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Who are these Northampton fans that would go to Leicester or even Oxford ? They don’t exist, what’s the point of having a new team that doesn’t have any fans or a track or any history of fans that would still be alive, inventing a team and expecting fans that don’t exist to attend a track miles away from the town it’s supposed to represent is stuff of the matrix

There was a match presented to the paying public last week at Leicester. It was a double header Leicester vs Belle Vue in the NDL followed by Leicester vs Kent in the NDT. In the first match Leicester tracked 2 guests and R/R, Belle Vue 1 guest and R/R In the second match Leicester tracked 5 guests 1 of which didn't start and Kent R/R In the second match Leicester tracked 3 riders who were riding for Belle Vue in the first match. In the second match Kent tracked 1 rider who was riding for Belle Vue in the first match. The 2nd match was scheduled to start at 20:30 but didn't start until after 21:00 and the 2nd match was abandoned after heat 14 due to the curfew. I was toying with the idea of attending this as my last match of the season as it's a long close season. I asked Leicester Speedway a simple question on TwitterX of how much the admission price was only to get no reply... so I didn't bother. Everything that is wrong with British Speedway encapsulated in 1 night! And the powers that be are proposing business as usual as the cure... the sport is finished!

I'm beginning to realise that the "radical" change that has been mooted for next season is in fact no change... and that, when you think about it, is quite radical for a sport in a terminal decline!

Extenuating circumstances that night though Iain... So let's be fair... That FIFTH Leicester guest in the 2nd meeting was unavoidable.... Sadly, it was time to stop taking UK Speedway seriously as a "proper" team sport, about two decades ago.... The GP's and other FIM competitions started to grow, and maintaining your place in a Polish team started to take up many rider's focus and priority... This resulted in guestfest after guestfest, particularly at weekends, as riders pursued their own individual ambitions... With these riders usually being the "big names" and the largest beneficiaries of "the Sky money"... UK promoters, knowing these riders would be missing, still insisted on putting out League racing though... I remember one night at Lakeside, the Aces went there with four guests (Arena track ringers) and RR due to a national championship, and GP qualifiers, taking place around Europe... I was staying in Canary Wharf that weekend and would have gone until I saw the line up... You simply couldn't then, nor (particularly in the internet age), even more so now, take team speedway seriously in the UK... Which is a shame as the raw product is still very sellable.... But, only if the infrastructure underpinning it made more sense, and had more credibility and jeopardy... They desperately need a "Big Sponsor" to ensure a "Big Prize Fund" as that naturally will get interest from the wider UK public and media.. However. You have to doubt that ever happening unfortunately given its operating model is so open to ridicule.... What we have, and have had for probably the best part of two decades now, is probably pretty much "all there is", as surely those running the sport must have seen the decline in crowds as easily as the fans who still attend have... But, given not much seems to have changed when radical change was clearly needed, nor even researched as to why so many who still follow the sport, no longer attend, you can only presume all is thought "OK" at the high table and "same old/same old" remains the order of the day... Roll on next March eh?

Zero - being Zero.

I’ve thought exactly this. If you’re going to reinvent a club from the past and stage their meetings elsewhere, why not a more recent and successful club like Coventry? Still wouldn’t be ideal but I’m sure they still have a big enough fan base that would travel to watch the Bees again. At least in the short term. The novelty would inevitably ware off with the travelling but by that time they’d hopefully have made progress in returning to Brandon or another location closer to home. Who on earth local to Northampton, is going to travel miles to watch a team ride there? It’s been an awful long time since Speedway was raced in Northampton so I’d be surprised if many there even know what the sport is!

I agree insanity but I think if there isn’t another team to make it 6 then there isn’t a league at all and that is purely my thoughts

Can’t believe anybody is seriously proposing a ‘ NOMAD ‘ team comprised of riders from other clubs and sponsored by those other clubs. In the words of McEnroe……” you cannot be serious !”

On the other in 22/23 Louis spent all winter chasing Emil when no body gave it a hope in hell of happening! Ended up doing 3 years as a witch. Louis & Ipswich are slighty different to Schroeck & Oxford.

