Teromaafan

Assuming Morris is the final piece in the jigsaw (confirmed tomorrow?), I'm thinking that we have the smartest manager in the league. The twins will surely punch above their 2.00 point average but will likely remain at 6 & 7, since they would need to reach 6.00 plus, to move into the top 5. Nobody is expecting them to achieve that and they will hopefully enjoy racing without pressure. Should they of course continue their development at the same rate as last season, how good would it be if they could step in for extra races when one of the top five is having an off night?

Trying not to get carried away, but if Morris and Howard are nailed on, this team excites me. As young as they are, I don't see the twins dropping many points to opposing reserves at home and anything they pick up away will be a bonus. If their progress is anything like last season it is difficult to see who could stop the Lions.

How about: R Douglas R Worrall C Mountain K Howarth N Morris J Thompson D Thompson Averages add up to 40.82 according to my sums. Doesn't allow for any discounts (2.5% or whatever) for British riders and assumes that the twins would each come in on 2.00. The team balance looks suspiciously like the one Somerset finished up with last season. As we know, teams that are going to be successful will have riders upping their current averages. Is it asking a bit much for the twins to average 7.00 between them? If so, I think the Lions would be in business with the above line up. Lions fans might scream at the omission of Perks (rightly so) but you have to start somewhere! Just a bit of fun, but in Dickson we trust and the team is no doubt sorted already!

When aggregate margins are tight (in any sport) there will always be a team cursing their bad luck. But Glasgow need to remember that we out scored everyone in the regular league season to finish top of the league and then did it all again against the other teams in the top four. Forget any bad luck Glasgow consider they may have had, there was nothing lucky about the Lion's success. The best teams in any sport win the league (Brian Clough quote and he was right). The Lions team epitomises what team speedway is all about, in that providing race winners is simply not enough. Two Glasgow riders went through the card tonight and a different one did the same at Leicester at the weekend. The Tigers provided 19 out of 30 race winners over two legs and still lost! Glasgow cannot be considered unlucky when a team built so top heavy fail get results when it matters, even when their big guns deliver scores above their averages. They will no doubt review their team structure/balance for next season. Anyway, this was a fabulous finale to the season, rightly contested by the best two teams in the league.

This was probably the best meeting I've seen at BP and I'm not basing it on the result as a Lions fan either. We saw 14 riders giving everything and prepared to attack the track resulting in some great racing. I've said it before, too many riders seem to pick up on the negative opinions of the track and think that's an excuse to not have to chase down the rider in front. This meeting was far superior to the Premiership play offs in terms of entertainment witnessed on TV recently. I expected us to haul the deficit back early doors and then kick on, but credit the Bears and their fans (noisy sods!) that made the trip.

Good point. The sport gets next to no publicity outside its own bubble and so the management post whinging on the club's website about disappointing crowds will only be read by already committed die hards or Hemsley era desserters maintaining a casual and distant interest. The club (and worryingly the sport in general) need to attract new supporters but do not know how to go about it. Without a serious marketing guru for the sport (that can attract badly needed sponsorship), nothing will change. The Lions may well be in for their best season that anyone can remember, but this means nothing to potential supporters who aren't even aware of the sport! (Check out the BBC sport website, its embarrassing to see what sports are covered and speedway isn't). It's not down to admission prices either. If the Lions were to announce that prices were being reduced to £5 for the next home meeting, How many additional spectators could they realistically expect to see? More importantly, how many of those would return prepared to pay normal prices? When you do get people through the turnstile, you have to deliver the product. As has been pointed out, the Redcar match will have put many first timers off. The spectators to target for speedway meetings will most likely attend other sporting events too. If you are looking at people who watch live football or cricket for example, speedway falls short of the match day experience by comparison in terms of facilities and professionalism. Speedway's problem, no one else's.

The management have said that a replacement for Bates would be in place for the weekend. Will any of the 'in the know' posters predict who it is before the official announcement?

Dickson must surely have lost his patience with Bates by now. It doesn't matter how brave he is, Josh has become a liability if he is not prepared to change his approach to racing. We already have our No.2 out for the season and trying to cover with guests or R/R and can't then accommodate someone who, when supposedly fit to start a meeting, has a good chance of not finishing it. The sport is dangerous, but the amount of injuries Josh picks up is not down to bad look. We would be better off with a rider on a slightly lower average (although I appreciate may not be easy, based on who would be available) who can stay on his bike.

