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100% agree with you as I said no good/easy answers, personally I think the top league is done either now or within the next 3 years the championship is a much more sustainable business model particuarly when they can run on the best night for their business Plymouth being a rare success this year.

Sounds a poor excuse, especially for a professional sportsman. Shouldn't he want to go out to show his appreciation of the fans? Anyway if someone underperforms in a final they still deserve a silver medal.

5 teams won’t work, surely they know this, at this rate by 2027 we will have the equivalent of the Oxford/Cambridge boat race

British Speedway is full of troubling things!

Oxford wanted Scott back and so did same masters but Scott chose plymouth. Maybe sam will end up at Plymouth aswell so he can link up with Scott again!

That would imply somebody is making it up as they go along. ... so business as usual then!

With Phil Morris in charge of track prep, boats wouldn't be out of place...

I would not say he is that when his wife has just given birth!!

I'll tell him for next season!

A 5 team league? Will the fans of the team who tops the other 4 seriously celebrate it as a wonderful achievement? It’s embarrassing if you think about it. What a shame its sank to this.

Id have batch back as number 5 personally.

If you weaken the product with only 1 rider over 8 points, as the season goes on the riders on say 7 point average have less 8 point riders to come up against, then there average goes up, by the end of the season you have more riders over 8 points, then what are you going to do to move forward ?

If so good signing for Workington and think that maybe opens the door for Dan Thompson to Plymouth with his brother.

5 teams is just so ridiculous.....but sadly it might happen..Therefore the sport will continue to go down the pan. But apart from a handful of fans on this forum, who can see the danger, it will as ever be down to the small majority who have the say on ruining UK speedway via their own views (big mouth promoters and riders) on why it's best to be two small divisions = total collapse.

I expected he would be going back to Oxford as well. But maybe Oxford don't want to go that top heavy as they probably want to keep hold of Mitch, Luke, Jenkins and Gilkes. Not looked at averages but imagine that would be hard to do with Sam and Scott at 1 and 5. Whether Scott chose Plymouth first or Oxford weren't planning on having him back, it is a very good signing for Plymouth.

Average wise there’s only Gilkes and Edwards better than Jake for next season I’d stick with Tate on a 3. We need to focus on our dreadful away form as we only won 4. We need to match the top two in the league who were excellent with 5 wins each.

Yeah but they will finish 2025 over 8 no. I have questions whether the reduction should come into this for reasons of fairness. I don't even see the logic behind why they would want to impose this 1 rider over 8 proposal anyway ?. Should be able to build a team within the team building points limit as you choose.

Sorry Steve but that 1st para is a right load of BS.

Well there were 12 riders exceeding an 8 point average. What happens to the other 3 if still 9 Championship teams and they all want a team place ?

Aren't all rules 'made up'?

Issue 26 does not include matches after 23 Sept so Worky v Berwick needs to be added.

😁

Not complaints if that was the case… so you recon something along the lines of potentially… D Thompson A Bowtell J Thompson B Barker S Nicholls Klima 3 point reserve

I mean technically that would have been longer than 5 minutes. it’s ok angel don’t be so angry.

I'm not knocking it,I would love a team of bad losers.

I realise there would be many pitfalls with one league but for me personally, I think it would be a breath of fresh air for the sport. Glasgow versus Belle Vue, Kings Lynn versus Edinburgh, Plymouth versus Sheffield etc. I know it probably isn't going to happen but as a BSN subscriber, I have looked forward to watching the Championship meetings much more this year than the top tier. The Championship seems to be more gritty with more committed riders. The recent matches between Poole and Glasgow and Poole and Redcar were great adverts for the sport and for excitement and entertainment value easily eclipsed any of this year's GP's. Finally an appeal to the guys in charge (and remember of the radical changes being mentioned), if there are to be two separate leagues then please do not run the Premiership with five teams only. It would surely sound the death knell, same teams/riders every other week and the playoffs would be a mockery. Let's hope they are going to spring one or two surprises and pull some major news and/or changes out of the proverbial hat!

Was this rule known before the end of the season? Berwick went out and won 2 meetings against Workington where it might have been better for next season to not do so (have Peter or Jonas scoring a lot less points keeping his average under 8 so they would have the option of keeping both). Sure before the 2 Workington meetings Berwick had 3 riders over 8 point average but noone was above 8.2.

Nor very good either!

Agree with that and you would hope that the top table realise that. Perhaps I am missing the point but if you reduce the number of home meetings, stadium owners are still going to want a decent return on the asset or decide it is not worth leasing the stadia out to speedway if the revenue is not coming in from rent food and drink. I guess if you normally run a season of 16 meetings which is agreed under the lease and you end up running eight, the rental cost will remain the same as if it were 16 and so no real saving on that overhead. It may even go up because of the loss of the profits on food and drink. Unfortunately so many issues affecting a sport which is on its knees with no real appeal to joe public and the mainstream media having long since deserted the sinking ship. Fingers crossed someone somewhere can bring something to the table.

V good team

Anyone would think that the Promoter of the bottom club has a greater say than the others at BSPL meetings?! OH hang on...................!?

Sorry didn't realise you were there to witness the conversation?!

When Newcastle were still running in 2022, during one of our last ever home meetings, the opposition Manager said that one rider over an 8pt average per team would be fairer to the likes of Newcastle as he actually felt sorry for us. His team had two over the 8pt average in the team at the time.

Well Scott announced it???

Yes he did but since the injury has not been so good and Zach has taken over as the second best rider and should have been moved to 5.

