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Isn't it strange all the people who are knocking batch only talk about a couple of episodes of strange behaviour, but Troy has had some very good meetings for the Comets over the last couple of years, at Redcar he was superb same as at Oxford and Plymouth, true fans witness these meetings and don't take notice of hearsay. Agree can be frustrating when not in the right frame of mind, but 98% of the time I have no issues at home or away with Troy on a 7.10 average

Good news. 5 Team PREM is far from ideal but it's still better than One Big League.

Not if Poland has anything to do with it. The golden promised land is not going to happen. Those in charge have really lost the plot and who with half a brain is going to want to watch repetitive matches with double uppers on inflated rates screwing the supporters because the TV income has gone south and someone has to make up the financial shortfall. Two occasions, Covid and the current situation gave the sport the opportunity to reinvent itself but what have you got, the same old scenario. It has failed the punter yet again and this time it will implode because no one is going to be fobbed off with this plan. BSPL, you really do not have a clue about your audience and are so far removed from reality by your actions you will fail and regrettably be instrumental in the demise of the sport in this Country. Thankfully we have Poland to fall back on.

Unless they have convinced Nigel to give Northampton a go he's the only person in Speedway who could probably afford to drop 100k on it to get the sport through to 2027 when hopefully even the prem promoters will be forced to take a different direction. I did like the press release saying "a unique set of circumstances" when it should really have read "a dreadful state of circumstances" have to give them credit for trying to keep it going but they need to realise it just isn't working in the current state and a risk is going to have to be taken at some point to turn it around.

I couldn't give two sh1ts if it's easier for Danny King or Dickson keeps his two jobs. My team were withdrawn by the BSPL in 2018 but I've shaken my head from afar with the level of doubling up. It makes the sport look completely mickey mouse and a sport not to be taken seriously. You can just about accept a young upcoming rider doubling up at reserve for a league above but we have basically the same riders in two different leagues riding for two different clubs. Offer riders 40 meetings a year in British Speedway and if they don't want it then off you pop and get a job. One league-26 league matches, KO cup and early season regional competition with the odd individual thrown in. Harry Redknapp and Phil Davies might even be able to get a Super League together offering a few quid. Triffic.

Get in there!!!!!!!! What a time to be alive!!!!!

Business as usual then... I'm sure that'll save the sport

Stuart Dickson in the star this week, I hoping that in the next week we will have some positive news and we can get an announcement out there, it might not be what everybody wants, it won’t be a perfect league but I think it’s imperative that the premier league carries on, translated means sod the fans, I need my 2 jobs and the riders need to have their way

Either that, or the UK Government has stepped in to avert a crisis using confiscated Russian assets as collateral. Why else would Starmer have been meeting the Belgian PM today, hours before the BSPL announcement?😂

Far from ideal but a 5 Team PREM is better than no PREM at all.

All laudable aims.. However.. That ship has passed a long, long time ago.. Belle Vue are the only current team that hasn't dropped down into Div 2 in the last 20 years, showing that, there really is, and has been for years, nothing "aspirational" about the top flight... And how could there be when the majority of riders compete in both top leagues? It is now truly time for a 100% total reset, building from the bottom up, as "top down" hasn't enough at the "top" to be even a starter.. With the "positive" being so few attend Speedway, so you are pretty much starting again, and, surely, that means that the only way is up!!!?

If the premiership should be the target for all clubs , the pinnacle as you say, how do you achieve that without a route to it if it’s to be a credible sport? Promotion and relegation could be an answer. Jeopardy, credibility, meanfull meetings would then apply . A total fresh start would be the answer in my opinion.

A few weeks ago, Danny King was saying how much doubling up meant to him, as it meant he was able to go home every night and spend time with his family, rather than having to ride abroad and stay in hotels... I spent a few years, two weeks at a time, in hotels, working away, even when my kids were small, and got home for three days every other weekend... UK Speedway is simply set up for some promoters to have a hobby, and too many riders to be "full time"... £5k a night for some competitors in a sport with attendances plenty of level seven, and below, football clubs would be concerned about cannot be a sustainable plan surely?

He was also a lying druggie that ruined our 2024 season. And let his wife make a show of herself on Facebook giving it laldy that it was over the counter pain medication that caused it

Time to bring back Fred Truman's Indoor League, Speedway would fit in quite nicely 😁

Welcome mate. So here we have our top division. Yes just the 5 teams-why what's wrong with that? Hey wait! Come back let me explain - oh ok forget it, Anyone else like to join us? Come on speedway is a top professional sport (hope he's gullible) - worldwide as well. It was ranked the second most popular UK sport once upon a time *( not a fairy story). Now ranked 16th according to a recent post on this forum (page 112 by Iainb). So come my friends join the speedway world in 2026 you are needed and most of all your cash. By the way the lower division has a massive 9 clubs. What do you mean that's rubbish too? Oh bye then......next please!!!

Going to stick my neck on the line The 5 teams don't include Ipswich right now. Once they are sorted infill be 6 team league which will be a winner after the doubts all winter

Indeed because it would rock their comfortable little boat

Can’t help feeling deflated by this announcement, 5 teams is just not enough, just hoping another couple of teams can be resurrected before the start of the season, I know they are trying bspl and others are working behind the scenes but it’s going to need a miracle

keeping the play offs 😅

What is this total obsession with running the premiership despite the worst possible circumstances. It's been the most predictable and boring league for ages. You watch the crowds drop because of this ridiculous situation.

its not working , its making things worse, as the last few years has proved.

