theblueboy

New bloke...Warwick Hunt. Plenty of Hunt's involved at Belle Vue this season...

You are a hypocrite Steve. Correct me if I am wrong, but aren't you self-employed? As you love to remind everyone on here, you are your own boss. Hans is his own boss and fancies a day out in Togliatti. He fancies putting himself first, a bit like you do. Not sure what you are complaining about.

Any idea of entry costs?

Sid, the other issue, with regard to Tungate is he is not an asset, whereas, both Morris and Sedgmen are. This is a results based industry. The side is clearly v.average but we have been good enough to pick up thirteen points away from home. Four defeats at home is not good enough and the issue should have been addressed after we lost to Leicester. I don't care who does what anywhere else. All that matters is when they ride for Swindon. Tungate, as Orion has stated, still lacks track craft but is currently gating like Sonic on acid. The problem it is too late in the season. He was the rider with the near 7 average, he was the one not delivering and therefore he was the one that should have been axed. An away win is a must but with the way this lot are currently riding it is well beyond them, unfortunately.

But that is now Sid. I agree there have been other failures but we are talking about why we won't be in the play offs. The failure to win at home has been the reason and in each of those matches it is Tungate that has significantly underperformed.

At the time Sidney, Tungate was dreadful. He had a decent spell at reserve but that's not what he is in the team for. We have lost 4 meetings at home. Tungate's scores were; Wolves 0 Poole 2 Leicester 1 Belle Vue 2. Now given that we are struggling to make the play offs and in each of those matches we lost by 4,2,2 and 6. If he had ridden to his average we would have not lost 3 of those matches. In a season of fine lines, decisions, however difficult they are, have to be made. It's not personal, but we cannot win the league from 5th place. A change, when his average was high 6 should have been made. The fact he is now performing is irrelevant. The damage has been done.

In all honesty, we have missed the boat. Tungate should have been replaced when he had an artificially high average. That would have allowed for a reasonable rider to replace him, given decent back up to JD and shunt everyone down in the order. Now, he is actually performing so it would be harsh to make him the scapegoat. Now, we are up to our necks in the brown stuff and confidence is low. Yet again, poor managerial decisions have been made in allowing under performing riders to remain in the team when strong decisive action was required. Morris has been the biggest disappointment without a shadow of doubt but I am not sure I agree he should move on next season. Russell and Rosco need to make him the number one priority and get him fixed up properly whether it is here, on the continent or both. Excluding JD, Zengi and PK he is the only asset we have that could be a decent rider.

Judged by some of the comments on previous Coventry threads regarding attendances at Brandon, that's a ratio of 1:1. 😋

The WC is only for one week so would hardly complain about that. It's not like it can be held outside of the season. The fault lies squarely with promoters. As one of my fellow supporters has alluded to, happy for the speedway fan to freeze in March and October, when families cannot be taken. To have no fixture at all in August is damn right shameful. I now find myself likely to miss the rearranged fixture v Poole, which is a pity, because I schedule my work round speedway. It's a pity speedway doesn't think of me in the same way. Still, the only conclusion I can draw is that promoters are loaded and cash flow is not an issue..

So, you could argue, any Poole rider who joins another club mid-season and who harbour ambitions of riding at Wimborne Road the following season is enigmatic? 😛

Batch to receive a rapturous round of applause on his return from the home straight faithful. Orion, If you can give your air horn an extra squeeze in appreciation of the Batchmeister it would be much appreciated. Schlein looks like he is struggling with match fitness. PUK to look a million dollars in a couple of races and Lambert to be there or thereabouts and make it interesting. Kerr looked OK in a couple of races the last time he showed for The Irons but Chas should have him in his pocket and if CW doesn't get 5 rides tomorrow then Rosco needs to have a good word with himself... 52-40.

My mum is still by the phone Rosco...

Most away fans have to go on bend 1 at The Blue Groove Arena as no one can get in to the grandstand at Poole. Most of the Silver Threads get there early, about 5.30, just after bingo has finished and as long as some member of your family gets there early they can also reserve all the seats round them. It doesn't say that on the admission ticket but they do it anyway. They usually put a scarf down, similar in length to the one Tom Baker used when he was Dr Who, just so those late comers, who haven't got a motorised scooter, can have got a lovely seat. 👍 And before you deny it, been in the grandstand on three occasions and seen it every time!

My mum is available for the rest of the season should she be required. Never sat on a bike but should slot seamlessly in... Well done Wolves.