As you know there's been several meetings to agree to whatever the rules are for 2026, the AGM is where these decisions are officially voted on and passed, but I believe in the past things have changed when the vote was counted and they had to go down another route

With Manchester Uni guesting for one or the other...

I agree with you 100% , odd that some people on hear and some clubs think keeping Emil and Co in a 5 team league is more important than having one league of 14 championship level clubs.

Name names. Most seem to be on here and all are deservedly congratulating Redcar. Poole once again have provided their league with the team to beat and this forum melts down when it happens. Only Redcar and Glasgow produced similarly strong team and surely that has to be the way forward for speedway in this country. The constant dumbing down hasn’t worked so time to look to the best instead of trying to lower everyone to the worst.

Full meeting on this FB link: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Bmo9UcGv3/

In all honesty as with any business you have to continually promote your product and within the entertainment business with so many other options for the general public now days even more. Not taking the p)24 but general Q does the sport have a marketing team with a strategy…. is the likes of Redknapp engaged. Year on year we all have these conversations and it seems to me little change. Time is seriously running out in this country and a 3–5-10 year plan must be in place surely. I’ve supported this sport from my dad taking me Blckbird Road in the late 70s then I have taken my kids but the average age in the crowds now is a worry. If Your a promoter surely you see this. It needs independent governing body with transparency to the public. I know people knock the poles but I go there a couple of times a year to watch the league racing Sunday afternoons party atmosphere full of kids and families. Do the British promotions engage with there counterparts over there…… End of day as in life it is about revenue and balancing the books which unfortunately the uk cannot sustain. Come on BSPA let’s give it one final push as I believe if not within 3 seasons it may well be a amateur sport with individual events for decent price money a few times a year..

Glasgow won't move up as they will miss out riding against Edinburgh a dozen times 😄

Apparently Toby is out of hospital. Nothing broken just a bit battered and bruised.

Factor in guest appearances and you could well see Bomber every other week. Might as well give him his own bay with name plate in the pits at every track.

What a 5 minutes that was…. Poole lose and Scott Nicholls announces his return for Plymouth next season.

Neil Middleditch, Matt Ford, Danny Ford, Gary Havelock, Captain Pugwash, Captain Jack Sparrow, Chris Foster, Thomas Hardy, Richard Lawson, Kristen Scott Thomas, Alan Carr, Zach Cook, Forever Blue, John le Carre', Anders Rowe, Billy Bragg, Lewis Kerr, Sir Walter Raleigh, LBW, Tobias Thomson, PJ Harvey, Pirates of Poole, Will Cairns, Kate Aide, Shovlar, Paul Starke, Lisa Collette, Harry Redknapp, Martin Clunes, The 2nd bend NIDS your boys just took one hell of a beating!

Speedway is fighting in the face of extremely challenging and unhelpful outside forces too. The list above kind of suggests it is speedway's fault or a lack of interest causing these clubs to shut down. I believe were it not for the lure of land development or one particular greyhound operator who dislikes speedway with a passion, the majority of those would still be running today. Wolves for example you cannot in a million years suggest was a failing prospect as a speedway team. Yes there are many things in speedway which could be improved, but the biggest and most complex issue is stadium ownership / land to race speedway. Taking that list: ARC Greyhound Racing have effectively shut down Wolves, Birmingham & Newcastle for various excuses. Land being sold for development has claimed: Coventry, Cradley, Lakeside, Rye House, Peterborough, Swindon, Stoke and Covid brought things to a head with Somerset which has also now been developed on part of the land. Eastbourne - Owners down want to run speedway There are still tracks at Mildenhall and IOW, that's down to other decisions and personal arguments as to why they are not in the league, but the tracks are there. So as we can see, the big issue here before we get into the sport itself is land ownership. That is the reason why most of these clubs are no longer here. Birmingham would absolutely be running next year if the stadium hadn't been taken away, as for most of the rest of that list. It is a massive problem, however just saying use it or lose it doesn't make a difference, the developers do not care even a tiny bit. They also don't care about the letters of support or petitions which are sent in when a track is under threat. But there is good news, the Coventry appeal ruling is now a significant piece of case law, and it is going to make life an awful lot harder for people to do what they have done in the past again, without first providing a suitable alternative for a sporting venue. And that means not just whacking a 5 a side court down in place of a 100 year old speedway stadium. To this effect, I have only this week recorded a podcast with a man called Brian Connolly, he is a speedway fan but also a former solicitor and planning expert. He played a significant role in getting the team together to defend Coventry, and he's also had some success this week with Peterborough. He's also working on Rye House, Lakeside and Swindon. You can listen to it here https://pod.fo/e/3430a4 it is the 2nd part after the Poole stuff. It is interesting and shows the realities of what has gone on, and how there can be a way back for these tracks, but speedway has to learn to outsmart the developers, and we are getting there thanks to people like Brian and his contacts. There are many battles to be had in speedway but this is the biggest one, and hopefully the tide is turning, slowly.

The bond between the fans and riders has been lost, this 100%. that is down to riders doubling up and down, fans no longer have their rider for there team it is basically watching a rider that just happens to have your teams colours on, I know riders are self employed but previously they only raced for 1 team per season with occasional guest appearances.

Sport stops once past carlisle united

If i want to go to a meeting I go to the venue. What about those that are unable to attend a meeting for family or medical reasons? Nobody is asking you to spend any money on a "cheap and nasty production". I'm not aware that there are any available, anyway. You sound like a very bitter person who doesn't really like Speedway at all. But sensible people regard BSN as a superb service, which provides people with the opportunity to watch the sport they love.