Birmingham Speedway

[gjcone44]

going to make the effort to come down, when belle vue are there.

[cowboy cookie returns?]

3 hours ago, mikebv said:

It needs to be a radical plan..

Five rider teams maybe to ensure enough riders fill the spots...

You could have 12 teams in the top tier, 2H2A, and then 'x' amount of teams in tier 2 running at NDL level with the same 2H2A...

60 riders needed for tier one, with all clubs racing on the best night for them, and not Poland, Sweden or Denmark...

Bringing back the GP stars hasn't, as far as I can see, brought back thousands of fans who have stopped going in the past 15 to 20 years, with the UK's Mickey Mouse operating model, and dozens of play off qualifiers, resulting in many who still follow the sport on TV, and going over to Poland, simply "not bothered" enough to attend the POQ's in the UK..

As for admission charges dropping? Good! So they should given there will be a clear drop in level from the current tier one and tier two. The lowering of admission would more certainly reflect the standing of the sport more accurately, rather than the current numbers which are only in place to try and pay riders who are expected to spend big on their kit..

At the NSS, as great as the racing is, it is £54 for me and my lad to watch essentially 15 mins of action. That simply isn't sustainable for UK Speedway..

Less number of professional riders, spending less on equipment, will mean less admission costs needing to be charged..

Charge me and my lad £40 and you would definitely get us there far more often than is currently..

I can watch the GP stars on TV, and over in Poland when we visit, so them not being at the NSS won't stop me from visiting...

The current admission costs in place to pay them ride in some "contrived" competition, on a Monday evening, does...

 

 

 

The idea is all well & good but we all know that a weaker product won’t reflect in lower admission prices. At best they will be held at 2025 levels for a couple of years.

Has having some top riders back in the uk improved the attendance levels I can’t comment to much as I don’t travel to away fixtures.

the crowds at Ipswich certainly appear higher since the Jason/Emil double act have been in town they have certainly brought myself & a few others that I know back to regular attendees not missing a meeting from attending the odd one or two a year.

The radical overhaul should have happen after Covid, the promoters had an entire season written off where they could have used the time to come up with a blue print.

The sport has been on a steady decline since the late 80s. The Stewksbury plan of the early 90s to revive the sport failed because of infighting. One big league failed because of infighting in 95/96. The last chance salon of the elite league with sky tv money failed again due to in fighting & lack of vision.

I’m not sure the majority of promoters want radical change that might stop the rot & improve things. 

[RBThirdbend]

Tough to see how you can make it work without being prepared to lose a pile of cash

Edited Wednesday at 09:11 PM by RBThirdbend

[PhilTheAce]

what cant he tell us till end of the season???

 

Maybe its that hes taking over the Raines at sheffield next season

[Mr Bee]

2 hours ago, PhilTheAce said:

what cant he tell us till end of the season???

 

Maybe its that hes taking over the Raines at sheffield next season

The end of the year will come and go and there will be nothing announced.  

He means well (I think) and fair play he's kept Brum going, but the reason that people don't go and watch Speedway in Brum has nothing to do with the word "Speedway" being omitted from the fans replica team shirts. His bit about the motorway service station and people not knowing what he was wearing was comical..... Its because year in year out he builds a crap team. Its poor management, it's the same in any business. No doubt, he runs a successful business, a world he understands, but when you listen to him, its clear he knows very little about running a Speedway Team. A little bit like when we had Mick Horton. 

If the team was winning, or at least has a semi decent chance of winning at home, more people would go. And in a city the size of Birmingham, there are plenty of other things to go and spend your money on. I appreciate its difficult though as Brum are always left with the riders no one else wants, and as a result all ride out of position. 

EDIT: You compare Tolley with Peter Facenna later on in the Podcast, which was a great listen, and they are worlds apart. A person who clearly knows what he is doing and has the right team surrounding him. 

Edited 23 hours ago by Mr Bee
Addition

[IainB]

6 minutes ago, Mr Bee said:

The end of the year will come and go and there will be nothing announced.  

He means well (I think) and fair play he's kept Brum going, but the reason that people don't go and watch Speedway in Brum has nothing to do with the word "Speedway" being omitted from the fans replica team shirts. His bit about the motorway service station and people not knowing what he was wearing was comical..... Its because year in year out he builds a crap team. Its poor management, it's the same in any business. No doubt, he runs a successful business, a world he understands, but when you listen to him, its clear he knows very little about running a Speedway Team. A little bit like when we had Mick Horton. 

If the team was winning, or at least has a semi decent chance of winning at home, more people would go. And in a city the size of Birmingham, there are plenty of other things to go and spend your money on. I appreciate its difficult though as Brum are always left with the riders no one else wants, and as a result all ride out of position. 

