Paulco

I hope so for the rider's sake , but fans aren't interested in excuses . The majority of fans don't interact with the riders , they roll up every week and want their team to do well . And if a rider underperforms , they can only go by what they see on the track . We have the same problem at Glasgow with Kevin Wolbert . A talented rider who's scores are suffering , so we are told , by ongoing mechanical problems . Yes you feel sorry if a rider is struggling because of things like that , but the bottom line is when a heat leader underperforms , the team suffers as a whole and the fans get disgruntled . Kus has shown great loyality , to Berwick this weekend , and that kind of attitude of putting the team before personal gain deserves any rewards it may bring .

You get a lovely pint of that in the Horseshoe Bar , it's a lovely real ale

Read in this morning's Sun that Matej Kus has chose to ride here for Berwick rather in Slovenia in a European qualifier . Costing him a fair bit of money . I know he gets a bit of criticism , but credit to him for putting his club before financial gain .

Crap , Crap , Crap

No the Edinburgh sun off was long before that , but to them it's still fresh in the memory . They still harp on about Buster Chapman's alleged heart attack in 2003 . Pretty sure the Edinburgh sun -off was 2007 , no wonder it has slipped your memory ...................................not theirs though

It's that time again . Time for our monthly ceromonial pumping from the Monarchs . Yes by the time the Edinburgh juggernaut rolls up Hawthorn Street we'll have lost count how many wins in a row they will have had , probably 47 or something like that . Give them their due though , i thought they looked minging when their team was announced , but a combination of roller extrodinaire ( The Blessed Cookie ) maintaining his position at the top of the averages and signing Richie Worrall and kidding on it's Steve , has given the Smugs another season to look down their nose at us all . Not a two man band though as Masters and The Golden Child have all contributed to the fantastic start their team has made . The only doubt is the fitness of Samantha , might have to use a NL wobbler instead . We will be along the usual moderate lines , with only our French boy wonder missing . 35-58 last time the Smugs turned us over at Ashy , can we manage 36 this time ? Sunday's teams should be - Plucky underdogs 1 Agent Wolbert 2 R/R 3 Mark Lemon 4 Theo Pijper 5 Rusty Harrison 6 Kasper Lykke 7 Anders Thomsen The Smugs 1 The Blessed Cookie 2 Justin Sedgmen 3 The Golden Child 4 Desperate Deek 5 Sam Masters 6 Samantha Fox or a wobbler 7 Honest , nae kidding it isnae Richie Worrall it's Steve I'll turn up more in hope than anticipation , just hope we can give them a match .

Newcastle have a fairly decent record in Smugville , i've enjoyed watching them turn over the Monarchs more than once there - including last season . But i'm sorry i just canny see it happening this time around .

On the minus side , we're pish apart from our two reserves who at least have a go . On the plus side i had a great day . Enjoyed the company and a few bevvys with Ashman , Ashman's missus and Fixerman . Ok we got stuffed , but the racing was pretty good , the heat with Mason , Josh and Rusty especially . I'm well past the stage where Glasgow winning is the be all and end all , i saw some great racing today . Though i wouldn't mind bringing the Smugs' winning run to an end next week , but it's unlikely And i actually thought Mark Lemon had his best meeting in a Tigers bib today , just a shame Rusty had his worst . Oh well we'll maybe all click together one of these Sundays ..........................................................next week anyone

Pub time , still dry , fingers crossed

Still , that's better than our football team's ranking

Wasn't rolling you mean

When was the last time Cook was on the wrong end of a 5-1 at Armadale ? Oh and good smugness there

Charlie was as dour as his image portrayed . Once asked why he never smiled or spoke much , he replied " i'm not here to make friends , just score points " . Think he was just an incredibly shy bloke who shunned any kind of spotlight on him . Maybe if he had been a bit more extroverted that might have given him that extra inch to achieve the success at the really top level what his undoubted ability should have brought him . Anyway back to Mr Airey . That year the Nordic / British final was at Hampden was the year he made it all the way to the World Final . In those days if you reached on of those , you truly were a World Class rider .

Mine is the fact that Charlie Monk never made a World Final as a Glasgow rider . Charlie was an incredible rider for the Tigers , known as Charlie " maximum " Monk by the press up here ( in the days when the press took an interest in speedway ) . He was an outstanding number 1 . Steve Lawson is regarded as Glasgow's greatest ever rider , but Charlie really deserved that accolade as he did it at the top level for Glasgow . Jim McMillan ( as a reserve ) is our only representative at a World Final .

I was at a Nordic/British final at Hampden , pretty sure it was 71 . Think Barry Briggs won the meeting , Ivan Mauger riding with a plaster cast on his leg is the thing that sticks in my mind from that night , i was only 12 Just did a bit of research and Briggs actually got eliminated from the Nordic British final that night in Glasgow . Mauger it was who actually won the meeting with Ray Wilson second .

I remember him coming to Glasgow as Sheffield's number 1 when i was a lad . Always a threat to Monk , McMillan and co when the minor Tigers were up here . He reached a World Final ( something Monk incredibly never did ) and was a member of a winning Great Britain World Team Cup side . Maybe we should let the Aussies ride for us now ..........................oh wait a minute lol

Another watching the sky Sunday in store i'm afraid . For any travelling Comets it's cloudy , but dry at the moment . But who knows what that misery guts in the sky has in store for us this week .

As we all know , these guys are a different breed

At work so no time for the big build up . But as usual on a Sunday the United Kingdom is forecast to be basking in sunshine , while our little corner has a big blue wet thing over it according to this morning's weather map . But in the hope the speedway hating weather god buggers off somewhere else and leaves us alone , this meeting is really all about the Comets . They must get the 4 points out of this one to progress to the Semi Finals , while for us it's all about maintaining the home winning run . No idea how both teams will line up as there may be some mickey mouse meeting in Kazakhstan or somewhere that will deprive us of a couple of riders , but on the assumption there's nothing to annoy us , we can look forward to welcoming back three ex-Tigers in the Comets' ranks . Josh Grajczonek , Mason Campton and Chris Mills . Reports in this morning's Sun suggest Anders Thomsen is going to try and ride through the pain barrier , not sure that's such a good idea with nothing really hanging on this meeting for Glasgow .

Any word on when the KO Cup tie will be now ?

Steve Jones in for Anders i'm hearing , oh dear

What average do they come in on ?

There is also the famous night at Coatbridge . Scotland v Norway international meeting and the pipe band is doing it's stuff walking round the track before the meeting . Gets near tapes up time and the referee puts the riders for heat 1 on 2 minutes , and out they come . Unfortunately the pipe band is still on the track , kilts and bagpipes scatter in all direction

You'll get it in the neck now for apologising

We seem to race each other about twice a month anyway , probably wouldn't notice the difference if we were in a league of two