Ipswich v Belle Vue 14/08

[Odds On]

Ipswich look a strong team, biggest worry for opposing teams right now is that they are winning, thats without Doyle and Emil being in dominant form.

 Can only see Sheffield beating them in the play offs but my money would be on Ipswich, of course there's a huge list of ifs buts and maybe's still.

[cowboy cookie returns?]

8 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

Genuine question So what are Ipswich promotion doing that belle vue are not? 

Ipswich is certainly more of a community club. They get decent coverage on both local radio stations, Louis or Hawkins are normally on there at least once a week, also BBC Suffolk usually have a recap on the speedway during half time on their live ITFC match commentary.

Louis has also done well in not only keeping the locally based sponsors but attracting new ones this season. 
 

I think it also helps that Louis is local so understands the town & the Louis name is still well known. As a local lad Ipswich legend & his main income the guy is passionate eats & breaths speedway.

Above all he is very approachable.

If only we had more like him.

[ShanoXtra]

30 minutes ago, cowboy cookie returns? said:

Ipswich is certainly more of a community club. They get decent coverage on both local radio stations, Louis or Hawkins are normally on there at least once a week, also BBC Suffolk usually have a recap on the speedway during half time on their live ITFC match commentary.

Louis has also done well in not only keeping the locally based sponsors but attracting new ones this season. 
 

I think it also helps that Louis is local so understands the town & the Louis name is still well known. As a local lad Ipswich legend & his main income the guy is passionate eats & breaths speedway.

Above all he is very approachable.

If only we had more like him.

I think when you consider he knows a lot of the Grand Prix riders and tracks a lot he can see the good and bad of speedway and what not to do, he used to ride in Poland so understands their model, and he also runs the club very well… I haven’t really heard of many if any riders moaning about the club and how it’s run, it’s much the other way round and people really want to ride for the club and to be chosen. I think the fact the crowd is always good and probably the best attended in Britain it brings riders too. Ipswich has always been a town passionate for football and speedway and backs them very good… like Louis said, when the football team prospers so does the speedway. 

[Roger Jacobs]

9 hours ago, AceBelle said:

Come back when you have actually won the league otherwise you are going to look rather silly 😜 

Your lack of comprehension and failure to grasp context is hilariously sad.

[PhilTheAce]

9 hours ago, ShanoXtra said:

Heat 13.

hahahaha as i saw myslef, FTG, why dont you show the only good race of the night which was heat 15 between doyle and ellis 😂

[PhilTheAce]

9 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

But BV are not pulling the crowds at home, why not ?

GP, deffo affected the crowd this year. most speedway fans dont have a pot to piss in so when it comes to paying £150 at start of season alot would have had to give up league racing, cowds have improved after the GP.

 

Was a fairly big crowd last night which was good to see, but it wasnt 3k, no chance, more 2k, maybe slightly more 

 

Belle vues last 2 meetings have drawn in big crowds and one of them was a TV meeting suprisingly 

[PhilTheAce]

regarding last night, was not a unsurprising result, blodorn rode better than his points suggested, can see hes struggling with confidence right now. zach struggled away again and ill let tate off cos that was a big off he had

 

we might look poor away and i think ipswich will be favs to make the final over us but i cant get that little devil on my shoulder off me that says this happens every year and yet me manage to pull it off as underdogs.

 

our worry is the play offs come to soon really because brady will rightfully be all in on the GPs

[PhilTheAce]

10 hours ago, Gavan said:

That can’t be real ….. the current world number 2 being overtaken by Emil and then the current world number 4 also being overtaken 

But your honour I was told Ipswich was a track you couldn’t pass on especially riders as good as Kurtz and Bewley 

I think you should take this video off because how can the Belle Vue fans stick to their agenda that every meeting should be at the NSS

There has even been a Sheffield fan complaining lol .. a track that has one line that even the home team don’t like lol 

not really a pass is it, bend 2 of lap 1 hahahahahaha

[bellevueace]

9 hours ago, GeneralMelchett said:

This is sadly true, each to their own as they say but having attended many sports ovet the years, Cricket, Ice Hockey, Rugby both codes, Football, Athletics, Basketball , Horse racing - i can honestly say speedway is still my favourite - the thrill of a great speedway race beats all of them!

