uk_martin

If he was to get into another fight with Neil Middleditch and friends, he'd be Darcy A&E Ward If he took up speedway promotion, he'd be Matt Ward...er, or should that be Darcy Ford???

If Darcy Ward was cold-shouldered by speedway fans the world over, he'd be Darcy Ignored

Yeah, so how about something radical? How about looking forward to what could be a very interesting encounter? OK, so there are those who don't see the relevance of this meeting. So be it. It happens in football too. Football's Champions League isn't all that relevant to Burton Albion fans either...get over it. Given a choice of having this meeting or not having it, let's have it. Let's go for it. What could possibly go wrong?

Good. Get to see Stal Gorzow without having to fly out to Poland :-) KK, Zagar, NKI and Bartosz Zmarzlik (hopefully) would give any Poole (or Elit Vetlanda) combination a very hard time on that track. Don't think Holsted will be in the running for a top 3 place TBH.

300,000 Zloties, Roubles, Sterling or Euros? If it's Zloties then it amounts to under £60,000 when translated into our currency. Still a lot of money but it does make a big difference to the perception of the problem. What would have been his options? To withhold his services? Have you seen what happens to riders that do that? Welcome back KKS - everyone's missed you. (mainly because no-one can throw anything that far)

And certainly not face to face.

So when Chelski or Mansour City field an all-star non-English team, their fortunes and crowds will wither away too???

I think like a lot of things, it's never as simple as just being able to blame one or two people for what happened. Without trying to excuse any of the wrongs done by the last promotion, just to blame the Philips's ignores the fact that for several years before, there had been a highly damaging battle at board room level between the Drury's on one side and (in the end) McLaughlin and Philips on the other. It was a battle that divided people into two camps depending on whose side they were on, it lost the club sponsors (interesting to note that Mercom were latterly sponsoring Swindon and not Birmingham?) it caused the sidelining of the Drury's from the public eye (note Graham Drury playing no active part in the latter year's fans forums) and it caused the parting of the ways between Drury's friends and acquaintances in the establishment (e.g. AP Media and Nigel Pearson) when Philips and McLaughlin wanted to do things their own way. Sadly taking on Graham Drury was one thing but taking on his allies in "the establishment" was a bridge too far. You don't get to encounter the forces of "our way or no way" without falling victim and eventually, when the Empire Struck Back, heads rolled and grovelling apologies were extracted. And that was before the 2014 season had even started. I can quite believe that the BSPA spun a believable strory to why they were whiter than white. They always are, aren't they? And led by an impecably honest and upstanding citizen too. Nothing's ever simple in speedway and nothings ever what it seems either.

Matej Zagar signs for Stal Gorzów http://m.stalgorzow.pl/articles.php?aid=1691

Very sad to read this, but not that surprised, to be honest. Seems that there were interested parties, who by the sounds of it did a bit of "due diligence" didn't like what they saw, and backed out. Let's face it, who can blame them with the state of the sport as it is? The only hope now are in the loopholes in Tony Mole's statement, that maybe something can be done at National League level, or that 2016 is a possibility.

Maybe one of our Polish friends can translate this site better than Google, to inform us which is confirmed and what is rumour? I take it that what has been translated into "Be" may actually mean "on their way out"? http://m.przegladsportowy.pl/zuzel/ekstraliga,torun-zapowiada-transferowa-ofensywe,artykul,513647,1,984.html

Add Adrian Cyfer into the Stal Gorzow team too for next year - https://www.facebook.com/StalGorzow1947?fref=nf

I hope that you're right an that some kind of sustainable organisation can be created, and continue into the future. Hopefully it will be one that can plan into the future and take a longer term view of things, and plan things out for the long term, because in my opinion, short-termism has been one of the main long-term killers at Birmingham, in more ways than one over the last half-dozen years or so. Mind you, who **** do I think I am to have an opinion eh?

KK stays at Gorzow too. His 3 year contract extension was announced at the time of the Stal v Falubaz meeting a few weeks ago. http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/470459/krzysztof-kasprzak-na-dluzej-w-stali-gorzow

Don't hold your breath... http://www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/476626/poltora-okrazenia-13-ekstraliga-bez-czestochowy-i-gdanska-zaraz-moze-nie-byc-rze In fact, don't hold your breath about Rzeszow even being in the Ekstaliga. And whilst on this subject, can someone please tell the people at Google Translate not to translate Martha Półtorak's name, and just to leave it as it is please?...it's a bit, erm, not very nice to see isn't it?

Walasek and Jepsen Jensen to Gorzów actually ☺

Perhaps a parallel thread for gossip hearsay and uninformed tongue wagging is needed for posts like the last one? Out of respect for the theme of this thread I'll hold on to my hearsay about a prominent rider and his possible destination next year.

...and now that leaves you with two wishes left... If you believe in fairy godmothers then you can believe that they will all come true as well.

With Edward Kennett and Danny King being almost perma-guests during the play-offs will they get winners medals or will one still have Drunkard Ward's name on it instead?

Fingers crossed for something positive but before we all go wild at the prospect let's keep at least one foot on the ground and remember that Tony Mole won't be looking at a long term plan for Birmingham Speedway. He'll be doing what he's always done in the past which is to get something "sellable" onto the market in the hope that someone buys the club off him. After 2 such sales in the past a Groundhog Day alert needs to be sounded. Those whose horizons only reach as far as next March won't care. Those who look long term need to think about who is going to sort out things like improving the fans experience (viewing, sound system etc) and cultivating a younger and broader based fan base...All items which, had they been addressed since 2007 could have prevented 2014's problems.

I've seen them in use in SEC and SGP meetings, with Tai Woffinden and Martin Smolinski being two regular wearers that come to mind...what is it about Germans and GoPro cameras?

Interesting to read about the analysis of Michael Schumacher's skiing injuries now being attributable to the GoPro camera that he had attached to his helmet. Reading between the lines, what this probably means is that the impact, rather than being distributed around the whole of the helmet seems to have been localised at the point of the camera mount, causing more pressure per square inch at that point, and the rest as they say is history. I wonder if the authorities will take any notice of the dangers of these devices when deciding on whether to continue the use of Helmet cams in speedway?

Economists have this concept known as "opportunity cost" - whereby you measure the cost of one commodity in terms of the foregone alternative....so...you could say that admission cost roughly 5 pints of beer, at Polish prices. How would that compare to the cost of admission compared to beer in Great Britain? - It's not that different is it? Also, bear in mind that when there is a local derby, e.g. Stal v Falubaz, ticket prices go up to about 80 Zloties. AND THEY STILL SELL OUT! Think of that for a moment...would the price at Monmore Green triple for the Coventry fixture? What would be the uproar / reaction if it did?

Yep, I think I know the one you mean. That meeting was a disgrace. All it was, was a prevarication on a really hot day in order to sell as many drinks and ice creams as possible. It still stands as the only meeting I've ever walked out of before the last race - in fact I think I walked out at around about Heat 10.

Deserved by the Stal faithful too. Average attendance of 13,190 per meeting deserves its reward.