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Why shouldn't Glasgow be allowed to compete in the Championship? Tigers currently have wealthy promoters but that has not always been the case, in fact it's rarely been the case in our history. Moving up would eliminate any sort of local rivalry. And further reduces the number of teams to race against. Moving up would force Tigers to give up the Friday night that their fans prefer (by a significant margin over other times/days). More importantly, where would Glasgow get a non cannon fodder Premiership team from? (Never mind not being able to build the type of entertaining team that the promotion and fans want). A combined Oxford and Birmingham team from last year would still have finished miles off the pace. If rumours are true, Glasgow make a not insignificant loss every year, despite the promotions best efforts, in the Championship. Moving up to the Premiership would make that worse and might drive the Facennas away, quite possibly ending speedway in Glasgow. I think I speak for most Tigers fans when I say I don't want the Premiership.

Having worked in advertising for a number of years in the bygone era of magazines and then the digital age - it is all about numbers. If a magazine - it was the circulation or in the case of the website - page impressions or click throughs. If impressions or circulation faltered then it was about the quality of the audience (good for business to business magazines or websites }, demographic segmentation etc Speedway is an ageing demographic , the viewing numbers aren't high and the exposure is limited - thus any ad agency or brand manager is not going to spend amy budget on speedway. With no TV deal and no significant audience numbers , the sport will struggle to generate bluechip or new advertisers. The way forward would be to saturate the social media market - tik tok, iG and increase eyes ... publicise crashes , incidents like Wright vs Allen punch up to generate viewing figures. Sell your soul to influencers and let them film around meetings. Even get them om a speedway bike to generate views and build. A start would be to create an app like the Polish League with updates, live scores, interviews, video content and Fantasy League. Currently sport documentaries are massive - think All or Nothing , Hard Knocks, F1 and Netflix / Amazon with docs on NHL. NBA NFL, Football etc etc - Speedway is an exciting, adrenalin fuelled sport powered by pure alcohol - there is a story to tell - even to the uneducated. The process will be a slow burner but a speedway heat is 1 minute - it is the perfect timespan for social media - Just needs to be processed and promoted in the right way. For example - In a recent interview Jordan Pickford spoke about his love for MotoX - Immediately I would be thinking lets get him to a speedway meeting he loves motorbikes = Opportunity !! Unfortunately like a speedway AGM - rinse and repeat

I agree Glasgow should be in top league as facilities are fab, but the Faccenas didn't make their millions by being stupid, they want Glasgow speedway to make enough to be sustainable, and we are finally getting the numbers required. Moving to Monday or Thursday with increased rider costs, would be financial suicide, we would lose so many families, we have at least 100 kids racing roary on a Friday night. Would need a very good tv deal or other sponsorship to tempt us up a league.

Excellenf Post.... The modern world... And it doesn't have to cost much to get tremendous cut through if you use the modern digital platforms to regularly "bombard" those who get sent down the algorithmic "rabbit hole" to your "TV channel"... Just. Target your market... And saturate it with "content"... Just 30,000 per week extra out of a population of 80m, plenty of whom living less than 45 mins from a track, would deliver triple digit percentage growth... And, small numbers they may be, but, given the low starting base, in "real terms", these nunbers could transform the sport overnight... But it needs to be coordinated, nationally... Clubs giving stickers out from the foyer of a local supermarket is fine, but the whole sport needs to get itself recognised, as that will generate much larger, quicker results... Promoters collectively spend literally a seven figure sum on riders each season... Yet plenty of people living within a mile of some tracks won't even know the sport, never mind the track, exists... Maybe cutting that rider outlay back by say 15% and, instead, giving this cash to an experienced, professional marketing and advertising agency, who use modern day techniques, and have evidence of success in this field, would deliver much bigger crowds than any GP rider appearing at any UK track would..? Plenty can (and already should), have been done, given the clear and obvious results have shown the folly of doing the same thing over and over again... Staying insular in their own Speedway Bubble Echo Chamber won't help the sport grow, as has been proven, therefore, let's hope they are actively trying to bring in some quality people from outside the sport to drive their brand forward.... We take the p**s on here by saying each year that this is the most important AGM ever, ever, ever, etc, etc... But this year, it genuinely is probably true.. Let's hope those in charge can deliver the sport in a way that allows it to achieve the undoubted potential of its "raw materials"...

