What about Northampton?

[enotian]

Well there's little hope of that.  Looks like there's 8 team spots to fill across Belle Vue and Ipswich. Make that 15 if Northampton Panther Bees run.

With only Kurtz, Wright, Brennan, Lawson, Ellis, King, Klindt, Nicholls, Becker, Iversen, Tungate, Lidsey and Rew likely candidates. I suppose if you can attract another big name (Woffinden?) to return it might be possible but surely you don't set up a new promotion/track (Ipswich/Northampton) and give them no chance to be competitive on track.

Waiting a season might be for the best 

[MajorMauger]

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[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

13 hours ago, mikebv said:

Is Brady Kurtz being held back for Northampton?

If they do run they will need some "name" to try and generate some interest...

A world No2 may just get that publicity...

OUCH would be creaming his pants at the chance to spout his drivel about the virtuous benevolence of Belle Vue if this were to happen 

[IainB]

5 minutes ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

OUCH would be creaming his pants at the chance to spout his drivel about the virtuous benevolence of Belle Vue if this were to happen 

Strangely quiet since the demise of the Colts 🤔

[TTT]

Question is, Would Northampton be able to afford a GP Superstar knowing how much they've got to spend just to come to tapes?

Deep pockets is an understatement when it comes to Northampton.

Pure guessing game in regards to how many fans will turn up so how much can you layout financially?

[mikebv]

1 hour ago, TTT said:

Question is, Would Northampton be able to afford a GP Superstar knowing how much they've got to spend just to come to tapes?

Deep pockets is an understatement when it comes to Northampton.

Pure guessing game in regards to how many fans will turn up so how much can you layout financially?

Didn't Buster get quoted as saying promoters would need to "dig deep" to bring in another club?..

Maybe its a collective effort?

[chun]

You get the feeling that any rescue package a major backer comes in on will be conditional on them getting a large share of any future TV deal.  

[PersonalResponsibility]

3 hours ago, therefused said:

Only 15 minutes in and he’s comparing speedway to potentially doing something similar to Wrexham football club. The amount of delusion is absurd, I have no faith in anyone currently in position to get the sport out of the mess it finds itself in

A handsome, successful, wealthy, and savvy investor taking his club to the next level, somewhere they've never previously seen. Or Ryan Reynolds at Wrexham. They're not too dissimilar tbf.

[mikebv]

7 minutes ago, PersonalResponsibility said:

A handsome, successful, wealthy, and savvy investor taking his club to the next level, somewhere they've never previously seen. Or Ryan Reynolds at Wrexham. They're not too dissimilar tbf.

Sam Dingle out of Emmerdale would be perfect synergy......

[MajorMauger]

2 hours ago, MajorMauger said:

 

I just hope the BSPL are helping to finance Northampton cause the chances of them getting viable crowds is remote in this day and age at a venue that hasn't staged speedway for 59 years when it was a training track/open license venue (you must question why 2nd Division racing wasn't tried there in the 1968- early 80's glory years of the old National League/ Division 2? ) and also in an area that is a has lots of ethnic minorities who nearly all aren't interested in speedway.

 

Team wise they have to be competitive which will be a struggle given the lack of riders and then you have a situation similar to Birmingham last season where they were just making the numbers up with an inferior team and getting crowds around the 500 mark.

 

Edited 5 hours ago by MajorMauger

[Ray Stadia]

In terms of catchment for Northampton, here are some possibles:

Coventry 49 mins

Birmingham 1 hr 7 mins

Wembley 1 hr 15 mins (a friend of mine lives there and said he would travel to the stadium)

Milton Keynes 28 mins (almost a revival of Milton Keynes speedway)

Peterborough 59 mins

Leicester 54 mins

Based on the above and bearing in mind it is a nice stadium, which could mean it could be used for some Blue Ribbon events, sounds a good possible to me! 

