Leaderboard

Garbage (the highlighted bit). A well run club will be able to attract and maintain sponsorship of the level required to operate profitably. Other clubs struggle to do this, as well as pay riders on time, act professionally to gain local prominence and get 1.5k to 2k fans to attend. So I'd say it has been well run, it's not luck!

You can certainly tell Ipswich had one top tier winning season in 27 years can't you?

I just heard from a reliable source up the man cave that the premier league has a new major sponsor, in 2026 it will be known as the Hokey Cokey league, you got 5 teams in 5 teams out lemon in Louis out shake it all about, you have the AGM in November and change you mind and that’s what’s it all about, everybody sing 🎶 ohhhh what a shambles ohhhh what a shambles ohhhh what a shambles rules bent, no idea that’s British speedway 🎶 The old ones are always the old ones 😂

you do exactly the same to Poole and Belle Vue to be fair.

1. Chris Harris 2. Anders Rowe 3. Sam Masters 4. Kyle Howarth 5. Ben Basso 6.Drew Kemp 7. Leon Flint Any in the know advise if the above fits. Looking forward to the replies.

There have been murmurrings BV could go down the same route as Ipswich, what a legacy for Lemon to leave, doing what Hitler couldnt and bringing the longest unbroken run to an end. Also Aces have only ever ridden at the top level throughout their history so would fans support the club in enough numbers without the likes of Bewley and Kurtz? I have spoken to fans who only want to see these top riders but have spoken to more that wouldnt be against a championship league, more variety, a more level playing field in rider ability that would make for good racing and as been said before if it were a championship and ndl, championship then becomes the top tier. I suppose the question would be would the loss of GP riders and their wages offset the expected drop in attendences? The stadium still has to be paid for and i couldnt see that rental decreasing with the level of whats on offer. Myself i would just embrace the championship and enjoy visiting different tracks. We just have to wait and see what happens but once its gone its not coming back.

Clown You don’t think Chris Louis was a good promoter then you are clueless What is a promoter supposed to do? Bankrolled thousands of his own money into the club Ran the club on a huge financial safety net Promoted the club locally year upon year and brought sponsorship into the team Had the highest average gates all season Brought high class riders into the side … riders who wanted to ride for the club and riders who have regularly stated how much of a family club it is and all riders are happy I suggest you shut up about the Emil situation as you clearly have no idea what went on behind the scenes to make that happen and what it cost Chris personally…. And that signing helped every club who always had higher attendances when Emil was I town a true class act You love to stick the boot in at every opportunity you can to Ipswich …. Occasionally not knowing the facts and most of the time just spouting crap Imagine having the best track in the UK and one of the most entertaining riders in the world in Bewley and still not getting good crowds … what Belle Vue could do with a promoter like Louis

Did you follow the sport maybe 10 to 20 years ago before this convoluted doubling up mess allowed for this new norm for riders to exist? Before this only the very best could make a full time living out of it. The sport didn't do too badly back then. The height of ambition is not to be a semi-pro sport but that may be the medicine the sport needs at this time and we'll all need to accept it for the sport to move forward.

My opinion of it is fairly simple. The Louis family have built a fairly good team with a regular following of loyal supporters & sponsors to compete in the top league & in a good season turn a small profit. I'd say he has looked at the books & like many posters on here he can't see the top league with a possible 5 clubs being the product he wants to offer those people. Equally he is not prepared to take his club into a lower league as those same people may not support the venture. His choice is to walk away as a Champion & good luck to him.

Define badly or well run? By virtue of what you have typed here virtually every sports club in the UK is badly run as virtually none of them can operate on gate receipts alone! That's from Man U all the way down to the Sheffield Sharks Basetball team!

Don't forget VAT!!

Jealousy of what exactly. There's nothing in British Speedway to be jealous of. Hate towards Louis?? Nobody is hating on Louis, Hawkins, Nicholls or Ipswich as a whole. People are just highlighting the delusions of Ipswich fans, believing that Ipswich is well-run, where, in fact, it's just well-backed. How do we know it's about backing rather than the running of the club?!? Seeing as you asked, here's some basic maths to wrap your head around. Let's say Ipswich has around 1400 through the gate every meeting. 700 at full (£24), 600 at concession (£22), 100 at child (£1). That's £30,100 per home meeting. Half that to also cover the away fixtures (£15,050). What's the chances that Sayfutdinov & Doyle almost swallowed that up between them?? Highly likely isn't it?? Now it's about guesstimating the costs of Brennan, King, Ellis, Thompson & Edwards. Would £10,000 seem a fair guess for those 5?!? That's a basic 30% needing to be covered by sponsorship in salaries. None of the above has taken in to consideration the costs of medical cover, insurance, track materials, staff etc, all the costs outside of the septet. When 30%-40% of expenditure needs to be covered by Sponsorship, that's not a well run club, that's a well backed club. I'll say it again. It's in no way "Chris Louis hate", it's just to highlight this best-run, well-run nonsense. It is absolutely fact, Ipswich would be also-rans (like King's Lynn) without TruPlant.