If it wasn't so sad it was quite comical listening to his interview, the shirts, that he's responsible for, not having the word Speedway written on them! His head completely in the clouds regarding the Alexander stadium! £6,000 rent per meeting, meaning tickets for his 600 crowd would have to start at £100 before you even get to thinking about paying riders, cloud cuckoo land, why even mention it as a possibility, he may as well have gone to Villa Park!

A fool and his money are easily parted, he obviously knows how to make and sell badges, but like you say running a Speedway promotion not so much, he needed better people around him I think, and now he's talking about inflicting the same process on another club, it beggars belief!

[GiveusaB]

He'll have to eat a few more pies to model himself anywhere near Dan McCormack! 😀

At least we found out one fact from this interview? MJJ was only signed till MAY(initially)!

So, season ticket holders were conned yet again!

[Pitch]

15 hours ago, IainB said:

Has anybody heard Nigel Tolley on this week's British Speedway podcast?

32 mins in:

 

 

Yes I listened to him, I thought what a great guy. He has spent a fortune on keeping Brummies up and running and still has the passion to try and find a new home for them to carry on. But could perhaps do with some help and guidance from someone so he can at least break even.

Edited 23 hours ago by Pitch
Added more.

[IainB]

30 minutes ago, Pitch said:

Yes I listened to him, I thought what a great guy. He has spent a fortune on keeping Brummies up and running and still has the passion to try and find a new home for them to carry on. But could perhaps do with some help and guidance from someone so he can at least break even.

I could be wrong but didn't Neil Machin join somebody as promoter somewhere to kind of guide them in their first years of promotion and offer advice etc. Before standing back? I'm pretty sure he did, can't remember where though, it may even have been at Leicester or Sheffield when the Bates took over. That's what Tolley needed imo.

[Mr Bee]

1 hour ago, GiveusaB said:

He'll have to eat a few more pies to model himself anywhere near Dan McCormack! 😀

At least we found out one fact from this interview? MJJ was only signed till MAY(initially)!

So, season ticket holders were conned yet again!

And he said MJJ indicated he would stay if he was happy.

Well clearly, he wasn't happy and he's left.

When he said that I thought, "he's just realised what he's said and how that sounds now that he's left". 

 

[Wolfie456]

8 hours ago, PhilTheAce said:

what cant he tell us till end of the season???

 

Maybe its that hes taking over the Raines at sheffield next season

Could be some mileage in that as he is big pals with their promoter.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

2 hours ago, Wolfie456 said:

Could be some mileage in that as he is big pals with their promoter.

It’s a rumour certainly doing the rounds, him and one of his curry night mates who is currently involved with Sheffield 

[PhilTheAce]

3 hours ago, Wolfie456 said:

Could be some mileage in that as he is big pals with their promoter.

Oh. It’s deffo got alot of miles mate,  Ryan guest clearly trying to get him to say it 

[LagutaRacingFan]

Just listened to the Tolley interview. A very smart guy who is super articulate.

He seems to get a lot of stick on this forum, not sure why?

Really nice comments on MJJ from Tolley. Tolley said the door is open for Michael to return later on in the season. 

Edited 12 hours ago by LagutaRacingFan

[RS50]

9 hours ago, IainB said:

I could be wrong but didn't Neil Machin join somebody as promoter somewhere to kind of guide them in their first years of promotion and offer advice etc. Before standing back? I'm pretty sure he did, can't remember where though, it may even have been at Leicester or Sheffield when the Bates took over. That's what Tolley needed imo.

Seem to remember that Machin may have been a promoter at Sheffield, when the Bates family first started there. Quite sure he was also a promoter at Leicester at some point.

[GiveusaB]

Sheffield fans wont tolerate the teams that Rogers puts together!

Its been dire at Bham since he arrived!!!!!

[naffer]

His head completely in the clouds regarding the Alexander stadium! £6,000 rent per meeting, meaning tickets for his 600 crowdwould have to start at £100 before you even get tothinking about paying riders, cloud cuckoo land, 

…………………….

i make that £10 per head

The rest might be right to be fair.

Edited 1 hour ago by naffer
Spelling

[IainB]

38 minutes ago, naffer said:

His head completely in the clouds regarding the Alexander stadium! £6,000 rent per meeting, meaning tickets for his 600 crowdwould have to start at £100 before you even get tothinking about paying riders, cloud cuckoo land, 

…………………….

i make that £10 per head

The rest might be right to be fair.

Maths was never my strong point 🙃

I wonder how that compared to the rent at PB?