HGould

Surely the shoe in No 1 is Ben Morley? If the rumoured increase in NDL sides happens next week probably Kinsley / Spooner may get chances elsewhere and Mulford may want to do Grass on a weekend and Speedway in the week. Gilkes I agree needs to be looking at bigger ponds now or an NDL berth at Oxford possibly? (close to home)

may be Paul Starke back at Glasgow? (or will he go to Oxford too?)

Braefield is interesting as it's shaled and run by Spedeworth who seem to have a good relationship with Speedway. It has staged Speedway in the past. It's location is probably the biggest negative but it is between some decent conurbations Northampton, Milton Keynes, Kettering and Coventry at a push.

Glasgow / Edinburgh could become very attractive to a host of young British riders wanting to break in to Polish scene who are also PL rising stars or no 8's in PL. Ride home matches on a Friday in CL / Fly out from Glasgow / Edinburgh for the weekend in Poland, then back for PL / CL Monday to Thursday. Away trips to Leicester / Berwick can be fitted in around that schedule.

The problem is ARC and their "business model". They have realised that they can run Dogs with or without Crowds during Covid 19. By getting Betting Levy income they can run behind closed doors, minimal staff, minimal costs and make more profit in a couple of days than Speedway (or anything else) will pay in a season in rent. Their argument would be that they don't need the hassle! Live Dog racing beamed round the globe is as close to a virtual sport in the flesh as you can get. They have taken over Perry Barr, Newcastle ; Sittingbourne. Hopefully no more dog / speedway venues will fall in to their clutches.

It wouldn't be a surprise with so few heat leader level riders available. The current economic climate isn't making it easy to find sponsors either and add in Covid concerns. At 50k a season rent NDL is not really viable either. We live in hope though no other options.

I just hope we get accepted even if we get excepted from things like voting rights and fixture preferences Keep the faith!

I've read they have to signal a firm inrention before the AGM on 7th December. It would appear from the news in this weeks Speedway Star that things are to quote "increasingly positive" but that no deal has been done yet between Peter and David and the new Consortium. I would think the Masons would perfectly understandably want to recoup as much as possible to help reduce the significant losses from 2021 and that the new Consortium would want to be sure that their figures add up too so that they are not going to lose huge sums of money. Team wise the core still seem to be unattached but heat leader quality riders seem in short supply unless you are over-paying like some have done and get their fingers badly burnt. As they say sometimes no news is good news and until we're out we're in. Prayer mats out and thermal underwear on in while we wait.

I think criticism of the twins and comparisons with Flint / Palin is unfair. Flint had a full NDL season in 2018 and again in 2019 and would be 12-24 months ahead of the Twins and Palin may simply be a better rider at this point. Due to Covid it's safe to say that both twins were thrown a bit in at the deep end in 2021, the NDL was not the League it once was in terms of depth and the CL is stacked with a lot of experienced second strings and reserves. I think both are still ahead of the curve. Maybe time for them to split and I wonder if Joe might go to Oxford possibly, although that could be a big stretch for their parents at this stage of their careers until they become more self sufficient. Probably level at this stage with likes of Bickley and Edwards who have more experience. Give them a break!

A slang term in some parts to describe a long haired unkempt rocker type. A term some of us would have seen as a badge of honour 40 years ago

Aren't most of us Speedway fans retired and watching Lorraine at that time?

I think there may be at least one other possibly two more NDL teams in addition to Northside based on various rumours. Two existing Clubs running NDL too. Be great news if so after NDL looked dead a year ago.

50k annual rent and 20 meetings is draconian and also kills off any thoughts of NDL in my opinion. As I see it if CL is 10 teams and you have 9 home and 9 away plus KOC and a few fillers, you'd have to run as many as 6 home meetings as "fillers" to reach the 20 fixtures so, they would be loss making meetings right off. If you don't run 20 fixtures you have to pay more rent per fixture to pay the 50k There is very little land available at right price in the right areas in Birmingham / Greater Birmingham, and The Black Country is the same, look at Cradley issues trying to find land in Dudley and Sandwell Boroughs. The big brown field sites like Longbridge have been used for residential and commercial development. The NEC / Airport area where nosie would be less of any issue is pretty much full up. The City Council and Regional elected Mayor are useless. As long as Wolves can hang on to Monmore or Coventry can reclaim Brandon, it's a very sobering outlook elsewhere in the area. There is another problem there though as any land that's encroaching on their territory so only robs Peter to pay Paul. Grim times so we all have to pray that we can keep PB for as long as possible.

Our best young talent will be hoovered up by new U24 Extraleague Legue and also D2 and D3 Clubs in Poland able to offer more than even best PL rates in UK. They'll attract best of Australian and European talent at all levels too. If Friday's are used more in addition to Saturday / Sunday it could marginalise UK League Speedway to Monday and Thursday in PL and an NDL level League on other nights. The only flip side is if Sweden continues to decline the UK Premier League could become to secondary option and bring in bigger CL Clubs like Glasgow; Leicester; Poole etc

Can see around a 6 - 10 of the best U24 British Riders heading to Polish U23 League every weekend. Will help their development but not great for any CL Clubs. Hope Poles wont schedule any U23 League matches for a Friday that could be carnage for UK Speedway!

Don't see either Kemp or Gilkes going to Oxford in CL. Wouldn't be surprised to see Rowe there though. Possible Mulford would fit better in their NDL Team if as rumoured they run one ?

Sheffield? maybe

A lot of positive thoughts and a full house. The break even is unrealistic when you consider average last year was about 600. Still there's hope and that's very positive.

Lawson signed for Sheffield in 2020 but moved before riding for them due to various rumours. Happens regularly like with Richie Worrall at Edinburgh. Garry May is never short of contacts or options.

Of course Belle Vue they will be certs, too hard thinking of new Clubs lol. I

If there are 8 Clubs would at least keep NDL alive. Armadale, Berwick, Northside (Workington); Leicester, Mildenhall, Scunthorpe; Oxford and hopefully Iwade may be best we can hope for?

Great news and at least a trip down the M40 or old A40 if quieter if Brummies don't make it to tapes. Jamie Courtney is a sound appointment doing great things at Berwick on a sensible budget.

I'm sure I read Poles are launching an U23 League next year and Clubs are allowed a few Foreign riders each. Not hard to see the cream of UK under 23 crop being over there most weekends with huge earning potential comparing to UK.

new improved drains going in? possibly widening to make suitable for FIM ? Race night wise, didn't Oxford ride Thursdays when in 2nd tier before the seasons with Nielsen / Wigg etc. Can't ride Thursdays in CL but what about Tuesday (now Kent have closed) or Wednesday (would Brummies or Poole complain?)

That sounds very plausible Brian. I've read in a few places too from Kent supporters that Kent's Crowds (other than v Eastbourne local derbies) were not as high as expected / budgeted for and similar to NDL levels in the past few seasons. With Nicholls and Batchelor probably high earners it would be logical to assume that Len; faced with a substantial rent increase has done his sums and they don't look at all good and if his biggest crowds are against a side not running in 2022 (based on their statement last Friday); is it possible that this has changed the picture to a pretty gloomy one and forced Len's hand? The question a few have asked, would Len transfer his License to Arlington and run a team there with the new Eastbourne management. Especially if both sides have pretty much been forced out by much lower than budgeted crowds in the 2021 season and could combine their hard core support in to something that would be viable.