mikebv

The point being made was that it "doesnt look good" when you see opposition managers laughing and joking with the opposition during a meeting,.. Regardless of the standard of the manager it shouldnt happen.. Riders too often do it every night and all it can do is give anyone watching the impression that "it mustn't really matter this"... Poland keeping teams (and fans), apart gives off the right message that "this means something".... Even both teams stood together watching from the same part of the pits is something that should change.. UK Speedway definitely suffers from not having "rivalries" which stir the emotions and therefore encourages attendance.. Watching team members and managers all getting on together during a meeting wont ever engender those rivalries.. I do understand though that for riders it might be a tad confusing at any given moment who is your team mate and who is your rival given it changes so often.. As an example. Splitting them in the pits would have many wondering "can I stand and speak with Bomber tonight or not, I couldn't last night, but could the night before, and I am pretty sure I can tomorrow?"

To be fair.. If there isnt a prospect of racing next season then riders would be daft increasing averages and possibly making themselves unemployed... Not their fault that such an inherently subjective, flawed and manipulative system is used to "make everyone equal".. Therefore. They need to look after themselves..

As I say, Discovery would need to have deep pockets.. If they are serious on their promises to make Speedway a bigger global brand, then a resurgence in the UK would be quite fundamental to it happening I would think.. Every place a Polish riding star takes is one less DU if nothing else... Losing the "3 club" rule will also free up a fair few 2nd and 3rd level riders too, which again will reduce the spaces to DU... As you say, attendances won't pay the increases, but Discovery might... And then maybe attendances will rise significantly off the back of it...?

Still continues agreed, but with an ever dwindling number of clubs almost annually... Eventually that can only end one way cant it? And "stiil continues" is sadly more towards to "still exists" than "still prospers"... Which should be the true measure of any entity... If the Polish riding superstars are allowed back that would provide more riders, and also generate a fair amount of interest.. Hopefully Discovery's deep pockets can help bankroll that level of rider back..

I am sure Bomber would give it a try.. And... You never know, maybe an air fence panel or three will need fixing, meaning he could possibly get there in time to ride in a few of the last five races or so... Tac Sub, Heats 13 and 15.... Be like Phil Collins on Live Aid Day.... Edit. (Not the Heathens' Phil Collins, the "other" one)...

And to be fair to even the most compliant and supportive of councils.. Seeing clubs close each season due to a lack of support for the sport can not fail to start to seep into their judgement making (maybe even getting mentioned by developers as persuasive leverage)... And a chance to get £60k a month tax, ad Infinitum, from 300 houses, not to mention several million pounds up front, most be extremely tempting.. Even more so when a recession bites and cuts to services are an inevitable consequence.. An elected representative has a choice to provide services to over several hundred thousand people, or keep providing an evening out for much less than just a couple of thousand of them.. If I was putting myself up for a public vote at election time, I know what I would do...

Has to be... . Given that structure has worked so brilliantly well to get the sport in the UK to where it is today..

Of course it is... It is total nonsense isnt it? But fans of the sport who attend each week, and collude with promoters pretending that it a real team sport, cannot really have it both ways... Great sport to watch but best not to take it seriously from a competitive team sport angle in the UK.. Just enjoy, what can be, a great spectacle and ignore the infrastructure around it... The crowd numbers at Oxford , after their long absence, certainly seems to suggest that they are happy with what they are watching, and having a track with numbers like that can only be good for the sport..

That particular ship sailed a long, long time ago....

But also suffered when success wasnt being delivered... Big crowds suddenly became "average" when the trophies were not guaranteed... They are a club that, more than most, seem to do very well at the gate when success is happening, but lose out more than most pro rata when it doesnt.. I presume choosing to drop down into Div 2 was down to not getting enough punters in to make Div 1 deliver what they wanted? If they had got 2000 a week I would have thought that this would have been more than enough to stay in the top flight..

Councils benefit hugely by house building through "new" council tax being paid.. Therefore they wouldnt want to put too many "difficult" demands on developers.. So asking any developer to stump up a few million to get planning permission isnt likely to happen.. And if the developer has zero intentions of carrying out any promises from the outset then why would they offer up some cash that they dont need to...? The bottom line is that any council will be very pleased to have 300 or more Band D and above houses paying them well over half a million a year for decades... You can do lots of good with this money, can get plenty of funding with that guaranteed income behind you... And some developer spending a few million on, (as examples I have come across when being involved in new store builds), re routing congested roads, paying for traffic calming measures, building a new roundabout somewhere within the borough to improve traffic flow, or sponsoring some local public amenities... In short someone improving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people over decades... Will always find themselves out weighing the arguments of a few hundred protesters... And come election time, the councillors will all be happy to jump on the positive message bandwagon...

