torpointfanatic22

Yep wholeheartedly agree, the old saying 'If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen' springs to mind. As for the team; yes there are plenty of if's, but's and maybe's when it comes to Mr Bowden and his inability to sort things out and send paperwork in. But Barker, Ashworth, Boxall, Holder and Glanz are definite's. Two spots remaining with 11.11 to fill them. I expect one of the unsigned riders competing in the NYC to fill one spot and the other will probably be James Cockle. I don't think it needs to be regurgitated any more about Mr Bowden and his unprofessionalism in more ways than one, most who attend the SBA regularly and most on here know full well what he is like. Plymouth have an excellent fan base and a great race track (even if it is on the small side) and one day that will hopefully be rewarded with a team and promotion that does it justice.

Holder is a poor signing despite the Ashworth coup and retaining Barker, the team yet again lets very underwhelming!

I had it pointed out to me earlier today that If you read the small print at the bottom of the page on the confirmed signings it says... "PLEASE NOTE: Rider names are added only when the press office is advised by the club making the signing. All teams are subject to completed paperwork and BSPA approval." To me that reads if a club rings the BSPA office and says 'We have an agreement with X or Y' then they are added to the BSPA site but it also mentions subject to completed paperwork so in this case Mr Bowden may have rung them to say he's agreed a deal with Werner when the paperwork hasn't actually been completed but his name would be added anyway.

It seems Werner may not be signing after all, the local rag says today that he is 'in talks' to sign and that no deal has actually been done It confirms Barker, Ashworth, Boxall and Glanz so 4 down 3 to go seems to be the way and not a bad 4 in my opinion!

Ricky Ashworth to Plymouth http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/Devils-bag-big-Tiger-2012-season/story-14154193-detail/story.html

Wells and Franchetti would fit! Other options could be Sweetman, Sitera, Smart, Kristiansen for the main body slot whilst there are a whole load of options at reserve. As I've said on the Devils forum we have a chance to be a competitive side next year with this Ashworth signing, but that could all be ruined by the final 2 if they aren't the right riders.

Well we were both on the same lines HT in thinking it would never happen and we are both on the same lines now! What a coup for the club, and what a potential team for the PL pairs in Barker & Ashworth! Welcome to Plymouth Ricky, great signing!! 9.98 left for the last two if my maths are correct.

Hart has always been a 3 or 0 man at Plymouth. On his first visit with Ipswich last season he had a few 3's and a few 0's on his second visit it was mainly just 0's and personally I've never really rated him. Sadly our promoter listen's to one person and one person only and that's himself!

I'd put Sitera in between the pair but unlike Kus, Sitera has plenty of British experience. I'm not saying Sitera would pull up trees but I'd expect him to hit at least 6 and be a solid middle order man. Put him alongside Boxall at 3&4 and we could do a lot worse, granted we could also do better but that wouldn't be the worst middle order pairing.

Crikey on 5.15 he would be the bargain of the season! Ashworth, Sitera and a decent reserve wouldn't be the worst side.

What would Sitera's PL average be then?

Fil on our small track! Hmm, could be worth a punt though!

Just to get the rumour mill going Ricky Ashworth is now friends with Plymouth Speedway on Facebook! It's on peeps!!

Full time EL maybe? It's just sad that because of Mr Bowden's actions of previous seasons us fans automatically rule out signing top riders when realistically we can afford to have a very competitive team at PL level. I appreciate Ricky is based in Manchester but if the right deal was on the table and Mr Bowden showed some ambition to recruit proven quality performers (Barker aside) he could well be up for it.

Ashworth would be superb and that would give us a tremendous top 2 although I simply can't see it happening in a million years. Hef would be a good option in my opinion despite all the injuries he's had he's on a low average which should improve, although Bowden will probably go for Smart instead. Holder, no thanks I'd rather take a punt on a 3 point NL rider to be honest and I'd take Cockle over him also every day of the week.

Absolutely agree and in my post I said he's a nice guy and a trier but went on to say he hasn't done it at Plymouth and didn't want him back with Werner already signed! This is how crap writers make stories out of nothing by twisting words, Naj is good at that I have to admit!

Your posts really don't help your cause! I take it all back, mon the Brent!

Really nice guy and tries hard but never really got going in Devils colours. Personally I would have had him back but we signed Werner instead! Having both would be um bad!

North, lol, I highly doubt that!! I'm also led to believe Jesper isn't racing in England next year. Werner I hope, I'm still hoping he gets lost on the way to P&P and retires as a result

It's been confirmed in today's local paper that Plymouth have signed Steve Boxall for 2012 and are hoping to finalise a return for Ricky Wells in the coming days. Welcome to Plymouth Steve, he goes well at our place and hopefully he can improve on his starting figure. Fingers crossed the Ricky deal can be sorted and announced shortly also which will give us 11.91 for the final two.

What annoys me is that Leicester finished bottom of the pile (mainly due to their early season form) and have done something about it by signing quality riders in Nemo, Bjerre and Karlsson to ensure that doesn't happen again. Yet we are talking about Cockle, Kristiansen and Werner. Yes we have Ben which is superb but we proved last season that Ben can't win the league on his own. Mr Bowden believes Brent Werner is the answer to our frankly weak middle order of last season, I think that says all you need to know about our likely chances for next season!

Hopefully before March

Oh no, Werner is confirmed on BSPA site now

Good point! Personally I'd rather he just didn't ride for us!

And in my original post I said that the team was muted to be the 7 riders I named, I didn't say that was the team he was signing but the fact that those 7 were mentioned with no-one else does suggest that is the sort of team we will be seeing.