Here is what I think, 1 rider 1 mechanic 1 bike allowed in pits, reduced points money, no gaurentees, any race night , 6 teams with 1 unknown team run by the rest of the league just to make the numbers up, possibly Northampton, 6 riders per team, has to contain at least 3 Brits, 1 rider of 8 average per team, this is not fact or even what I would do but just some ideas

bring back black/yellow helmet cover lol

Had the good fortune to meet an avid Plymouth fan over the weekend he informed that immediiately Scott N arrived the whole team and club seemed to get an incredible lift .In no time at all his merchandise was flying off the shelves and he was being lauded by almost every supporter .His approach to riding ,team mates and the fans meant in his opinion his return for 2026 was crucial even if he may no longer an out and out number 1 at Champ level . It was great to witness this enthusiasm which we don't see a great deal of within our sport these days !

A shame to see Danny leave - almost as much for his off track/mentoring with some of the younger riders. Hope he gets fixed up somewhere. Would love to see if we could build a team to keep Pijper/Scott at reserve (if we can entice Scott to stay). Would mean a slightly weaker main body but would always leave us with good reserves.

TBH I'm surprised more clubs haven't adopted & adapted 'the Oxford model" of operating 2 or more teams out of the one track. Like, keep essentially the same riders in each team, e.g. from Championship to Premiership level, swap out say a reserve / 2nd string & add GP level rider. So regular speedway each week, watching the same riders with no "he rides for your track one week, against you the next week in a different team"....

Got to start with the reserves I think. Hopefully Pijper & Scott are signed for 2026.

King was a very good team man, excellent with the youngsters , still capable of big scores and a thoroughly nice guy . Sad that he seems to be forced out by a rule that doesn’t appear to have been thought out very well . Hope he gets fixed up quickly, if he hasn’t already been. Whilst Redcar have always shown loyalty to riders… Will the Bears take another gamble on Riss ? Jenkins to come back ? Allen pencilled in ? Might need to find a couple of 2/3 pointers with potential and that won’t be easy.

My understanding was more along the lines of the promotion wanting to operate at the top of the top table. The first season was a reasonable success with a Saturday race night. Season two with the fixed race night was a big problem and the money ran out (I believe). Second tier speedway with a Saturday race night was ideal for Rye House. It was almost an unsinkable ship if managed correctly. For one reason or another it wasn’t, but the sport’s governing body should have seen it for what it was, a rare example of a club that owned its site and had no restrictions. That was worth saving for the benefit of the entire sport at almost any cost.

I'll be absolutely gobsmacked if its not 36 for the top five. We shall see.

After Jordan Jenkins announced he's not riding for Oxford next season could be better worth a go at Scunthorpe always seems to score massively when riding against the Scorpions. (9+1 from 5 and 13 from 5 on last couple of visits at number 5) His injury record isn't the best but it's somebody different other then the usual Scunthorpe go with.

Taking Laguta's spot. Before that it was 2018/2019, again being Lambert. Previously to that it was Iversen. The issue with King's Lynn is always financial. Strength in depth on the cheap & when we've gone with 'real' No1s the rest of the team is bargain bin finds. The JC years are the only time the club has been genuinely competitive. Next season, King's Lynn need a genuine No1 & to hold on to Kvech & Cook as a top 3.

Not enough for me. Like it how it used to be one a week

Its difficult isn't it Mike I do feel bad putting the boot into promoters when you have the likes of Tolley doing six figures plus, but running on Mon,Tues or Wed you are on a hiding to nothing before you begin in my opinion, I keep harping on about it but Plymouth are showing what can be done when you run on a night that the public not the riders want. Appreciate the flip side is if you took this approach in the prem currently you might as well close down as half the riders wouldn't ride here but longer term I do think stripping back to riders committed to UK starting at Championship standard and trying to build back up is the way to go. At the current rate I can't see the top league lasting more than another 2-3 years particularly if no tv deals means weaker teams and higher prices , meeting same team 3-4 times at home per season rinse and repeat.