This isn’t true, Max is still racing next season

I have been called a lot of things, but that is the worst ever lol.

Riders giving fans, esp children, a quick wave after a hard fought race would be nice. As a neutral, a few times at Scunny I've seen riders from [name redacted], but one of the teams you always meet at the business end of the season, battle through from the back for a heat win - then disappear back to the pits without waving to their travelling support, which included children. I've pondered out loud "Well, I'd think twice about travelling circa 250 - 300 miles to support riders who find it too much trouble to travel (circa) 250 - 300 metres & give their fans a quick wave". Actually, being 'speedway - mad' (for which there is no cure !) I'd still travel support a team of my own & that I identify with anyway, but I'm sure I've made my point here....

Ipswich dropped down as they were in a bad place. Crap teams poor crowds. It was also the time that Louis junior took control. At the time he said it was done to stabilise the club. I think they got forced up when Chapman came a long and was going to buy the club. Subsequently thank god that fell though but Louis grasped the nettle to make it work. Louis has proved that with the right mindset & professional approach you can make top flight speedway work.

Matt Ford loves speedway but as a businessman also wants us to make a profit, shocking!!

Starting a new topic for the AGM as YouHave2Minutes seems to have had a nervous breakdown and changed their name and the titles of all of the topics they started.

That's good to hear, he's been doing laps from a very young age and riders like that shouldn't be scratching around for sponsorship while clubs are spaffing out money on here today gone tomorrow foreigners.

Meanwhile... if true, there's riders in the PL on guarantees who don't care one jot about British Speedway. While Trigger and Perry may not have been the next Bartosz Zmarzlik they could well have been the next Simon Lambert's and without them the sport is dead.

It’s not the first time he’s done it. He’ll be back….unfortunately. A bigger attention seeker than Phil Morris and Vinnie Foord’s family combined.

There is very little discipline in speedway with regards to riders and their demands, they ultimately push the price of things up themselves with vanity and the pursuit of speed and expect the fans to pay for it, does zmarzlik go to the FIM and say I want this much £ to ride in the GP ? No the FIM say this is what it is like it or lump it and this is what British speedway and polish speedway need to adopt, I’m frankly staggered what riders get these days compared to 20 years ago, then it was just the top riders, now it’s every top dick and Harry gets it, I don’t like to single out anyone because it’s a collective problem but I saw 1 rider selling a complete set of rear sprockets,half of them never been used because he wants a new different colour next year, that is pure vanity but he will argue how much the cost of things have gone up and demand more money/deals next season and ultimately promoters will give in and then the next does it and then the promotion has to put the price up to pay for it, I know it’s the GP at the moment but something I see and just think wa***er is the hat stand in the pits with 4 helmets on it or the little fridge for their cans of sugar in it, really ????

I'm afraid all I can think about is this. Having the money for something ≠ affording that thing.

Cash only... #cough.....

Has it not occurred to you that the life of the owner of Glasgow might not be reliant on speedway and if push comes to shove, he will just say I’m out of here. How would that sit with British speedway? You cannot hold a club owner to ransom relying on their passion for a sport where the most successful clubs do well to break even.

I'd like to see Promoters and the sport as a whole introduce some more flexible ticketing options in the future. I have a Glamorgan membership for 8 days play+ a free ticket for a guest for 1 day & free entrance at other county grounds (When Glamorgan aren't playing). This encourages me and commits me to going. Next year is £100, based on current season prices it would be £120 on the day. I've failed to use it to it's full potential every season (Think i've typically done 6 days play, never used it anywhere else). So they probably make a small upside on me. I think with modern fans being more likely to pick and choose, more could be done to get people to go maybe not to a full season but to a significant part of it. And i think for fans who travel away. There's a lot of fans who have lost there team, who still go and typically travel around to different tracks. I think the sport could be doing so much more in this area.

There’s the rub. Plenty of people know about the sport including many speedway fans and they cannot be bothered to come out and watch aside from BH or big ticket events. We need to change the racenight experience to increase interest. I’m a lapsed speedway nut with another track less than 30 miles away as the crow flies. I use to visit this track every meeting as they were my second division track. I stopped going as I got fed up with the entertainment on offer and the journey plus admission didn’t feel worth it. This thinking then gravitated over to Aces away meetings with my final one being mid 2022. The thing is if the sport cannot appeal to a speedway nut previously happy to take in 100plus meetings a season anymore, apart from a few at the NSS what chance has the current product got of attracting and KEEPING new customers?

thats the point I'm making riders would have to pay for their own tyre's insurances vans ect,. it shows a lot of money is needed and the public are not willing to pay it.