They cant just "join" as there will be insufficient riders to make up a team...Take Leicester's 2025 team as an example. Fricke, Douglas & Becker, gone from the UK if one league comes along as Poland has first claim. Howarth, Masters, Kemp & J Thompson ride for existing clubs. A similar scenario exists at the other remaining 2025 Prem clubs Remember doubling up disappears in "one big league" and the only source of new riders is at the bottom of the capability chart - NDL riders - some of whom cannot get anywhere near place in a current championship club.

Where has all of this Chris Louis hate come from? He's one of a very few who actually cares about British Speedway. Certain other Owners and Promoters couldn't care less about the Sport in the UK.

Your post means that we all have heard it now! 😁

Bang on. It’s mainly due to slick PR by Henry, ably backed up by the trolls on here and no doubt other social media. A good example of this was the annual AGM statement we are all eagerly waiting on. This years included a large section on Ipswich running a junior meeting, painting Louis as some kind of saviour on the junior front. I urge you to read it again and compare it to the damp squib it turned out to be. Don’t get me wrong it was a worthy venture and I’m always pleased to see top level clubs help us with the task of bringing on the next generation, no matter how small. It was not worthy of the being included in the AGM statement. https://britishspeedway.co.uk/miscellaneous/british-speedway-agm-statement-2/

But the world wasn’t so different 10 to 20 years ago (late 00s and 10s). The riders had two bikes, the sport had a professional look, but the doubling up rot hadn’t set in. The consequences of the doubling up mess are far reaching. Stifling opportunities for new riders, inflating rider income expectations, undermining the integrity of the sport, creating some belief that one league can’t operate without the other.

This is a guy who has been involved professionally at Foxhall for near on 40 years. I don’t buy the throwing his toys out of the pram. Anyone who has had dealings with him will tell you he is the ultra professional. It’s got to the point where he can’t see any future & can’t drag others in the direction to make it more professional. Believe you mean he has being trying for years. Probably got to the same point the late great John Berry did at the end of 83. As a Ipswich supporter I have to say I agree with & respect his decision. Yes it’s a tough one as it could see speedway at Foxhall finish but if the alternatives are as bad as rumoured the final call is coming anyway. Louis had the decency to actually personally let all the sponsors know before the announcement was made.

You're saying Poland are not hanging around to see what the UK are playing at? 😂

40.01 unfortunately

Agree Bowes has potential. He had 3 very good meetings for Worky at home against Scunny and Glasgow and away at Poole the latter after which he was probably tapped up for 2026. He failed to back those performances up in subsequent meetings. He missed a few meetings for Worky and never rode at Plymouth or Oxford. He found Armadale extremely challenging scoring 2 points from 8 rides over 2 meetings but he wasn't alone among Worky riders who struggled there. If he gates at Poole he will score okay but if he doesn't I believe he may struggle. He followed up his 13 for Worky with 2 guesting for. Glasgow. He won't have the same pressures on him next season bearing in mind he probably won't be riding in Poland where he never pulled up any trees in the U24's or for Tarnow. I wish him well but you are welcome to him the way he treat Workington.

As i said in the post quoted "and as been said before if it were a championship and ndl, championship then becomes the top tier."

Not sure Ben Basso wants to ride here again but the other BB might (the tubby one).

But first, he needs a visa.....

Taking a place in the UK is really Hobsons choice - in 2026 renamed Pickerings choice....

Poole look to be assembling a good team again for next season in what is, looking ahead a very good competitive league(would be great to have Leicester and Lynn added to the mix)

think Bowes is a good signing to be honest.

A perfect opportunity to do a 14 team league to "whatever" standard, (as long as it can bring 14 competitive teams together)... And, if it doesn't work, and there is too mcuh of disparate difference between the top and bottom, simply run 2027 with the top seven being "Div 1" in 2027 and the bottom seven being "Div 2".. If

If there is only 1 league it is the top level.

Promotion and relegation provides jeopardy and consequence . Apparently though it dosent work. The way it’s run now however …..

It's called jealousy...

Its local competition that impacts clubs attendance more than people think. Take Leicester as an example. They have a successful football club, the most successful English rugby team, the most successful Basketball team, Netball champions and county cricket to compete against for attendance, sponsorship money, and local media content. Ipswich, Kings Lynn and Poole do not have these issues. Leicester are currently placed fifth or sixth in the local market.