Im with you i go to football etc but speedway has always been my favourite sport. Belle Vue lost a lot of fans with the closure of Hyde Road, a lot of fans didnt take to the dog track and just drifted away. The amount of people i speak to who say i used to go the speedway at Hyde Road and who didnt even know about the NSS is unreal. Also we didnt just lose a speedway stadium when the Belle Vue complex closed there was the fun fair, zoo, kings hall where all the top bands played, the ballroom, beer keller, the suites etc, i think thats where the sport lost a lot of fans.

[PhilTheAce]

10 hours ago, AceBelle said:

We go to watch proper racing not rider mistake and bad track prep why do Ipswich come to NSS oh yes to look at prem trophy 🤣 come back when you have won it 1998 🤣

no, we go to watch belle vue win first you clown, i wish you would shut the hell up sometimes

[bellevueace]

8 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

In Prague under last years system Kurtz wouldn’t of qualified for semi final as he finished 9th on 7 points but did under this years system(10 qualifying) Kurtz is where he is on merit but was helped by the system change in Prague 

Last years system is irrelevant the new system was put into place so this season its all about the current rule, which is there for all.

[bellevueace]

2 hours ago, Col said:

Not really sure Manchester Storm Ice Hockey count... they're based in Altrincham.

Manchester United are based in Salford both only 10 mins from the city centre so dont think thats any issue

[ArseBellEnd]

9 hours ago, 2ndbend said:

Did the administrators take the 'nd' off the end of your forum name? As you just seem to only have 2 answers "best track" and "won the league" in every discussion and you think other people are going to look silly. Perhaps a little quiet personal reflection time might help you!

Already taken 😂

[blue witch]

I think @AceBelle has too many sherbets on match days the amount of dribble they write on here. 

[ABS]

49 minutes ago, bellevueace said:

Manchester United are based in Salford both only 10 mins from the city centre so dont think thats any issue

Stretford, actually. Comes under Trafford MBC.

[ouch]

I’d be happy if this was the play offs as we can pull back a 14 deficit within 9 heats. In every meeting at Foxhall this season we have suffered 5-1 in heat 13 & 15 which is unacceptable given our top two. In both fixtures we were in touching distance on a close defeat of small win as the rest of the side had done their thing. Harsh on Brady & Dan but everyone has a job to do in their particular slot. I’m confident that they will succeed in these heats come the play offs and help lead us to the ultimate prize once again. Whether they go on an unbeaten 29 ride run again like last year is debatable. 

[ouch]

FTG is no longer a derogatory term as many fans have expressed their liking for this kind of heat and find the passing at some tracks boring. There is no need to defend FTG anymore, nevertheless this defence goes on with some examples being plain daft. If you can’t fathom the intricacies of the first few seconds of a heat and the impact a riders start position has then you need to rewatch some televised meetings. The commentators discuss at length the options open to a rider over the first part of a heat or more importantly options not available. Any passing up to the exit of B3 L1 is almost exclusively influenced by the start position and this is why I call a heat at that point then compare the order come the checkered flag. This is by no means an insult but yesterday only heat 3 & 15 saw a change in order after B3. 

[ouch]

With regards attendances, the lore is fans overestimate home crowds and underestimate away. Clubs aren’t happy with their crowds and if you’re making a bob or two then great but no club has any bragging rights about attendance.

Manchester has so much going on in the battle for the leisure pound. The average man/woman in the street (which is exactly what a speedway fan is) only has so much expendable cash so should they attend one of the many many shows or concerts etc at £50-£100 a pop they do not have the money to visit speedway. They can catch the speedway almost any time but when a particular show or artist comes to town for a short run or one night only then it’s easy to see who wins. Add in the plethora of sporting greats in and around the city then it’s amazing that such an unfashionable sport as ours can hold its head above water in the area. 

This is not a dig but I spent a week in the B&B Hotel in Ipswich at the end of last October. I struggled to find anything to do. No theatre (one production had been cancelled), no gigs and no comedy. There wasn’t even a pub quiz night. I had to travel to Cambridge to get my theatre fix. I found Ipswich to be a lovely town and had it been summer then a walk along the waterfront together with a drink and a meal would have been great but winter time offered me little. With limited competition for the leisure pound it’s little wonder that places like this and Poole get fairly decent crowds. 