You’re missing out a lot of expenses. Riders and Public Liability insurances Tyres Rental of stadium - that can be over £3k Payment of referee and anyone else who is not a volunteer Paramedic attendance Track preparation Track preparation equipment Shale The list is pretty endless

I believe Workington are in talks with Dan Thompson

But the Oxford fans probably could afford but got sick of losing. That’s like saying people from London cant afford West Ham tickets… they can but they choose not to go due to the crap they watch. Nothing to do with affording anything. The same people probably go on holiday, go to other events, people can afford things but prioritise their money in things they prefer to do, unfortunately, and people seem to forget on this forum, people really don’t like speedway when you speak to them and they are aware of the sport, they see it as boring. That’s the sports fault, and not people lacking money to spend it. Create a better product and people will come.

Unfortunately U K speedway cannot compete with the rest of Europe to attract or retain the top European riders. Brexit has been one issue with others including the movement of machines, parts and riders themselves plus you need bikes and mechanics spread across three or four different countries which is adding to a riders costs pushing up the return the riders need and the demands from clubs to pay and then put yourself in a riders position, do you drive from Poland to Sweden or Denmark or faff about with flights at unsociable hours simply to top up the pension by riding in the U K. and rely on the fickle riders as to whether a meeting will go ahead because of grey clouds and drizzle. Then you have how the sport is portrayed and promoted. Take a look at the Polish Ekstraliga official website which is in English and has so much going on both with news, rider profiles, past year’s events etc and lots of YouTube videos and when you see how they deal with the sport is it any wonder the Poles have stolen a lead on the rest of the world. Whatever supporters crave, speedway in the UK as it stands cannot currently compete with the rest of Europe and just take a look at this forum. All who follow the top league are so insular with what they want and what everyone hopes for 2026 whereas those in the lower leagues are getting on with planning for 2026 with what they have. Poole Glasgow, Scunthorpe etc are just getting on with preparations and then you question why should those teams bail out a failing business model which is the top league in the UK. I doubt many on here have the financial wherewithal to put a team in the frame in the top tier of UK speedway and why should astute businessmen in the lower leagues risk all because five clubs want to chase the impossible. The only shining light is the return of Buxton. If you could get the Isle of Wight back then from small beginnings who knows what will come of it. The reality is that no one on this forum knows what is planned for 2026, whether a new TV deal has been done, what the team points limit will be, whether riders from the lower echelons of the sport will have any progress because they are blocked by the double uppers and the fact that Joe Public and the main stream media neither knows about the sport nor gives a toss. Speedway UK lost its way a good few years back and really needs to take a reality check. 2026 is a big question mark.

But the fans obviously couldn't afford it as they didn't turn up in sufficient numbers.. So the promoters couldn't afford it... Hence Oxford pulled their top tier team....

You talking from experience.

Im only Joking ladies and gents. Well, partially. Can't stand Plymouth as a track but I respect them for trying to change it. We even seen some passing on the track last season for once. I also feel the way Plymouth are being managed is the right way and will help the sport, and their club in the long run.

When Plymouth changed nights from a Tuesday to a Saturday, their crowds increased by several double digit percentages .. Mainly families... Which suggested these people knew about Speedway but were not prepared to have their kids (and maybe even themselves), out late on a Tuesday... There is a reason Poland use Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the vast majority of their meetings, and it isn't to allow all the GP riders there, as, if they ran on Monday and Thursdays only each week, the GP riders would still be there due to the money... However... The fans wouldn't be there in the same numbers, especially the kids who make a up a decent portion of each crowd in Poland.. UK Speedway simply cannot be ran like a "proper team sport" so why keep trying? (The evidence even suggests they don't)... The 2nd tier ran a semi final in their flagship competition, with one team having three guests, yet I suggest the crowd wouldn't have been that different if Glasgow turned up with seven of their own riders, therefore just try and run as many meetings on whatever your "best" night is... The Aces for example would 100% get more fans on a Friday or Saturday night than they do on a Monday, given more families would go... Long gone are the days when you could take what you are watching "too seriously" in the context of a bona fide team sport, yet the raw material of the racing is as good as ever for me, (from Div One to NDL), so just run on nights you find most of your customers want to attend... The Entertainment Industry lives or dies by what it takes at weekend, not what it takes on Monday and Thursday... Plymouth changed nights, not riders, and their crowds have been quoted as doubled, with not one GP rider in sight, and often not even all their own riders there!!

