TigerIain

It was previously said that Matt Ford had 6 riders signed and there was an issue with the 7th (seems to be someone was lined up but not happening now) and a problem to replace them. Could be that any more team announcements are being delayed as that might need another change? Beau Bailey doesn't yet have a work permit, so unlikely to announce before he at least meets the criteria. The uncertainty over the leagues probably isn't helping speed things along either.

Thomsen was judged by all Tigers fans when he lost to every single Workington rider (twice to Bowes) whilst guesting at Ashfield for the Tigers. I would take Max Perry or Jack Smith ahead of Thomsen, even if that left us 2 points below the limit. I used the playoff final as an example that the Workington match wasn't a one off bad match. He also looked off the pace. Nothing personal against the guy but I think he'd be better off at a track like Plymouth that he rides well

Doesn't tell the whole story though Somerset, Peterborough, Rye House all stepped up and are no more. Ipswich and Sheffield stepped up. Newcastle went bankrupt. Edinburgh, Glasgow, Berwick, Workington, Plymouth, Scunthorpe and Redcar are all still there. Coventry, Lakeside, Swindon and Wolves are no more. Poole dropped down. BV, KL and Leicester are still there. "Hopefully" but you lose your own fans preferred race night. You lose your local derbies (Glasgow v Edinburgh 10 times is a bit much, but you can sell that better than Glasgow v BV/Ipswich/KL 4 times each). Every club paying riders beyond their means does not make a sport viable. Better riders do not always make better races. GP rider Jason Doyle could be signed in the Championship on a converted 11.79 average and would win most races by half a lap (Yawn!). They do not increase your crowds as Joe Public have never heard of them. A shrinking league and constant repetition of fixtures is not attractive to fans or tv. Close races with evenly balanced teams provides more entertainment. And for all of Glasgow's success last year, they had a lot of last heat deciders (particularly away from home).

Not sure where else you get it, but it is on YouTube if you search for 360 speedway

For the sake of Sheffield, and keeping them going I think that additional burden shouldn't be imposed on the new owners. If indeed new owners can be found. I can't imagine much, if any of that missing 80k quoted (60k TV % 20k sponsorship) was pure profit. What an absolute mess the Premiership is in

I think all the clubs would have an equal vote, but I don't know how many need to vote for/against it to accept/reject a request. Seems harsh if they are losing their promoter and main sponsor but allowing Sheffield to move to Championship would surely have ended any chance of saving the Premiership.

Thomsen was judged by all Tigers fans when he lost to every single Workington rider (twice to Bowes) whilst guesting at Ashfield for the Tigers. I would take Max Perry or Jack Smith ahead of Thomsen, even if that left us 2 points below the limit. I used the playoff final as an example that the Workington match wasn't a one off bad match. He also looked off the pace. Nothing personal against the guy but I think he'd be better off at a track like Plymouth that he rides well

To a lesser extent, that is what happened in the Premiership last year and Birmingham and Oxford didn't survive. Speedway isn't football, there simply isn't enough money, or die hard fans, to keep the have nots afloat of they are getting thrashed every week. Seeing Zmarzlik winning 5 races by half a lap is not entertainment for most people. Look how Plymouth's crowds picked up when Scott Nicholls arrived and made them competitive.

There is no easy way to do that, but since you asked the question, if the Premiership fails and wants to join the Championship, then the existing Championship clubs get the first 9 licences, and then it's a bun fight between the 5 Premiership clubs for whatever licences are left that can be accommodate in the league (although Ipswich have said that they wouldn't run). Ideally all 14 clubs would run but I can't see that happening as there isn't enough riders. A large part of the Premiership failing is too few teams hoarding the top riders in the league. Maybe the reasons behind that are taken into account when licence 10 onwards are given out? It's all a mess, but I still hope that a 6th team magically appears from the ashes and signs Robert Lambert and a Lindgren or Thorsell (really anyone/someone with a proven record in the UK as a proper heat leader) to lead them but sadly it's not looking promising

That runs on a Friday night, that is hugely more popular with their fans than any other day or time of the week (per a recent-ish fan survey). And have plenty of rivalries, local and not so local, that they can sell to their fans, and fans can sell to potential fans. No offence intended but BV, KL, Ipswich would just be 'the opposition'. Edinburgh, Berwick and Poole on the other hand mean something more than just another match. The Facennas are ambitious in their ownership but stepping up to the Premiership before the club is ready to prop up a failing league, and losing their weekend racing against local(ish) rivals will undo all the good & very hard work the current promotion have done. Seeing the odd GP rider would not make up for what would be lost in Glasgow 'stepping up'. The difference between the leagues is pretty minimal, replace a number 7 with a number 1 and you can pretty much keep the other 6 the same but put up the price by a few quid a meeting. No speedway rider is anywhere near famous enough to make more than a tiny dent in relation to media sports coverage up here that is totally dominated by Celtic and Rangers.

Yes....your head! You're the one that started talking about him. You brought up the topic, and others have their opinion. It's what happens on an online forum.

