YeOldPitGate

I wonder if we will ever again hear anything about the fruits of Harrys and the Tory fellas labors or if the powers that be are just hoping its gradually forgotten about.

Would be great if the old swearer was involved I just think having been on the taking out side of the fence he will know that most promoters are losing money not making it and won't want to squander his career earnings but equally he should have some good sponsor contacts one would have thought.

The impression I got from reading the article by the Scottish fella in the Star is it will still be two leagues next season I know a lot are against it and we all have our bias but personally if they could get a semi decent tv deal I still think two leagues of eight is way to go but just once home and away in the top league but ideally 20-30% better quality if it can be financed. Given other than Buster I think all other teams rent their stadiums if nothing else the losses would probably be halved and more people should turn up to watch as fewer but (hopefully) better quality meetings so long as not monthly home meetings. The bottom three-four riders in teams league one could still double up in league 2 which could run 2 home ,2 away, as far as I'm aware Poland top league is just once home and away and it seems to work well for their top league.

Great times, I was from memory age 17-22 in the Wild Wayne years used go with my best mate and his dad who drove us to meetings all over the place. I remember one bank holiday when we faced Wolves and I think Richard Knight took a bad tumble and ended up stuck under the wooden fence on bend two and some Wolves fan was cheering at the accident, Nutter loved Richard Knight and came sprinting out of the bar gave the fella a mouthful and proceeded to boot the blokes pint out of his hand , the fella then very sheepishly quickly disappeared to the other side of the stadium. Nutter getting cheers from the home fans as he headed back to his usual seat at the bar. Seem to remember the Wild Wayne posse used to be situated between bend one and two most days. God I look back on those days fondly I had zero cares myself back then and when we got Loram and Henka both young , brilliant and hungry they were the best times ever at Saddlebow road great times sadly missed. I'm now semi retired with two adult children myself all seems to have gone by in the blink of an eye but if I had a time machine I would be back to those times tomorrow for a year ideally with the knowledge I have gained over the last forty plus years intact also.

Not when you have Klindt and Lidsey who can be all over the place on the scoring on any given night, Ellis got nearly half the points total for the whole team.

Still trying to work out the culprits Phil given as far as I am aware most promoters only run one club now unless its some of the top league who have part funded Northampton. I still think two leagues of eight would be a better way to go if you went one big league the standard will have to be watered down hugely to fill 15 sides unless the teams reduced to 5 man sides, plus we have the rumours Workington will be dropping out come winter.

He was brilliant bellowing out the stars war chant every week yet again goes to show another die hard who rarely goes anymore I can think of so many a lot of them are now just to old late 70's early 80's to probably even get there these days. I often wonder what happened to Nutter and his posse who used to rule the second bend bar back in the mid 80's early 90's complete bunch of loons but were again all die hards all be it they spent most of the time downing pints and hardly ever watched the racing which in those days was generally class most weeks post 87 onwards when we stopped being the whipping boys.

Be interesting to see what happens with Northampton in 2027 depending on what happens with UK speedway in general , it would appear a decent core crowd of supporters is there which was a big worry pre season. Flagrag mentioned a party with deep pockets were looking to get involved but didn't in the end if they were now convinced and got 2-3 good riders in and kept Thomson, Iverson, Ellis and the young aussie Mcdiad (or however you spell it) and could add say Anders Thompson, Becker , poss Zack Cook if Belle Vue have to shed riders that would be a good looking side. If they don't get involved its probably going to be more of the same a side making the numbers up but hopefully 10-15% better side than this year minimum.

Whats going on with Lawson and Ipswich this year, granted he's always had a rep for being moody but has generally been reliable for clubs he represented down the years. I don't know if the muddy bikes and leathers have been an issue every year or just this year also, as I've mentioned before he seems to me for a rider with no gp ambitions the perfect template for what a UK rider should be so seems odd that he should want to rock the apple cart at what has historically been a well run club.

