salty

Yet again, an extremely well written and informative post from Arthur. I'm afriad I would have to concur with his pessimism regarding the future of dogs at Plough Lane - and as we have mentioned before - the only hope for Speedway (if any) is that Paschal Taggart wins the day.

Much as Gustix has to offer, I would venture that "Arthur Cross" is the most informative poster when it comes to Wimbledon Stadium. No news as such - the planning decision is due in April. However, the Greyhound world are planning this show of support later this month... http://www.racingpost.com/news/greyhounds/wimbledon-show-of-passion-confirmed-as-2pm-february-17-at-city-hall/1599872/top/

Good point Phil. As you say, at the moment the sums involved in the new Sky/Speedway deal remain confidential, but I think it is fair to say that it is more than a few pence less than the one that allows Sky to mess about with the football fixture list. Having said that, I think it is clear that Speedway needed the TV contract a tad more than TV needed Speedway, so it appears that we are at a disadvantage when Sky require a bit of tweaking of the schedules.

Anyone know what happened to the new magazine that was launched at the start of last season? Is it still going?

Both plans involve housing as that is what pays for the stadium development. Greyhound racing are organising the following.. http://www.racingpost.com/news/greyhounds/wimbledon-show-of-passion-next-month/1597766/top/

Thanks for your answer Arthur. Though I note you are unable to shed any light on the exact relationship between Galliard and RCP. Don't suppose it really matters in terms of the future because, as you mention, the big players now seem to be NAMA. Parsloes, I reckon that Mr Simpson of the WPRA was talking about the geography purely from the merton side of the stadium. I can't really see anybody travelling to Plough Lane using Wimbledon Park tube, but I would say Haydons Road is the closest station to the track. Anybody using Earlsfield or Tooting Broadway would probably still be using a bus along Garratt Lane to complete their journey.

I got an e-mail from the Save Oxford Stadium group at the weekend telling me that Galliard are appealing two of the council decisions. One the decision against demolition and then a separate appeal against the decision against the housing plans.

Thanks for posting this. I see Mr Feltham says that Galliard own the site. Maybe I missed something, but I thought GRA owned it who were in turn owned by RCP? Does anyone know (I'm thinking Arthur Cross) whatlinks there are between Galliard and RCP? Not entirely surprised to hear Mr Taggart now appears not keen on the stocks. I guess he needs the residents on side more than he needs the motor sport community.

Chris Chataway, Bert Williams and now Alf Weedon. What a sad day. RIP to all three of them.

Very true, Gustix. The headline of the article on the website is "WWW fury as Nama supports Galliard" which doesn't help either, though there is a pic of Wimbledon Stadium with caption "Wimbledon planning inquiry opens on January 22 at Merton Town Hall". Parsloes - I'm amazed you didn't know of NAMA's involvement. The wonderful venture capitalists at RCP with the "visionary" Luke Johnson at the helm only got their hands on GRA by loaning the money from Irish banks. Arthur Cross - informative as ever - Thank You.

Thanks for posting R & R. Not massively surprising that NAMA are keen on the Galliard plan as it probably gets them their money quicker.

Didn't see anything wrong with your posts on the Ice Hockey thread, your moans about people going off the point were another matter though! But I agree with your earlier post regarding your right to post whether people agree with it or not. Back on topic Speedway 2014 - wishes and hopes As few injuries as possible. Good weather and healthy crowds Promoters to spend their energy promoting not looking for (and finding) loopholes in the myriad of rules. Some progress made on an independent overseer?? Hope the policy of two youngsters in the Elite reserve spots is a success.

But you were the one who quoted Arsenal's crowd yesterday!!! Read the thread and you will see why we got here! To save you the heartache - simply - the thread moved from a specific critique of PC's article to a more general discussion on the reasons behind Speedway's struggles to attract good crowds now compared to yesteryear. Somebody mentioned the effect of the recession and then others mentioned how the attendances at the World Darts and at Arsenal (that was you) showed that people were still happy to spend good money to attend sporting events.

What has this got to do with PC's comments in the Star? A thread goes where it goes - I can see why attendances at other sporting events became involved, especially when people began mentioning the effect of the recession on Speedway attendances.

I know this is a bit left field, but have you tried phoning them? Number is on this link. https://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact#h=eyJzdGVwMCI6ImNvbnRhY3RJdGVtTGluazU2NDIiLCJzdGVwMSI6ImNvbnRhY3RJdGVtTGluazU2NDIsNjU2NCIsInN0ZXBJZHgiOjF9

Why don't you try this link then? https://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact#h=eyJzdGVwMCI6ImNvbnRhY3RJdGVtTGluazU2NDIiLCJzdGVwSWR4IjowfQ As Bryn mentioned yesterday the logical step for you to take in your crusade to ascertain the voting figures would be to contact BT themselves.

You talk of these "awards" but I have been unable (despite exhaustive research) to find any confirmation of what these "awards" were and the relevant voting results. For all we know they were the result of an arbitary panel handing out the "award" without any public vote, rendering them largely worthless. Some more information and a pointer towards the published results of any such polls would be much appreciated. Maybe you could start a seperate thread so as not to cause any confusion with the BT Minority Sports award?

What is your point Gustix? I posted about the minority sports poll last Saturday on the SPOTY thread - for reasons already explained. Refer to John Leslie (post 437) why it wasn't the worst idea to do so. The thread about him winning it was started today. Clearly it is not an issue that upsets too many other people as nobody else has felt the need to re-inforce your moan. Maybe you should go back to reminiscing about how Speedway was so much better when it was black & white...

When you see some of the xenophobic bile on this site, little wonder that Nick's Dad took the decision to move over to Aussie in the first place.

I was the person who first mentioned the BT Minority Sports poll on this thread. Thought it was prudent to put it on the BBC thread as it would be noticed by people who were interested in such polls and Tai's presence/non-presence on them. Also I couldn't see any other mention of the BT poll anywhere and couldn't be bothered to start a new thread. In fact you were one of the first to respond with the normal nonsense about how Speedway was never a minority sport in your day, blah, blah, blah etc.

Have to say I have really enjoyed the Best of British series. Much prefer to read such an in depth feature than the track by track news, which, in my opinion, is the weakest area of the magazine, particularly in the off season.

Thanks SCB

Was flicking the sports channels last night and when I went on BT Sport to check the score of the Stenhousemuir/Rangers match obviously there was no football to watch as the game was off. Instead they had a studio based programme in which they were introducing a poll for the "Minority Sports Person of the Year". One of the 5 nominations was a certain "Tea" Woffinden. Couldn't see any reference to the poll on their web site last night, but they said the result will be announced next weekend. Might be suitable for all on this thread who felt miffed by the Beeb's snubbing of our sport. Apologies if already posted elsewhere - but I couldn't see anything.

Can't argue with Justin Rose's inclusion. He won the US Open, which is a pretty impressive thing to have on your CV. Comments page is open on the BBC website. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/sports-personality/25017298

Just as well - as SCB says - you are 100% wrong. As someone who lives in the Northern Ireland bit it is somethng we are reminded of quite often!