Ben91

Not forgetting that bonus points used to be included in a rider's average too and aren't now.

Unfortunately, they aren't just trying, many are succeeding. To the detriment of the fans. We have to pay more to get in and half the time we see disjointed teams because of fixture clashes. Because the riders 'need' to race for two clubs to make the sport pay. Again, the riders wants are detrimental to the people who pay their wages. Speedway in Britain shouldn't be a professional sport any longer. Riders aren't owed anything by the sport or the fans. Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards. The horse has bolted for this season of course but next season riders should have one team and one team only. Because of that we may lose a few riders to the sport. Those who do it for the love of the sport will find a way to carry on, be it by running more cost effective equipment or taking a job outside the sport to help them fund their racing. There are plenty of riders in the levels below the National League who would give an arm and a leg to ride for a team spot I'm sure. So we may lose a few prima donnas and the standard of the leagues may be worse than it is now but it would be better for the fans and the sport in the long run.

I'm not suggesting that we know what the riders are paid etc. and I don't care how much the riders are paid but look at football. If a player is difficult to deal with, it is in the public domain, if he wants too much money, it is in the public domain, if he wants a transfer, it is in the public domain. We are dealing with a 'professional' sport here, not a normal job. It is so easy to accept it because 'that's the way it is.' Far too few people are asking why? And when they do they just get shot down. My disillusionment with the sport is at an all time high at the moment.

Not everyone will be able to do that if the crowds are anything like last year. Those who can't see very well will think twice about attending again. Other riders could have been used indeed and forums are a place to discuss that. People are allowed to have an opinion on these things. If the reasons we haven't got X rider in the team is he is too expensive, it is not wrong to say so, if he is an arrogant git, making too many demands, or just a plain arse then it is absolutely fine to say so. It is 2018. We don't need censorship. The majority of fans will appreciate being told rather than speculating. This isn't Rye specific but speedway fans tend to be like mushrooms, kept in the dark and fed s*** and yet some happily accept it because that is the way it has always been. The attitude of 'at least we have speedway to watch' is a big part of the reason the sport is dying. Just because the BSPA were there on Thursday it doesn't mean much in this sport. The rules change on a weekly basis at times, one was literally changed within the last week. You should know that by now Sid.

There must have been options other than what we have on the centre green now. If funds were a problem then we should have stuck to or reverted to second tier racing. If only we had a press and practice so fans could go for free and see what the viewing is like. It's a shock to see and an eyesore. If it doesn't damage the viewing and is a revenue stream then all well and good. But I can't see how that'd be the case. I hope I'm wrong. The other concern of course is also whether it is actually within the rules! Looks to me like the best view to be had now is from the top of the jump in the middle of the track!

Yep. Because a motocross track on the centre green will give us great viewing... I can't see how it won't also cause problems on the home straight too.

Perhaps this is why we've heard nothing about the 'improvements' to the stadium over the winter. Because something along the lines of 'oh by the way there's a motocross track on the centre green now,' probably wouldn't go down too well. Struggling to see how fans are going to be able to see the whole of the track. Speedway races are far too short to be one of those motorsports where you only see part of the circuit. Seeing the whole thing is a big part of the uniqueness of the product. When I saw it I immediately thought of this (1.48-2.12):

As well they should have been. The club stepping into the top tier for the first time since reformation will have piqued interest. The fact that our nearest top flight club from the season before, Lakeside, dropped into the third tier will have brought fans who wanted to watch top tier racing from there. Coventry folded, their hardcore fans will have wanted a speedway fix and conveniently our side contained (and still does) a big ex-Bees contingent. Rye was also a new track for fans of many visiting clubs which will have put a few on the gate I'd expect. The crowds earlier in the season were better than later on though, we can't expect people to turn up. This season Lakeside are back in the 'pro' ranks in the second tier and to be perfectly honest, their side isn't much weaker than ours. Coventry also have a team back on track albeit in the third tier and based at Leicester, but it is closer to Coventry than Rye House is. The novelty of top tier racing will wear off for other Rye fans too. I'm not being a doom and gloom merchant, it just feels to me that over the winter more could have been done to get fans excited for what is to come. But it isn't 'crap' or 'bile' it is opinion, and one that others do share.

What posts are you referring to as 'crap' and 'bile' out of interest? The trouble with the 'take it or leave it' approach is that people are leaving it. In a world when there are so many alternatives to going to Speedway people don't have to just get behind the team because that's the way it is. Very similar comments lost us a lot of fans when Len Silver made them a few years ago when he dropped Jason Doyle in favour of Steve Boxall.

