Ipswich Witches 2026

[Hamish McRaker]

7 hours ago, old bob at herne bay said:

I'll be monitoring the BSPL website closely all day on the 7th . its on my phone calendar with an alert . 

Will it be the famous five, the super six or the magnificant seven. 

So it'll have to be delayed for a further week, but if they do, nobody will know of course

[1 valve]

On 1/1/2026 at 7:00 AM, Aries said:

when you issue these timeframes and that then elapses with no announcement, that then just increases the worry.

He's going to have to update Ipswich folk now or SHOULD update the fans I should say. Whether that be simply talks still ongoing but taking longer than expected, or the deal is dead like the discussions with the previous two interested parties.

Dammed if he does, dammed if he doesn’t. 
Frankly the most appropriate statement would/should be “No further updates will be issued until there is something in place to report”. 
Until that point. No news is indeed….no news. 

[Aries]

Just now, 1 valve said:

Dammed if he does, dammed if he doesn’t. 
Frankly the most appropriate statement would/should be “No further updates will be issued until there is something in place to report”. 
Until that point. No news is indeed….no news. 

Couldn’t disagree with you more. All about opinions isn’t it. 

[Steve Irving]

15 minutes ago, 1 valve said:

Dammed if he does, dammed if he doesn’t. 

Well no not at all. It was Louis himself that didn’t do what you’ve suggested. HE was the one putting the timescale on a potential sale, so when that then come to pass it was obviously ramp up the concerns of the supporters. Why would he be “damned” if he now came out and told the supporters that talks were still ongoing? At least that would give the supporters something to cling on to. 
 

Alternatively, if it’s all gone t!ts up, tell them. At least it would put them out of their misery. Either way, an update of some sort should now be forthcoming. There’s concerned supporters out there waiting for news on a daily basis. Must be like pulling teeth!

Supporters as always, treated like mushrooms. 

[old bob at herne bay]

He ain’t going to  announce anything that might devalue his “property” Although with every passing day that tractor start gate and air fence are deflating in value. 

[Aries]

Just now, old bob at herne bay said:

He ain’t going to  announce anything that might devalue his “property” Although with every passing day that tractor start gate and air fence are deflating in value. 

Looks like we’re going to have to wait and see what transpires on Tuesday. 
 

If anything! 

[GeneralMelchett]

On 1/1/2026 at 8:46 AM, IainB said:

I was listening to a non league football owner/chairman on talksport the other morning and the tale he was telling regarding the attempt at selling his own football club was very similar to the tale of the sale of Speedway clubs, just lots of time wasters coming forward and people doing it for their own hubris and failing to come up with the money when the time came to actually buy the club.

Thats life and in particular business in general - there is a similar process ongoing at SWFC - of course the concept of proof of funds is important (its 50m in the case of Wednesday) as is the fit and peroper persons test, I wonder if they have that in Speedway! (it hasn't made much difference in football) 

[Iamnotanumber]

27 minutes ago, Steve Irving said:

Supporters as always, treated like mushrooms. 

Unless you/we/I run a promotion or help to fund it then we have no right to be more than the mushrooms in this situation. Wait and see. If someone invests cash and time into it, then we can enjoy it. If not, and we do nothing constructive ourselves, we have no right to complain when there's no speedway in our town.

[ShanoXtra]

Remember when he said “when the town does well then so do the witches”

Well, town are now second, and the witches don’t have any riders, a league, or even a buyer.

- IF the likes of Brennan, Rew, King, Edwards, Jenkins and maybe Ellis are all waiting to hear about Ipswich then how much longer can you realistically wait as a rider. Soon decisions will be made and Ipswich will eventually ride (or not) but we a depleted team and fans won’t be happy. You cannot then have comments about “at least we have speedway to watch” because Louis himself said the club will be left in safe hands and good state, I’m sorry but that will not be the case if the above happens.

Edited 1 hour ago by ShanoXtra
.

[Steve Irving]

Just now, Iamnotanumber said:

Unless you/we/I run a promotion or help to fund it then we have no right to be more than the mushrooms in this situation. Wait and see. If someone invests cash and time into it, then we can enjoy it. If not, and we do nothing constructive ourselves, we have no right to complain when there's no speedway in our town.

There’s a world of difference between disclosing the intricacies of financials and delicate negotiations, and issuing general broader updates to keep supporters loosely in the loop. 

[Steve Irving]

5 minutes ago, ShanoXtra said:

Remember when he said “when the town does well then so do the witches”

Well, town are now second, and the witches don’t have any riders, a league, or even a buyer.