So, to summarise your latest ramble (Blue Tints on Tour: Ravings of a Myopic Speedway Fan) Coventry were the better team and deserved to win. That's much simpler...👍

Well done The Bees. 👍 Great result against the bookies favourites. How bad are Poole tho'? Former GP rider mopping up at reserve and they still couldn't win...perhaps cheats don't prosper? 😎

I thought BWitcher was a Wolves fan? Anyway, the forum is open to all Starry, and, also he's right. If the boot was on the other foot, you can be damn sure that Middlo and Ford would have done exactly the same thing. Unfortunately, brinkmanship, is more prevalent in this sport than sportsmanship and Poole are the ones that push the rules the most. Now spit those pips out and move on...👍

So what your saying is Steve, Lakeside were right. No need for an alternative to War and Peace to say that. 😉

Because KK is self-employed he is free to pick his club and his rate of payment. That is the preserve of anyone that works for themselves. He would have to determine the risk. If he is not performing well enough he is not selected. No retainer is necessary as he is free to find another club, whether it is here or in Europe.

Why? They are self-employed workers. Do you pay a brickie/sparky a retainer on the off chance he does some work for you? I would think there are benefits to a squad system e.g allowing under performing riders to be moved to the sidelines a lot quicker with Promoters more likely to make a change and you can include a 'horses for courses' system rather than the traditional sick note which allows a guest or RR. It's clear that regular speedway is a must. 14 fixtures over 6 months is not good for cash flow. Whether a cup competition is the answer I am not so sure. They were never well attended at Swindon even when Sir Leigh of Mildura was a regular. The promoters continually get it wrong and cannot be trusted in any shape or form. The EDR in principal is a great idea and having seen Chas Wright over the last 18 months and Steve Worrall before that you have to say it works. I am sure there are plenty of success stories at other clubs, however, it was the supporters on this forum that highlighted the shortcomings of that particular system so you have to wonder what they actually talk about at the AGM and whether there is a brain cell between them. I don't understand why they don't speak to someone like SCB who clearly knows the rule book and is respected (well mostly 😋) on the forum and get them to float ideas via him. Supporters could give feedback, which SCB could interpret and then they discuss at the AGM. There are plenty of intelligent and knowledgeable people who could provide reasoned debate and look at ant shortcomings in a short space of time on various subjects that potentially could improve speedway. The sport is dying no question. Clubs continue to haemorrhage fans at an alarming rate but the promoters need to change the way they think and look ahead for the long term, stop being so bloody short term and look at benefits for the sport across all levels and not just 2017.

A decent three points from The Convicts who did everything possible to make it a contest by throwing away easy points in each of the opening three races. Scrabble looking good tonight and fully deserved MoM. Highlight was swooping between both the Domino Pizza boys blitzing both of them up the home straight. I wasn't sure if there was some treacle on the track or they were riding unicycles as the Wolves riders made it look hard work. It might as well have been Ludvig Lindgren that he passed. He followed that up in his next ride making SN look like a complete novice. Christ knows what Swindon fans will call Scrabble if Wolves fans call Lindgren 'Fast' Freddie. JD sublime apart from schoolboy error and Chas kept Howarth in check. Nick very disappointing. Wolves battled hard but ultimately didn't have enough.

King is pants at Swindon. He rode well in British Final and on his day is clearly a good rider but he hasn't got a clue how to ride Swindon. One decent score of any note in several visits. Woryna will have his work cut out to beat Chas, although looking forward to him winning a race, as he seems to think he has to just won the World Championships. KK is mustard at The Abbey, Harris less so these days but good enough to make it interesting. Unfortunately, due to change of race night means I miss the meeting but a comfortable 52-40 victory for Australia.

Now that rather large hole has been filled in with rain, could Fraudy not open it up to the general public as a swimming pool? Be good for the community and enable him to receive some additional income....

True. He is inconsistent, however, not many riders beat Lee Adams around Blunsdon. KK did it regularly tho'. He is still a class act as he proved last night when hunting down a current GP rider, in his own back yard, off the wrong gate, gave him a start and a beating. On to last night, one and three a big advantage all night and Bees used that to good effect in later heats. Overall they showed more desire than KL. Nice to see that Batch's ability to throttle off as he enters the corners hasn't changed. If only Rob Lyon had listened to the Swindon fans....

More chance the meeting going ahead than Wales winning...