mikebv

Ipswich must have a bit of a concern that the engine room no longer has Dan T to cover them, like he has done several times this season... Adam Ellis at reserve will be key, and "should" be a difference maker over two legs...

To be fair, they only had 123 slots in 41 collective Monday and Thursdays, (giving GP week a miss), to complete 82 meetings... And that was with no September meetings planned as well... They must have reserved the 41 slots not used for the KO Cup and the odd Thursday that Poland took.. Better safe than sorry..... They were actually very lucky that Oxford were not in with a chance of qualifying as otherwise it would look even more ridiculous...

58,000 views on YouTube alone... Probably more than double who attend every UK track... Need a bit more of this....

The Aces' Polish contingent normally turn up with their Polish kit for the play offs... I can see Tate having some "different" kit too... Still clearly Ipswich's to win given their advantage in averages for the team they put together at the start of the season... However, with that clear favourites tag, can come great pressure... As a genius once said... "Its squeaky bum time"...

Seven teams, riding 12 home meetings meant eighty four matches in total.. If you started in April and finished by August end that is 43 Mondays and Thursdays combined.. 43 Monday and Thursdays on which to run... Take out the GP week and that leaves 41 nights for UK Speedway... Six teams racing twice per week, one home and one away meeting, (which is perfectly feasible given fixed race night priorty was the reason for having them), and that would allow a maximum 123 matches to take place during that 41 evening timeline, (3 matches Monday, 3 Thursday).. We needed to complete just 84 matches, not 123.. And that would still have left September completely free.. Given those munbers were so heavily stacked in their favour, and even with the KO Cup, (which starts at the QF stage), and Poland just using the odd Thursday whenever they saw fit, the optics of a "professional sport" not completing any league, let alone its "flagship league" doesnt look good does it? Some tracks went three weeks without a meeting, which, given you can make lifetime habits change in just 28 days, that is also a risk to its attendance numbers, let alone league completion... Loads of fixed nights on which to race, yet we will still have meetings potentially ran after the winners of the same competition have been declared..

100%..... And put together a fit for purpose IRR system and you could easily work around the rare occasion when riders get injured early in the meeting.. A fit for purpose RR system would also help massively should riders be missing, however, if five rider teams, then there should be plenty of "unattached" riders to temporary cover any gaps..

If you could get Poole and Glasgow to join the "Super League" then that would be eight teams, (if all current ones stay in the top league).. Just 40 riders needed, at five per team, currently 85 ride in the two top leagues.. These eight can then ride in "Div 2" (if they want to), meaning the likes of Glasgow can still run at a lower level against "local rivals", and Poole can race on Wednesday's still... Utopia would be a 14 team Div 2, ran at Championship (ish), level, with a decent few KO Cup rounds, with the top four from the 14 team league meeting in the play offs... 20 ish meetings per season, if all teams ran in Div 2, and all done following the Danish model, meaning plenty of rides for the riders, and, given logistics, plenty of guest opportunities too for them as the season progresses... Make the "Super League" guest free, and sell it as the pinnacle of the sport, with credibility and integrity...

Did they do Rock, Paper, Scissors? 😁

I remember when I first starting reading programmes as a kid, and when looking at the fixture list "RESERVED" pretty much filled up October except for the BLRC. . Didn't understand the reasons .. Obviously as you got older, you could see the reasons given the end of October was cut off... 18 teams in the league, plus a full Belle Vue Colts season, up to five KO Cup matches at home a Northern Trophy featuring Sheffield,Halifax and Hull, an annual John Player individual, and the BLRC .. And all done without fixed race nights to help ensure all riders were there, with some riding in the National League as well as the British League for different teams. (Many teams had at least one rider).... Oxford this season have ran 29 home matches... Maybe the last two weeks of September should be play off time, with "RESERVED" being put in for the first two weeks worth of Monday and Thursdays...?

Lots of failing businesses bring in a troubleshooter to assess their business model, operating model, and customer service plan... If such a person were asked to come in I am sure they would suggest the following.... * Open your doors when your customers want you to open, not when your employees tell you they can work... * Stop opening your doors knowing you havent enough staff, meaning you end up borrowing employees from your competition, which isn't a good look... * Set a payroll budget and stick to it, and ensure your marketing budget is sufficient to generate the required interest and population reach. Don't overpay employees to the detriment of the marketing budget... * Collectively market the business nationally and target families with young kids with all season round offers, given you are in the entertainment business... * Take every opportunity when on TV to make your premises look full, and make it somewhere those watching at home would want to visit... * Ensure what you are delivering to your customers has credibility, integrity, and is done at a competitive price point that accurately reflects the quality of what you provide, not what you think you actually provide... * Have a customer focused refund system should you not he able to provide the required service on any given night, especially to those who have travelled from further afield to attend your establishment... * Have clear, unambiguous Quality Control measures in place that all must follow to ensure the brand is never damaged. As you are only as strong as your weakest link... * And. As you are only as strong as your weakest link, ensure all work for the overall good of the business, and never in isolation.. I am sure there are plenty of other suggestions too...

Top tier, seven clubs (Glasgow), five rider teams, no make weights, all over a 4.5pt average... Just 35 riders needed so plenty of replacements out there to cover injury and poor performance, so no guests needed.. Follow the Danish race night system of 14 heats.. Home and away once, with play offs.... The same seven teams also compete in the 2nd tier with six riders per team, riding on any night they wish, with the top riders included if they want to race over here... It may end up guestfest after guestfest, meaning it wouldn't be any different from now, the difference being it will be done on the best nights to get a crowd in... 14 teams, if Oxford only run Prem, one home and one away plus play offs. The top tier teams would have 19 matches, plus any play offs..