Christ I can remember Flatman that was around the Jem Doncaster , Kai Niemi days from memory

Remember Wild Wayne back in the day Bagpuss ? if you do does he still go ?

And don't forget the Horsepool brothers

Think he would be a good signing, young, hungry, good people behind him and would have good support from the Fords as far as settling into English racing goes the only caveat is I don't know if he's a trapper or not as get the impression ideally you need to be a good gater at Poole or have the talent to come from the back like Loram, Ward or Henka and there's not many riders in that mould sadly.

I have zero idea who it is but at a guess possibly Slater Lightcap given both him and Cairns fall under Greg Hancock and Hancock has connections with the Fords.

Lets hope the lad can continue in that vein , he does seem another youngster who might have a very good career if he stays level headed , personally don't see him as a top table rider but equally I wouldn't be surprised if he's a lower order gp rider at some point in the future.

It does show the state of UK speedway though that due to the complete lack of riders in the UK a fella who 10-20 years ago would have been axed sharpish is pretty much bullet proof and theres another 8-10 like him sadly.

Its all the usual stuff though giving up if he doesn't trap in front etc time and again, we all know they were on the back foot from the get go with Batch, Lidsey, Zagar and Klindt who can all not fancy it half the time , the other three riders have exceeded expectations though. If they can get a proper committed number one next year and get down to 1-2 riders who might not fancy it rather than four they should win most home meetings.

Someone on updates was saying Andrew has ploughed over £600k into Worky from the start so you can't fault his heart and commitment if that is true. If this Poland and one other league situation in 2027 is true UK speedway will be forced into making some hard decision next year whether they like it or not. If the current second division ends up going back to the standard of the national league a few years back before the powers that be obliterated it, that could be a good thing. One old hand per team, 4-5 English youngsters and maybe a couple of young aussies like the lad at reserve for Berwick who are committed to being in the UK the full season could be the way forward. Whatever way you slice it if you can't get more punters/sponsors in through the door, the costs are going to need to come down by a third to a half.

Personally just don't think people have the appetite for that amount of meetings anymore Aries I just think it would be less repetition and as mentioned losses should be less they would need to get a meeting at home at least once a fortnight and try and get things finished by the end of August say. Is Polish top division once home and away ?

If they could get the top league up to 8 teams and 20% better quality than we already have, every team having a proper number one, home meetings at a minimum every other week. Once home and away to minimise seeing same teams every other week and it would also help stem losses by having fewer but hopefully better quality meetings, Would need a tv deal and ideally a proper league sponsor to get another 4-6 real top line riders back over here and finding a way to help Sheffield survive.

I mentioned on another thread I read an article on UK music festivals recently and outside of the ten massive events the rest are struggling with the article quoting a drop from an average of 1,000 events a year pre-covid to 500 ish now. The reasons quoted were just like speedway the same acts seen to often, cost of staging the events gone up massively since covid this led to large ticket price increases which punters no longer view as value for money, punters preferring events held in footy stadiums as better facilities than using blocked porta loos in fields. Stories from promoters who ran the events who had been making bigger and bigger losses year on year until they couldn't afford to continue.

Thanks for the reply it seems its the same story as most clubs ageing fanbase, cost of living, two many guests, more pull on the pound on your pocket from other leisure activites over the last 25 years.

I'm thinking more how were the crowds when they came back after a really long break at the previous home possibly late 90's early noughties I was only loosely following the sport at this point having giving up going 94-95 when I discovered the joys of beer and nightclubs in my early 20's.

How were the crowds when they originally reopened I think it was under another Denham but from memory that fella had quite a bit of money behind him, were they poor then or like most clubs have they just declined over time due to the speedway ills we discuss on here daily ?

Hopefully they will be back but its a tough sell with no Tai, no Jack but same/more money this year for lower quality product we can ill afford to lose Sheffield or Worky but agree its looking grim at the moment.