Kingy comes across as a decent guy but my memories of him as a Lions rider are of someone who lacked steel in pressure situations. He frequently came up short in crunch heats (heat 15 if selected) when he often only had to deliver individually and not team ride. This opinion is based on observations at Premiership and not Championship level but there isn't exactly a gulf between the two leagues since many of the riders are the same! (This could only happen in speedway. Been meaning to check if Jamie Vardy isn't sneekely turning out for the Forest or Derby occassionly).

......And the criticism of the track/racing goes on....(yawn). This is the ninth season of the new LIons era and whilst the track is obviously the worst in the universe (designed by somebody no longer having an interest in the running of the club), at least there have been attempts to try and improve the circuit, within the obvious constraints. It appears quite often that riders (of a lesser ability) are taken in by the plethora of negative comments made on social media about the quality of the track. If they don't make the gate they can be excused for not making up ground because its a crap track. It has been proved, that top riders (and lesser but brave ones) can make passes on the track. Is it because of their ability or mindset though? Gating is the most fundamental part of a rider's skill set and the vast majority of races, even at every other wonderful UK track are won from the gate. Better riders refer to Leicester as a technical track. Having witnessed the home meetings against Redcar and Scunthorpe, I have to admit that the huge winning margins were boring (although a bit of a novelty for us) but that was largely down to the opposition appearing not to be up for it and for some riders embarrassingly so.

Reading posts by others it seems it was a very entertaining evening. Looking at the scorers, even a slightly below average points return from Scotty would have got the Lions over the line tonight. A point is nothing to be sniffed at though and if we can remain competitive away, we will surely be right up there when it comes to the league. (This prediction is as certain as the outcome of Brexit).

Yet another example of why this sport cannot be taken seriously is the introduction of Schlein for this meeting. Nothing against Rory, but why? This is a challenge match supposedly set up for riders to get laps under their belt before the serious business starts, but we bring in a guest (ignore the the No.8 cover up) to try and avoid losing face at the expense of rides for our own team members. Regardless of the incoming rider's ability, how would you feel if you were being replaced in a race at this stage of the season by an outsider? Nice too that the Lions will be paying for Rory to deprive their own riders of laps. Win, lose or draw the outcome will be forgotten by the weekend so what is the point?

According to the Speedway GB website Worrell's average is 8.00. Based on that we have 3.38 left for the last rider. Connor Mountain's average is 3.57 who we were led to believe by the team manager would be one of the strongest reserves in the league. With only 3.38 left he would not be riding at reserve. Am I missing something?

Whilst there is an opinion that we have a strong pairing at reserve, which is important, I feel that teams challenging for honours need a top two that can provide clout in heats 13 & 15. I would therefore hope that one of the remaining riders to be announced is a proven 7+ rider at this level.

With the points limit imposed for next year I think that any team that can produce a decent points return from reserve berths will do well. Although only a few riders have been named so far, it seems that many teams are fielding a 2 pointer at reserve. Connor Mountain ought to be looking to clean up against such opposition. If we could accommodate Sarjeant at reserve, we really could do the business in this department. Get this pair's confidence up and the team will benefit from the extra rides they could take. A decent top end pair (Scotty will do nicely) would put is in a good position come heats 13 & 15 where we have come unstuck in recent times during matches where scores have been tight. I have a feeling that a big top two and strong reserves could be the way to approach team building for next year, the risk of course being choices for the middle order. When it all goes pear shaped of course (mid May?) you can just change riders at will and see what happens!

Dropping down a league would only, I think, upset the minority of Lions supporters. With so many riders doubling up in the GB leagues, only a handful of current top tier league riders would be missed. As good as some of them are (GP level), most people are not interested in races won by half a lap margins. In its most popular (team) format, speedway is about close, competitive racing. Most of us would pay to watch that over individual rider ability. How I long for the glory days of just a few years ago when we had the same 1-7 riders for weeks on end and nearly (once) got close to a mid table finish in the second tier of the sport.

Here we go again, but the Referee's decision regarding the Heat 12 exclusion really is totally embarrassing for Haemorrhoid/Ackroyd (however it is spelt/pronounced). BT Sport provided sufficient camera angles for there to be absolutely no doubt that MPT was in front and was knocked off by his opponent attempting to come under him as they entered bend 3. It wasn't malicious, but the race has to be stopped and someone is responsible for that and has to be excluded. With enough camera angles and opportunities to replay the incident how on earth can MPT be at fault? Incidents like this are not even down to opinion, it is surely fact. If the Ref gets that wrong, what does it say about his decisions without the benefit of TV cameras at meetings? Apparently he was not available for interviewing as the cameras could not film that far up Matt Ford's a*se.

