mikebv

And they also spend the first couple of months of every season able to include 'table toppers', League leaders, 'heading the title race', 'just off the top spot' etc etc etc in every press release... Not a bad thing to be able to say when trying to extract any 'undecideds' out of their armchairs, especially when the season is still fresh and fans' enthusiasm is at its highest.. (By that I mean pre Poland and Sweden starting so you get regular Speedway)..😉

Spot on... Same M.O. every season... Get ahead on matches at home then hope a bit of 'scoreboard pressure' sets in on some of the Leagues teams... However as it is done so often every team knows Lakeside will 'come back to them' as the season progresses... A classic example of a team with a large home advantage so maybe, if they pay a rider say £200 a point, change the deal to £300 a point away and £100 a point at home!!! Maybe that would change those threes and fours away to sixes and eights as they try and make up the 'shortfall' from their usual home track earnings..?

Or they bring in 'guest' Lackey's if their Lackey's are unavailable due to being on another forum somewhere else!!!

He does Steve, however last night was very much aimed I would say at the local dignitaries in attendance... Reading between the lines re the stadium usage going forwards I would suggest it was a good time to send a message out to the local community what an important part of the local area the Poole Pirates are.. And of course having hundreds of kids making loads of noise with their free 'der ders' in attendance will also focus minds on the benefits to the town of the Speedway being there.. I do have to say that I sometimes wonder what Matt would have done with the NSS.. Certainly a policy alone of 'build it and they will come' (as seems to be the BV promotions way) would not have been Ford's way I am sure..

Oh God.... Don't really want to say this but being an honest fella I have to... DOC/FF/Whoever, does have a point (granted, the only salient one he ever makes) when he says the play offs effect crowds in meetings such as this... I was 'wavering' as to whether to attend as we are virtually there so it didn't have any major bearing on our play off qualification. Then I saw that the meeting had been arranged knowing full well that NKI and Fricke couldn't be there and that Wolves and Cov would send riders instead and decided "joke sport, you've made my mind up, sod paying money for that"... However, if the meeting had been worth 3 points towards a Championship Title, and so late in the season, it would have taken on a significantly higher ranking of importance that I would have (as sadly we always seem to have to) put up with the sports ludicrous guest rules and attended.. Personally I think the playoffs are good as it does keep seasons alive for teams that are cut adrift from the No1 spot, and gives the sport a grand finale, however I do believe it does negatively effect attendances in the lead up to them by rendering a good many meetings, effectively 'dead rubbers'... There, said it.... Now going for a wash!!😁

What gave me away?😁 Even Jeremy Corbyn would have found a seat tonight!!😂

In other words when the bikes had stopped!!😀 Best time to make a racket is when it's all gone quiet...!😁 Bless 'em the little angels...😇 Won't be any chance of that Monday as noise seems to be banned at the NSS, (bikes excepted of course)..

Yep, still a good position to be in, no need to panic (yet!)😉 Freddie's performance tonight has given KL an outside chance of the play offs which may ironically impact his own teams' qualification... Only in Speedway eh?😁

Really? There was only about 1000 more at Citeh....😀 Oh hang on... Official attendance at the Emptihad just announced as 123,000😋

Well done KL, (and Wolves)....😂 Maybe we should try and get Max to ride for the Aces now and again...😀 Sets it up nicely for Monday, should be a very big crowd...

Wow. Are you insinuating that this would be a bad thing if I did live there? Surely someone with your strict moral compass couldn't possibly be casting aspersions as to the character of someone simply based on where they live...? If your not careful, next you will be singling people out based not just on where they live but also how they speak...! And that would never do would it? 😁

I am surprised that someone would link racism to the way someone talks...! If you are getting ridicule and suicidal thoughts because of the way you talk, then don't talk that way!! You don't have to talk like a professional Manc, Brummie, Scouser, Cockney etc... As many do, lose your accent.. Oh hang on, just had a thought... There's a flaw in my argument there as if I had an accent, was getting ridicule (thus suicidal thoughts) so therefore changed it to the 'local dialect' to fit in. When I went 'back home' all my old mates would take the pee out of me and I would be back to square one!! Now where's that nearest railway line? Although being from an Irish family I would probably end up trying to top myself on a disused one!!! It's the way I tell 'em, Frank Carson, News at Ten, Stockport, (where we talk posh)... Now back to the Speedway...

Aye, 'appen yer reet... Tarra chuck....!!☺

'Appen yer reet.... Thus nowt worse than sumwin tekkin' pee art er sumwuns accent... Musstaff lotz ter wurri abart Fred ter get yersell all int lather abart this? Or ar yer juss bein' a bitterer WUM lark? Anyow, aft ter go now Fred, off ter fly me whippets afore shift darn pit starts lark..... Yer contributions t'websart are juss chuffin' Champion marra....

Plenty o'time... Also gives t'mill owner plenty o'time to beat us within an inch of our lives..... Tell that t'southern nancies an they'll never believe a bloody word of it...

Or alternatively do nothing other than a 3 paragraph preview in the corner of the fourth page from the back of the Manchester Evening News..!!! (Just below the 'personal ads')..... That'll bring 'em in..... Everybody now... Ahhh 1, Ahhh 2, Ahhh 1,2,3,4.... "Do not foresake me oh my Darlin'"......

