Sir Sidney

That might explain why the lease has yet to be signed (if that is still the case). I don't expect the new promoters will take on a lease with terms that are unfavourable or unaffordable. Manchester City Council may have the 'whip hand' but the new guys could just walk away. Very sad, no doubt but very true - no wonder we are such a minority sport

Whether all the info ever comes out I don't know. There seem to be two main camps on here. Those that say CM and DG knew there was a problem and should have cancelled the opening meeting and those that say the true problem could not have been known at the opening meeting and only fully came to light once the excavations had happened and the real issues uncovered. However, putting that aside, I would suggest that if the proposed new promotion do take over they come with a level of business expertise not seen for many years (if at all ) and I would not expect them to tolerate the shenanigans and manipulations that have gone on in the recent past (nor any nonsense from the Council). Interesting times ahead I think.

Not sure I follow your post Gustix. Post #427, which you quoted in your previous post, suggests plans are being made so that speedway is represented on the last night. What makes you thinkk that it won't be?

Thanks Matt,on that basis you are probably right that the Council Tax income will be greater than the business rates income - even allowing for all the info that's unknown (rateable value of the new stadium if built, Council grant income from central govt etc). Let's hope the Council really wants speedway!

Interesting. Thanks Matt. Is that an extra 200 properties if the stadium isn't built or just the number that are included in the current plans? Sorry, I'm not up to speed with the numbers, but as a Wimbledon supporter sympathise with Swindon fans re the uncertainty. The figures from the VOA website that you have quoted are the rateable values rather than the amount payable (which is roughly half of that). At present Swindon Council only get a % of the business rates,but that % is likely to increase in the next few years. All a bit fluid for Councils at the moment!

I went to the meeting last night, as a neutral. We drove through a lot of rain to get there, with no great expectation it would be on. We arrived at about 6.15 and, given the improving forecast, went in. I was pleasantly surprised that the track looked better than I thought it would. Then it rained for the next hour, and quite heavily at times. I thought that was it - so when it was announced at 7.45 that racing would start at 8.15 I was even more suprised. Half an hour later, with sawdust liberally applied and graded racing did start, and was very good in the circumstances. A huge credit to both teams and to Eastbourne for getting it on. It would have been helpful to have had a couple of announcements leading up to the scheduled start time just to let us know what was happening,but that's a relatively small criticism. I liked the enthusiasm of the announcer. I thought he did announce the r\rs for the first heat. I wasn't familiar with the riders but wrote the right names down! I managed to work out who Tommy B was without too much trouble. Perhaps over time he'll get the balance right, but he'll do for me. The music seemed a bit more up to date that at some tracks - not entirely my taste,but I didn't hear too many complaints. Over all,a much better night than I had expected, racing more than acceptable (and I have seen plenty of worse meetings in the dry), but most of all congratulations to all for just getting on with it. The national league often just get on with it.

Well, actually Alex Hales was probably paid less than some other members of thethe team as he is on an incremental contract http://www.thepca.co.uk/england_contracts.html The key thing is it is transparent. I find it hard to believe that there wasn't clarity beforehand,and it is a sad indictment of speedway compared to other top level sport if the competitors didn't know (or if they were concerned, didn't ask) what the financial agreement and other terms were before the event.

Plenty to do in Stratford and Hackney Wick. It would be interesting to know just how far out the extended roof comes now. That said, I can't see that BSI would take a risk on putting a temporary track in without full cover in the British climate.

I once lined up with world champions Ronnie Moore, Barry Briggs and Ove Fundin - at the bar at a VSRA (as it was then) dinner. Where did you do it Robert72?

Wasn't it Tony Briggs,promoting the Wembley indoor meetings?

My simple answer to the original question is 'yes'. If the BSPA wanted to make it conditional that to be selected for the national you had to ride in the British leagues they should simply set that out before the season starts (the RFU do a similar thing saying that if you don't play in England you will not be selected to play rugby for England, other than in exceptional circumstances) but the BSPA hasn't done so,so we must assume they are happy to do so.

Or perhaps that one is a Grand Prix round (as a part of the world individual championship) and one is the World cup (the most prestigious team competition). I'd venture that any rider with world class aspirations would ride in those regardless of who was the sponsor. For what it's worth: I was at Cardiff and didn't hear the comment live. I have subsequently seen the interview. I don't think Tai was wise to swear, and I would expect that BSI / FIM might well have given him a warning. Am I offended - not really - but I'd prefer he didn't do it again. I was at Cardiff with family including early teen relations. Given the music they listen to I suspect they wouldn't have even noticed - which perhaps says something about the society we live in. Should the BSPA have Tai as team captain? Again, I would expect that they might tell him the standards they expect. I would be more worried that the captain can lead by example on track and motivate and inspire his team. I have no idea how his team mates feel about him, but I would bet that they would rather have him in the team than not.

Good luck to all at Belle Vue. I hope to night is a tremendous success and the NSS becomes a great asset. British Speedway needs great venues

Would it be possible for a truce to be called on these exchanges that have nothing to do with the reunion? Jon Stevens has put a lot of effort into this event which is also to remember Tommy Jansson. It would be great if the thread just concentrated on publicising the reunion or sharing memories of The Dons or Tommy. As with so many of us Wimbledon was such a great part of my growing up and I would be there like a shot if a miracle happened and it started a again.

