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Who are the idiots still fighting for a Premiership? Lemon, Chapman and Dickson? It's done, all over Get on with one league and adapting the race format. Get rid of the nonsense of riders riding for multiple clubs, race on a night of the clubs choosing and start again. The current model is finished.

British speedway is saved, hurrah 🥳 sir Phillip Davies is appointed by speedway futures Ltd, he loves speedway so much he said the same quote as Harry Redknapp on his appointment, personally I was having my doubts about British speedway surviving but this appointment has restored my hope for the future 😳

My local football team has the kids on at half time, kicking around with the mascot and doing silly stuff. It's fun for everyone and a great part of community engagement. But it's not the product. Without the 10,000 fans coming to watch the football there is no business. That's the product. This forum is full of fans with ideas and, in isolation, they are not bad ideas but the speedway product is so fundamentally damaged that points limits, race formats or, indeed, giving out sweets to kids, are not the answers. I have no idea what the answer is, but if speedway didn't exist and I just had a brainwave for a new sport which involved motorbike riders hurtling around a dirt track, this wouldn't be what I would come up with.

What part of handing out sweets and having a mascot is working for BV? Genuine question… it adds to a family day out (possibly/probably) but it’s not adding numbers to the gate, it doesn’t encourage late teenagers/20-50yr olds through the door. It doesn’t add professionalism or credibility, these are things to add on when your product is working, not a starting point.

Poole desperately need Zach Cook to sign …. If it’s not him that’s a bang average side

gilkes . Poor imo . They need to make some decent signings to finish as apart from Lawson and cairns not good

Never said they couldn't.

Maybe you should be more concerned about Ipswich!!

especially when/if Rushen signs elsewhere.

Is handing out sweets and having someone dressed up like an extra from Paw Patrol really going to bring speedway into the 21st century? It's just the old ideas being regurgitated. So basically get three of the people whose old school thinking has helped us get into the state we're in. The sport needs a dictator, who will run the sport with a view to making profit and without the rose tinted glasses. Sadly I don't think it can be run at a profit, which is why it will die a death in the next few years.

Plenty of winter activities planned, how teams announce there lineup is down to them. Personally I don’t think there is a wrong or right way it’s solely down to what way suits them.

I'd rather have socks 😚

It might be a case that we just have to accept the sport in the UK at the level we have known it previously is now over. I mentioned before i stopped going in my late teens in the early 90's when I discovered nightclubs , fast forward 33 years and nightclubs that pulled in thousands of people on a Saturday night then are all gone. The nearest city to me had 10 night clubs in the early 90's now it has one tiny one, and loads of pubs have closed over that time frame also, places that from 1990 -2005 if you had said to me one day all these will be gone you would have thought never going to happen but it did. Its accelerated since then with social media really taking off a lot of the youth of today have near zero interest in going out, online gaming, dating app's so you don't physically have to trawl out rounds pubs any more looking for a likely partner. Why bother with restaurants get Deliveroo to drop off a pizza to your door, Blockbusters video gone the way of the Dodo when streaming caught on. I occasionally look back at threads on here from 10 years or so back, and there's loads of names I come across who are no longer posting, I would guess there is maybe 50 of us die hards on here now posting and hoping a miracle happens so even this forum is probably on last knockings. Really sad how its ended up all be it the sport has actually limped on for far longer than i thought it would but these days its a struggle to attract punters even when you are offering a professional leisure opportunity let alone when you are trying to attract people to a sport where the riders all ride for different teams every other week and after the first month in you can pretty much guarantee every week from the two teams on show there will most likely be at least 2-4 of the combined 14 riders missing. It really does look like checkmate is nearing I would say one big league but the argument that there has to be some form of even dire top league to subsidise the bottom league as far as rider earnings goes does have merit as an argument, so it really is a case of least bad outcome. I would imagine it will be a five team top league in 2026 with a view to finding a sacraficial lamb to get it up to six in 2027 unless someone with a load of money and no business sense can be shoe horned into getting Northampton running in 2027.