Oh but they do Shano. @flagrag said so. Cracking GP rider at number 1 👍🏻

[ShanoXtra]

5 minutes ago, Iamnotanumber said:

Unless you/we/I run a promotion or help to fund it then we have no right to be more than the mushrooms in this situation. Wait and see. If someone invests cash and time into it, then we can enjoy it. If not, and we do nothing constructive ourselves, we have no right to complain when there's no speedway in our town.

What a stupid comment. So what are fans supposed to do? Fans don’t buy clubs or invest in them, they support them, that’s in essence the fan doing their part. 

[ShanoXtra]

2 minutes ago, Steve Irving said:

Oh but they do Shano. @flagrag said so. Cracking GP rider at number 1 👍🏻

Forgive me for not believing hardly anything people write on here 😂 most people just want to feel important and in the know 😆

[Steve Irving]

1 minute ago, ShanoXtra said:

Forgive me for not believing hardly anything people write on here 😂 most people just want to feel important and in the know 😆

I believe very little either. There’s one or two you’d take notice of, but the majority you wouldn’t hang your hat on that for sure. 
 

In fairness to @flagrag , he’s a good sort and well respected in his work so I’ve been a little harsh here. It’s entirely possible he’d heard an early snippet of what Chris Louis was putting together before the proverbial sh!t hit the fan. 
 

Think it’s safe to say that whatever he’d heard early doors, is now highly unlikely to come to fruition. 

[SPEEDY69]

I'm a big fan of what Chris has achieved for Ipswich Speedway and the crowd has grown over the years.  However, putting the fans through this uncertain time with no reassurance/updates is very poor.  Ritchie Hawkins was co-promoter as well.  There'd be no Ipswich speedway without paying spectators and they should be top priority.

Edited 20 minutes ago by SPEEDY69

[1 valve]

1 hour ago, Steve Irving said:

Well no not at all. It was Louis himself that didn’t do what you’ve suggested. HE was the one putting the timescale on a potential sale, so when that then come to pass it was obviously ramp up the concerns of the supporters. Why would he be “damned” if he now came out and told the supporters that talks were still ongoing? At least that would give the supporters something to cling on to. 
 

Alternatively, if it’s all gone t!ts up, tell them. At least it would put them out of their misery. Either way, an update of some sort should now be forthcoming. There’s concerned supporters out there waiting for news on a daily basis. Must be like pulling teeth!

Supporters as always, treated like mushrooms. 

I agree Chris has made a rod for his own back by making the statement he did which led people to believe something was close to being finalised. However by the lack of further updates it would appear the matter has not been resolved in the indicated timescale. 
So for now there is nothing to report...But that does not mean that "its all gone T!ts up" just that for now there is nothing to report...one way or another. 
Folk may have there own opinions what no news means, and looking through this thread there's plenty of opinions on that front as well as what CL plans could/should/will be. As often stated on this forum we are all entitled to our opinions....But eventually, there will be only one decision made and that will be the one made by Chris himself. - And frankly, whatever that decision is, anything else said in the meantime would just fuel the fires of speculation and indeed may be prejudicial to any ongoing plans or negotiations.  
 

[IainB]

1 minute ago, 1 valve said:

I agree Chris has made a rod for his own back by making the statement he did which led people to believe something was close to being finalised. However by the lack of further updates it would appear the matter has not been resolved in the indicated timescale. 
So for now there is nothing to report...But that does not mean that "its all gone T!ts up" just that for now there is nothing to report...one way or another. 
Folk may have there own opinions what no news means, and looking through this thread there's plenty of opinions on that front as well as what CL plans could/should/will be. As often stated on this forum we are all entitled to our opinions....But eventually, there will be only one decision made and that will be the one made by Chris himself. - And frankly, whatever that decision is, anything else said in the meantime would just fuel the fires of speculation and indeed may be prejudicial to any ongoing plans or negotiations.  
 

Remember when Russia invaded Ukraine and the future of Chelsea FC was very much in the air? Was it radio silence then?

[1 valve]

1 minute ago, IainB said:

Remember when Russia invaded Ukraine and the future of Chelsea FC was very much in the air? Was it radio silence then?

I don't recall the then Chelsea owner saying much at all. 
 

[IainB]

12 minutes ago, 1 valve said:

I don't recall the then Chelsea owner saying much at all. 
 

There was a lot of media and fan interest though... and the government even got involved!