No I stated many times I don’t know why they insist on a premier league when it’s in this state but he like riders do seem to be making their decisions for themselves rather than the good of the sport, of course I’d be happy to listen to your or anybody’s explanation of why they insisting there is a premier league giving it was broken last year with tv money and more tracks

based on your summary of value Sheffield will be paying people to buy the club!!!

The 9 championship clubs will stick together to protect themselves, as they have some form of business acumen. One big league could work, but it most definitely is not feasible to try and plan in December, it needs to be decided in the summer ready for the following season, and it may well be that this happens next year ready for 2027 like you say. But Ipswich, and Belle Vue, need to realise that it is unsustainable to continue to bring in GP superstars, forcing teams who can’t financially afford to compete to go to the wall and go under for the sake of two or three clubs.

It should be as it would total 55+ Stick to your South Coast small pond bully boys without the balls to take on the big boys

Good championship team as well

But all the Championship promoters are giving them a standing ovation because without this they were F@cked

So the 2026 double up league is going to run for the benefit of the riders and to the detriment of Promoters, Fans and the Sport as a whole, I really cannot believe the BSPL or should I say the promoters of the Double up League want to Promote a League of 5 teams, I refuse to call it a Premiership as any League in any Sport that has so few teams can only be described at best as being cobbled together, Double up promoters hang your heads in shame for making the Sport a laughing stock.

Two riders per team then😂

Don’t know what’s worse, someone admitting they’re a bully or someone liking it, pathetic.

And so are Sheffield, as they hinted yesterday that this good news was coming today. Just need to confirm Oxhamptonborough and Ipswich for a 6 team league.

Nope, the BSPL will want to string it out. In reality you could run this with one home and one away starting in July and the season over by the end of August including play offs. Why the hell don't these knob heads invest in young up and coming riders and prolong the season with new talent and other disciplines. Think like the IOW and add in the league meetings and finale. Not really rocket science unless you are an owner/promoter of a club in the so called top tier of British speedway farce.

I can't believe they also want to have a KOC-Up! Shirley with only 5 teams, there will just be a play-off Grand Final between the top two ...

That makes more sense than many posts on here this winter

Can't believe they've stuck with play-offs with five team. Imagine trying to explain it to a non-speedway fan- "so yeah, we finished 4th out of 5 teams but we won the league" Think this year will just be damage control- hopefully with serious change incoming for 2027... hopefully.

I think it’s 5 including Ipswich If a sale goes through

Sounds like they've got 5, and it will be 6 if Ipswich is sorted. At least a bit of good news for Christmas.

I would choose a format that is affordable, and sustainable, for as many teams as is possible... A format that makes the sport look like a "National One" covering the length and breadth of the country, and not some "By invitation only" one using a few random selection of teams scattered across England.. And a format that ensures ring fenced spaces for UK rider development, and not one that has riders riding for several teams, clogging up spots.. Currently you can win a league with some expensive GP stars, or win a different league with some NDL developing "wobblers"... The financial reward and wider mainstream media publicity is pretty much the same for both leagues... Put together a race format similar to the one used a few years ago whereby the HL's rode against each other more, as did the second strings and reserves, and build the sport again from scratch... The optics of a five team league in a pro sport look shockingly bad...

The sport doesn’t deserve it, the way it’s run deserves it

Troy, other than the start of the season in the KO comps, has been decent. He, on countless occasions, has made embarrassing results less embarrassing. This season he disappointed at redcar but the season before he was phenomenal there, beating both King and Wright. This season he was good at Plymouth, Oxford, Scunthorpe, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Add a flood in the car park, and then the "Jenny" going kaput.. It'd "Pack 'em in" the week after, Pack 'em in..

Can you imagine it Harry as the new Clarkeson's farm, day one would be Harry sitting at his desk trying to figure out the rule book, asking the camera man if he know's Chris Harris mobile number, trying to tie up a deal with Laguta who want's a 5k guarantee per home match but doesn't fancy away meetings. Someone comes in to say the men's loos are blocked again and they need a wooden prop to hold the roof up, the weather doesn't look to sharp he better nip down to the old pit gate and start looking at it very carefully whilst on camera. Harry on the tractor going round every couple of laps there could be 3-4 seasons in this against the backdrop of trying to make a profit backed by Amazon's trillions.

I have an appointment with my NHS dentist next Wednesday for a check up.

In house streaming... I do remember one channel, (Premier maybe?), showing the UK play off final at least once over the last few years... Edit. FWIW, my opinion is that Ice Hockey, like Speedway, is "too small" to have live coverage going out, as, it won't bring too many extra fans into the sport, but could quite easily dissuade some from going along and attending in person... And any TV deal won't bring in "millions" given the size of the sports and expected viewing numbers. At least in house streaming keeps any money raised in the club...

I’d go with Perry myself.

Love the energy on this forum. Everyone’s so pleasant.

Troy will do a job for us fits in very nice the team so far looks very good

But in those days it was dropping down a standard, today if one league merged into championship and the riders like fricke,Douglas etc all raced in it too Kurtz would still be racing against the same riders from this season, it’s only premier in name, not in quality

Point your boss to the "What will 2026 UK speedway bring?" topic thread and I'm sure they'll understand... they may even give you compassionate leave! 😂