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Just to clarify about people being turned away last night, the stadium has a capacity that is set by the local authority and has to be adhered to by the stadium manager and the appointed safety officer. The club widely advertised advanced tickets which were available at 4 previous Brum meetings and online via Try Bookings and almost 600 were purchased ahead of last night. Everyone with a pre-paid ticket was accommodated AFAIK. Unfortunately, at just before 7.25 pm the legislated stadium capacity was reached. So the perimeter gates were closed, no one in the entry queue at that time was denied access to the stadium and the decision at all times was that of the safety officer and stadium manager, who have to ensure they legally follow protocol. I understand a small number of fans couldn't gain access to the stadium grounds and that of course is disappointing for them and I understand their frustrations/anger, but unfortunately the club couldn't overrule the decision. The promotion have got many things wrong over the 4 years with which I have been involved with the club and I can't disagree with most of what has been said on this forum, but in this instance it was out of the club's control. It was a fantastic turn out to say goodbye to Perry Barr.

Depends if Shovvy gets stuck at an auction again. Hope he tells us more about it if he does this time. Really interesting stuff.

Unfortunately today’s clubs are made up of individual riders who have little concept of team representation but ride simply to make a living from whoever opens the wallet and squanders cash on some mercenary gate and go merchants. Speedway in the UK should stop pretending to be a team sport, it made up of individuals seeking a living and it will never go back to the halcyon days of a team sport. Birmingham played its part but alas it got swallowed up in the shambles that is today portrayed a league of teams which is a joke. Birmingham and its backers gave it the best they could but were never going to be a success in the contrived farce that is league racing in this country. Birmingham, hold your head up as a contributor, you did make a difference.

Well, that's not true. What do you reckon Mr Vatcher's role is within the BSPL?

Spot on comment about there being an appetite for Speedway... At the NSS there have been two good crowds this year, yesterday and the PCMM... One being ran on a BHM and the other being ran early in the season with a top class field.. If those who attended, me included, saw enough in the product to attend more regularly then 2000 plus crowds would be the norm... Running on a normal Monday simply restricts crowds, weekend is "leisure time".. Running several meetings as "meaningless", as the play off positions are set in stone from May, simply restricts crowds... And running meetings when you know (well in advance) that riders will be missing, but happily replacing them with competitor's employees, simply restricts crowds.. It costs me over fifty quid for me and my lad as he works PT and has much better things to spend his money on, meaning we attend three, maybe four times a season.. Get it down to thirty quid for us both and it would easily be double figure attendance for us both... Personally, given the Mickey Mouse operating model, neither of us care who wins (like many others who sporadically attend), as the credibility of the competitions is almost zero, but we do love watching the racing at the NSS as it can be breathtaking... As you say, that disconnect needs to be sorted... They could start by running meetings on the best night for the fans to attend in the highest numbers.. Run with less riders per team to make supply exceed demand for adhoc and longer term replacements, which then brings credibility.... And set an admission fee that reflects the standing of the sport in the UK, and the 15 mins or so of entertainment that is actually on offer... The core product is still very watchable, the nonsense surrounding it doesn't do it any favours...

No one has the answers,but for me the riders are dictating the sport with their wage demands and the moaning that they can’t make it pay unless they ride in both leagues . The fans are fed up seeing the same riders every week riding for different Clubs.Its just not a credible sport. eg Your rider helping other Teams ,comprising your Teams chances.(just one).Thete are many more examples.

I trust the co-commentator on BSN will receive a fine for 'enjoying' the scenes and therefore, apparently, promoting violence. Load of nonsense. If there were scraps (handbags) at every meeting, the terraces wouldn't be so empty.

That skirmish probably did the sport more good than harm. I quite enjoyed it myself as it took me back to the times when that type of thing was quite a regular occurrence. It certainly created huge interest.😃 It makes me smile when I see the authorities quote the rule book as it just makes me wonder where it has been hidden for most of the season.

Richard Lawson should be one of the first names on the team sheet

for what???? didnt allen just shut off in front of him, just an unfortunate incident

For me, speedway's real decline began when they introduced such things at double point Tactical rides and 39 point points limits. I'm not sure when that was now. Maybe around 2000-ish? These, for me, caused a big reaction, and I remember going the following season and being surprised at how much crowds had gone down as a result. I don't think the sport ever really recovered from these "adjustments". The big irony with these, if course, is that it was Ipswich (the team that everyone now sees as the powerhouse strong side) that were very influential in such things being brought in because they were struggling with weak sides. Nowadays I struggle to get through a meeting on the TV. I'm sure that losing my team (Swindon) has a part to play in this, but I really do look at the sport on a Monday night and wonder why it is so boring. Is it just my own interest dropping off, or has it genuinely become that? I grew up loving speedway, and going to Swindon, Oxford and Reading where huge crowds would bait each other and the atmosphere would thrive on it. I guess I blinked and the World changed.

