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We posted that link on the Forever Panthers Facebook page and it has been viewed over 70k times with 3.1k likes and over 500 comments. Update Tuesday 18/08 PM Views 104k Likes 4.2k 713 comments.

Out of nowhere it has become the single most popular Facebook post we have posted in almost three years. I have no idea why or how it happened lol.

They don't need to ban anyone just say we will not use you if you do. He who's paying the most will usually have the final say.

As a tigers fan Etheridge should have gone

Personally I think Jordan Palin made a big difference he was terrific. Such a shame he gave up.

I think riding all types of track makes you a better all round rider and Cooper can ride the tighter ones, he's shown that at Plymouth, Leicester, Northampton, Oxford etc. Hes arguably better on the big ones and obviously has struggled at Armadale but I think gating and bike set up probably feeds into that too. I'm sure he'll want to master that track but ultimately if his goal is to be a GP rider and a staple in the Extraliga then its probably not vital. I think what was most impressive from him up to the final was his composure, intelligence and the way he handled the occasion. He is without doubt a superstar in the making if his career progresses smoothly.

My lads Sunday league team had a similar "curse" last season.. They ended up just second in the league because of it... But did, thankfully, win two cups... The "curse" has now been officially recognised as being "The Curse of Deansgate" A popular street, which is full of bars in Manchester... Some Sundays we were down to a bare eleven as "The Curse" struck... It struck usually around 9am when all the lads who had been out till 5am in the morning cried off on the WhatsApp group.. On the WhatsApp group it got very personal with the lads who went out each week, but still turned up, even questioning the sexuality of those who didn't make it... I showed the comments to an ex player of the team, and he said he was glad he had no idea what WhatsApp was, but added, he would have gone out and just arrived at the game from the boozer in his day... The fans of the club were devastated by last season runners up spot with literally dozens of people effected, particularly as the prize giving at the Town Hall includes a buffet .. Let's hope "The Curse" doesn't hit this season..

Yep, shortchange the punters by a heat and expect them to tip up more of their hard earned for the Ben Fund, typical British speedway. To clarify, was the correct decision to call it off but could so easily have been avoided with a little foresight.

They started late then wasted more time doing the ben fund, rain was always likely. they picked the ben fund collection on a night when attendance was going to be down due to it being on the telly. very poor from Sheffield.

Leave Nellie alone. He/she/it needs something to deflect from his/her team once more letting its supporters down with a baffling team selection. Again

And to think this referee is training a new colleague tonight......

That left the building a long time ago...

Lewis wanted to ride in the second leg but because he had guested previously the rules stated he couldn't. On his guest for the second leg against Wolves he scored Lewis Kerr (G) - 2, 3, 3, 1' = 9+1 Remember that day when he had his accident, the whole stadium just went so quiet.

Probably more like dropping kennet so another team could not use him as a guest each week, but now he's signed for that old man's development league team it doesn't matter now

You can give feedback on the ITVX coverage here https://help.itv.com/support/tickets/new?ticket_form=viewer_services_-_let_us_know_your_feedback Select "Viewer services - let us know your feedback" and "Let us know which programme you are contacting us about" if you start typing "Speedway" it will come up, and you can leave your comments. Also I'm told it boosts the viewing figures if everyone logs into ITVX and just watches even for a few minutes

It is a very difficult decision for these lads though... As Dan T said, his Lodz's signing fee was "several times" more than his Leicester and Edinburgh fees combined... Which can set you up for the season outside Poland too.. And given the current level of these lads, and their aspirations, riding in tier one of the UK will give them more stretch than riding in tier two... In an ideal world they 100% should develop through the 2nd tier over here, but that pull of Poland, which includes the professionalism of the clubs, the level of the crowds, and the jeopardy and consequence of the competition, which ensures a level of pressure to perform which will test them, (it's not just the money), must be tempting..

Dan said last week it's £700 - £800 a point at his level... And £1000+ for number ones in the 2nd tier.. Plus that so important high five figure signing on fee which helps riders not only set up in Poland but elsewhere too. (Which is part of the reason the Poles are not too pleased when rides get injured in other leagues).. He also confirmed that his tier is also impacted by the rule, and he may have to consider not doing Poland if he doesn't get rides, like this season, and he can then ride in both tiers over here.. You would imagine those running the sport in the UK will have already sounded out the riders to see who is willing to do two tiers over here next year, such is the fundamental impact the rule could have, and have a complete list of them already sorted... Wouldn't you?... Edit. He also said there should be a BSP investigation into the standard of the Poole track last week..!!

I don't think your post came across as snything more that taking the pee out of the usual "Belle Vue Play Off Curse" comment that seems to get mentioned time and again.. I took it that way anyway...