[ouch]

With regards attendances, the lore is fans overestimate home crowds and underestimate away. Clubs aren’t happy with their crowds and if you’re making a bob or two then great but no club has any bragging rights about attendance.

Manchester has so much going on in the battle for the leisure pound. The average man/woman in the street (which is exactly what a speedway fan is) only has so much expendable cash so should they attend one of the many many shows or concerts etc at £50-£100 a pop they do not have the money to visit speedway. They can catch the speedway almost any time but when a particular show or artist comes to town for a short run or one night only then it’s easy to see who wins. Add in the plethora of sporting greats in and around the city then it’s amazing that such an unfashionable sport as ours can hold its head above water in the area. 

This is not a dig but I spent a week in the B&B Hotel in Ipswich at the end of last October. I struggled to find anything to do. No theatre (one production had been cancelled), no gigs and no comedy. There wasn’t even a pub quiz night. I had to travel to Cambridge to get my theatre fix. I found Ipswich to be a lovely town and had it been summer then a walk along the waterfront together with a drink and a meal would have been great but winter time offered me little. With limited competition for the leisure pound it’s little wonder that places like this and Poole get fairly decent crowds. 

[ouch]

5 hours ago, mikebv said:

Various reasons...

The SGP cost many Aces fans a fortune, (about five Aces matches worth if you went both nights)..., 

You also have the two major football teams, but also have many satellite towns who have their own pro teams who can deliver five figure crowds...

The non league scene, below the Conference, is also very well attended with my lad playing in front of four figure crowds regularly at around twelve quid a pop...

Rugby League is also a factor, as, once again, many satellite towns have their own team, with the likes of Wigan having 20k...

Sale Sharks deliver decent crowds too, in RU...

IManchester Storm Ice Hockey get a couple of  thousand and Manchester Basketball and Netball get decent numbers...

Add in Lancashire Cricket, with T20 and The Hundred generatng five figure crowds, (during the Summer holidays, with loads of families in place), and you can see that there won't be much left for Speedway from a family's disposable income...

Admission costs arei mentioned on the socials by many...

If you already attend a "bona fide" pro sport then your money wont stretch too much further, (especially for a sport that has such credibility issues), and also the socials will state that many meetings are "meaningless" given the Aces recent history in reaching the Play Offs..

The City's demographic is also completely opposite to the traditional white, middle aged, male and female follower of the sport...

35000 students live in Manchester from all over the UK and World, and the ethnic diversity numbers in the City are huge...

With both sectors having zero interest in watching something your Dad and Grandad go to, or your white middle aged colleagues from work attend...

But will pay big bucks to watch some world famous bands and singers, with two venues able to handle over 20,000...

And then you can obviously add that hardly anyone below 40 in Manchester has heard of the "World Famous Belle Vue Aces", let alone what they do...

2.75M live within 45 mins of the NSS which does suggest a rather poor marketing campaign doesn't it? 

Taking all the above challenges into the mix, a decent marketing company would still surely jump at the chance to get 2500 of that 2.75M there each week?

The reach must be enormous if done properly, and this is still but a tiny, tiny portion of the local populace..

 

I know for a fact that speedway isn’t the best kept secret in town as we have done the following over the years to bang the drum. 

 

Have an advert on local radio over an extended period of time. 

Have an advert in local newspapers over an extended period of time. 

Have an advertising board on some of the busiest roads in Manchester. 

Have posters in shops and businesses. 

Had out flyers in local shopping areas. 

Have a float or attend local fairs and carnivals. 

Attend local trade shows. 

Give out free tickets to schools and businesses. 

Take bikes and merchandise into schools to accompany the talk they deliver on the sport. 

Be featured on local tv news’s 4 or 5 times between March and October. 

Have a regular editorial in local papers. 

Have a 30 minute highlights programme on a local tv satellite station. 

Form a tie up with local groups and offer free entry and supporters club membership. 

Attend (and win) local sports team of the year awards. 

 

I know I keep saying it and it’s a bitter pill for us all but as a generalisation, people do not like speedway. 

I asked recently if you could all ask family and friends to attend a meeting with you. I had no response but I’m guessing if each asked 20 people then out of the collective thousands that were asked the answer would have been around a 100% no. This is from people who now know where and when and how much the local speedway is and the opportunity to attend with a knowledgeable friend but still refuse the invite.