Annoys the hell out of me this does! And we get to see quite a lot of this with Drew Kemp at Leicester, even if you're not going full bore at the back you should at least be on the pace(ish) at the back, who knows what's going to happen to the riders in front during the rest of the race... it shows a really poor mental attitude.

he was an amazing rider for us to

He hadn't signed for a team in Poland when Plymouth signed him

Speedway peaked a long time before 2000. The decline started way before that.

When the sport was "successful" it had only the top riders as fully pro... The rest rode part time for very, very decent money when compared to their other job... With second strings earning more in one night than they earned in a week in their "main job"... Now we have pro juniors.... But we also have crowds one tenth of the days of when the sport was successful... And we also have promoters quite happy to indulge Poland and have their leagues lack credibility due to playing second fiddle to them.. We also have promoters happy to indulge riders when it comes to their own individual ambitions by simply running a meeting anyway and borrowing from elsewhere when these riders are unavailable... They even sign riders from Denmark who cannot race on Wednesdays..... For me, all the things many of us have regularly said as being ridiculous on here, have been allowed to actually become part of the fabric of the operating model, so I truly cannot see a way out in all honesty... It has been a slow inexorable death by a thousand (self inflicted) cuts... Three times major radical changes should have been made... 1. When the GP's started to impact domestic Speedway... 2. When Poland started to impact domestic Speedway... The sport should have built its own destiny, instead it fudged and appeased other organisations and riders, meaning the fans got pi$$ed off watching guestfesf after guestfest and voted with their feet... And the third time? Covid... What a chance for a reset, thousands of die hards and thousands of even more lapsed fans eager for the sport to start up again... And what did we get? Well, the current situation clearly shows the answer ..

The simple fact, which I have banged on about for years and have received much criticism against my views, is the costs for the riders, promoters and spectators, needs to greatly reduce. Some of the people who criticised my comments, their tracks have long gone! No names, no pack drill, but Newcastle springs to mind!

While all your points are valid, they are under the current system of running the sport, which doesn’t work anymore,if things were to change within the current financial structure of the sport and from what I believe they are changing (I hope they are )then the changes needed may work, I understand it’s not going to be popular and I can see some kicking and screaming but what’s the alternative? The alternative is the end and that suits nobody, I had a long chat with someone at Birmingham last night (not connected to Bham)about finances and although I sort of already knew but it was quite staggering to hear just how far from the point which imo we should be operating at we have gone as a sport and it goes right from top to bottom and it’s unsustainable

Totally untrue.

As I always remember Buxton on a Sunday afternoon 😂 https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1Drx3Jhkod/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Hopefully the track is better but in lieu of it being Poole I will taper any expectation.

14 times yawn!

You would not have won with Brady, Peterborough were much stronger then and Brady wasn't the rider he is now.

this same scam organisation shared the footage on all there socials, let that sink in, shame on them

I feel sorry for the fans but the track is rubbish because it’s prepared that way and the promoter shouldn’t be allowed to have anything to do with the sport ever again.

22.08.2025: R15, Rybnik v Zielona Góra: https://vk.com/video-53550004_456242391 22.08.2025: R15, Grudziądz v Lublin: https://vk.com/video-53550004_456242392 24.08.2025: R15 Play down, Częstochowa v Gorzów: https://vk.com/video-53550004_456242398 24.08.2025: R15 Playoff, Toruń v Wrocław: https://vk.com/video-53550004_456242399 17.08.2025: R15 Play down SF 1st leg, Tarnów v Poznań: https://vk.com/video-220089063_456247255 17.08.2025: R15 Playoff SF 1st Leg, Rzeszów v Leszno: https://vk.com/video-220089063_456247256 24.08.2025: R15 Playoff, Krosno v Bydgoszcz: https://vk.com/video-53550004_456242396 24.08.2025: R15 Play Down, Ostrów v Łódź: https://vk.com/video-220089063_456247281 20.08.2025: Bauhaus Ligan 🇸🇪 QF 1st Leg, Dackarna v Västervik: https://www.youtube.com/live/UHHcynpXRzU?si=KQv-ZFTO4dmnva8N 19.08.2025: Ekstraliga U24, Grudziądz v Toruń: https://youtu.be/1GdyWQmVcmc?si=eCRhrbj9UFvxuuqN 21.08.2025: Zaplecze Kadry Juniorow, Krakow: https://www.youtube.com/live/rVfPXf68mQM?si=VbbXlExUos_rMwZ7 20.08.2025: 50th anniversary Debrecen Trophy, https://youtu.be/ukq8bDmdtxM?si=GArwqKvq1Ithr-XV 23.08.2025: SEC R3, Leszno: https://vk.com/video-53550004_456242393 24.08.2025: Krajowa Liga Daugavpils v Gdańsk: https://youtu.be/ivFOfviQiuI?si=ZZh6q17viAuA6vJe 25.08.2025: Zaplecze Kadry Juniorów from Gniezno : https://www.youtube.com/live/0fULpVzT5j0?si=3x8681mmJCp2_7Sq