£600k for "its leaders"?.. Jeez... How much for some top riders?

And yet... Year after year, the same system is allowed to continue.... Quite baffling...

I think bringing riders in who are unattached is a much better "look" for the sport... You cannot use averages all year and then not use them just because something may not look right to some... As long as Rider A has an equal or lower average than the one he replaces then all is fair game for me... At least it makes the sport look professional and in line with other sports, and also makes it look like winning the competition has kudos, is something worth winning, and will stimulate plenty of interest!! It wouldn't take much to work an algorithm average for each level of rider from BZ down, and there would also need to be caveats such as the missing rider mustn't ride elsewhere, and be injured/ill tll the seasons end (eg like Fricke when Lambert replaced him)... If Emil got injured and missed the play offs, then Lambert, Madsen, Dudek etc would be much better "like for like" replacements than anyone from the bottom three teams, and a much more credible move for a pro sport... Wroclaw brought in Charles Wright when Tai got injured and he then subsequently got injured, which meant Wroclaw got hammered in the final, but, for the greater good of the competition, they couldn't bring a "ringer" in, which meant the status of their league stayed top level, maintaining TV and "major" sponsor involvement... UK Speedway needs to aspire to that level of professional credibility, and, somehow, find a way of achieving it...

Would the fact we still don't know the teams riding in the play offs penalise that priority? Sweden can obviously name the teams scheduled...

The golden era was very much led by World Of Sport having an English Golden Generation on the International stage with which to sell the domestic sport... Winning Team World Cups often, and having PC riding like he did so regularly, was a perfect advert for the sport... And in the pre internet days you mainly found out riders were missing only when you entered the stadium, so "too late" to decide whether it was worth visiting or not... That "necessary evil" has now unfortunately morphed into a fundamental part of the operating model.. I have seen on here mention of giving out one point each for a meeting called off, (ianb?), and many dismissed this idea.. However, if last Thursdays meeting had been declared a draw (like cricket would have), I wonder if llosing several grand in payments may have been "very influential" in their decision to ride or not...? And also, focus promoters on protecting their tracks and preparing them better...?

Then no one can ever wonder why the sport isn't taken seriously by the mainstream media... The same would happen in Poland if they ever adopted the UK system.. This has resulted in massively one sided finals when teams have injuries... However, in "proper sports" injuries are seen as part and parcel of what happens and some get lucky and some don't... Poland realise a one sided final still has integrity and will maintain the credibility of their competition .. Thus, keeping media, sponsors and fans engaged... Also, if Sheffield are missing Jack Holder then the next two in the averages should be able to take all his rides, they could do this, and their own rides, and still do Ht 15, if the manager wanted it that way... Many guests get used due to the RR system not being fit for purpose...

With the answer being from some on here.... "Well, that's just the way it is!"......

Then just accept the competition will always be devalued.... Not a great selling point to media, sponsors or fans is it?...

A legacy of the Tigers having three meetings to cram in... It isn't a good look for the sport is it that, once again, we have another self inflicted guestfest when a 12 match home season starts in April...? The guest system simply makes it far too easy to run the sport poorly given its a basic "get out of jail free" card to be played.... The bottom line is, once again, a meeting has been planned in knowing riders are elsewhere, and can be replaced by your rivals employees, with the only clear message it sends out being... "It isn't really that important this competition is it?"...

I get where you are coming from... Integrity has always been something many have considered "lacking somewhat" for a long, long time.. That lack of independent administration will always hold the sport back given turkeys won't ever vote for Xmas...

Agree... But that first timer needs to be treated differently than they get treated currently... Kids clubs should be a basic at every track, with the aim of getting anyone circa 12 and under signed up... Easy to do if you are providing free tickets... That way you can keep in contact with the family, and, hopefully, get them to make repeat visits... Even if it is at a reduced admission... These people are not there now, so nothing to lose and all to be gained...

Whatever they do, the must have the plan to get more people into their tracks... By whatever means necessary... Big crowds means better atmosphere, and better atmosphere means better meetings (regardless of the actual racing quality), and delivers that virtuous circle of people wanting to attend again... And interests potential sponsors and media... Most races, regardless of whether GP or NDL riders are racing, are from the gate and strung out, and has been that way since I started watching in 1969... The difference being the size of the crowd maintains the atmosphere which then generates the repeat visits... Although, the caveat is it also must be allied to you having an emotional attachment to your team, which currently isn't the case given so many times "your team" are not really "your team".... Kurtz and Bewley are great to watch on a Monday, but, I would almost guarantee, many more would watch them on a Friday or Saturday... Which shows that those nights are key... The challenge therefore is to use those nights more.. The personnel on show may be different though than what many "die hards" would want to watch, but there isn't enough of them currently to justify continuing on the same pathway... Alternatively of course, they could just run the sport properly and make the sport credible with some decent reward and kudos for winning, and have an admiisson cost, and marketing strategy that brings people in.. And, therefore keep doing it on a Monday and a Thursday.. That though, so far, has proved somewhat elusive hasn't it?...

And, to someone with a couple of young kids, who has heard of the sport but currently doesnt attend their local track due to the cost of admission... Simon Lambert is just as well known as Emil....

We should really try and do it over here shouldn't we? Nothing to lose...