Lioness

is he the real deal? Are we having a visit from Bargain Hunt? I know Stewarts tan can be a bit dodgy at times but I think thats maybe a step too far....

again young Ward seems to be forgetting that he ADMITTED that he had drunk to excess the night before when interviewed. Its like a wee kid trying to change the story to suit their ends - only thing is his admission was broadcast for millions to hear - well thousands anyway! Leg, to, stand-on, not a

you mean agent Wolbert style?

Interesting SCB that you name three riders there who were initially refused work permits - Harley Horwood, Jayden O'Malley and Joey Ringwood. The BSPA initially refused to back their applications so they couldnt apply for a work permit but the decision was overturned on appeal. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/local-sport/speedway-jayden-blow-dickson-co-2557414

The regs clearly state that it is in the previous season - as SCB has pointed out it has to be about ability NOW which is why they state previous season. Thats not just something that happens in speedway, as I have said a couple of times I came across it in football when we were trying to sign players way back If you have a look at the page the Monarchs have set up it gives quite detailed but in straighforward language the way a supporters trust runs. My experience of setting up fans trusts is from Falkirk and Stirling Albion as well as one or two others plus working under the auspices of Supporters Direct Scotland which is really no longer these days so although I have a good grounding in it some of it may (actually make that should) have been updated. I havent worked with the trust movement for 5 years now. Basically though, an individual only ever owns one share in a trust. Some trusts can be set up with Share Save schemes which allow you personally to buy shares via your trust in your club but as far as I am aware that has only ever been used by football clubs and one rugby club and is treated as an almost separate arrangement. Some trusts are set up with the aim of obtaining a stake in the club or even full ownership (rare), others just solely with raising money for the club which are made as donations with nothing received in return. Really there is no straight answer to your question as every trust has its own idiosyncracies and it depends on your individual trusts constitution and aims and also how you are registered. Stirling Albions Trust was the vehicle which allowed them to become a fan owned club. Falkirks trust enabled them to buy shares and also proxy shares to have a say at board level and for a while a fans representative on the board (although that has now been removed). As I understand it, Edinburgh's trust is simple a vehicle to raise funds to ensure the clubs continuation with no intention of ever having shares in the club. In all cases, every member of each trust, no matter what they contribute, still has only one share in the actual trust itself. What you get out of it is helping your club flourish and survive whether by fundraising or fans representation or in extreme cases the chance to takeover. Trusts have a board which should be elected by the membership (or in the case of a new trust ratified by the membership) and they have a responsibility to ensure that any funds raised are passed on and used in accordance with their constitution so a lot depends on what is contained within it (I spent about 6 months working on drawing up Falkirks with another guy and that was with Supporters Direct Scotland input - they arent straight forward although should be a bit easier nowadays than they were back then). Theres a lot more information on the Supporters Direct website if you want it at http://www.supporters-direct.org/

jenga a 7 point average isnt the same as an assessed 7 point average. A 7 point average is attained by a rider in competitive speedway in the UK PL. An assessed average is allocated by the BSPA to a rider who has not ridden the required number of competitive matches to get an actual average after he has attained a VISA through finishing top four in the state titles and is purely 'assessed' for team building purposes Hope this helps

Why? What about a 2 year break? A 3 year break? A 10 year break? The criteria states that you need an average over 7 the previous season or top 4 state championship. If you take a year break and don't do the state championship then as it stands you don't achieve the criteria

Why not Manse? Look at it from the agency point of view not speedway. There have to be rules and entry criteria that should be straight forward to follow. There doesn't even appear to be provision at this stage for injury. People seem to think speedway should be treated differently, perhaps because the clubs have been breaking the rules for years. Who knows, there MAY be an appeals process for extenuating circumstances but from my dealings years ago in a different sporting field I would expect that to include a rock solid reason for not competing in a state championship although that's supposition on my part based on previous experience.

Can you explain the logic to me in that Pogo1 - Im not quite following. The way I see it, there are two ways to get a visa for these lads: 1. Average last season over 7 - nope 2. Top 4 in recent state championships - nope I couldnt see anything that refers to a cooling off period - everything seems to point to you having to be top 4 in a state championship if you didnt get over 7 last season. Is this a new criteria they are bringing in? Is there a link to it? Ta!

