YeOldPitGate

On a five year frame looking at natural talent its no contest Bailey all the way the flip side being the boy should be one day gracing the biggest stage so after 3-4 years UK he most likely will be off to Poland full time where Tobias may not improve much but he could be long term servant to UK speedway.

Robert Lambert, Carl Stonehewer, Sean Wilson possibly Ray Morten ?

Spot on the sport never comes over well on live tv a lot of the time as you say a highlights package could work, the issue being though the whole promotion of every meeting needs lifting somehow , newbies turning up to falling down stadiums, 80's music blasting out of half the speakers that are working, toilets that should be condemned and a van selling average burgers for twice the normal rate won't have them queuing to come back.

Jeez that's about 200k in sterling is it really that much now to pay for a couple of bikes and mechanics over the season ?

As a steer is it worth 6 figures to each team MD ?

How's the crowd looking tonight would imagine decent but is it anywhere near the 6k Ipsiwch rumoured to have got in last week ?

Throw in Sean Wilson and Matousek for fights in every other episode.

Would make sense I don't know what some of the prem heat leaders were on at Oxford but if your talking maybe 3-5k per meeting the numbers will never add up.

Kings Lynn 1985 was when it all started for me the Martin Rogers days, we were the whipping boys of the league without a recognized heat leader in the whole team but crowds as a whole were okay and the excitement of when we would nearly get a win but get clobbered in the final heat. We were that bad Colin Pratt wanted us chucked out of the league, then Bill Barker and Simmo took over, the first season we had a powerhouse team King, Peterson, Davis & Knight four Lynn specialists by the end of the season we were dreadful again. King picked up to many injuries, John Davis was more suited to longtrack than Speedway as he could only ride the boards, Knight did his job and Peterson went from unbeatable round Lynn when he used to visit to terrible when he signed for us. Bill then went with youth and got Loram and Henka Gustaffson in those were my fave days two of the most incredible racers I have ever seen , Bill and Simmo fell out and Bill carried on alone struggling more each season all ending when someone from memory stole all the gate takings at one meeting which was the end for him. I would have been late teens and went every week with one of my best friends, stopped going early 90's when I discovered nightclubs and women but hugely fond memories and have followed the sport from afar (like ten's of thousands of others) ever since.

Without putting you on the spot Dean what;s his beef you would have thought being an ex rider of the club he would be fully behind them ? No probs if you swerve the question if an answer puts you in a difficult position.

Imagine seven figure league sponsorship deal announced with Skybet, Eddie Hearn taking over as commander and chief, an eight strong top league once home and away with all the top men back over, 12 strong second division once home and away, racing on the best nights for the public not the riders, then we woke up

Good luck if someone is taking it on I wish them all the best but as most on here have said its a massive financial risk even more so if going directly into the Premiership I hope whoever it is either has massive sponsorship lined up and uber deep pockets as I fear they will need them both.

Don't disagree with any of that but the frustrating thing is if you look at the last world team cup when Poland pipped GB at the post the place was packed and the last four heats were out of the top drawer.

There are some very good youngsters around its a shame there's probably only a small chance of getting the young danes Bastian Pederson and Mikkial Anderson over here.

Looks one hell of a talent on a bike also reminds me of Kelly Moran's riding style.

Thanks for the steer Phil hopefully he will be continuing with season 3 fingers crossed.

Another valid point Bob when I used to go mid 80's to early 90's Sky was just starting out, multiplex cinema's , shopping malls were all in their infancy, you then got the internet , Amazon and things like Youtube competing for dollar that's why I think having a once home and away top league would help make Speedway more of a novelty rather than seeing same teams 2-4 times at home each season. Better supported top tier teams could also run a b team in the second division also if they wished.

They won't need him if they land Beau Bailey that lad genuinely looks like the next Leigh Adams ,hopefully he is well advised and doesn't try to jump to high to start with even allowing for his bags of natural talent.

Has anyone heard anything around the future of Leicester I'm hoping Cairns snr isn't going to chuck the towel in after one season ?

Excellent that all sounds very promising just need to hope now there's some kind of league structure still in place for 2026 as these sound exactly the kind of people we need to attract into promotion. I'm not going to put you on the spot but I wonder if its the chap who has mountains of cash who backs Ipswich and is also supporting Sheffield from memory.

Your normally in the know Flagrag so fingers crossed that the new owners are experienced, know how to budget and have suitably deep pockets for the early days until they are bedded in.

Pray god no utter respect to the old boy for his enthusiasm and willingness to chuck money at the problem but I don't think even a combination of John Berry and Ian Thomas at their peak could make a go of Northampton in the current climate, would love to be proved wrong but just can't see it.

I do think doubling up will remain a necessary evil if they went two leagues of 8 home and away once to keep the likes of Masters, Harris and Lawson on side you would have to allow them to compete in both leagues , I'm really thinking maintain the current status quo but with eight teams shortened season over say four months May, June, July , August when weather should be favourable. Reduced losses also the first struggle thought would be to get the bottom four teams up to a half decent standard so they weren't getting whipped every week like Oxford and Brum which would somehow mean getting 3-5 additional top line riders back to the UK.

I do wonder if the best of pretty much a load of bad choices would be to somehow get both leagues up to 8 teams each then race once home and away then into play offs. Okay it's not many fixtures but look at the struggle every year to try and get matches over the line even in the current reduced format where your running into October cold nights/rain etc. Second given most teams rent/lease the stadium they run in, losses should in theory be roughly halved due to reduced number of meetings plus you won't end up seeing the same visiting away teams at home 3-5 times a season. As others have said the biggest conundrum is one big league won't work, so the most important thing is running on your best target market night and within your means, the progress made by Plymouth this year is a rare ray of light, the issue for them is hoping they have some teams to race against in 2026. The Fords and Glasgow management might be tempted up for a shortened 7 home and away fixture list on the basis of losses might be contained or they might even make a tiny profit if they get to play offs. Very few/if any good choices sadly but that's the best outcome I can think of the Poles run once home and away and are making a far better fist of it than the UK.

Ideally someone with plenty of money Phil, Nigel seems to have uber deep pockets but if he does come in pray god he gets a good team around him for once, so that he can hopefully break even rather than keep dropping 100-200k per season.