Managing two teams having the strength to prop up their respective leagues and avoid end of season fixture congestion/rider injuries associated with play offs, are probably things that Steady feels may be difficult to sustain and therefore deliver to that standard again. (Believe it or not, I actually liked Simon as a person).

Triple celebration on Monday according to the Lions website. Fans will expect that whatever is planned will be bettered at the end of next season (hopefully there is one) if we can kick on and finish bottom but one.

We'll never know what impact Vaculik would have had, but the unavailability of Bates & King sound like convenient management excuses. The recent changes have taken us back even further. Mountain is only there because of his very low average, which is all well and good if the team is stronger over all with the other riders brought in. Auty and Robson? I rest my case, their averages will only drop. Let's face it, David Howe has probably doubled what Auty would have scored in the last two meetings, which has prevented the opposition from reaching the 60 point mark. I wouldn't have minded a trip down to Poole tomorrow, but money has put a stop to that, Bates Co have politely refused to pay me. As a Lions supporter, my enthusiasm for the season end is as strong as ever.

Having followed the Lions since the mid 70s I cannot recall a season where a team with realistic hopes/expectations have nose dived towards the familiar wooden spoon within a couple of months. It seems like consecutive 5-1s against have become something of an ailment that we cannot shake off. The most encouraging thing I have read lately is Simon Stead's reference to performances and team places for next season. The fact that there may be a next season in the current speedway climate is something to look forward to. I say draw a line under 2018 and do whatever is necessary between now and September to keep the club on a sound financial footing. I have admired the management's efforts to change fortunes with rider changes, but I think that they have to hold their hand up and admit that the current line up is the weaker than ever. Most supporters are now waiting for next season and are not that bothered about further changes (although the season is probably now at cut off point for changes) in a desperate attempt to avoid the basement position.

Not so sure about the green helmet colour but I think the yellow black yellow idea as opposed to the current black yellow black may be the right marketing strategy to catapult the sport from minority to mainstream status and bring the missing thousands back through the gate. Perhaps mauve for R/R and guests, keeping the red, blue, white, Y/B colours in case riders in a teams official 1 to 7 declaration are by chance available and not riding in Poland/Sweden/Denmark on that night.

Yes, the track was pants and any non speedway follower accidently tuning in last night will surely never bother again, which is another shot in any part of the foot that remains. As a Lions supporter though, I do not think that too much can be blamed last night's track where the racing matched BP on a bad day (now that is saying something). The track was slick and riders simply had to trap, which (as you supposedly have to do at Leicester) was something that the Lions could not get to grips with. With the (experienced) rider changes brought in, I would have expected them to adapt better (set up changes etc). Swindon had their problems last night with injuries and riders moaning about conditions, but we still failed to take advantage of the situation. With the recent downturn in home form and need for collecting points on the road, where are these away points going to come from based on last night?

My understanding is that a new rule was introduced this season (Regulation 15.8.1) regarding heats being re-run after a rider has been disqualified. This seems to a sensible rule aimed at protecting a team on a 'certain' 5-1 when an opponent causes the race to be stopped, with the rider in third place at the time put on a 15m handicap in the re-run. In heat 1 of the Swindon v Leicester match last night, my recollection was that Bellego was well adrift of the Lions pair when Morris kissed the dirt. As so often happens, that 5-1 was wiped out when Bellego flew from the tapes in the re-run. If Bellego wasn't handicapped in this instance, what is the criteria for the handicap to be implemented (Kelv and Nige never brought the matter up)? The rule states that it is at the referee's discretion, but there has to be a basic yardstick for them to consider making the call. So what is it? Has anyone attended a meeting where the re-run handicap was applied? As it happened, the outcome of heat 1 did not go on to affect the over all result, but it would have given me something to moan about had the score been closer!

Four changes in one go, is that a record? Hate to see the lack of rider continuity like most people, but credit to the management for their swift attempt to stop the slide (no pun intended). As poor as the recent form of the axed riders was, I do not think that the team is now any stronger with the Rye House refugees. The reserve pairing appears to have more clout, but it is unlikely that they would be utilised beyond their allocated programmed rides to run up double figure returns. For some time now we have entered the last three heats of meetings with scores tight (often after squandering decent leads) and have lacked firepower, even at home, in heats 13 & 15. I still see us struggling at the business end of the meeting. Hopefully Wells will now move away from the No.2 berth where rides are finished after heat 10 (home) or 11 (away) and he will be involved in heat 14. Hats off for the management's efforts to address the situation and I hope I'm proved wrong in thinking its changes for changes sake.