uk_martin

Check back this time next year. All this years "seat of the pants", "off the cuff" and "playing it by ear" "what suits the Poole Pirates this time" (etc) decision making that will go on this season will have been crystallised into the 2017 rule book by then. Sorry, were you expecting the British Speedway Establishment to sort these things out in advance? :rofl:

Are Speedway Star any closer to issuing their Manchester City Council Press Release that doubles up as the "in depth account" of the shenanigans at the NSS over the last 12 months?

Just as a bit of fun, let's see who can guess how many days it will be after the fixture list is released before the first fixture change is made...

This 😐

I have photos somewhere of Colin Meredith & Co working away on the Perry Barr track in the snow of February 2007....and it's not snowing in Swindon, so what's the excuse? Everything still on schedule, Mr Rosco? And in a country facing a housing shortage, who honestly, and despite all assurances given, thinks that a Council will turn their backs on shiny new homes being built, whether or not the speedway stadium is part of the developers plans? More houses means more grateful local voters, giving the local Councillors in that ward an extra bit of job security. Councillors are politicians, and politicians lie. It's part of their job description. What's a politician to do? Tell a lie and keep his/her job at the next election, or honour an agreement and risk losing his/her seat?

What IS worrying is that the BSPA site has removed all "Belle Vue Promoter to be revealed in next day or two" items. Playing the deniability game maybe? Have things turned sour at the last minute?

Has the team got a promoter to make all the signings yet?

Ĺol. Sadly it's a fact of life in this sport that you can be as cheerful as you like in your dreams but once you wake up, open your eyes and see what's what, things ain't all a bed of roses. Better to accept reality and make the best of it rather than to pretend to live in a fantasy world.

Who has to worry? BV fans or everyone else in fear of BV?

My memory is that bulk of the money was raised in the first few days / weeks, before the rate of contributions petered out. The target, as I recall, was set at £10,000 so that was never achieved. Suppose you have a season's worth of collections, do you think you will ever get £10,000, and how far will £10,000 go towards running a team? Bear in mind that over a 20-fixture season, that's only £500 per meeting for staff, stadium hire, fuel, electricity, security, insurance, printing, sundry expenses, and we've not got as far as the riders / management yet. And then where do you get £10,000 from the following season? What do you suppose a fan-owned club would charge another fan for admission? Bear in mind what is being said on other threads about speedway (at EL / Premiership level) being a £10 sport. What would fans set as a price at NL level? Would fans print and sell a programme, or would they point everyone at the free downloadable racecards available online? Best of luck with this one, but if this idea went to the Dragons Den, I think I could predict five lots of "I'm Out".

OK, time's up. What was the extent of the work that went on during January then?

Does anyone know exactly how much it was?

So, an interesting announcement. I hope that the Bees don't waste this lifeline...because the press release doesn't say how long the lifeline is. The season will start with the Bees riding in Leicester. Plenty of posts above indicate that Bees fans may not follow their team over there, so there has to be a question over the financial viability of this. So Bees fans, it's up to you. If the fans don't turn out and Horton loses a lot of money with every meeting, how long will he continue? Look at the cash-flow impact that the shenanigans at Belle Vue had to their promoters. They lost tens of thousands in lost attendance money in the first few weeks of the season, and never recovered from it. And what if Sandhu etc (who the BSPA thanked very much) is in no hurry to fix the stadium up? Or what if he pulls out? No, wait a minute, he wouldn't do that would he? Well, good luck to all concerned. Let's hope that things work out well.

I take it that all the warring parties have gone home for the weekend to enjoy the football, a Sunday roast dinner and feet up in front of the fire? is it safe to assume that there won't be anyone to issue any press releases, twitter feeds or forum appearances until Monday next week at the earlierst? No worries. The fans are used to waiting.

Any building work done to the track and stadium this past week? We need a Construction-Updates web site...or a Stadium Construction section to the Speedway Updates site...regular photo postings can keep fans apraised of developments.

And if it's not today, then it might be tomorrow...or another day ending in a "y"

Yeah, any Friday will do.

Some questions cross my mind: Would Sandhu have wanted to sell to the BSPA? Can't buy what's not on offer. How much of a war chest does the BSPA have to buy stadiums? If the BSPA bought Coventry, would they be setting a precident for any other failing team? If the BSPA had bought Brandon, what would have been the point in getting involved with the NSS at Belle Vue? Brandon would have become the new NSS instead. Then where would we be with Belle Vue now? Is it the duty of the BSPA to bail out failing promotions in any case? And if they do / don't shouldn't the same standards apply to ALL clubs in their association? Fat lot they did for Plymouth, and fat lot they are doing for Mildenhall. Why do Leicester, Belle Vue and Coventry get better treatment?

You can be sure that Speedway Star will be on the case with all due vigour...possibly.

Does the new promoter assume his role AFTER all old debts are settled and after a line has been drawn in the sand between what was and what is going to be, or can the new regime start driving forward whist quite seperately the BSPA / MCC sweeps up the old mess that was left behind after last year? Have all old debts been settled yet?

Last time Horton made an announcement it was in the late evening / early night-time. Expect nothing different this time, unless there's a plane to the USA that he needs to catch.

Mick Horton, and the core of the Coventry National League team...???

Have BV signed a promoter yet? If not, what's the delay?

Colin Meredith, in the employ of Tony Mole, built the Perry Barr track in Birmingham between January and March 2007. It CAN be done if effort was to replace excuses.