The Doyle news being another nail in the coffin of this once great sport. From the early days and that magical smell to summer USA test matches at Hyde Road etc . Televised coverage to the point where everyone knew about speedway. It’s been destroyed by those in privileged positions with no regard to the future. But then it’s a different world now. All we of a certain age can do now is reminisce. Today’s generation don’t even have this sport in their mindset. It was always going to reach a conclusion one day. That day has almost definitely come.

If Ipswich do ride in one league next year what team is it? No Doyle and Emil obviously, no Dan T, Tom B as they now ride in Poland so won’t make the Fri/Sat or sun fixtures, I’m sure I’ve seen Adam E say he isn’t riding UK next year. So much uncertainty, Chris L probably saw this all coming and decided he can’t work with this pathetic running of a sport and still no official announcement and once is it announced he will be left with the scraps.

I think its probably down to Stock cars holding less meetings and your not facing seeing the same team 4-6 times per season syndrome. I remember going to Lynn a few years back when it was a world team cup round (Billy Hamill) had come out of retirement to help the USA for the event. This was my first meeting after many years away and there must have been 5-6k turn out for it so it shows for the right event people will still come. Maybe a shorter calendar for the top league if it survives might be one of the ways forward with less but better meetings run over May to August possibly.

Any top rider opting out of the UK isn't good, but Jason Doyle doing so speaks volumes. This is one rider who'd go to the opening of an envelope if he could race speedway, if he doesn't think the UK is worthwhile then it makes you wonder.

It's little more than an expensive hobby for most, and one that they, and those who regularly attend, happily collude to make out it has some relevance, and resonance. All cobbled together so the riders get a chance to be "professional" for six months of a year... The operating model clearly doesn't work, (as we see each season that it gets used), however, the skill set required to maximise what is very much a unique product in its most raw form, simply doesn't exist.... And those who run the sport show no signs of ever bringing anyone in who maybe could maximise its potential... Yet, will quite happily pay well over seven figures collectively to all the riders who, in the main, put hardly one extra person through the turnstiles... (Quite baffling)...

I was under the impression that as a forum you can post on whatever thread you want. Im pretty sure that’s how a public forum works.

4.91, so would not fit if the expected Mitch and Luke return, the top heavy team might just work if Rushen signs for the team his pen had on it… Looks like they will have a top 5 that can compete with Glasgows either way

6 weeks you mean lol

I saw this the other day from 1933 and the remarkable thing is how much of the presentation has not changed since then:

You know what that means you'll be able to book a 3 week holiday and not miss any home meetings 😉

Until the sport reinvents itself, I don’t see how anything changes. You need salaried riders, a squad and no averages (for team building purposes) but you can’t do that, as no money, not enough riders or interest in the Sport, it’s not football where all you need is a ball. If riders can/do manipulate their average then you’re essentially watching a bent product, which was probably part of the *sports undoing back in the day. This is before modern stadia, all weather surface or preventable measures to minimise rain offs, then you may have some credibility, which is a starting point…but that is all it is.

Take a bow.. this thread should now be locked after this post, magnificently worded

It'll be good to see the European Ice Speedway final at Varkaus. Big respect to the Mustonen family and all the other volunteers at Varkaus.

Plymouth have announced season tickets available

Pathetic running of a sport that he is a director of….

Build to the winning teams average points. This has obviously been said before. If you’ve a squad then no need to drop, riders would need to be salaried or get something if not picked, but that is more money and a complete restructuring, which no one has done since its conception. It’s a nostalgic sport, we look back fondly, what you need is youngsters going to watch, good luck with that.

I don't mind him commenting on a Poole thread but Lisa has a point Ipswich have more problems to solve than us. We have a good team for 2026 and should challenge for honours.

This sport is an absolute shambles.

This sport is an absolute shambles.

I don't blame him because as it stands at the moment there is no top tier Speedway in the UK in 2026

The music's the same...