And on a related point. If we're getting nostalgic, I don't remember, back in the day, riders pulling up just because they are at back. Bona fide attempt to race? Pulling up on lap 2 and then riding back to the pits after the race has finished! It annoys the hell out of me. There was even examples of this on show last night at Perry Bar. In former times I can remember meetings taking place on wet circuits that would never take place now. Riders would get filled in and then complete their 4 laps, well off the place, without goggles. I think I'm a dinosaur. P.S. I don't watch much league racing in Poland. Do riders "pack up" at the back there? I suspect the Polish managements wouldn't put up with it.

he had signed a warsaw contract or whatever its called so the liklihood was he was going to get a spot somewhere the issue is that he was missing saturday plymouth meetings so he could ride on a sunday afternoon in poland there is clearly an arrangement between the authorities in the two countries regarding klindt otherwise hed have been banned whether thats down to the logistics of getting from plymouth to poland or something else we dont know as there has been little clarity its a bit puzzling that its been a 75% guest and no ban which seems to be a halfway house punishment that shouldnt exist as a general point there have been far too many absences inbthe championship this year due to fixture clashes if clubs are going to race on fridays and saturdays then it needs to be fully committed riders only and those who arent fully committed cant be allowed to sign in the first place

Personally I don't have a problem with it, as long as there is a club at a decent level and it's competitive, that'll do me. We had a pretty successful time in the CL under Mr Dickson and none of the fans were asking to move up to PL on a Thursday/Monday night as shown with the drop in crowds.

Personally let the so call Premiership get on with it .The Championship will survive in it’s present form. Haven't a clue how the Premiership get out of their situation .

A pleasure as in free points every year? They should never have been allowed into the PL, special dispensation to ride Monday in CL was the common sense solution for Brum

If it's gate and go as usual, tiggers won't like it, they could not handle worky on Saturday 🙂 saying that neither cud the pilots the other week 😁

I also assume SCB will be sending a fine the way of the BSPL for sharing the footage????

We can all see the problems but no one, myself included, has the answers. Let me give you just a couple of examples that will have to be faced. Say I run a team in a rented stadium, the landlord wants to increase the rent. My crowd is decreasing by 10%-15% or thereabouts every season but the fans want a reduction in admittance charges. How do I balance the books? My imaginary no.1 is on points money in my championship league and typically picks up between £900-£1200 on a good night. He also rides in the Premiership and is paid a ‘guarantee’ of around £2,000 ( or more in certain clubs) a meeting. The fans want the sport to go ‘ one league ‘, you think the rider wants that and cut his earnings by half ? Then theres the matter of which team he wants to ride for as he is always going to pick the clubs who pay best leaving half the ‘one league’ with the riders who aren't in demand elsewhere. I could go on but wont, the problems are massive. There are only a handful of clubs who can balance the books , the rest rely on generous sponsors or rich owners, one league would kill the smaller clubs without major changes on how the sport is run. You think those that are choking the sport at the moment have the brains to make dramatic changes ? I fear not.

if Glasgow are going well we might se the self releasing tape rubber bands again

I started going in 1985 and probably finished going regularly in 1991/2,even in 85 you could see things were on the turn Penhall who was a massive draw had retired, Dennis Sigalos who was the heir apparent had a bad ankle injury and was never the same again retiring soon after at a young age. Mike Lee was never as good on his post 85 come back and had several stop start years before leaving the scene, PC, Chris Morten, Dave Jessup, Tiger Louis were all towards the end of their careers. The Lynn team only really had Bob Schwartz as a top rider with the odd flash of the real Lee but we got battered most weeks home and away all be it the crowds in general held up pretty well but it just seemed at that point a lot of the big names had left or were past their peak. The Sky deal should have been the big reset but as others have said the money flowed out to the number one's with nothing reinvested into the general infra-structure. We have also lost a lot of big names in the last 5-10 years as well Crump, Ward, Hancock, Gollob, Adams just a few off the top of my head. Such a shame as the last four heats of the world team cup a couple of years back show that on a decent track with top riders what a quality sport it still can be.

