TheTopDrawer

Garrity spent far less time inside than Nelson Mandela did. He must've been a proper wrong 'un. Though to be fair, prison must've worked. He never reoffended, and they let him run a country.

Though one did miss a year or two after a further drugs ban. So was O.J. Simpson.

Someone else who made a mistake in his youth, but was given a second chance and went on to become a world champion. Sounds like a good mentor.

You seem to know a lot about what he did. I'm starting to wonder if you were there!

When was your last trip to Northampton raceway?

Prison is there to punish and rehabilitate. He's done his time, now we've got to hope the rehabilitation works. He has experience in two things - Speedway and crime. If we don't want him to return to crime, we need to push him down the path of an honest future. Sadly it seems the "Holier Than Thou" brigade want to push him down a path of crime, so they can say "I was right".

No problem. Not sure why you thought it was a league of 4, but happy to help.

Guess we find out after Jan 6th. Press release just said "at least 5 teams" but also seemed hopeful that Ipswich would join. My guess would be a team at Northampton raceway.

AGM is 6 January. Hopefully Ipswich will be sorted and become the 6th team

No one said a league of 4 teams. It's a league of at least 5. Could be 6 if Ipswich get sorted.

ARC own Newcastle Greyhound Stadium. The same guys who closed Birmingham and kicked speedway out of Central Park, Sittingbourne.

Sheffield.

Oh guys. Look what you've done. You've upset Bluey. How was he meant to know that his reliable source in Poland was so unreliable and clueless? You're ruining his Christmas by signing all these G.P. riders!

Fricke, Holder, Bewley, Kurtz, and a G.P. rider at Ipswich too?

Birmingham aren't running because their stadium was demolished from under them. Not because Nigel Tolley spat his dummy. If Birmingham stadium was still there, then Nigel Tolley would still be there.

That makes absolutely no sense. Meeting opposing teams twice in a league which runs roughly April to September means meeting twice in 6 months regardless of whether it's a 9 team league or a 6 team league. What you're suggesting is that the CL season lasts 16 weeks and the PL season lasts 10 weeks, which is nonsense.

or (c) Threaten to sell the business, but actually p1ss off to Australia and leave your loyal customers high and dry, and wondering what is going on. I'd have gone for option (b). Chris Louis seems to have gone for option (c). So what's your point?

It doesn't have to be the stadium being unavailable (although that is certainly the main reason for putting a licence on ice, like Swindon, Wolves, Peterborough etc), but Louis would have to show a "Force Majeure" as a reason for applying to put the licence on ice. That is an "unforeseeable, uncontrollable, event" which stops him running. I doubt that just fancying a year off counts as "Force Majeure". I think any application to put the licence on ice for no real reason would be knocked back.

LOL. That's exactly what they are. A testimonial is granted for someone who has been an asset of a club for 10 years. When a rider is tranferred they are entitled to a percentage of the transfer fee for each year they have been an asset. Thus to compensate someone who hasn't moved, for the years of missing out on a percentage transfer fee, they got a testimonial.

No. Ipswich stadium isn't closing. So there's no way he can apply to put the licence on ice for 3 years. If a promotion loses their stadium (like Wolves, Peterborough) they can ice the licence for up to 3 years while they seek another venue, because it is an "unforeseeable, uncontrollable, event". I can't see any unforeseeable, uncontrollable, event under which Louis could apply to ice the licence.

I'm working on the basis of what if Chris Louis packed it in and didn't run in 2026. With no licence, what's to stop someone new doing a deal with Spedeworth for a stadium lease, and applying to BSPL for a licence. No other club within 30 miles, so no reason to refuse them.

If there is a lease agreement in place, then, as you say, Chris Louis will be contractually obliged to pay it. Alternatively if there isn't a lease in place, what's to stop someone else doing a lease deal with Spedeworth, and setting up the Ipswich Warlocks.

How can anyone have a testimonial if there are no assets anymore?

So he'd rather wind up the club and get nothing, than accept an offer of some money?

Someone already has. It's down to Chris Louis whether or not he will accept an offer or whether he wants to close the club down.