Paulco

We said exactly the same thing at the time . Not the worst meeting , but not a classic . Just as well we got off to a flying start , cause Ipswich got better as the meeting went on . King looked good after a sluggish start , Heeps and Schlein backed him up well . Lawson and Worrall easily best for us , while Summers disappointed after a bright start . Easily biggest crowd of the season with all the freebies , was a bit crushed in the Charlie Monk stand .

That doesn't look like the same Jimmy Gallacher that rode at Coatbridge. He had let his hair grow by the time the Tigers moved to Cliftonhill . Just googled him , his career spanned from 69 till 77

He never rode for Paisley , but was a regular member of the Coatbridge Tigers side . He rode in the early to mid seventies period .

one for Sidney . There was a Scottish rider called Jimmy Gallacher who Barry Briggs seemed to take a shine to . I vaguely remember Barry taking him down to Swindon , did Jimmy ever ride competitive meetings for the Robins ? He was the scruffiest rider you ever saw , his leathers were full of holes and patchwork .

That answers the home problems , what's his excuse for his away performances ?

was he ? oops

Think Dag Lovaas was probably the best Norwegian I've saw . There was a Johnny Faanfeng ( sorry spelling ) who rode for Glasgow when I was a wee boy , I can vaguely remember him , think he was quite good . During the Hampden years we had the tragic Svein Kaasa who was killed there 45 years ago this year . Torbjorn Harrysson who rode for Newport was also very good , and of course Reider Eide was the first Monarchs bogeyman lol Charming

Wont outdrink anyone at Peterborough prices lol

Winter woollies tonight , it's blawing a hoolie oot there . Bringing 6 newbies with those tickets , hope they get entertained .

Forgive me for forgetting one meeting when I was 14 lol

It's been very breezy tonight and a lot chillier than it has been recently

Grieves was better than Templeton , in my humble opinion . You have a point about Kenny , but James comes from Paisley which just swings it

Egon Muller never rode a home match for us , he was gone after two away matches . Christer Sjosten was a cracking little rider . Hampden was much bigger than Coatbridge , Sidney , though Coatbridge was exciting with high bankings much like the Shay

Bobby Beaton drove our supporters coach a couple of weeks back , scary to think he's in his early sixties now .

1 Jimmy McMillan 2 George Hunter 3 Bobby Beaton 4 James Grieves 5 Bert Harkins Was too young to see Tommy Miller , and McKinley was over the hill when I started going , though he wasn't too popular in Glasgow anyway thanks to his part in Charlie Monk's World Final hopes being dashed in 1965 . Don't know if Charlie counts as he did ride for Scotland in a few internationals Regarding George Hunter , the general consensus up here is that his career was affected somewhat by Peter Craven's fatal crash , though he was innocent of any blame

He's been passed fit by the doctor and will ride tomorrow

According to my missus , who was there , he only appeared on track the once and looked a bit tentative

He was very popular at Glasgow , who he joined from that mob along the M8 . He was at Glasgow's 60th anniversary meeting in 2006 and I asked him what the " S " stood for , he replied " super " . Sadly he passed away not too long after that .

Hard to know what to expect from Ipswich . They clearly are a very good side and capable of winning anywhere , but away from home they have underperformed so far . King is good anyway , generally , and although Schlein hasn't ridden at Ashfield since his " Poo Boy " days as a Monarch , he remains a very capable heat leader at this level . Of the rest , Sedgmen looks good when he gates , less so when he doesn't . Newman and Heeps haven't really set the heather on fire , but you just never know with them . The reserves I expect to struggle . So it's one of those meetings that could finish 46-44 just as easy as it could finish 55-35 .

You might be weary of that old chestnut , but it will be interesting to see how many fallers there are tonight . It's been a fabulous week weatherwise , so there's no excuses for the track tonight . But with the best will in the world , you can't seriously consider Scunthorpe to be any sort of threat to the Monarch's unbeaten home record .

On his day he's a cracking little rider . He won the individual tournament at the two days fours meeting at Peterborough last year . I thought he would kick on this season , but for whatever reason it hasn't worked out that way , so far

Doesn't have to be close for the racing to be good , I've seen some processional 46-44 meetings . Likewise I saw Peterborough batter Coventry 70-20 about 4 years ago and the racing was terrific .

It happens , maybe more now than before , but it happens . 25 years ago I remember the shock at Glasgow when Kenny McKinna got dropped and replaced by Mark Courtney . If a rider underperforms , then he gets replaced . That's sport , not just speedway .

They're self employed speedway riders , they ride for as many teams as possible , whether it's their one , two or three clubs or as a guest booking .

Should be a cracking meeting though , should the weathergods allow it to go ahead .