tigerblues

Not really SCB, no other manager seems to do so you'll be okay whether you know the rules or not

Sam would be a brilliant manager IMO but I feel the same as you, I'd rather Team GB had a manager who was British. I can definitely see Sam being manager of Team USA before long tbh.

I'm obviously missing something What's wrong with Hampel?

I agree SCB. It's not brilliant by any means but I would say it is very much exceeding what I expected, particularly from Bomber, but after the last 2 GPs, Scott hasn't disgraced himself recently either.

What grade would you give Nicholls? I'd pretty much agree with that assessment of the riders.

Normally the whole calendar comes out about the same time as the nominations.. that was back end of the season last year, so I'm guessing them in charge know as much as us atm.

Spot on!

I'll tell you what, if you got some friends interested after that meeting then you deserve a medal! Ouch Get well soon Andreas The latter IMO Nicki P now has one hand on the trophy, he needs something to seriously cock-up in each of the remaining rounds to lose that now. Adams was disappointing, as was Hancock, and Harris is the sort of rider who won't have a chance on a track like that. Speaking of the track, just about every rider must have hit that rut, and poor Andreas Jonsson, through no fault of his own, ends up with a potentially serious injury. What a farce, get it sorted Scott Nicholls, as Star Lady said, something worked for him tonight, to make the final was brilliant IMO, and that has put him back in the mix to get into that top 8. I think he must know now he needs to get in the top 8 to get back in next year. After a disappointing first race I just thought oh here we go again, but turned out to be a good meeting for him. On the whole, I think the meeting was dull and boring and with any luck we'll never see a track prepared like that again in a GP. Fair enough there was some heavy rain before and during the meeting but where was the effort to sort the ruts?! Edit - forgot to add.. when it was Cardiff a few weeks back, the biggest cheer of the night from our living room came when Bomber went over the finish line ahead of Hancock in the final. Last night, it was when Millard said "the man from Mildura". Never disappoints, our Millard

Was it Prague where Scott only dropped a point or 2 and then blew it in the semi-finals? Hope both our British riders have a good night tonight, just need Bomber to score enough to keep him well in that top 8 although another win would be excellent Scott needs a good round here and I think he should take advantage of the fact he can ride this track. A good points return and possibly a final will keep him in the mix, although I dunno how he'll be after being ill earlier in the week.

Anywhere, as long as they were the only teams in it

Yeah lol but I meant like more of a behind the scenes kind of thing. That management team idea sounds like a good one to me, only I can't help but agree with whoever it was (possibly Shazzybird but I didn't quote that bit of her post lol) who said everyone would end up blaming each other and in the end you're back at square 1 with ntohing being sorted out. IMO we just need a new manager, full stop. Middlo's had enough goes at it now and we still get nowhere.

Mark Loram is an interesting one, IMO I think he'd be better as more of a.. like a mentor sort of thing (I dunno if that's the correct word to use but you'll get the point ) to generally get behind the lads, encourage them, give advice on the track and the bike and things like that. If you're looking at riders/former riders, I'd look no further than Chris Louis, he's ridden for GB and bloody well when he did and also has his experience from being a sort of manager at Ippo. If he wanted the job then I'd not be able to appoint him quick enough. More options, IMO, Havvy and Wilson.. although they might be better for the role I described for Loram above

I agree with Hans, I only watched the final yesterday as it was taped and it was very suspicious what the Poles did (as well as the Aussies and us but he didn't seem too bothered, we were so far behind I think Team GB are still on about heat 11 ) and I'd be a bit annoyed if I was Hans too but come on Hans, the Danes are hardly the cleansed ones are they!? "What goes around, comes around"

I actually agree with most of this with the daft injury/reserve rule thing it's hardly a hard job being manager anyway. You pick 6 riders, you choose when to nominate a joke®. I agree with you especially with the part about Crump's bike going on him when he was nominated for double points.

You Sam Ermolenko by any chance, he doesn't realise there's 2 'l's either..

Heart says we can win it, head says don't be daft. BUT, having said that.. IMO Bomber and Scott are not worrying and can beat anybody in that line up. Steady, Rico and Kennett have all beaten some of those riders before and as I understand it all have Polish experience.. and if Olsen doesn't get his way again we might actually be in with a shout. If we can't win it, I'd like to see the Aussies take it.. just because I don't like Denmark or Poland Edit: Forgot to add Whether we win or not, I'll be backing the team until the very last race and if they just go for it and not throw any chances away I'll be happy

It'll be interesting to see what she knows about speedway.. but then again there will have been ones who know less. Be nice to see a new face anyway.

I'm not Eddie's biggest fan and I wouldn't have included him if I was manager BUT credit where it's due to him, he was brilliant and surely anyone with half a brain cell can see that!?

Poland and Australia, definitely. Poland are on home shale and Australia look to be much stronger than a, IMO, weakened Swedish side.

Didn't he change his mind last season though and then as soon as he got back into the GPs he was Polish again? I could be wrong of course but I seem to remember something along those lines. That was brilliant

It was a brilliant meeting, but surely it doesn't take 20/20 vision to see how much dust was coming off the track, looked really slick, or did from the Sky cameras anyway. It was about a million times better than Vojens though so can't complain.

I'm happy to say I was wrong. You have done GB proud Ed

I've not read the entire thread as I basically can't be bothered at the moment but just wanted to share basically what I thought of our riders and the other 3 teams. Richardson - shaky start but got better and better, solid scoring after his first race and definitely looked more like the Lee Richardson of old. Stead - not had the best of luck this season but definitely put that behind him, never expected a maximum so what he scored was very much welcomed, and I'm glad Middlo had different thinking to me when I said Steady should be left out to accomodate Howe. Kennett - I was one of many who said he shouldn't be included and he proved us all so wrong, fine performance Kennett, and on a track he doesn't ride well! Harris - got beaten once by Davidsson but even in that race would have been top value for money for anyone who was at Brandon, no grip on the track early on and he still manages to pass 2 or 3 riders on a bend Brilliant stuff Bomber. Nicholls - he is back. Fantastic night for Scotty and although he might not be doing it in the GPs at the moment he really looked like a different rider to who we've seen all season, brilliant. Russia - the team to watch, they certainly were, was well impressed and I'll look forward to seeing a couple of those racing over here in the future, very entertaining. USA - very much a one man team compared to the other 3 teams, Chris Kerr wasn't bad but Hancock was the only one really doing it. Sweden - as if they weren't unlucky losing AJ, they lost Lindback after a few races, and I think had that not happened they'd have pushed us a lot harder.

I think that's a top post Shazzy, and I do agree with what you say about getting behind ALL the lads