Can you imagine explaining that to a newcomer

As we are all keen avid speedway fans and use this forum to have fun with other fans from around the tracks, my concern like many others is the potential drop off of the sport in the UK. It has always been the case that fingers are pointed at the things that dont help the sport by the powers that be whilst the sport in this country is being left to diminish to the point clubs will disappear once their owners one by one walk away. Its about time fans are listened to as barely any clubs are financially stable and all that seems to happen each AGM is rulings/stipulations to further detract from the wonderful spectacle speedway is by further adding penalities to a failing sport. The biggest concern for me are the cost of riders which seems to be driven by the cost of parts and the requirement for it to be used as a professional revenue and the subsequent lack of fans which maybe down to various blaize approaches over the past 20 years has created a disconnect for fans on the perifory. We need to act now to give the sport in this country a chance of survival. Fans deserve to have a voice and be heard on the top table as without fans only vast individual sponsors will float any club.

That’s why I don’t like the 1 eight point rider rule per team. As long as each team sticks to the team average that’s fine in my books

Another rider who I'd target if No TV deal happens is........Scott Nicholls. Last Premiership GSA was 5.69 (5.55 after 2.5% Reduction) and he'd score bucket loads around Foxhall @ No.2 imo.

Congratulations to Marky_Mark who is this year’s winner! His team was Scott, Simpson, Foord, McGurk, Hodder, Summers & Rushen. A few people got caught out by picking a rider who averaged lower for 1 club than another, like Rushen at KL compared to Leicester. However not picking Rushen at all was a huge mistake. Only 3 people picked Simpson who doubled his average and only 1 person picked Etherington who also doubled his average 1. Marky_Mark 60.86 2. Szkocjasid 57.03 3. Millersfan444 56.14 4. Islander15 55.23 5. Secsy1 52.62 6. Paul Johnson 52.38 7. Speedwayfan8 52.33 8. RS50 51.08 9. Pottering Around 49.80 10. DJC 49.08 11. Dukes 47.00 12. Bluenose 46.43 13. Technik 43.72 14. Scunny Dan 43.18

Agree. Rye on a Sunday afternoon was a a good place to watch racing and I use to do the music at the track and did the same at Hackney on Friday night. Rayleigh on a Saturday night was always well attended and whilst the racing may not be up to today’s standards it was riders who raced from the heart and soul and you were always entertained and it just seemed to be less of a gap between the heat leaders and the second strings. You also had your characters and Brian Foote for example was was the arch enemy from Romford until he joined Rayleigh. Terry Stone was a real stalwart and Tiger Beech and Trevor Barnwell were great to watch as was Ivan Miller. I look and today’s racers and wonder how many will still be fondly remembered in fifty two years time. Dingle Brown was another character and Geoff Maloney was also up with the likes of Hughie Saunders where incidentally most doubled up with Hackney so doubling up is not new but because Len promoted both it was like lending a member of the family and a good opportunity to watch a riders progression. I am still young enough to remember Johnnie Hoskins at Rayleigh with his Canterbury team and Dave Lanning with Eastbourne. Great days and fond memories. I doubt many of today’s young supporters will have such memories fifty years from now unfortunately. I must stop reminiscing because some on here will come down on a contributor like a ton of bricks because you look back on what it was like back in the day.

Batch

Could be Bomber closer to home with a young family. This may appeal to him as he nears retirement.

I can't see the logic in running a prem team at an existing club under a different name, it just strikes me as more desperation to get the numbers up in the top league, I just hope whoever is taking this on has uber deep pockets as sadly I fear they are going to need bucket loads of cash to burn, would love to be proved wrong and its a success.

I was trying to hold out a slim bit of hope White Knight.

So where are the figures coming from? £ 3k for a six-point rider seems hard to believe.

I'm guessing 1984. Not too sure why I think that. Just something about the picture.

