Teromaafan

After a bit of research it appears that full capacity is 100%.

Great to see this seasons race jackets on the club's twitter page, it's 1973 again! The retro approach is to be fully embraced by the management apparently. When you turn up for the first meeting in your flares and platform shoes, here's what you can expect: Wilson, Jessup & Boulger waiting in the wings to step up and replace injured/absent riders (riders drawing a pension to be allocated assessed averages of 5.00 by the SCB). Music played over the PA totally relevant to the era. (2019 stadium playlist will now be up to date and therefore retained). A packed stadium. Fans will see the 50p admission as great value for money. Bring it on!

Good point. I had a terrible dream last night. I had died and been reincarnated as an air fence. Woke up sweating and screaming when I saw Bates and Roynon rolling up to the tapes!

If we were to keep the current 1 to 7 (which is never going to happen) I would be disappointed if the Lions weren't play off finalists. Bates needs to grow up and race but not chase lost causes as he ends up getting injured.As has been pointed out by another poster, he is fifth in the team averages and may be difficult to cover if we had to use R/R. Should either or both of the twins kick on at reserve, I don't see us dropping anything at home. If they can match their opposite numbers away, we really are in business. Let's not get too picky though eh? As long as we get to smell some methanol, we'll take whatever comes!

......Then you get the riders who sign up for a British team, then dump them when they get a better Swedish/Polish gig. They're called shystars*. (* spellcheck may be required).

Totally agree. Pretty sure he hasn't rode over here since his stint with the Lions in 2015 and the fans couldn't wait to get him out of the door. He'll be 43 in the summer as well. I'd be amazed if Plymouth got a full season (COVID permitting) out of him.

His commitment should never be questioned, but whilst he doesn't mind getting hurt, the other three riders in the race might have something to say about that! He will always be a risk until Dickson puts some glue on his a*se!

This seems to be the most relevant thread without starting a new one, for something I would like to raise. Whilst everyone agrees that improved and continued (as a minimum) sponsorship is essential to keep the sport alive, opinions on what are necessary to improve crowd attendances (other than product quality) are varied. Parking the current COVID situation, the most popular spectator sports in most countries are team sports. Fact. I love speedway, football and basketball which are all working class sports. I have no interest whatsoever in any other motor sport and know quite a few other people of a similar mindset. The tribal belonging appeals to the masses and there is no better feeling than beating a local rival team in any sport. If you ask the average person what they understand by speedway, it is most likely they will say it is just motorbike racing. In my experience, people are quite surprised when you mention it is a team sport. (Best not mention doubling up, r/r & guests at this point though). The beauty of the sport is that different formats exist (individuals, pairs & fours) and whilst the quality of racing in a Grand Prix is superb, a two against two race is something to cherish. There has to be more emphasis on the team aspect in the promotion of the sport.

Ah...Rider Control. I was only a school boy at the time, but couldn't get my head around Dave Jessup (who would go on to be a whisker away from being world champion) going to Reading from Leicester, with Reidar Eide joining the Lions (from Newport?) for the 1976 season. I understood that this was associated with Rider Control. I don't know what the respective averages were, but even as a kid I thought we had been shafted. 1976 turned out to be most disastrous season I can remember for the Lions.

According to the Lion's web site all of this year's team have been offered the same contract for next season. Six of them have accepted, but one can't apparently commit yet. Who do we think is stalling?

Whilst watching some GP meetings on YouTube the other night, I remembered that there was something sponsored by Volkswagen (I had stickers on my programme board), which was more low key, but still called the Grand Prix, in the mid to late seventies. I recall that it involved several riders representing every British League team at the time. It was a series of individual meetings, all at British tracks, where GP points were awarded based on where riders finished on the night ( it was something like 10 for the winner of the meeting, 9 for second etc, a bit like the F1 points allocation). I'm not sure how long it lasted and I think it may have been the brainchild of the guy at Newcastle at the time (Ian Thomas?). Does anyone else remember this (please tell me it's not something I have imagined!) and perhaps provide a bit more information?

Totally agree with this.

I know someone who emailed the club regarding the roof covering repair on the home straight. The response? See if you can guess from the following options: a) No need for repairs, the current tent will be replaced with a permanent structure incorporating a fully enclosed bar and restaurant facility. b) Sit somewhere else. c) Bring a transparent (so that you do not obscure the view of others) umbrella. d) .................................No.....................reply.

I remember the previous fours at Leicester and I don't remember any complaints regarding the accommodation of riders. The final that day comprised 8 teams, so there would have been 40 riders present. Since then however, the format has changed and in the last few years, all clubs in the league have had a team present on the day. If that is the case, then this year there would be 60 riders present on the day. Now that would be chaos, although you would like to think that this has all been thought through (?). The main thing I remember about the previous staging of this meeting, was the promoter apparently being robbed of the meetings takings (later on the same evening). Whilst this was headline news in the local media, I seem to recall the situation going quiet thereafter. Were these people caught? Perhaps someone can shed some light?

Looking forward to the new season but would like to know if the promotion has considered replacing the stand (tent) roof on the home straight? I know it's only been missing for over a season, but it might just rain again sometime over the course of the next season. Pardon the sarcasm but it is difficult to defend the club on this matter.

Looking at the Lions team structure for next year I think we should be more concerned with the No.5 position rather than No.1. The No.5 is paired with a reserve apart from Heat 13, so if we are saying there is no pressure on the twins, then whoever is at No.5 is going to have to consistently deliver. On a more general note, why does the rider with the highest average have to ride at No.1, when Heat 8 is the only 'protected' race? For many teams, there is only a few hundredths of a point between their top two anyway. The current Heat format to me seems little different to when I first followed the sport in the early 70's, when your reserves were at 6 & 7 and you could do what you liked with the riding order of the other five.

Good job there is no combined age limit for team building! (Hang on, this is speedway, perhaps there will be next year).

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.