Not just by you Gazc!! His performance in the playoff final confirmed that he was just not very good though (3 from 4, beating Hodder twice and Will Cairns on one of his poor rides)

I notice that no one saying that a Championship team should step up and risk their business to prop up a failing Premiership is putting in any money. And history says it will be prop up as the top league normally plays keep away with their heat leaders. Only 6 of the 15 GP riders last year ride in the Premiership (and Holder has stated that he only rides in UK so he can live here). And 10 of the 26 in the final standings, including MJJ who chucked Britain. Only 5 riders would miss out of everything went Championship, and one of them already had quit the UK. The league is propped up by Championship riders filling up the Premiership in addition to their Championship places. Hopefully won't come to that though. But who knows where team 6 will come from

I genuinely hope we never get to find out which of our opinions is right

You're the one that is drooling. Your argument is a toddler could have guided that team (Harris, Brennan, Vissing, Tarasenko, Basso, Complin & Pijper) to the title. Cami Brown did. But with Bewley, Kurtz, Lindgren, Zmarzlik, Doyle, Kubera and Holder, Cami Brown couldn't win the Championship? So...are you trying to argue that the 2023 Tigers are better than that world select you listed??? I think you're on more drugs than Lee Complin

I meant too old for the Northern Junior League, not too old to ride speedway. I was joking that he is nearer Ashfield Giants standard than Glasgow Tigers standard the way he rides our track. He got 1 from 4 guesting for us v Workington, and that 1 point was from blocking Hodder all heat. He was as good as a man short that day. His 8+1 was in the only wet match at Ashfield last year, but in normal track conditions there he looks to be way over priced on his current average.

But until the team is actually announced and confirmed then it is just conjecture. Don't believe everything that you read on the Internet! It's been noticeable that since the AGM/conference was delayed there have been no rider announcements. That could just be coincidence though. Without the points limit/rules being confirmed publicly, if Redcar do announce their 7 as planned, that will be the first evidence of what has been agreed by the Championship promoters.

You said that Tigers will not win any silverware with Cami Brown as Team Manager, I pointed out that they won with the Playoffs with him as Team Manager in 2023. They topped the league this season with him as Team Manager. And almost won the Playoffs this year with him as Team Manager. Basically, my point is that you're talking mince.

Don't know why Glasgow would be talking to him. He's too old and too Danish for a place in the Northern Junior League with the Ashfield Giants. That's about his standard round Ashfield.

I think (& sincerely hope) that there is plenty going on behind the scenes to magic up a 6th team for the Premiership. Sad thing is, with a better controlled points limit, and a fairer sharing out of heat leaders they might not have lost 2 teams and got themselves into this pickle. Still, I hope that it works out somehow.

Can't see any being daft enough to be honest. Long history of teams stepping up not being allowed to build a competitive team. Poole and Oxford are the only clubs with a history of rivalries in the top division. Oxford probably had enough of being the Premiership punching bag. Poole have knocked it back due to race night and other issues. Any Northern team (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Berwick, Workington) would lose any sort of local derby, and all are weekend tracks for good reason. I cannot see Redcar or Plymouth going up and staying in business. Scunthorpe would at least have some local matches against BV and Sheffield but I cannot see it without massive outside investment to cover huge losses. I don't want to see the Premiership fail, but I can't see a Championship promoter sacrificing their club to save it.

Aye, that back injury really seemed to affect his engines. He was not the same rider after that.

Yip, TTT is insisting that the promoters that ruined the Premiership will be given absolute free reign to ruin a (pretty much) Championship level one big league...if that was too be the way the sport goes. More chance of the Championship promoters not allowing them in the league than letting them destroy what's left of the sport. Those 5 don't want someone to compete with, they just want a team they can all hammer repeatedly to prop up their failing Premiership. I'm just going to ignore TTT from now on. I've not got the crayons to explain it in a way that they will understand.

The British under 21 final. Ended up 3rd, but very nearly won the final. Tigers finished top of the league last year. They were 1 point or 1 ride away from winning the Playoff finals. They went out the BSN Trophy on countback, so didn't do that badly last year. Cami was manager when they won the playoffs in 2023

Rest of league says 'no you won't if you want to join the league then the best riders need to be shared out'. If ANY Championship club wanted to get dumped on like that, then they would have stepped up to the Premiership! You've just shown exactly why your Premiership league has failed. A couple of clubs hoard all the top riders causing other clubs to fail. PS Ashfield is Harris' favourite UK track, and the owners are at least as wealthy as Buster. So not 100% guaranteed to go to KL. They didn't share out the top riders, the big 4 hoarded them all last year and KL signed 6 third heat leaders and made a decent go of it. Everyone could see that Oxford and Birmingham were going to, and did, get hammered repeatedly. If Birmingham had been in any way competitive then at least someone would suggest running that team from another track. They got hammered repeatedly and hardly anyone paid to watch it, so the big 5 killed them off. The 10th match between them last year was the best speedway match I've seen in the 40ish years I've been watching speedway. Admittedly helped by being a 2 leg knock out contest. At least there is a city rivalry there to promote the match. Glasgow v Ipswich 10 times would not have the same pull. (PS Masters v Harris at Ashfield is normally something to get excited about)