Roger Jacobs

"A Premiership Transfer Window opens after 25% of the League fixtures are complete and closes when 75% of League fixtures are complete. This permits changes to the team on 2 occasions, except for proven long term injury."

First Brit to stand on the Individual World Final rostrum (1975) since Peter Craven (1962). Join "Speedway Friends" on Facebook - that's the ideal place to post photos and chat about the past

Max Fricke was injured! Why do the whingers keep making it sound as though BV made a tactical change? They had suffered in the play-offs before when losing a rider, and this time they were able to bring in a replacement, within the Regulations. Of course, no-one would batted an eyelid if the Aces had been forced to use a guest or R/R and Sheffield had waltzed to victory ... "Unlucky Aces, play-offs injury curse strikes again", etc. As it was, the Regulations allowed the change because of the specific circumstances of Fricke's absence. In reality, Sheffield lost because of Holder's awful performance (and, to a lesser extent, Howarth's erratic riding) at Belle Vue. But that's speedway.

The article in the Speedway Star mentioned transfer windows - it made no mention at all of the Regulation containing the Long Term Injury statement.

This is a Forum, not Facebook or Insta

Fascinating that nobody seems to have complained about Sheffield and Ipswich exploiting the same Regulation. It certainly was of benefit to the Tigers.

Has the Regulation been rewritten? 2023 version hasn’t been published yet …

They didn't manipulate anything, the "long term injury" Regulation is poorly written. Sheffield and Ipswich also took advantage of it, even though the replaced rider returned to ride with their replacement still in the line-ups! Transfer windows, etc. had nothing to do with Lambert's signing - unless the wording of the "long term injury" Regulation has been improved, then it can still happen.

Not a ringer - a legal replacement for an injured rider. Certainly more credible than a guest. Unless you know otherwise?

Definitely him, so maybe “only” Gold Cup matches … and I had no recollection that he then rode at Hackney! They only managed a handful of League matches before folding. Edit: just saw Mau’s reply - thanks for the confirmation

Brhel always rode Foxhall well - with or without a dodgy silencer

That's an error. "Vlad The Impaled" only ride for Ipswich in early 91, and then disappeared never to be seen again. Tesar of course battled on establish himself as a very popular rider. Kalina's best effort at Foxhall was Good Friday against the Deadbeets, scoring 7, including a splendid heat win against Michael Lee (who was making a short-lived return).

No, I wouldn't fall off the chair because, looking at those accounts, it's obvious there has to be an opaque market of cash doing the rounds. They should have used those skills to become PPE suppliers - the profits generated would have funded the sport for years!

Indeed, the difference in prize money makes it all worthwhile

Do you keep falling asleep on the Return key?!

Still all rumour and guesswork. Take a look at the last accounts filed by Ipswich: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02362212/filing-history Virtually no assets. 1 Director. Not a lot of tax paid. Essentially not really worth anything.

Why too early? What else could they achieve in the Championship? They made an ambitious decision, and are absolute proof that simply by signing a "big name" doesn't guarantee increased customers. I bet that even now, if you walked in Ipswich and asked passers-by who Jason Doyle is, a very high percentage of people wouldn't know. Somerset still kept going after that failure, it was the lockdown that ended their existence earlier than it might have. The owners themselves said it was a huge effort just to keep the club running, so they probably (rightly) thought it would be a massive and thankless task to get the Rebels up and running again, especially with a shedload of dosh on the table for the land. They would have been daft not to sell.

I love it how you state "anywhere between £70,000 - £100,000 a season" with such confidence. Does sponsorship really start at £70K? LOL! I stand by my point that there's no money in the sport - the clubs are heavily reliant on cash flow from paying customers, but continue to treat those customers as a source of income to be used, rather than as customers who must be entertained and, at least, retained.

Compared to what, though? If we had any idea of pay and costs, we might be able to make our own "value" judgements. 200 season tickets at £250 nets Ipswich £50,000 up front. Maybe as many as 700 adults paying £22 admission nets £15,400 per home match. Concessions (£225 & £20) not counted in either of those guesses. 13 guaranteed home team fixtures gives roughly a total of £250,000 income for the year. Stadium rental, wages for Chris Louis - at least costs and expenses (and for Ritchie Hawkins?) - plus seven riders (at £30k each that's £210k!) and miscellaneous costs (maintenance of track equipment, safety fence, etc.). Everything else, voluntary and good will ... I've never tried to do these sums before - obviously it's all guesses - but it's clear that there's no money in the sport ...

4 meetings ... And I'm sure BV covered it with the prize money

Why? Existing and lapsed fans either love him or dislike him. Can't see why he's even attempting a comeback after such a horrible injury, so adding extra fixtures with random hops over the North Sea wouldn't be of any benefit.

Fair enough, although would his signing attract lapsed fans? On the Witches Facebook page, there has been a range of views from people waiting for news of the signings - the most likely outcome is that Worrall & Batchelor (example only, I haven’t looked at averages) might result in more people giving up, or only picking and choosing. Thus, a “big name” is more likely to shore-up existing support, than have hundreds flooding back. I continue to stand by what I’ve been saying for years - make it an entertaining evening all round, and people are more likely to want to attend, because they’ll feel like they’re getting value for money.

Why? Non-speedway fans don't even know the sport, let alone the "top" riders - I would have thought that if there's lots of marketing for Sayfutdinov, it would generate more protests than additional support.

Not sure that it had much value last season, with variations of pairings, and no-one even knowing the Regulations ...

The race format doesn't work with a "balanced" line-up, unless you've got a guaranteed high scoring reserve. Two big name riders will cover a majority of the heats, especially 13 & 15.