I noticed that Tom Brennan done 40 meetings in the UK, which is only just shy of the 45 he done in Poland and Sweden combined. Is there an argument that there are too many meetings in the UK and that actually less is more?

Lewy is correct, but with regards to this app they haven't been involved to my knowledge. I have corresponded with the app developer today to let him know of this thread, and although he has read the comments so far there seems to be an issue with him signing up to the forum that is preventing him from posting, which hopefully is fixed shortly.

... also, those kind of benefits should be being offered to British riders, with the reported retirement of 2 more young riders, Ben Trigger and Max Perry, who should be the life blood of the sport in this country instead of the foreign imports

Would have walked if he could have found a buyer pitgate

So, an evening of 'good 'ol boys' and girls, reminiscing over a meal and several libations, no doubt?! Should be riveting viewing for the younger audience......!? Apologies, I don't mean to be negative - just going on the many photographs from past events.🤪

Let's be clear, there will be no TV network paying British Speedway for the rights to show the sport. At best, someone will cover production costs and show it for free, or there may be an opportunity for the promoters to pay for the privilege of having the sport shown, which may be a price worth paying in order to bring in sponsors and to give some credibility for the sport. TBH, if TV is important then the sport needs to adapt and create a 'made-for-TV' format, rather than expecting TV to fit around the sport's legacy. This is what has happened with Grand Prix and will need to happen if domestic speedway is to gain coverage.

Still very good, with the added bonus of at least they will turn up every week

Clubs should start operating that way, Do away with online ticket sales as well. Pay on the Gate, Cash Only.

The monarchs will have a new no1 for sure. Hopefully the signing on fee will not be in excess of the 10k plus signing on fee a certain aussie received a couple of seasons ago. People in glass houses springs to mind.

Shame you cant be there,get well soon.

How about? Danny King - 8.59 Scott Nicholls - 7.88 Ben Barker - 6.12 Joe Thompson - 5.87 Alfie Bowtell - 4.65 Dan Gilkes - 4.59 Darryl Ritchings - 2.29 Total - 39.99

Poole fans brag about their crowd levels. All Ford is interested in is profit..

Shouldn't Ipswich have had this attitude when they spent 8 seasons (trying) to beat up second tier clubs because they couldn't hack the top flight?

This is the strongest I can put together for Edinburgh 1.Adam Roynon 2. Max James 3. Dayle Wood 4.Jack Smith 5. Stene Piper 6. Jordy Loftus 7. Tom Spencer Strong looking line up and should win hee-haw but it is cheap and room for improvement in well none off them except Loftus. What do Edinburgh fans think entertaining at least for opposing fans.

Less can be more. The issue with the British calendar isn’t that there aren’t enough meetings it’s that there is no consistency and often there are huge fixture gaps during the height of summer. If a team was at home once a fortnight and away once a fortnight (alternate weeks) it would encourage more fans to attend away meetings potentially.

You are comparing apples to oranges .. To watch that standard of Poliish racing over here would mean an enormous admission fee to get in.. More than Premier League football... Meaning crowds wouldn't increase, but actually drop... They pay circa ten times the money, so you would need ten times the current money through the doors...

100%... You could have a very decent season of racing with "14 Simon Lambert's" riding each week...... And have a very similar crowd level, (after the initial novelty has worn off after about four weeks), that "14 Robert Lambert's" would deliver.... With one being very much more costly than the other, for very little difference in both the entertainment level and the size of the prize in winning.

"relieved" ????

Sobering stats - YES. Happy memories though.

2025: 322 meetings 2004: 1095 meetings All-time high- 1300 in 1978. Sobering stats.

The lads (from both teams) did brilliantly on Sunday, very wet and cold, but the lads got stuck in and produced some good racing. The ref offered to call the match after ht 10, but the lads wanted to finish the meeting, great credit to them. I'm always surprised by the lack of people who go to watch The Tigers in the NDL, more often than not the racing is good. And there's a chance of seeing young riders develop through the ranks.