I think it was on one of the previous versions of the forum. OMG I've just realised, I've turned middle aged.....ah the good ol' days......

I think I should at least get a share of the fivers

I have had a quick look at the Trust site (http://www.monarchsfanstrust.co.uk/ ), looking good I recognise a lot of the 'Association Rules' ! With a couple of football folks involved its no surprise they follow the Supporters Direct model, good work. SD used to have member groups who werent football clubs and its still in their constitution that they are for 'sports clubs supporters groups' - first years membership is free but not sure if they would be able to offer much help as your guys seem to have it well in hand and there is no conflict. Good luck with it!

As if we could forget! I think we should leave the others in suspense for a while longer

Why does that make me think of Gary Glitter? I think the record was Norbolds Hole was it not? Long time ago but that was a classic

its beside your white stiletto's

Grachan, ILR used to be different for certain areas including sport. It was football I was involved in it with but ILR was not deemed enough to allow us to sign a T&T player as he did not have sufficient international experience to play in the professional league but he could remain here in other employment. I cant fully remember the ins and outs but sport was treated differently then - it caught us out at the time as we hadnt thought there would be a problem You don't have to be married! I have a funny feeling Mitty has very recently attained citizenship but I might have picked that up wrong I think most of us are wondering why Matty Wethers has been caught up in this as he appears to fulfil every criteria and then some but if you don't apply for the correct type of application the regulations can be very unforgiving

I dont know the specifics in this case obviously! there are so many variables Joseq7 but in this case and from the wording on Workington's website I get the impression that Matty has applied for ILR rather than citizenship (which he would almost certainly get imo). ILR can be revoked at any time and with ILR there are certain restrictions which would possibly be the reason he requires but fails to qualify for a work permit. This is guesswork however as 1. its a long time since I dealt with it and even then my dealings were in a limited area (although it was sport) and 2. there is a lot of assumption there and I am not sure why someone in Matty's position would have been advised to go ILR in the first place. If anyone saw him voting in the referendum you can also rule all this supposition out as if he went for ILR he would not be entitled to vote

It has been confirmed by the BSPA and several clubs that they knew before the end of last season this was about to happen Ff and that in fact the governing body cut them some slack to prevent chaos before the end of last season. Technically they are only being asked to stick to the rules that have been in place for years anyhow, rules the speedway community has been breaking. Prudence would mean that clubs should have been advising their non EU targets accordingly to make sure they were not left high and dry. Ignorance is no excuse - nothing has changed so far (as far as is publicly known) other than they are being asked to adhere to the rules that they have been breaking for years

I dont think Taylors last average was over 7 was it? Kozza's is but it was not acheived last year which was what was originally posted as the criteria. Dftftb, it will be interesting to see if a revised criteria comes out. My own experience of dealing with them albeit a few years ago now, was that if there had been even a minor innocent transgression from the rules they tended to become an immoveable rock strictly adhering to the tightest meaning of the rules once it was discovered but that may have changed. On Kozza, if I take a step back and look at it as a neutral, I honestly cant see why they would amend the rule for him. I could understand a relaxing of the rule IF a rider had been out injured for a season but in the previous season had been over the required points limit (in this case 7) but unfit to ride in the state championships due to injury but as far as I can see that doesn't apply to Kozza. It worries me that an apparent lack of advice to ride in the state championships and ensure a top 4 finish could cost him this season. My 'Glasgow' head would be happy for me to be proved wrong but my 'neutral' head says 'why?'

I've never been called eloquent in my life! Elephant yes but eloquent never ......

Its good news on the Tigers front rather than good news on Kozza Smith. As jenga has pointed out, its the sponsors licence that has been granted which now allows Glasgow to submit an application for Kozza or any other non EU rider, nothing else. I am still very dubious on Kozza's visa. The way I read what has been made public on the new regs, because he didnt attain his 7+ average LAST season (which he missed) then he would need to have finished top four in a state championship. I assume Glasgow must be confident that not racing last season will not be a barrier or they would have advised him to do a state championship in case.

I really think I should give up the attempts at humour :-\

Maybe he forgot to apply for a team managers license and someone else has been doing the job for him

apart from when you are at Glasgow

Think thats a whoooosh there ... I stupidly tried to use humour