Steve Shovlar

Heard a rumour that BT upped their offer to a much more reasonable amount from the paltry 3,000 per live meeting initial offer. The agreed offer was of an amount so that clubs could offer a tenner entry and not lose money when the cameras are in town.

Hopefully p&P will be open for the public not just guests.

Stirring? Don’t be ridiculous. It was sensible advice.

Little bit of advice Starman. Don’t get into the usual heated debates with Gavan or anyone else. It will raise your blood pressure one way or another, even without you realising it, and at the moment that would not be good for you.

What is NKI’s average?

With so many teams riding there was bound to be conflict. R/r it is.

No different from Poole going to Wolves in the 2016 semi with an injury depleted team.

I am 100% confident both Poles will do their jobs and more. Woryna challenging for heat leader and Spanner dominant at reserve most of the time.

Poole lost because we lost Bjarne, who was an out and out number one, to a nasty injury around heat 7. Lynch failed to do his job of covering for Bjarne correctly, leaving us vunerable in heats 13 and 15.

Lynch guest managed for Poole at Coventry several years ago. Poole won the first leg by about 28 points. We lost the second leg under Lynch by 30. OK we lost our number one bjarne half way through the meeting with a broken wrist but Lynch did such a fantastic job Coventry got three 5-1’s in the last three heats to go through. Inept at team management.

All done and dusted just waiting for the moment. Roll on March and let’s kick some ass!

The rule has been dropped last week. Poles wanted Thursdays for playoff replays should there be rainoffs. It was agreed.

So when Mauger, Olsen, Rickardsson came to town your clubs attendances stayed the same?

The Poles have relaxed the rule

I think its a brilliant 1-7 given the points limit and restrictions. Should muller some teams and pick up wins on the road.

Sure at first there would be a disparity, the same as the football premiership. But bottom teams get their biggest attendances when the ManU’s, Chelseas and Arsenals come to town. They hope their team will do the unthinkable and turn over the bigger club and send them off with their tails between their legs. Teams would self govern by putting out a team they could afford. Promotions won’t make themselves bankrupt. They know what they can afford. It might work. It might not. No harm in trying.

Really makes me think a points limit is nonsense. Teams should build to whatever they wish, as long as they have three British riders in the team. Reserves must be British u21. Teams with 42.5 are still not equal so allow teams to build to whatever they wish.

I actually pressed submit before I had finished the post. Fundin before my time I cannot therefore add him though clearly dominant in his time. Olsen. Stick him alongside Neilsen. I saw him win at Wembley in 1975 as a 16 year old. Top man no doubt about it.

Trick was a completely dominant force like Mauger. For a period he wasn’t just head and shoulders, he was simply in another league. I was a massive fan and gave the sport a huge star. Swedish speedway saw massive crowds, never seen since. Did Woffinden have the same affect to British speedway? No. He couldn’t be arsed to even ride here. Mauger - Trick Briggs Neilsen PC Loram-Gollob - others.

Its an impossible argument. One did it, the other might have. Its not like comparing two 7 times world champs in a sport from different eras, which is hard enough. Worth watching the documentary on youtube about Mauger.

A point that hasn’t been mentioned is that Matt Ford has a very good rider waiting to come in, should one of the top four fail to ride to expectations in the first 4 weeks of the season. with the team made up below the points limit, any of the top 4 can be replaced. I remember chatting to Davey Watt a few years ago and he said the pressure of riding league speedway in Poland was intense compared to elsewhere. Looks like Matt is bringing Polish pressure to bear on the Poole riders.

In the A fixtures, and probably b, Wolverhampton and Rye will cause serious issues. But they will be dialled into Poole within a few meetings and thrive at BV, Swindon and Kings Lynn. Leicester might prove tricky.

Saw him from 72 season.

Leicesters team is good, no doubt about it. No injuries and they make the playoffs. But better? I believe fans on here who don’t follow Polish speedway on tv every Sunday are in for a pleasant, or unpleasant (non Poole fans) surprise. spanner showed his worth in last years SEC and topped the averages in Polish league one. While Woryna was one of the top riders in the Polish top flight. Once settled I think both wil put a good sized chunk on their starting averages.

A fairer comparison would be Mauger v Rickardsson. Having watched both, it would make a thread of it’s own>