MattK

What a week that would be!

In the report to the Executive it states: "Recommend to the Council that the Capital Programme is increased by a total of £10.38 million; financed from £0.714 million external grant, £4.5m MCC (Manchester City Council) resources for the National Speedway Stadium which will be repaid from stadium rental income..." "The National Speedway Stadium £4.5 million build costs will be funded from Prudential Borrowing." The other parts of the Sports Village, such as the Basketball Centre will be funded by "MCFC stadium rental income", but this suggests not the speedway. http://www.manchester.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/14932/11_belle_vue_sports_village

Let's be honest, the stadium will never get built. I see they have started work on the housing aspect though.

Can they? I'd have thought that some track may make themselves available, but many, especially the bigger clubs wouldn't. How is this different from the UK and our availability of training tracks and other places to ride?

Wouldn't speedway cost proportionally more for youngsters in Poland (same costs, lower average salaries) than it does in Britain?

What did he say?

Yes, I, along with most other British fans presumed we would stroll past Latvia and USA and be challenging Australia for the bronze medal. The fact that we finished last suggests there is something very wrong. It's too simplistic to say that we lack world class riders. Latvia and USA don't have world class riders (with the exception of Hancock) yet they beat us, due to being better prepared, having a greater team spirit or simply wanting it more. I agree that we lack the quality young riders like Denmark, Poland and Australia have both in their teams and in the pipeline, but we should be able to easily see off the likes of Latvia and USA.

The fact is, we're not miles behind USA or Latvia, in fact 9 times out of ten you'd expect the English riders to beat their Latvian or American counterparts. However, for some reason we massively under-performed on the night. Either they weren't prepared or they weren't up for it. Unlike the Latvians and the Yanks. One way or another the management have to accept at least some of the blame for last night's performance.

I think its fine as it is.

Where does it state that in the regulations though?

This is the same for any "elite" sport, tennis, golf, cycling, F1 (in fact any motorsport). I agree that I think is it mainly a lack of ambition among the "middle tier" riders who prefer the safety of the British Premier/Elite Leagues, rather than taking a risk and trying to compete for a team place in the Swedish and Polish leagues.

If we are serious about trying to win the race-off and finish third then I think we must go for Nicholls and King. Otherwise you may as well bring in Worrall.

Isn't it a bit strange that people are supposed to find an affinity with other people who were born within an arbitrary boundary created hundreds of year ago?

Would you think its acceptable if you went to a restaurant and they served up day old food that they hadn't sold the previous day? This is another example of promoters taking the piss out of their paying customers.

Have they applied for planning permission yet?

16.1 Fixtures shall take priority as follows: FIM Speedway Grand Prix FIM Speedway World Cup FIM SGP Qualifying Meetings FIM Junior Speedway World Championship Meetings British Championships (Senior, Junior) BSPA Shared and Fee Events Elite League Competitions Premier League Competitions National League Competitions Others However, given these are little more than meaningless international friendlies I would have thought the rider wouldn't be selected for the meeting.

Yep, especially with all the rain-offs. £3 seems rather steep for a programme though. Swindon is £2.50 which I think is about the maximum I would be prepared to pay for a league meeting.

Darcy Ward £7.0 Captain Jason Doyle £3.0 Krzysztof Kasprzak £5.0 Craig Cook £2.0 Nicki Pedersen £6.5 Niels Kristian Iversen £5.5

6,000 jobs, at a motor racing circuit. Are these people on crack?

I agree Cockney. It seems strange that clubs don't offer pre-meeting pit access, track walks, rider meet'n'greets and watching a heat from the centre green to their loyal fans - none of which cost the club a penny. The only explanation I can come up with is laziness.

What is your criteria for an idea to be taken seriously? I can't see any reason why the SS cannot put together a credible blue print which at least forms the basis of serious discussion.

I appreciate what you mean Mike, but that article doesn't include anything that isn't posted on here week in, week out. I would like to see the Speedway Star put together a blue print for what they think British speedway, or at least the Elite League should look like. The main difference between SS and us (as in fans on here) is that we can only speculate on costs and income, whereas you'd like to think that SS at least as an idea of ballpark figures.

It's not jsut money, but ability as well. Nicholls, Woffinden and Harris would be head and shoulders above every other rider and it would make the clubs who sided them too strong. It is harsh, but there has to be a cut-off point somewhere.

I agree, but this would require significant investment in promotion and marketing. I don't think the current speedway establishment are capable or willing to do that. The alternative is cutting your cloth accordingly, which I think is the more sustainable option going forwards.

If this is the attitude of the people who play the music, then that's half the problem. Music can and should be used to build up the atmosphere, not just as a filler between heats.