Paulco

Yeah it was to accommodate 6 rider teams though , which obviously has been shelved for the time being .

Makes no difference to me really . Obviously it's good having a nice modern stadium now and having the financial clout means we should be competitive season after season now . But your team is in your blood and even in the seasons we struggled , I followed them home and away and enjoyed myself most of the time . Obviously getting regularly battered at Edinburgh wasn't pleasant , but it never dulled my passion for supporting my team .

Hampden Park wasn't great , too long and narrow and the couple of thousand strong speedway crowd sat in the main stand , while the rest of the stadium , at that time capable of holding more than 100,000 , was empty which naturally meant there was very little atmosphere

He's a cracking bloke . Me and my mate Willie were sat in the beer garden at the Harvester in the afternoon before Glasgow's meeting at Peterborough in May . He must have been dropping something off there , but he saw the Glasgow jackets and came over and had a laugh and a joke with us . A bit different from some of the dour faced buggers running clubs these days .

A major thing holding speedway back is the good old British weather . We could come up with a wonderful new idea for a meeting , bombard the media promoting it , then come the big day it's pouring . Alongside cricket it's a sport totally at the mercy of the elements , and while that remains the case it sort of ties our hands .

Air fences have been a big step forward in rider safety , but as we've seen with Craig Watson , Ryan Fisher and Ales Dryml ( among others ) things can still improve further . Berwick led the way with their foam fence and that is definitely the way to go . Not just with rider safety , but with keeping a meeting flowing too . We've all had to hang about during meetings while a fence is repaired and reflated .

As did Jason Crump in 1992 , happy new year Cyclone

You're right though , I wont be partaking It's embarrassing

No flak , a pretty fair assessment . Agreed away wins will be at a premium . I'm hopeful the lower end of my side will improve their starting averages enough for us to be contenders , but time will tell . Now the festive season is almost over , the countdown to March can begin in earnest .

I'm pissed , cracking day , roll on march

Think we're talking about the serious stuff and not the opening pre season challenge matches

So is that everyone complete then ? And before the end of the year , impressive . Gone are the days when Berwick never signed anyone until February haha , we're all so organised now .

Well said Shawn . I never met Bryn , but we spoke on here . So sad to hear about his passing . RIP Bryn

A few of us having a get together in the Horseshoe Bar tomorrow from one o clock . Anybody fancies it , the more the merrier . So sick of Christmas ? Sick of sitting around the house , missus nagging a bit too much ? Come and get pished with us tomorrow afternoon

I'll be the same in reverse , going to the EOES is one of the season's highlights

The doubling up nonsense pretty much rules out an all in KO Cup , but you're right about the watering down . Somerset have more or less the same side that won the Premier League last year and should Belle Vue run and Craig Cook sign , you could have him riding at number 1 in both leagues .

But it's not all doom and gloom . It's still one of the few sports where supporters of different teams can stand shoulder to shoulder and enjoy themselves . The two day fours event at Peterborough was an incredible example of that . From where I was sat the were Glasgow fans , Berwick fans , Edinburgh fans , Plymouth , Newport , Workington , Rye House and of course , the hosts . It was brilliant , and of course the racing on a wonderful track was really entertaining . £30 pounds for two days enjoyment with the hot summer sun beating down , cold beer and enjoyable and sometimes witty banter flying back and forth . What other sport offers this ? There is much wrong with speedway , we know that , but when it's done properly , like those two days at Peterborough , there's no better spectacle .

Elite League ice hockey doesn't have a London club and it is thriving . Most tracks are away from towns and cities nowadays and Rye House is only a half hour train journey away from London Liverpool Street .

You will indeed . We're 8 handed so far , so should be an entertaining session on the bevvy .

It's always hit and miss , we know that better than anybody

When i was a teenager we used to go to Coatbridge on a Friday night and Paisley on a Saturday night . I remember reading somewhere that Paisley shut down at the end of their second season when the crowds dipped below five thousand ...........scary or what .

Next year we'll need to make the Ipswich v Glasgow more of an event , Merry Christmas guys

Some still are , especially in the second tier . Nobody was more approachable than Saint Shane Parker . But some of todays riders still have time for the fans

You could be right , but no other sport in this country has had anywhere near the same mortality rate .

I dare say clubs not owning their stadiums has been the biggest factor . Trying to make the sport pay while fending off developers , greedy landlords etc can be easy , hence why so many clubs no longer exist