Of course, if two teams in different leagues didnt share riders, then there is no debate to be had.. As they do, you will always have winners and losers from any situation like this.. Sharing riders will always kick out such things on the odd occasion.. Same with Poland. If resting up on a Thursday means being ok for Saturday or Sunday then that is perfectly reasonable from a perspective of someone who is self employed.. And in the scenario being discussed.. Someone could pull out of a Div 1 match on a Monday and still be able to "give it a go" at Plymouth on the Tuesday... I am sure the integrity of both riders in this situation was absolute, and it was just "one of those things" that can happen when teams share employees...

Have you not been watching much British Speedway LC? I would suggest it is a very good crowd... Poole get 1300-1500 or so dont they I seem to remember Steve S mentioning not too long ago.. Which, given they are Div 2 is no mean figure.. When they were in Div 1 they did get over 2000 quite regularly when Ward and Holder rode there didnt they? However, they were not getting those crowds when they decided to drop down I would imagine, hence the decision taken to drop... Any crowd over 1500 is good for British Speedway nowadays, and at £20 a pop brings in circa £30k which means you should be able to pay two meetings out of it and cover your staging costs I would think, with maybe a bit left over.. Even when HMRC is paid their dues...

In front of one man and his dog... Only add on for me tonight was they missed an opportunity to get a crowd in next week.. "Bring a friend, bring a neighbour" is not really much of a marketing plan, but fair play to the presenter for giving it a go.... Half price tickets tonight, or maybe better, even BOGOFs, would have brought a fair few back who simply wont be there next week as many there tonight will watch it on TV... Been a better advert for the sport and the Aces brand too, and maintained momentum crowd wise, which sadly will be lost next week... When you get the feel good WOW factor... You milk it for all it is worth...

Enjoyed that tonight... Some cracking racing from both teams.. No guests either... (Not sure if that is allowed in the regulations though).. Connor Mountain and Tom Brennan both deserved more for their efforts, but great to see young British lads mixing it with GP stars.. Plenty of sponsors on the centre green too, and that ball game thingy is good to keep the kids involved, so the Aces look like they are giving something a go off track too... Biggest crowd of the year at the NSS for the Premiership? Maybe 1800/1900? No guests, decent crowd, full on cracking racing from both sets of riders, regardless of the scoreline, interaction with the fans, and all done an dusted by 915pm... When done this well, what's not to like about British Speedway? It shows it can be done...

Glad it isnt as wouldnt have gone... Looking forward to this tonight... Should get a very decent crowd...

Plus no ZG maybe?

I do love watching Kolodziej.. Would be great to watch around the NSS.. As long as he doesnt gate.... You dont ride as one of the top riders in Poland for so long without being a genuine top level talent..

Needs a "Dave Norris" 2nd phase of his career ... Something there definitely to compete at a higher level, but just seems to be drifting along at present.. And if you dont move forward, you effectively go backwards as others move past you...

Didn't get a point even with Jensen's EF.... He is much better than this... "Polish Speed" needed...

100%... UK Speedway needs to get some proper marketing and promotion behind these two lads... Could be at the vanguard of the sport globally for a decade... Even if they dont ride here, the sport will get some much needed reflected coverage domestically..

Wow... Amazing how many times the "frightening ones" end up being less impact to life and limb than some almost "innocuous" looking crashes... Speedy recovery Dan... A HUGE future lies ahead for this lad I would say...

Three top riders usually ride in14 of a teams 30 races, 15 if one a Tac Sub... And on at least two occasions, together, three potentially if one on a Tac Sub ride.. A potential 10-2 off two heats can be a game changer, as can 15-3 if running a Tac Sub ride.. Reserves ride in less races combined and in some of those one of the top three will be alongside them.. Makes sense to me to get a strong trio leading the team...

I thought the same re the NSS.. However, lots of leg work had gone in previously, and Dave Gordon and Chris Morton had very much got the right level of people within the council completely onside.... When you have the right contacts supporting you 100% then it can be surprising how quickly the wheels can turn..

He said he closed the track to protect it so hopefully someone would come in and buy it and keep it going... I would suggest selling off everything needed to run a Speedway meeting might not make it much of a tempting proposition...