Have you seen how much Poland pay the riders , plenty of info via a Google search, all they have to do is offer a rider say £500 a point top riders are on 10 times that, then a clause in the contract you can only ride in one other league. Most riders are gonna put the polish money first, rather than ride in the UK for £75-£125 a point. Just got to see how little the British final winner got £1750 😲 look up Dan T's vlog

If "very entertaining" means being 5-1'd 3 times in 5 outings and failing mechanically in heat 2, then probably best to stop these votes. Hats off for heat 6 but he didn't really have to work overly hard for it. He also almost fenced Lewis Kerr more than once in heat 12. With team mates like that, who needs opponents? Anyway, very pleased with the victory. I didn't expect to win, which makes it all the better. A solid effort throughout the team. Good to see DanT top scoring (despite what the Monarchs website may say) and a big thank you to Darryl Ritchings for turning up with a bike which, unlike the Poole reserves, lasted 4 laps in each race. Excellent professionalism. You can come back any time 👍 A black mark to the Pirates management for their seemingly poor information provided to the programme printers. I had to buy a new pen and was 'writing' William Cairns r/r, Slater Lightcap and Edward Kennett in my sleep afterwards. The latter was very good value for money, which dampened the disappointment of Kyle Newman's unfortunate absence. I was also impressed with Zach Cook. Very fast and very stylish. He's never seemed overly happy on previous visits to sunny Armadale. That's definitely changed this year though. Two top notch performances. Re the Mitchell Cluff 2 minutes incident. Joe (the big screen) always shows the countdown clock before every race. For whatever reason, it wasn't showing prior to the rerun of heat 8. The yellow light came on at some point but no clock. It was also conspicuous by its absence in at least one race later on in the meeting. Can't remember which one(s) though. Finally, well done to Michele Castagna for actually racing for the full 4 laps of heat 14. However, the technical gurus will have to explain his post-match quote to me. Something along the lines of, "my engine almost went on me". Pardon my ignorance but how does that happen? Is it not a case of the engine going (blowing up) or not going (working perfectly)? He didn't appear to lose speed. There was no audible spluttering. So, in what way did the engine "almost" go? Roll on Friday...

They don't need a hosepipe ban in Workington, the track gets plenty of water from all the tears every week.

Leave Nellie alone. He/she/it needs something to deflect from his/her team once more letting its supporters down with a baffling team selection. Again

Possibly one of the worst decisions ever. Etheridge has been a liability tonight. Great ride from Picko though.

As a neutral.. Ben Cook being excluded is perhaps the most dreadful ref decision of the season 🙈

Honestly never thought we would see him ride again, but thankfully we have.

I am not surprised, I believe the meeting was called off after the crash. Lewis is a bit different now, he had hair in those days! Still a good rider and is having a decent season.

Terrestrial TV coverage can only boost those tracks trying to come back too... If their endeavors get some publicity during the programmes... Developers have played on the fact that the sport has been on a decline, so, anything that ITV endorses would automatically infer otherwise... One of the key strengths the sport has is, as daft as it sounds, it's pretty low starting point, meaning growth can be quick and very noticeable... One or two 2,000 plus crowds and all of a sudden the optics are very different...

Seven day ban?...

If Dan T is not getting rides in for his polish team then I’d expect that to be the same for Cooper and Will? Other than the fact that Cooper and Will can ride in the U24 league. I’d hope that Cooper and Will would see that riding in the championship offers them bike time which at this stage is the most important thing. Look at Brennan for instance, he’s perhaps contemplating coming back to the champ next season to find some mojo. for the young boys, there will certainly be a time where it’s the prem, Poland and then all the Qualifiers for GPs etc. but for now they need to be on the bike. And I’m sure Poole will settle for them missing a handful of meetings across the season, like Zach has this season

spoken like a true authortairian.🤣 you must love government.

No but long term injuries have taken there toll with his body- he was rested as it was a nothing match as far as Leszno were concerned.

But surely British Soeedway could answer a lot of its own problems through the licensing system. Ride in GB on a GB licence. Don’t ride, no GB licence. No GB licence no access to GP, SEC etc. take out a Polish licence & get treat like Artem& Emil, good Polish money but World Champ goes out of the window🤷‍♂️. Let’s see who wants money or glory then 🤔

Yep fair point but I'm not sure he would have maintained that form having gained most of his points from reserve, his absence enabled Harris, Nicholls Hans and Bjarne to all have an extra ride which doesnt always work but did pretty much perfectly that year. Agree about Hans and MPT, P'boro were certainly up against it in that final (think Kerr guested in the away leg and got 0?) but got the job done.

And the way the sport is set up in the UK, with the RR and Guest system, it reduces the impact of injuries significantly, even to the point of actually improving the team!!.. Injuries, and good and bad luck, are part and parcel of all sports... S*it happens... There's hardly any major prize at stake, with each season pretty much rinse and repeat from that perspective, so I am sure fans of clubs suffering some "bad luck" will find a way to get over it without too much trauma..😉

2021 when Brady was injured so was Ulrich Ostergaard of Peterborough so that levelled the final up.

Laguta being unable to pass Kawczynski in heat 1 was funny. Enjoyed that, basically a warmup for the playoff final hopefully with Bewley & Dudek Leszno not using RR for Kołodziej (or could they not?) possibly cost them an away win. Not leaving Parnitskyi at reserve was a mistake putting Parnitskyi in the 1-5 and using a junior at reserve was very odd!