The last few years of Silver on track weren't great. The PR also wasn't good but it was still better than it has been from the current promotion in the fact that it was consistent rather than coming in flurries with plenty of silence between. Let's not kid ourselves that last year we had anything like a great team. Two results mean nothing. Our last truly good team was in 2007. KK fell in our lap last season and dug us out of a hole. The team for this season isn't great either and will rely on Kasprzak again if we are to make a play-off challenge. We've opted for 'names' in Nicholls and Harris who are probably only going downwards, over trying to bring in someone like Sundstrom who may actually increase his average. The way the promotion team build strikes me as "he's done well in the past so he will again." See Watt last year, see Lanham in the Premier League campaign for evidence of that. We're not in the censorship era any longer. Tell us why Barker was released (tell us why we even signed him in the first place, he's bobbins), tell us how the stadium developments are going, give us a reason why there is no Press and Practice as opposed to letting people speculate. It doesn't take long to do these things but they will be appreciated greatly by fans of the club a.k.a. The paying customers.

Herein lies the trouble. The Tatum and Pearson night wasn't a Rye House event and not everyone will have 1) been interested and 2) expected to find out news about Rye House there. Jenson's reaction to the AGM came on an obscure podcast roughly a month after the AGM (despite being told in November that he would be commenting on the AGM on his return to this country. They have the internet in Spain so even that seems a little extreme in terms of waiting). Put something on the club website, not on an obscure podcast, not at the shouty twins' trip to the zoo, not on the Facebook group. It isn't hard. A lot of fans want more communication from the club, it doesn't happen so what exactly is being taken on board from the promotion reading these forums and the Facebook group? The promotion have had enough slack to hang themselves more than once already. They first became involved at the club in 2015. This is their fourth season. Look at the changes Glasgow have made in a similar time in comparison. It isn't hard to keep fans updated. Once the team was announced we could have had a weekly profile on each member of the side for example. Not hard to put together and post on the website but there's seven weeks of content out of the winter there to keep people interested. Along with announcing the team that would have given content for over half of the winter break, easy stuff. An update on the developments at the stadium here and there wouldn't go amiss either.

The PR side over the winter has been terrible truth be told. This promotion have been getting away with it far too long because they are 'new.' They're not new anymore though but people are still cutting them slack. I actually think the club has regressed on the communication side since Len Silver left and I never thought that was possible. Press and practice is a good way to get fans excited for the season. Not much happens granted but as it is free you get floating fans in attendance. The sound and smell, the new riders etc. can convince someone who may not be thinking of attending many/any meetings otherwise. Have been falling out of love with the sport for some time now, it's a real shame as I'm a stone's throw from the track. Don't feel like I'm being offered anything from the club to make me even consider attending at the moment. And for anyone who wants to wheel out the 'if you don't use it you'll lose it' argument then save your breath.

It should be presenting a professional image. Things working 'alright' 70, 60, 50 etc. years ago so not being changed is the exact reason Speedway is on its arse here now.

Not great, not terrible. Home form will be key. The happy clappers on the Facebook page will undoubtedly be labelling it the best thing since sliced bread but we could have done a lot better. Nevertheless will look forward to seeing how we fare.

No, it isn't what they have done. It is what I said they should have done. Fine servants or not, nobody is bigger than the sport.

The right decision has been made (almost). Things need to be done for the good of the sport as a whole, not to appease a couple of riders and/or promoters. For this year any rider with a Premiership average of over six should not have been allowed to double up/down with doubling up between the top two divisions scrapped from next year. People are quick to tell you there aren't enough riders to go around. There are.

There were more midweek than weekend meetings last season. For me midweek is better, these things will even out I'd imagine.

I never said he shouldn't be. My point is that we should have tried to sign him (we may well have but I doubt it).

The asset system needs to be scrapped. It should have been done years ago but while promotors are deciding the rules between themselves then the self-serving asset system will remain. Riders are self-employed contractors and should be signing year-long contracts with the team they have agreed to ride for on a season by season basis. I'm disappointed to see Linus is in discussions with Poole, I'm assuming that our promotion didn't explore the avenue of signing him at all, swap him in for Harris (if KK is the last rider) and the team looks a whole lot better to me.

If it isn't Kasprzak then it's going to be a long season.

Shame to see, but there's some who will tell you there's a rider shortage...

Sorry didn't realise you'd been ill.

Why would he be reading the speedway forum? You just quoted me saying it.

I'd rather have Kasprzak than Holder.

Easily the best team assembled so far. Doyle will lead the line. There's improvement in Holder, Allen, BWD and Jeppesen. Lawson and Wright will carry on as they were this season. Saw Jeppesen in Poland this season, was mixing it with the likes of Hampel, Zengota and Protasiewicz, it was only an individual meeting but you could tell he's got something about him. Should be putting a point or so on his starting average.