cowboy cookie returns?

I don’t think one league would sit well with Chris. When you see how far he has brought the club from being on the verge of of selling to Buster to getting the backing & the right riders in to make it a success. For Emil & Jason who knows what is going on. Perhaps injures have finally caught up with Jason & Emil is having engine issues. Or maybe there is some average reduction going on. If it’s one league with only one rider above 8 permitted next year Emil on a sub 8 could be a master stroke.

Ipswich are fortunate as the area is truly a hotbed for the sport. It’s always difficult to put a figure on there attendance levels because Foxhall is so big. The capacity is 12000 so way above anything else in UK speedway. Last week v Belle Vue I would suggest circa 2000 were there & probably an average of 1700. One thing is for certain Jason & Emil has been a big draw myself & a few others have returned as regulars, old school friends who used to take the pee out of speedway now attend. Louis also seems to be extremely good at attracting sponsorship, a very good business man.

After last night this isn’t going to be as easy as some think. Lynn have a team full of riders who go well at Foxhall. Harris, Lawson & Kerr all former Witches while Klint & Kevch both seem to love the place.

That’s the thing there aren’t new fans coming along in great numbers. When new ones do come along once the ‘issues’ like doubling up & guests pops up they tend to lose interest. Now I know the defence will be that guests have always been used but that doesn’t make it right. Which is another issue the sport has is that it doesn’t evolve.

I wonder who Lynn will use on Thursday?

Imagine that in the uk, I hear the complaints now!! I sit here every week on my deck chair & I enjoy my conversation with old Eric & now you’re making all this noise!!! This isn’t football you know!! 😝

The FIM won’t do anything, they need the Poles & their money to prop the GPs up. In all honesty anywhere other than Poland & the sport is in deep trouble.

If they water it down much more they might be able to get Budweiser to sponsor it🤪

In all honesty as much as I hate to say it…..I think it’s only a few years until it all packs up anyway. One league won’t do anything to increase crowd numbers & with out increasing the attendances the sport is doomed.

In all honesty as much as I hate to say it…..I think it’s only a few years until it all packs up anyway. One league won’t do anything to increase crowd numbers & with out increasing the attendances the sport is doomed.

It will always fall on deaf ears…the writing has been on the wall since the late 80s. Since then lots of minor changes, the odd good idea among lots of frankly idiotic ones. Supposed cost cutting, weakening of the product none of which has turned the tide. when one big league was tried in 95 & 96 I think that gave you a 18 club premier league. On the face of it a great idea & should have worked, however ultimately the resulting product wasn’t good enough for the former top fight club & to expensive for the former lower league ones. The only difference if they did it now is you would end up with 9 club league, 10 at best. Having said that I can’t see how the current league set up can continue. Which brings its own problems for the likes of Ipswich, Belle Vue & Sheffield.

I think the answer comes with Birmingham links & a top hat!

If that’s the case expect the cup final to be moved.

Not often I agree with you but that is spot on. Louis in the main keeps his home support happy. Ipswich are massively restricted to what they can do with the circuit. The track has improved as the year has gone on after the winter changes. Louis runs a well run club that is attracting first time sponsors onboard while also maintaining crowds that every other uk track would love. Last night would have been somewhere around the 2k mark & i would expect next week to be higher still.

Listening to the latest pod cast I’m not sure he is

I hope it does! However at the moment I can’t see it.

A complete bottom to top overhaul there isn’t a silver bullet that will solve the sports issues. That’s why it needs someone independent to conduct a routes & branches review. Combining the leagues won’t reduce costs & wont increase income either though attendance levels, tv or sponsorship income. 1 league to attempt to cut costs has been tried before & failed.

One big isn’t going to solve the issue. The sport needs a radical overhaul overseen from someone independent. one big league would see the admission cost frozen at the current premiership clubs & an increase at the championship clubs to watch a weaker product. That’s something I wouldn’t pay for. Any tweaks like one league, 6 man teams all of those things are way too late. If they want to save the sport in the uk as a team event it needs radical change now in how it’s ran, administrated & and end to the Micky mouse feel factor.

50p they can because as you said they are incompetent 😃

I think it is shouldn’t someone in authority know that the Workington riders are banned from taking guest booking?

And keep the ones they have.

I complete disagree Poland aren’t at fault for any of British Speedway ills. They have a product that has consistently over decades drawn crowds in big numbers no boom or bust for them. Poland have a product that people want to be involved in, and increasingly since the collapse of communism business has any to invest in. Why the Poles look at moving the product forward & innovate in their country we dither around with half baked crack pot ideas. The Poles have got Extralega 2 up & running alongside with the under 24 league. Britain can’t even make the premiership a success. All of this brings us to a point where the Poles can dictate what happens if they wish too though growing their league structure while we mismanage ours. From a selfish point of view at Ipswich it’s been great having Doyle & Emil after years of dodgy heatleaders. To have Emil don the witch for 3 seasons has been magic I think a fare few thought it might have been a 1 season wonder. The guy is pure class & id love to see him back on the heath in 26. However I think the uk is head for 1 big league or a very watered down premiership while keeping the admissions costs high. In short there are plenty of people who could be blamed for the current situation. The promotions of the 70s & 80s who didn’t reinvest in the sport. The promotions of the early 90s who though infighting threw away the opportunity that was amalgamation. Finally those involved in the early days of Sky. or maybe just the British public because they just don’t want speedway on a mass basis, one thing is for sure you can’t blame the poles!

I don’t think the league structure will allow the likes Kurtz, Bewley, Doyle & Emil to all ride over here next year. I do agree this is our best chance in years.

It’s all cool nothing is won until September…..so not to despondent.

Never really understood why it’s in the regulations that the top rider in the averages has to ride at 1. Should be down to the team managers choice.