Mildenhall 36 Simon Lambert 11+1 Aaran Butcher 1 Ben Whalley 7+1 Vinnie Foord 11 Tayla Street 3+1 Luke Harris 3 Kent 53 Eddie Kennett 14 Harry Sadler 6+2 Jack Kingston 7+1 Ryan Ingram 9+1 Ben Morley 12 Connor King 5+2

Thanks Rob sadly its a long way back (if even possible) to the 10k plus days at Coventry back in the 80's & 90's we do have a good crop of young riders coming through though, but guess as Lambert was expected to stroll it and in general a weak field it was a tough sell.

No, but if it is 1 other league are they going to choose premiership over championship in UK?

Thought it was a decent advert for the sport, everyone played there part, Tatum, Allen, Emma, the riders....track was okay considering the weather we have had. Finished on time which will not of gone unnoticed by ITV. Racing wasn't to the high standard of Belle Vue but do you know what?!...I thought everything considered the sport portrayed itself very well. Fingers crossed ITV want a bit more of the sport, now wouldn't it be great if they covered part of the play offs.

Well this post caused some chatter with fans and ex riders in the Craven Suite after the BF. I don’t see this individuals vile outbursts but having it brought to my attention I have to say it’s particularly bad and worse than those post that prompted me to ignore them in the first place. Two points we’d like to clarify, is there any particular member of The Aces 1-7 that you would find an injury more humours and would the severity of the injury increase your laughter? As one old time ex rider put it, “is this the kind of crap you get on social media?”

Tuesday 18th August QF’s 1st legs matches line-ups. Lejonen v Vastervik- Premier Sports 1 Lejonen 1 Ciernak 2 Przedpelski 3 Woryna 4 Tornblom 5 Zmarzlik 6 Wiltander 7 Henriksson Vastervik 1 Lambert 2 Nagel 3 Thorssell 4 Zengota 5 Tungate 6 A Karlsson 7 Palovaara Vargarna v Smederna Vargarna 1 Vaculik 2 Blodorn 3 Jakobsen 4 Lidsey 5 Miskowiak 6 Hjelmland 7 L Selvin Smederna 1 Nilsson 2 Janowski 3 Pollestad 4 Andersen 5 Lebedevs 6 J Andersson 7 Henderson Dackarna v Indianerna Dackarna 1 Nielsen 2 Lahti 3 Laguta 4 THJ 5 Lyager 6 Krawczyk 7 A Van Dyck Indianerna 1 Becker 2 Berge 3 Prem Pawlicki 4 Buczkowski 5 Berntzon 6 Wozniak 7 R Karlsson

Good meeting for both our teenagers. Hard to predict who will be the better of the two, but both should have very bright futures. Strange decision of Coops to take gate 3 in Final, was Havvy there?!! Flint gated from 1 so if Coops had taken 1, he may well have been on the rostrum. Let's hope he can take that form when riding for Poole. We still look a very hard team to beat in the Championship. At the end of the day Lambert was a different class. IMO, our only league defeats this season have been to poor tactics, dubious ref decisions & engine failures.

Centrally located, very well organised on race nights and probably the best supported track in the premiership, what is not to love😊

The top riders get lots of sponsorship, which is either materials, engines bikes etc or £s which the top riders spend on equipment or mechanics etc, the points money goes directly to the top riders bank accounts. If you do a Google search several seasons earnings from Poland are listed, most top riders earn £300k-£600k a season in Poland alone, then you have Sweden Denmark and the UK. So a rider like Tai easily £1 million a year could be earned, especially if you take in the money from monster

Speedway fans are weird. So we're at a point now where clubs can't sign rider's because others can't afford it?? Absolutely bonkers mentality. It's up to everyone else to be better, not lowering standards to suit the least well off. Even if the team averages were 25 or 55, in the main, if a club has the most expenditure available, they'll have the best team. It's the way in every single motorsport. It's very very simple, if you want a competitive league, bug all the other promoters to raise their standards

I bet I'm not far out given his career has been over 25-30 odd years granted most riders make an okay living out of the sport but I would imagine the top ten are earning upwards of 7 figures per annum.

You'll be claiming he only found the will to become World Champion because deep down he knew one day it would secure him an Aces race jacket Without that motivation he would never have made it 😋

Good luck with the team planning, when you don't know whether it's1or 2 leagues,6 or 7 rider teams and what the team building allowance is going to be what could go wrong!.

What abuse have you seen? These individuals have destroyed a 90 year old stadium with no planning permission. Some peoples emotions are going to be highly charged. Some comments are bound to be a bit fruity and you're very naive if you think that's abuse. No council or planning inspector will take notice of any social media post. This will be decided on evidence in regards to planning laws. You're an absolute hypocrite as well. How about I come and build a padel court in your back garden with no planning permission? Far more benefits for the community. Wally.