Would imagine the food venders pay for their 'spot' in the stadium? Subletting the food sales is also much simpler in managing any rules with H+S and EHO implications. ie the vendor is responsible not the person they are renting from. If you were a vendor you would rightly expect that the person you pay your money to would do their utmost to help you make a profit on the investment you have made with them.. A Speedway meeting from entrance to home time lasts about two, maybe two and a half hours. I am sure most people can go that without the need for something to eat and drink? And if they do, several food and drink vendors will be very pleased to take your money off you to provide you with exactly that service.. Although you may find that the frozen food fayre prepared by a random selection of 17 year old kids or indeed the food produced in a mobile kitchen run by a generator with very basic cooking facilities, surprisingly isn't up to a Michelin starred rating...! Modern day stadia equals modern day stadia rules, however I did hear someone last week say this.. "It was much better in the old days when I could take me camping chair in, tartan blanket for my knees (I'm a martyr for me knees yer know), a matching tartan flask full of hot sweet tea and lovely foil wrapped corned beef and beetroot butties, four rounds of bread cut in eight same sized squares, got to be all equal" "Used to have me own space every week too at the old place, on a lovely lickle grassy knoll, sat on the second bend just to the right of a broken old park bench type thing and just to the left of the dog poo where the greyhounds used to do their business".. "Its not the same here, last week I were sat in me chair and couldn't even see the racin' as there were a bloody load of people stood in front of me, at the old place no-one ever got in the bloody way!".. "Eeee.. it's not the same at this new place, we'd be better off goin' back down the road"... "Bring yer own butties in there......"

What needs to change? Make the No1 priority a fixture list that grants clubs the maximum opportunity to deliver their biggest crowds. (whatever night or day, that may be).. Then fit only riders into the teams that can deliver that fixture list... Seven man teams? Six man teams? Five man teams? (even four man teams with four teams per meeting which bring three away teams' support?).. Whatever.... Pick the teams size (and overall team strength) against rider numbers that can (to the best of knowledge) commit to 100% availability.. Give the fans consistent race nights, a team made up of 'their riders' each week, and fair and equal team strengths and who knows, maybe the sport can start to move forwards again? Lets hope 'radical' is the biggest word used to describe whatever changes do get made...

The one good thing about making a 'cock up' in speedway is that it will be quickly forgotten as it will be superseded by an even bigger 'cock up' some where else almost immediately... Think they must all play "my cock up is bigger than your cock up" at the AGM...!?😁 As Fergie might have said (if he had heard of the sport) "Speedway eh? Bloody Hell!"

A Speedway conundrum... Pay circa 25k once for track covers to vastly increase the chances of regular speedway meetings taking place thus giving fans confidence to set off and attend? Or circa £100k each year for a No1 that misses several meetings adhoc during the season because he is riding 'somewhere else' and dissuades peed off fans from setting off and attending...? A conundrum indeed....!!!

How often do teams ever go to Lakeside with a full septet of their own riders? Joh Cook has been quoted as saying he isn't in favour of six man teams yet most weeks at Lakeside it appears he is lucky if teams can cobble together six of their own riders.. Cannot help him in drawing a crowd when 'select' teams come to town far too often. And from what I remember from working 'darn sarf' near (ish) to Lakeside they did more than most to get the message out there..

Correct on all points, however... Many on here quote examples such as guests, EDR nonsense rules, Double points, crap tracks, select teams being put together regularly, poor presentation etc etc as amongst the reasons why they don't attend or less frequently attend... The irony is that the internet (eg forums like this) actively dissuade people to attend matches nowadays as all the information as to who is or isn't there, why they are missing, track problems if any, etc etc are all laid bare for people to read prior to the meeting taking place. An example was a fortnight ago as just as I was setting off to watch him at BV I found out via the BSF that AJ was missing. Hence coat off and TV on to watch sod knows. (Wasn't forking out circa £50 for me and the lad).. Years ago, we had lots of the same issues but didn't have any media outlet other than the Star and Mail which retrospectively informed people. We basically turned up to be told that "PC was in Germany for a longtrack final so xxxx replaces him". Or a poor meeting was read about a week later after the event, but not dissected 100 times. You may get the odd letter to the sports media but that was it... Totally agree that the sport should embrace social media and any other IT medium to get their message out there.. But to gain any extra fans they have a lot of work to do logistically around the integrity and presentation of the sport to ensure that the message isn't open to ridicule, especially in the 'instant, critically focused' feedback world we live in today.. Maybe that should be the 2017 focus..? Although unravelling what has been allowed to masquerade itself as a 'proper professional sport' for far, far too long, may take considerably longer than just one year..!

Looks like Tai is 'calling the BSPA out'... Get everyone talking, and plenty of rumour and speculation later, the BSPA will, (eventually) have to release some kind of statement themselves... Rory's another who has never been shy in coming forward and voicing an opinion so his comments will lead to more conjecture. (How is his relationship with the BSPA Chairman these days by the way?)...!! Lets hope Tai's obvious passion for Team GB isn't lost (and wasted) and the BSPA and himself can work alongside each other to build on what was a great Silver Medal performance..

Looking at that conversation with Phil Morris and the riders then, I think some have already decided...!

Didn't Richard Hall have an average from 1974 (or sometime round there)used recently when he wanted to ride NL??😁 Fair play then only using Tai's from two years ago... Least the BSPA are being consistent...😝