I started going to Speedway in 1967 and went every week from 1968 onwards to Canterbury, Reading, Oxford, Eastbourne,Arena/Lakeside but stopped going after Poole decided to buy their way to the top every year. I firmly blame Matt Foord for the decline of speedway over the last few years. Also the other promoters for allowing all of the underhand shenanigans once the play offs started. Grand prix riders signed to replace second strings, Chris Harris riding in more play off matches than any other rider. This destroyed the remaining credibility of speedway. I'm afraid that it will not regain credibility back in the near future unless there are huge changes. I do not believe the general public will ever accept speedway all the time riders ride for two or sometimes three different teams, this just does not compute with any possible newcomer.

I get the feeling a few clubs and their promotions dictate the rules for the rest. isnt it time to reorganise the whole system with one league, team strengths, number of riders per team, number of rides per match and the riders costing clubs a fortune and giving very little in return.

I remember Rick Miller at Coventry ending up in a race on his own when the other 3 were all excluded. He completed the 4 laps but was showboating with wheelies etc. He, himself, was then excluded for not making a bona fide attempt to race. You couldn't make it up.

Its going to be an interesting winter Birmingham gone, doubts over Leicester, Oxford, Sheffield, that leaves Lynn, Belle Vue and Ipswich as possible starters, anyone moving up would be bonkers the fact the Ford's have no interest speaks volumes. Running with six teams is bad enough I can't really see it being viable with any less than that figure it looks like the day of reckoning is sadly finally here.

Well that is that, another team bites the dust. Its a shame we couldent have got a better result, Rew, Paco getting a win each was nice, as always Paco the king of Perry barr what a perfct team man. Musielak scum, the crowd, leaches come out to play where were you when we needed you, rot in hell the lot of you.

I won't hold that against you! And I do understand where you are coming from. I started going in 1969, and, even though crowds were much bigger than the 2000's, if I read programme notes from back then promoters were bemoaning the large drop off in crowds compared to the 60's and 50's. I'm sure there are many more knowledgeable forum members who could put numbers to it, and when the real decline started

You only won in 2022 because you drafted in Robert Lambert. You should have won in 2021 after Hans only had one ride in the final.

It's not that different... were you following Speedway when you got double points for your tactical? Now that was crazy! Tac subs have long been a part of Speedway, In fact there hadn't used to be a limit on them when I first started following Speedway (aside from 1 each per rider) and it made the sport a hell of a lot more interesting imo. As a fan you really used to be able to play team manager unlike these days where it's barely worth a TM even being in attendance.

This will be our last meeting of the ways. I could write 10,000 words but may be just a few are far more relevant for me. Like many I have grown weary. I am sad of watching you exist. A DNR sticker is the best recourse. Like a parent, a relative, a loyal pet, a great friend, it breaks my heart to see you in pain, living a sad existance. Not alive but existing. I will shed a tear but i will be thankful that the pain is over and I can remember all the great days and not the bad days! Stay safe my friend . May be we meet one day again, at that perfect Oval up in heaven!

I have posted similar on this forum before, only to be shot down by those 'in the know' that. Throttles never stick, cut outs always work, it's no risk. Despite the rule book stating the lanyard must be attached whilst the motor is running. It is, after all only a rule

this is how you lose folks with a bit of class glasgow are a quality speedway team they just had a bad day today

Tbf I tend to waffle and lose track but in what way have I talked my way out of a job? Pretty sure what I’ve said was correct, and I include myself in that category, the club does need to change its attitude. Imagine my job with Ryan is reasonably safe so at least I have that to fall back on.

With only 500 attending, even with a winning team, you would still not be hitting a huge 100% increase... And, even if you did, that would still be only 1000.. The bottom line is, the people of Birmingham, like so many other major cities in the UK, are just not that interested in Speedway...

I can think of better causes to give to than a bunch of mercenary Speedway riders.