InTheDeepStuff

Have a feeling today’s the day when a lot of questions will be answered for the Premiership and its clubs

Know it’s a big ‘if’ there’s one big league (personally think there’ll be a Premiership and Championship), but what makes people think Sheffield would want Pickering? Know his initial demands when talking to Sheffield didn’t go down too well with the people who will be involved running the club at Premiership level (I’ll let them announce themselves), and with his average being heavily biased based around home form there’s more consistent riders out there they could look at. Pickering at Scunthorpe In Championship is good for both parties, just now where he’ll end up in Premiership unless he out prices himself again like he’s done again in Polands (with Ekstraliga 2 and National League teams) after Leszno decided he wasn’t good enough for Ekstraliga

Would that be a Odsal? Know Godfrey looked at it and it would seemingly pass for UK league racing (wouldn’t be FIM approved though like pre 1997) providing the metal work for the exec box structure gets the required safety install. Would get a war of the roses derby and a white rose derby and good Road connections to M62/M1

Did apply for Championship and were turned down on Tuesday

He signed for Gniezno in 2023 and only didn’t take up a place in 2024 due to having young family, so wouldn’t read to much into him being in the Tarnow ‘squad’

I was told end of last week by another Championship promoter that Sheffield had asked to move back to Championship in 2026, but this week that request had been turned down. Not sure where the club stands now as with no TV money (c£60k pa) and TruPlant sponsorship ending (c£20k pa) that’s a big hole to fill to have funds to pay for Premiership wages

Howarth already signed up back at Glasgow next season alongside Harris as the top 2 there so can rule him out of your plans.

Wonder if AB Race Cruisers / AutoCraft will move up as main sponsors as been secondary on the fork covers for a couple of seasons now

Thought the AGM had been moved from this week to the start of January??

The four points I was told earlier today were : 1 - The 36 points limit for 2026 now 37 points 2 - Only 5 teams at moment committed to the Premiership (Belle Vue, Ipswich, Kings Lynn, Leicester and Sheffield). However Chris Louis has threatened to pull Ipswich from the Premiership and put club for sale. He will only run in the Premiership if it has a minimum of 6 teams 3 - The consortium to run a team at Oxford in the Premiership have pulled the plug on that 4 - One 2025 club has some serious financial issues to resolve with a lot of their riders owed in excess of £10k, doesn’t take a genius to work out which club it is. So not exactly good news even if the points limit goes up a bit.

I heard earlier today that the new limit for 2026 has been changed from 36 points to 37 points 🤷‍♂️

He’s definitely not at Leicester (Douglas & Masters at 1 and 5 for them)

Team A is 95% correct just Nathan Abblitt instead of Declan Kennedy

Also that’s a big change of tact from last season, will out an end to a 6 pointer at reserve that’s for sure

Fricke incoming, that’s a big chunk of the 36 points used up

Heard this consortium wanting to run Premiership at Oxford in 2026 under another name have looked at Oxfords historical rival clubs in Swindon and Reading, not sure how much the locals would support and if those from either club no longer running would travel that far for a ‘home’ meeting. Maybe a more generic name like ‘Thames Valley Titans’ (other nicknames are available 😜)

Been told that by two current riders that it’s 36 in Premiership and 40 in Championship and they are signed up in teams built to those limits already

Any snippets of team news at awards do last night?

Any snippets of team news at awards do last night?

Swap Becker for Dan Thompson and that top 5 plus RS is what we’ll see in 2026, just not sure the number 6 is yet

Limit is definitely 36 points plus Rising Star for 2026

Can’t see Pickering keeping that average especially if at 1 or 5, his away form over last few seasons has been bang average, its his Owlerton form against weaker teams that has inflated his average, but could see Jack maintain his and Chris improve his by 0.5, well that’s my thoughts anyway 😆

Morris and Killeen at Leicester Sheffield will need to decide if it’s both Holders or its no Holders as they come as a pair not. Personally I’d keep Jack at 1 and Chris at 5 and let Pickering have a season elsewhere, Rowe and Flint will be back for 2026 at 2 and 4, love to see Musielak back at 3, then Etheridge at 6 and someone like Harrison or Abblitt at Rising Star

Two of them another type of big cat further down the M1 for 2026 from what I’ve seen

1 Pickering 2 Ablitt 3 MPT 4 Harrison 5 Mountain 6 Lambert 7 Ingram