... and then in a stroke of promotional genius... stopped running those Good Friday meeting! Unbelievable Jeff!

ill repeat again, while every promotor have an input its 4 people that rubber stamp and decide any rules, structures etc, and they are, CHRIS LOUIS, rob godfrey, Danny Ford, Damien Bates. so he has to take some blame for being in this mess. no one is disputing he ran ipswich well, hes been excellent for you

Dont think bailey is at poole now TBH, i think uk is last on his priority

He certainly has the potential to put at least a point on his average. Tobias was a rider that we were sceptical about but he gave his all for the team which is all you can ask. If Bowes does the same I think we will all be happy.

Aarrghh! You quoted him and I read it. I cannot believe he referenced the junior meeting as an innovative act, unbelievable. Run a junior team if you want to bring on youngsters. It’s completely lost on him that an ex Colt (having graduated out of our team) won the event. Sign young English riders when they are 16 and help build them up (no mention of the compulsory RS riders please) don’t wait until they are world number three before you come sniffing round. What has Louis actually done? Ran speedway at the same venue it’s been at for decades? Let lifelong Ipswich fan Guy bankroll the club? Signed Doyle, so innovative that nine teams had done that before them? Signed Emil when the Ukraine war hit Russian sportsmen? Moved up to the top league six seasons ago? Nobody puts any meat on the bones of him being a standout promoter, well now is your chance but don’t mention the junior meeting again.

That’s all well & good until their income is at least cut by half.

Far better than the current circus! But yes it’s a pipe dream will never happen & we will be here in 2 or 3 years time discussing the death of league speedway in the uk. Unless there is something radical happening in the next few months.

Of maybe running a season with 14 teams and then deciding if it works or not is worth doing? The top tier, in its current guise, as is proven by all the evidence of the last decade, clearly doesn't work... From eleven teams down to seven teams, it hasn't worked.. So five has zero chance, and two more teams added in 2027 will have the same zero chance.. So. How many times are they going to try and revive that dead horse by keeping flogging it?

Fraser Bowes should do fine, looking back at his league scores for 25, generally he was his average, or r/r, or in double figures. Number 4 I presume?! He might even flourish at Wimborne Road, being a Pirate can do that to a rider.

Yes and it’s not a bad thing

With the help of deep pockets from Guy Nicholls. There's a lot of delusion as to how well run Ipswich is. Without TruPlant, Ipswich would be also-rans alongside King's Lynn. Absolutely no chance Doyle & Sayfutdinov would be in the team. Louis himself has said Nicholls has done way way more than people know.

Louis hasn't blamed anyone. He said: "Following a meeting on Thursday I have informed my fellow Premiership promoters of my intention to sell the club."

But in Louis case he has proven if it’s done correctly & professionally then it can work.

Just the last 50 years or so The world is very different and quite simply what was the norm in the 70s and 80s no longer holds any relevance Let's go back to one bike on a rack on the back of a Cortina with a liberal winding of gaffer tape and all will be well eh GB had the major advantage of pretty much controlling the sport worldwide but by default rather than proficiency It's precisely because we haven't moved on sufficiently that we are in this mess Poor facilities that in the main are not even owned by those in the sport

Tbf there wasn’t many clubs in the premiership with healthy attendances last year. Probaly one club made money so it shows the current format is totally flawed.

There it is. You’re making assumptions on something you know absolutely nothing about. You haven’t got a clue what is going on Phil.

Should a rider only be able to ride in one league then their income will of course reduce, but that does not make the leagues dependent on each other. There are many riders that currently get by only riding in one league and using their spare time to seek additional income from elsewhere. To say the Championship needs the Premiership would be the same as saying the Championship needs Tesco/Amazon/the local garage/wherever the rider may seek a secondary income. In your example, a rider riding Championship only will make £20,000. It should be remembered that the season lasts about 6 months now, maybe 7 at a squeak. Is £20,000 for half a year's work not a decent return? Bearing in mind that during this 6 months, the rider may only have to ride approximately once a week on average and allowing generously another day a week for bike maintenance then the £20,000 starts to sound like not too bad an amount to be able to extract from a sport on the brink of bankruptcy. I place no blame at the door of riders on this front but both promoters and riders need to be realistic. Many riders ride one league and work hard to fund their careers through other means. Simon Lambert is a great example of this and all the credit to him.

Where are you getting your figures from? Appreciate your post and explanation don’t get me wrong, but unless the figures are facts then it’s just conjecture. I think the ultimate issue is that the sport can’t justify being professional/full time here. Riders need to get on board with that. Either ride where you can for what you’re offered, make it work, go part-time or get a proper job. All of us fans have to cut our cloth accordingly in life. But the promoters and riders seemingly don’t have to do that.