Blimey. I've got a boomerang in my house as well.Does that make me an Aussie or just show that I like Australia?

Hope I'm not breaking any forum rules by copying the same quote twice. However, having just looked at your profile I note you are a Reading fan. Given how Reading lost its stadium to a developer who clearly didn't want speedway and who then didn't provide the new stadium promised (as I understand it) I would have thought you might have been more sympathetic to the plight of we Wimbledon supporters. In the face of an owner / developer who doesn't want the sport both clubs have sufferred a similar demise. Is there an active campaign, that has a chance of sucess, to resurrect Reading? I have no intention with falling out with supporters of other teams, but it does illustrate the difficulty of bringing back sides who have lost their venue. Too many of us on here have lost our teams.

I hope that doesn't include me! If it does then I apologize if I have misrepresented anything. I wonder if you could persuade Ian to post a summary of what actually happened.

This seems a bit contradictory to me. You say that 'Wimbledon speedway could never have been saved in the current climate' but that there has been 'plenty of time for supporters to get a campaign going'. When we closed the promoters looked at a number of other venues but were not able to agree a deal or find one that would be viable. Nick Taylor set up a nomad team to ride a number of fixtures but without the prospect of a permanent venue that came to an end. My view is that regular league speedway in London is dead. I cannot see that new,viable venues can be found given the density of housing and the demand for more. I don't see that any supporter campaign will overcome that.

Can you elaborate on why 'Spedeworth accepted that, regardless of the planning issues, their time at Wimbledon was coming to an end'? Genuine question. It would be sad if by Spedeworth planning to run more meetings at Foxhall speedway was put at risk.

Some interesting points. I didn't know about your involvement in Ipswich, but well done. I enjoy my occassional visits to Foxhall. A few differences between Ipswich and Wimbledon though i would say. Presumably at Ipswich you were able to work with a landlord who was prepared to negotiate, who wanted to retain the stadium for oval based motor sport and who wasn't in a position to develop the site for housing (I don't know, but I would imagine the Foxhall Heath would have some protection in place against development). You say that the apathy at Wimbledon was there from 1991. Perhaps Wimbledon would have been better remaining in the National League as it was then, rather that moving back up to the British League and losing money. I remember John Davis making a plea to the GRA to accept less rent, but in the end they chose to let speedway close and get no rent. Perhaps a portent for the future did we but know it You do acknowledge that 'there were individuals who showed some gumption in wanting to preserve the Dons' which resulted in us returning to our spiritual home for the Conference / National League years in the 2000s. I'm very grateful that there were people who had the gumption to get the Dons back. I'm sure they will confirm that they were preparing to move back up to the Premier League, as the support justified it, but the landlords made it clear that they were not interested. The promoters did engage with the local MP and Council, but to no avail. They investigated many other potential sites but to no avail. Whilst there may well be several hundred pitches on which to play ninth tier football to gain a foothold I would guess there was only one viable site in London or the surrounding area at which a Wimbledon team could stage speedway at any level - and the owners of that site, as was their right, didn't want it. Given that the owners have held out for and now received planning permission for 600 properties I would imagine they are quite satisfied. I haven't seen the plans but if we assume conservatively that they might be worth £250,000 each (probably more) it is no suprise that developing the site was far more attractive than letting an ageing stadium at a comparitively low rent to a tenant / tenants that it didn't want . I'm sure as an IFA you would recommend your clients to maximise their assets and, similarly, would not recommend clients paying a rent that was greater than was sensible or affordable. My gripe is not with AFC Wimbledon. I wish the site plan was to develop to cater for all sports - but that wouldn't stack up financially as the housing would have had to go - not something that I would think Galliard Homes would find attactive. It is better to see the site used for sport than not. In absolute terms you are right in that too few people cared that Wimbledon speedway survived - simply because speedway as a whole has too few supporters - but please don't denigrate those that do care by implying that Wimbledon fans were apathetic when others were not. That stance does you no credit.

My objection to Mr Snackette's position is not that planning permission has been given to AFC and Galliard (that was probably inevitable ), but his assertion that the speedway supporters could have prevented it if they had bothered to try. I don't wish any ill on AFC, but cannot agree with Mr Snackette's view on alleged fan apathy.

We will have to disagree on that. For speedway to have had a chance it would have needed both someone with sufficient money to invest and an owner willing to sell - neither of which were in place. I think you do the speedway supporters an injustice.

Not sure if Mr Snackette is being deliberately inflammatory in suggesting that as Wimbledon speedway supporters we could have in effect saved speedway at Plough Lane. Anyone wanting to understand the real financial background should read the previous excellent posts by Arthur Cross. The stadium owners made it abundantly clear that they didn't want speedway. It's no surprise that Galliard Homes wanted to develop the site to maximise housing whilst meeting the requirement to maintain sporting use. Motor sport of any kind is not compatible with that. I would be interested to see the financial plan. I hope AFC has done it's homework. Sport is littered with sucessful business people who loose the plot when it comes to sport.

Council planning meeting today. Details on Merton council website.