Nagel won't be back, and Dan not allowed back as his average is over 8 and Tigers will keep Bomber. I expect Flint and Howarth will be back. Jenkins would make a good number 4 in that team, and allow a stronger bottom 3 than Drew Kemp would, so if that was the choice I would prefer Jenkins

NN7 2BA

But if they want these 3 young potential superstars they don't have much choice. Leave out Bailey & another club could benefit. I honestly think Rushen could score loads at no 7 & would be in the team sharpish, so Bailey could get a spell at reserve after a couple of months. Agree about Bowes, I guess they see something in him, but I'd steer clear after his attitude towards Workington at the end of the season.

But the difference is Ipswich Town will benefit from at least £38M just from Tv money alone per season and this doesn't include merit payments every time they are shown live. Comparing speedway with football just isn't cricket 🤪

Bob Young on bike and Brian Foote number 5 racejacket Peter Thorogood

Sadly I think your right Ian credit to the fellas who are running the clubs to keep going as they must mostly be losing fortunes, but I fear its more of the same coming, a lower points limit, some top men leaving and prices going up.

Plan C it is for me

Credibility of the Leagues? Outcome Jeopardy for the majority of meetings? Meetings not being arranged already knowing riders will be missing, (usually the biggest riders who attract the most fans)..? A joined up, well funded, collective, national marketing strategy? Clubs doing their own YouTube "magazine" channels? An admission fee in keeping with what is actually on offer? A huge national well planned and executed promotion of the sport targeting schools and local kids groups and kids sports teams? All kids in for free to hopefully grow the sports future? Kids clubs set up at each track to maintain communication with them and thier families? Running on nights when you can bring those kids without them having school the next day? Or? A new helmet colour, but not a Green one this time?

I’m beginning to think this too and I’m the one who was told it was radical change but there are things I just can’t say that I know to be true but absolute silence from the bspl leads me to believe either there is something coming or an idea has gone ** up and they are trying to make the best of a bad situation, I’ve been trying to fill in the missing pieces from what I know and the rumours and they just don’t fit and non of it makes sense and I just feel like we are going to plod on the same as before but with less teams and less money

Wrong team selection anyway

Richard Juul rode one season for Glasgow around year 2000. He signed from top division Wolves on a converted average of about 9.5 and was nowhere near that. Think he only ever averaged about 6 in his div 2 career. Rode with Newcastle after that and I think ended up as co-owner or co-promoter there. Peter Juul could also have made the list though

With Pete Adams as TM?!

And look at Germany now - SON2 gold medallists! They've cracked it. It's better than any Rising Star scheme.

Have you ever been to Buxton ?, if you have you will know it is basic and in a very beutiful part of the world, no worries about development out where they are unless you want to develop a new breed of sheep, as for being viable I think it will be providing the NDL stays as it has been for the past few years, which is primarily a development league, it was only when teams such as Cradley, Birmingham, Eastbourne used the National league as a competitive league and paid much more than the old £10 per point and mileage that forced teams such as Buxton to have to pay over the odds to entice any rider that had above average ability, prior to that Buxton was a very good nursery for young riders and Buxton generally more than held there own when silverware was up for grabs. If you have never been to Buxton I suggest you take a drive out you may be pleasantly surprised, I have NO doubts Buxton will last the season.

Regardless of it's one league or two. the sport has to acknowledge, more so the riders. that riding in front of less than a half decent semi pro football team. doesn't warrant them being full time professional Speedway riders. How has speedway got to such a point? Some riders do work, how many I don't know, but a lot of them don't! The older riders like Bomber will find it hard to cope, but lets face it, he's had a good run. But he like a lot of the others will have to cut down on their bikes and all the little extras they ask for and god forbid get a job!. There are too many youngsters who are no where near the standard to be called full time professional Speedway riders. Lets face it, if it weren't for the bank mum and dad they wouldn't be doing it anyway, because the sport has now got so far out of hand. why in the third division even the second division do riders have to have two to three bikes and big Mercedes vans? Go back to the 70/80s 90% of riders in the second division worked. That was when the sport had a lot more tracks, riders and supporters. It's a sad fact that come next season with all the top riders gone, the only option left open will be for riders to go Semi Pro. The sport in GB has to start to cut it's cloth accordingly, or sadly, there won't be league racing as we know it anymore, just amateur racing like over in the Isle of Wight.