support to the club's position who have always paid their rent on time and coughed up a 3% annual year-on-year increase without issue. The Council have publicly stated - on video - more than once that they want Poole Speedway to be retained on site at the stadium as they recognise the value to the town and they would 'get involved' if the leaseholders were becoming unreasonable. Watch this space........

Thanks matt there doing a great job down there. It doesn't look much different than when I was working on the track in Tony moles day's .

Brilliant team performance from Sheffield tonight. Well deserved victory totally unexpected . Well done to all our lads. Best we’ve gated all season. We look so different when Bachelor turns up. Well done to him tonight.

The cynic in me thinks that P'boro have done what they needed to do tonight in terms of averages and will wrap up top spot on Thursday by hook or by crook.

If the majority could set up a direct debit of £5-£10 and we could get a handful of fans who are willing to put more in a month, up to £1,000 like some have suggested, we could be well up near £60,000 for the full year... BUT, we need an initial cash injection, sometime within the next 6 weeks, for us to even declare our intent... I just don't see that happening A fan direct debit type situation should have been set up at the beginning of this season, in hindsight...

Not a bad idea in principle actually. If for example if 100 - 200 willing souls could be recruited to contribute £5 ( or more ) per week and sign up for 12 months by Direct Debit - that could generate £2,000 -£4,000 per month or up to £48,000 per year. A broadly similar arrangement was initiated a few years back by an Edinburgh Monarchs Supporters Group, completely independent of Management of the club - i.e. Monarchs Fans Trust . The initial aim was to set up a fund to assist with things like Ambulance cover, unexpected costs such as rain off losses and other types of help. Prospective members sign up to join the Trust and either make one off contributions or pay monthly by direct debit. Perhaps using that as a template for starters could help to stimulate a few enthusiastic individuals to come up with something along those lines to help the Diamonds stay in existence for 2022 - and hopefully well beyond. It is certainly a complex challenge to be faced with on many fronts, but in the absence of any other options at present, maybe worth investigating. Newcastle Diamonds have always been my "second" team and as a young lad living close to Meadowbank ( Edinburgh ), George Hunter and Ivan Mauger were my two heroes. Have only ever had two Speedway badges in all my ( many ) years following Speedway i.e. Edinburgh & Newcastle, so in a way, losing the latter would almost be as bad as in 1967 when Meadowbank was bulldozed for the 1970 Commonwealth Games Stadium and Monarchs kicked out homeless after starting off there in 1948. Am really rooting for all concerned in Diamond land that a solution can be reached in time for declaration time.

Was devastated last night that I could not attend as I broke my ankle on Friday. However I would still like to help if there is a chance we could keep the club alive through a monthly payment. I will keep an eye out for any further information. THJ sorry I couldn't meet up but hopefully we will get some news on here. Jill

Why not just leave it a 45-44 win away to Newcastle in the league and you had a good day away in another city? That's where speedway fans bore the hell out of their 'friends', by going into minutia like r/r, guests and so on. You think they are interested in that sort of stuff? Only speedway fans are. Tell them what Newcastle is like for a day out, that's a hell of a lot more interesting that your use of guests and r/r.

Honestly Just got home after an emotional evening and to be fair it is going to be very hard to save this thing and after the discussion I have had with Rob tonight it isnt good news... There is a lot of genuine interest and good will from the people I have spoken to tonight prior to my chat with Rob and to follow the name above and be totally honest we are looking at very large start up costs with a big injection of cash required to save the club and with the best will in the world I now feel it is beyond most mortal folk to save... There will be further meetings both with interested parties and the fans I have chatted to tonight but I must add it's not looking good for a.fan based bail out... We need someone to come in and take over the spot outright... However I will endeavour to keep folk updated as to what I hear or if we progress things... but lke I have said it isn't looking good to say the least... Sorry for the less than positive news... Regards THJ

Erik Riss (no 5) scored 15 (+1), which kind of helped as well.

The whole concept is inherently flawed isn't it? Riders are paying out huge sums of money to buy what they feel is the required kit, to either get, and hold down, a team place and earn money, or further their own ambitions on the world stage... With the money they earn needing to be of a level to afford the kit they need, and provide them with 12 months salary for a six/seven month job... And to earn that level of money they then ride for all and sundry on an ad hoc basis to get as much as they can.. An ad hoc basis which cripples any credibility that the sport has, and reduces it to a contrived farce... A farce that drives people who loved watching Speedway,, (and still do), away... And if the farce that masquerades as a 'proper sport' isn't enough to drive you away,, admission fees then reflect the cost of the salaries of the riders rather than the credibility or entertainment level on view.. With the farce being so contrived it renders all the competitions worthless, from a kudos point of view, yet costs hundreds of thousands from a salary point of view... And all done on nights and days when the riders, rather than the customers, dictate to you when you should run.. An amazing plan... (An amazingly unfit for purpose plan)... Yet..... What a fantastic core product they have to sell.....

In terms of the success of Barry Bishop and Co at the Isle of White this year with keeping the track open, successful crowds, good access to riders, track, stadium and pits by the crowd along with well presented meetings with lots of races / action for your money I just wonder if other promoters / tracks could be thinking at affiliating themselves to NORA motorsport as well? With the loss of Eastbourne this year already, Newcastle possibly next year and Somerset a non starter this year along with possibly more to follow next year could it be worth the while of some teams maybe joining the Warriors shale track racing club at NORA motorsport and maybe having a bit more of a free hand in promoting and presenting a meeting than they do now. Who knows if even six or seven tracks moved across there would be the making of a possible start to league racing. Just a thought but it could be the start of the breakaway people are always talking about.