I would only compare Gilkes to Thompson as that’s who he’s replacing, which I think he is capable of beating Thompons 4.81 of last season. I think if he stays fit he should hit the 5 mark. Although if he has a slow start to the season then he could get a spell at reserve. Either way it Poole want to compete with Oxford and Glasgow and maybe Bewick, Zach and Rushen is a must

Great side, but I think that number 6 will be Pooles 7 😉

Changing the subject slightly, my mother used to think EF meant Eventually Fell. 'He wobbled for a couple of laps, before he eventually fell'

Lol, prob Oxford and Poole's idea to keep the attention til at least xmas! Whoever he signs for bound to be last rider announced. They are not daft!

Back in the early 2000s having seen the film 'Once a jolly swagman' for the first time I made the same observation - even had my comments published (can't remember if it was in the Star or Backtrack) Another quarter century on and as you say very little change There are a few exceptions and a few individuals in presentation that stand out but not enough

Absolutely, surely it starts with the track, fit for modern day bikes, raceable, room to overtake etc, that’s what makes it exciting, along with the no brakes, the danger element, noisy bikes et al. People are tribal, they want to get behind something or someone, align yourself to a product etc. Guests, ripping sides apart year in year out, rules forever changing, thus the lack of meaning to hastily arranged competitions, resulting in little credibility. This is before, stadia/facilities & everything else countless people have mentioned previously. Jim Radcliffe will tear down Old Trafford, as it’s falling apart/leaking. The sport is a mess, maybe no tv deal money will be make or break, you’ll have to go if you want to watch it, if the numbers drop off further it’s surely doomed. People have mentioned the likes of Barry Hearn etc, why would they get involved, what’s their financial return on their time, investment, tracks/stadia are largely not owned either. There’s quite a few old riders still going, enough coming through to replace them? Most of the promoters are 50+ too.

Drip feeding works in place where each announcement gets a back page story in the local press. It doesn't work in cities where the news is dominated by football. Drip feeding announcements of reserves and second strings would get at most a single sentence in the news in Glasgow. Even Bomber would be no more than a paragraph. Different teams do it differently based on local knowledge on what works for them publicity wise

Was it actually a case of Tobias out Gilkes in. I don't really care, because much as I think Toby did a a job for Poole over the last two seasons, Toby had reached his level but Dan has the potential to go far further. A shrewd signing. Assuming it is Zac and Cooper I'm a happy bunny.

Speedway GP at Ipswich in 2027 🤔🤔🤔🤔

Please stop!

Agree 100% Speedway in this country as we know it is in a state of collapse, high wages, high stadium rents and dwindling supporters are the norm these days. GP standard riders wages are expensive AND if no team will meet there demands they take there ability elsewhere in Europe to ride which is fair enough. How many races have we seen in the past couple of seasons where there are two races in one? Top riders a straight length ahead of second strings or reserves battling it out together So as more teams fall by the wayside so will the GP riders. The way things are going at present within 5 years any teams that are left will have to have riders that are semi-professional racing mainly at weekends again, maybe back to the 13 heats and a second half once more where the supporters can watch the juniors improve week on week like we used to. This is the only way I can see speedway completely surviving in this country starting from the grass roots again and rebuilding.

He said he used to go and watch the Glasgow Tigers and Edinburrow Monarchs in the 70's when staying at one of his properties in the Scottish part of England... His favourite riders were Bernie Hawkins and Brian Collings, plus, of course, Barry Briggs, who he used to go out to dinner with regularly... He used to take his sons too, and they adored Bryce Penhall... He is quoted as saying... "We love Speedway, we really do. Speedway is great, and everyone should go to Speedway and Make Speedway Great Again".. He then adapted that slogan to base his Presidential campaign on...

Great book. 😀

Could Leicester be the last club left standing? Don't forget to turn off the lights on the way out, Stewart.

I made the comment last year that stand alone clubs should be able to enter both NDL & NDT competitions, with the same 7 riders. Buxton & Kent Eagles for example. Then all the doubling up clubs join one or the other. As long as it's decided before signings are made a rider could choose to ride for Kent (NL) & Kent (NT) or like currently Oxford (NL) & Plymouth (NT) for example. It didn't work with Leicester this year, as they were a last minute addition, so only Sonny Springer rode for both Leicester sides.

I bet when he went to put his bin out this morning that he wished he'd gone to Australia.