 

 

[IainB]

19 minutes ago, Ray Stadia said:

In terms of catchment for Northampton, here are some possibles:

Coventry 49 mins

Birmingham 1 hr 7 mins

Wembley 1 hr 15 mins (a friend of mine lives there and said he would travel to the stadium)

Milton Keynes 28 mins (almost a revival of Milton Keynes speedway)

Peterborough 59 mins

Leicester 54 mins

Based on the above and bearing in mind it is a nice stadium, which could mean it could be used for some Blue Ribbon events, sounds a good possible to me! 

 

 

Count me in, I'd probably go when the Lions aren't riding, like I used to Peterborough, Peterborough was a race track worth travelling for though...

[Fortythirtyeight]

1 hour ago, MajorMauger said:

I just hope the BSPL are helping to finance Northampton cause the chances of them getting viable crowds is remote in this day and age at a venue that hasn't staged speedway for 59 years when it was a training track/open license venue (you must question why 2nd Division racing wasn't tried there in the 1968- early 80's glory years of the old National League/ Division 2? ) and also in an area that is a has lots of ethnic minorities who nearly all aren't interested in speedway.

 

Team wise they have to be competitive which will be a struggle given the lack of riders and then you have a situation similar to Birmingham last season where they were just making the numbers up with an inferior team and getting crowds around the 500 mark.

 

Have a look at the BSPL accounts…..they aren’t financing anybody !

[Hamish McRaker]

2 hours ago, mikebv said:

Didn't Buster get quoted as saying promoters would need to "dig deep" to bring in another club?..

Maybe its a collective effort?

Maybe he was thinking of established clubs having to fork out big on points money for their riders when they win away at the new club and thrash them at home?

[BluPanther]

If Northampton start the season, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they don't finish it...

[bellevueace]

7 hours ago, Hawk127 said:

Yes Rayleigh did but the club was always well supported with the main stand usually full and the stand on the back straight had a good few with the 1st 2nd and 3rd bend embankments having a good smattering of supporters. Back in the day the local rivalries with Romford, Eastbourne, Canterbury, Crayford and Ipswich always guaranteed bumper crowds and on bank holidays whoever were the opponents you got good crowds. I still have some news paper cuttings with pictures of the action and the stands looking packed. I think back then because so many teams had characters riding you always looked forward to a protagonist visiting like Jack Milne, Brian Foote, Ted Hubbard, the Kennet brothers, Arthur Price and many more and that also tended to boost support. Probably a bit more tribal back then.

Yes there was great rivalry down there at that time, the sport was well supported at every level characters like Jack Milne were box office in themselves, its a pity the Bombers didnt have a longer existence, used to love going down to Hackney, Crayford, Eastbourne etc. 

[YeOldPitGate]

9 hours ago, bellevueace said:

Its ironic that when tracks host their last ever meeting the fans come out in force, i remember going to the last ever meeting at Stoke where the crowd packed it out the situation there was different but other tracks that have shut up shop probably wouldnt have if the last night crowd had been replicated on a more consistent basis. Be interesting to see if Northampton as a town get behind this new venture, maybe it might have a novelty appeal at first, its a huge investment to just bring in a team to make up the numbers this season. Out of interest did Rayleigh draw a crowd for their last ever meeting?

I think the thing is these farewell meetings pull in fans from other catchments areas nearby take P.Boro farewell I bet plenty of die hards from Lynn, Ippo, Mildenhall and maybe some midland tracks came over for a one off but wouldn't make the 3-4 hour round trip on a regular basis.

[YeOldPitGate]

5 hours ago, TTT said:

Question is, Would Northampton be able to afford a GP Superstar knowing how much they've got to spend just to come to tapes?

Deep pockets is an understatement when it comes to Northampton.

Pure guessing game in regards to how many fans will turn up so how much can you layout financially?

Call Tolley "Nige this will need £250k min to set up ", Nigel "hold my beer"

[SteveLyric2]

1 hour ago, Fortythirtyeight said:

Have a look at the BSPL accounts…..they aren’t financing anybody !

It's the Futures..........

[Ray Stadia]

44 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said:

Call Tolley "Nige this will need £250k min to set up ", Nigel "hold my beer"

But for some, £250K is peanuts! In fact, a possible tax offset!