Nice to see a final "town halls" of a start in Ht 15... In keeping with what has gone on most of the night.. And that's all we ask of referees.. Consistency...

Andersen presumably having a shocker to ensure he stays at reserve for the play offs?!?!?

Poor tonight but hard to be too negative after the season we've had. The choice of guest has proven horrendous, plus Pedersen seems to be bowing out with a whimper and Andersen looks burnt out given his schedule it's no surprise. Bad night at the office well done Sheffield

Lucky it has worked out like that.. Who could have predicted that...?

I've been to Peterborough a few times this year and it's been fantastic, tonight it seems like the track has been turned into another Kings Lynn. Shale over clay please!

I think his five yard head starts when on TV helps...

Sheffield have had their fun. Even with gates 1 and 3, they've not been able to build a lead.

Ellis gave Hans no space. That's not good racing etiquette.

Really isn't any need for the play-offs. They may as well just give us the trophy tonight because we're unstoppable over two legs.

Totally agree,,, but it might buy some much needed time. In that time there will need to be some major changes and lessons learned, I believe Rob has good intentions, but,,, a suppose being sold 'a ringer' and the coronavirus carry-on has smashed it to bits before it started.

This situation is crying out for the "pools panel" as put forward before on this forum, to be brought in to decide matches.

Daft as it seems raising the money to keep Newcastle alive could be the easy part, then who ever is running the show needs to get a lot more people through the gates on a regular bases to keep the business running. Failure to do that will see Newcastle back in the same situation sooner rather than later.

The start up should not be too high. The current club is worthless and if the current promoter doesn’t come to tapes next season the BSPA should/will revoke the licence and give it to a new promotion. It would then be up to the new promotion to do a deal with the stadium over rental fees. The current promotion must realise for anyone to come in to revive the club, they can’t stand in the way and try to block. Better for a new promotion to avoid the current one almost completely and deal direct with the bspa and stadium landlords. Yes, an airfence would need to be purchased, as well as track equipment. And the BSPA bond would need to be paid. But you don’t buy the club from the previous promotion. It’s worthless. Start up a new speedway club. “Newcastle Saphires”. It can be done under a consortium of fans willing to put in, say £10,000 each. Or less if more fans. Fresh blood. Fresh ideas. I went to Newcastle for the first time this year and to be brutally honest it lacked sporting intensity. Going through the motions is a good phrase. I don’t know the current promotion and I am sure they meant well and wanted success. But preaching to the already converted and dwindling crowd through covid and failure on track with a weak team is nearly always doomed to failure. So many people live in the area it seems almost incredible they can’t get more through the gate with a decent team. Like a team on the south coast who struggled then failed this year, there are good rumblings coming out and I hope the same can be said of Newcastle.

Being an ardent Worky fan for many years my heart goes out to Rob Grant, John Courtenay , and all the genuine Diamonds supporters faced with losing their beloved club. It seems like Rob has done all he can but has just been overwhelmed with the eye watering running costs involved in a sport watched by so relatively few people. Best wishes to you all.

You're an idiot

Yes it was. Also a nice touch with the gift to Barry Wallace for the service to Newcastle Speedway.

Just finished talking about this and it won't be me doing the biz but happy pulling some very interested parties together who will hopefully save the situation... More... hopefully to follow Oh and just on another note... what a strange night... well done Brummies it could have went either way... pity our No 1 was missing... may have been a totally different situation... however what I will add 12 years military service reasonable Rugby Union Player and former nut case and I had a serious lump in my throat at the thought of that being the end... very emotional in the end and thanks to Rob Grant for seeing out the end of the season it's been a rollercoaster and we are we are but what a great ride... Regards THJ

I would like to know what Batchelor has got on Sheffield, love to know why we have put up with him all season

Often saw him at Stoke back in the day seemingly doing everything except for riding the bikes... it was like watching a one man show! Another sad loss

Sad news.... Had many an enjoyable evening at Stoke which was hugely delivered by Dave's hard work and love for the sport.. R.I.P. Dave...

Here's an unpopular post for you, speedway is failing because of the fans. It's often said on here that speedway should try and copy darts, T20 cricket, The Hundred and create an atmosphere. You look at these sports and the fans are creating a party atmosphere (usually alcohol induced). You look at speedway. There's no singing, no chanting, no drums / other musical instruments, no fancy dress (unless you count a Wulfsort jacket). What happens after a race? Programmes are filled in. That looks great for TV. Then they sit back down in their deck chairs. Polish fans (what little I've seen of Polish speedway) create an atmosphere. Just a thought.

Like the song in your favourite film...let it go...MJJ peaked at 17..he's crap now

Great ride from Toft. Just a shame its taken so long for the outside line to develop.

Predicted they would weeks ago. Wolves are by far the poorest of the four play off teams

Draw!

It was nice to meet you the other week, hopefully the speedway can be saved. Still miss supporting the Comets. Once it's gone its hard to bring it back. Will hopefully catch up over a beer

https://vk.com/videos-53550004?fbclid=IwAR3GTnC8VCQHwcrACtBTdfs8ThgAGBpJQCCLm_DqoIIXEURH69wHd8cb0Xo&z=video-53550004_456241099%2Fclub53550004%2Fpl_-53550004_-2

Monkey House is now a care home, lads.

Great to have Roy on the mic.

Very sad to hear the passing of dave. Having known and worked with dave for a few yes. Still shocked. RIP dave