IainB

2019 CL

It seems to me that if mental health is to be treated in the same way as physical health then a 30 day ban for withholding services was not the way to go about things. If Cook is not riding because of mental health that is. If he was returning after a broken leg and kept pulling out of meetings because he wasn't fit I think the reaction would probably be the same, in that he shouldn't be back in the team until he's fit. I remember Lee Richardson getting quite a bit of stick when he first signed for Coventry because he had some kidney problem or something and kept declaring himself "fit" for meetings and then kept pulling out mid way through the meeting. Unfortunately in sport it's not like phoning into work and saying you're not going to be in today but you're letting your team mates and fans down if you're not able to complete the meeting. Maybe Cook feels obligated to turn out because of the team ethic in sport or that a facility may not be granted if he doesn't turn out, I don't know and as I've said before I don't really care, it's none of my business, obviously I wish him the best and a speedy recovery but what is my business is when I've paid my money for something and am not getting value for that money. It's funny the different reactions to riders... Batchelor got absolutely slaughtered for not trying during the recent pairs meeting, I have seen exactly the same kind of attitude from Cook for Leicester, granted he wasn't pulling wheelies at the back but he was clearly not trying and pulling out of moves and pulling up at the back. Batch clearly didn't fancy the track and was obviously in fear of his safety

Can't disagree with much of what you have said there. Leicester's implosion was triggered by the Nick Morris incident but it's how you react to those situations that counts, maybe the Batch signing was a bit knee jerk but who knew we were then going to get the Craig Cook we got... we were still in contention for a pay off spot even with Cook in the team but when the final round of team changes came we were left with the scraps from Sheffield and that for me was more telling than what went on with Batch & Cook... other teams were snapping up Woffinden's, Laguta's, Holder's & Lambert's and we went for Lewis Kerr... it was never going to be enough. Whether that was down to the Bates or Dickson's lack of experience in the big league I don't know. As for the Kemp for Thompson, I kind of agree with you and kind of don't. Undoubtedly I think Kemp was an improvement to the team but I do not think we should have binned Dan off, for me that's more of a problem with the rules that allows that to happen, Dan wasn't the only RS to be dicked about during the season. Stewart Dickson has said we've had a good season, I beg to differ, it started off well, very well, too well? But since the Nick Morris drugs bust it's been nothing short of a disaster with just 2 wins, both coming against a comedy KL team and the 2 draws at Wolves Part of the reason for moving up was the the locality of the other tracks in the league, so with the demise of Wolves & Peterborough you have to wonder whether a drop back down next year will be in the offing, if indeed there are multiple leagues. Personally I have enjoyed watching the higher quality of rider and not the ones that just swap race suits

I'm sorry but you have to realise that Eurosport couldn't give a fig about Speedway or telling the story of the league... it's just about contracted air time and advertising revenue

Laguta was pure class tonight, unstoppable!

They weren't for the pairs

Let's hope that Doyle & Sayfutdinov are contracted for the pay offs

You'll not see him when he loses

Lions, the laughing stock of the league and in a league containing King's Lynn and Peterborough that's saying something! Well done Ippo!

We're well shot of Bomber, he could have seriously cost us tonight

Lions to concentrate on the Jubilee Trophy

So much for Bomber shooting his mouth off in the press!

I think the Speedway fan in me would rather see Ippo in the pay offs... Lions are a shambles

I saw @arnieg heading for the bar

Run off for the bonus anybody?

Seems a massive omission if he was eligible, Perry that is

Could Lions have named Max Perry at Number 8 tonight?

Not for the last few years

Interesting... where did you get this from?

That's not a lot really is it? Makes the fact that they've had 3 non-negative results since the 12th of July all the more worrying

There will come a point where any detectable trace is finally expelled from the body though

The rider?

Who tests the Hare? They never catch it

That's because that is the procedure... no matter how much he dislikes it. He could have p1ssed out any contaminants in his first test, that's the point of having a single test, he could be continuously p1ssing into a bottle until midnight, that is not the procedure and for very good reason

I'd pretty much worked it out before the meeting had started because neither team were allowed a facility and that seems to be the only circumstances where this is the case... which is also something that needs looking at. Crazy that no facility is allowed, but the very next day one is. It not only short changes the fans but if a facility had been allowed you could conceivably believe that the rider(s) had fallen ill shortly before the meeting, anonymity preserved... possibly