Aries

Neither 😂 Night shift. Finished at 7 this morning. Bath and bed for me! 😴

https://fimspeedway.com/en/riders/tai-woffinden The FIM website has Woffinden a Sheffield rider. A mistake? Initially thought they could be the riders 2025 clubs, but there’s no Ipswich on Doyle’s and Fricke has Lynn as his GB club.. https://fimspeedway.com/sgp/riders

All sounding very final this evening, as if a sale and a new direction has gone through..

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Wonder if he gets the 25% again? He’s already had it once hasn’t he?

A relief. Still begs the question, who will be running it..

That’s not exactly difficult to do in this day and age either is it really? Pretty basic stuff.

Tomorrow is going to be interesting if nothing else. We’ll surely know more on Ipswich’ situation one way or another (they can’t release any kind of statement and avoid mentioning Ipswich surely), and we’ll also know more on any potential 5th/6th team. They did after all, guarantee a MINIMUM five team league so it’s either Ipswich or a.n.other or both.. Your suggestion is also a possibility to give club(s) even more time we’ll see.

I’m guessing somebody will have to declare the Witches running or not tomorrow 🤷🏼‍♂️ Everyone else has waited long enough. Fixtures need sorting and season tickets need to be sold. Not looking promising is it.

Ritchie Hawkins will also be a massive miss by the way. A figure of fun for some because of his demeanour, but he was an excellent team manager and done an awful lot behind the scenes that many don’t realise. He genuinely loved Ipswich and being part of the club.

You’re right, I’d add in they may also need a new track man and presenter if the current incumbents also decide to walk out of loyalty to Chris. You’d hope that Louis wouldn’t just sell and walk away completely right away. He did say he would work tirelessly over the coming weeks and months to make sure the club was left in good hands, so perhaps he would hang around and help the new person/people settle in by helping them build a team to keep the wheels moving.

It’s both a risk for the buyer, AND the seller so it’s a very difficult one to value. On the face of it it certainly does currently look like a failing business model, but what if it turns around in 2027? People will scoff at that suggestion and with good reason, but we know plans are being put in place to make sure next winter, isn’t like this one. People keep saying machinery, starting gates, and air fences are the assets. But it’s the supporters who are the assets. A well supported club will always be worth more financially, than a poorly supported club for obvious reasons. Ipswich would be one of the plum pick ups because of the loyal core fan base. The difficulty is the valuation and trying to predict how much of an effect the negativity of a dwindling top flight, plus the loss of Doyle and Emil, will have on attendances. It’ll definitely have an effect for certain, but to what degree remains to be seen and that’s why it’s difficult to value. If Louis sells too low and the sport sorts itself out even marginally, and the crowds return, then he could end up losing out. If the buyer buys too high and the downward spiral continues and the crowds dwindle further, then they’ve made a poor investment. It ain’t easy.

This was said this time last year too. I’m not sure he has the consistency to do that but we’ll see.

Looks like we’re going to have to wait and see what transpires on Tuesday. If anything!

Couldn’t disagree with you more. All about opinions isn’t it.

That’s the problem when you issue these timeframes. To be fair to him, he did say he was “hopeful” that a sale would be announced, not WOULD be announced. But when you issue these timeframes and that then elapses with no announcement, that then just increases the worry. He's going to have to update Ipswich folk now or SHOULD update the fans I should say. Whether that be simply talks still ongoing but taking longer than expected, or the deal is dead like the discussions with the previous two interested parties. There’s only five days until the re-arranged AGM, so we’re getting very close to the end game in any case.

Agree, but how much longer can they afford to wait? It’s already gone on too long but I don’t think any of us would be shocked if they postponed the AGM yet again.

Gotta admit all this cryptic nonsense does my head in as well. If you’ve got something to say, spit it out. Otherwise, don’t bother saying anything at all!

Just over a week and we’ll all know what’s going on thankfully. Possibly..

Think everyone would take Lawson over Cook, but that would have taken Lynn over the limit if my maths isn’t off (usually is tbf). A few will be squeezed out due to a 37 limit instead of 40 for top 6.

TBF if Ipswich run and it’s a five team league, it’ll be easier to put together a half decent team than previous years because there’ll be riders still available due to having two less teams than this year. The team Phil has named above, doesn’t look inspiring at first glance, but it would be very tough to beat at Foxhall. All have piled in the points there over the years, mostly due to the fact they’re all excellent trappers! You can add Luke Becker to that list also, another heavy scorer around Foxhall.

Difficult to tell without seeing the others, but looks a very good team for a 37 point limit. Castagna will be inconsistent, good meeting here and there, but struggle a little in more. But all the others will have a rider like that also.