Ipswich Witches 2026

[szkocjasid]

17 hours ago, Roger Jacobs said:

As I said though, the wording states that the *most recent* Established MA will be used, and *if* there's an Established MA in both leagues in the same season, the relevant MA will apply.  Nicholls most recent Established MA in the Prem is from 2024, he didn't have one from 2025 because he only rode as a guest.  So: Plymouth use him on his 2025 Champ MA, and if he rides in the Prem it would be on his 2024 Prem MA.

The first half of your post clearly explains why Nicholls would sign on his Champ converted ave.

So I was surprised for you to then get it the wrong way round at the end?

Nicholls most recent MA is his 2025 Plymouth one, so that's what's used - for both leagues.

[Aries]

2 minutes ago, szkocjasid said:

The first half of your post clearly explains why Nicholls would sign on his Champ converted ave.

So I was surprised for you to then get it the wrong way round at the end?

Nicholls most recent MA is his 2025 Plymouth one, so that's what's used - for both leagues.

Correct. 

[BluPanther]

This statement was on February 11th. That was 16 days ago... 🙄

This means that the sale of the club can now be completed, and this is expected to happen over the next couple of weeks.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

28 minutes ago, BluPanther said:

This statement was on February 11th. That was 16 days ago... 🙄

This means that the sale of the club can now be completed, and this is expected to happen over the next couple of weeks.

You do have to wonder what the hell is going on, the silence is worrying, have both deals fell through and they don’t have a league ? Mayfield for me are doing themselves no favours if they are taking over Ipswich and in the GPs and the silence from the bspl is staggering,this can’t drag on any longer it needs sorting now, despite all the issues involved in getting it to work they should of gone one big league this year 

[TTT]

43 minutes ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

You do have to wonder what the hell is going on, the silence is worrying, have both deals fell through and they don’t have a league ? Mayfield for me are doing themselves no favours if they are taking over Ipswich and in the GPs and the silence from the bspl is staggering,this can’t drag on any longer it needs sorting now, despite all the issues involved in getting it to work they should of gone one big league this year 

Defended him but Chris Louis has to take the brunt of the blame now imo.

Basically a spur of the moment Club sale that's caused this clown show to drag on and on to a point where it's had an impact on the entire League.

He should've put together a 1-7 and remained the owner for 2026 and allowed proper time for a sale to go through.

Instead it's all been a very messy job in a race against time, Every statement just results in continuous delays and it has caused Mayfield to be a rabbit in the leadlights whilst leaving Ipswich as a Club on the backfoot.

It has also had a knock on effect for the entire League where nothing has been confirmed in regards to League Structure and Fixtures to a point where nobody can get some much needed early season funds in by shifting some season tickets because nobody knows how many bloody fixtures they'll have at Home.

[Roger Jacobs]

2 hours ago, szkocjasid said:

The first half of your post clearly explains why Nicholls would sign on his Champ converted ave.

So I was surprised for you to then get it the wrong way round at the end?

Nicholls most recent MA is his 2025 Plymouth one, so that's what's used - for both leagues.

I'm not saying that you're wrong.

The point is though, it's open to interpretation. The first phrase, stating the most recent MA counts, is qualified where there are two from the same season - someone must have asked that question. This indicates that if there is a valid Established MA from a previous season, it should be used - and the 2025 Regs said that Established MAs could be used from 23 and 24, which implies that for the 2026 season, they can count Established MAs from 24 & 25. Therefore ... it can be argued that Nicholls' most recent Established MA for the Prem is from 2024.

It demonstrates how poor the wording is in the Regs.  The new Regs could be different and, of course, could introduce even more debatably-worded gumph.

Edited 3 hours ago by Roger Jacobs

[Aries]

Again, I was told middle of next week so if we get to the end of next week with no announcement then we can probably assume it’s all gone belly up.

[mikebv]

Maybe the delay is down to the quality of team that now can be put out?

Have they had certain agreements in place to ensure they don't end up cannon fodder, like so many late arrivals have ended up being down the years?

And that now isn't happening?

Or, is their last rider also possibly in the Northampton conundrum, so they are awaiting an outcome there..?

Whatever the reason, it is (yet another), poor look for UK  Speedway... 

[IainB]

4 minutes ago, mikebv said:

Whatever the reason, it is (yet another), poor look for UK  Speedway... 

Fortunately there is absolutely nobody looking, outside of the Speedway bubble

[SPEEDY69]

15 minutes ago, Roger Jacobs said:

I'm not saying that you're wrong.

The point is though, it's open to interpretation. The first phrase, stating the most recent MA counts, is qualified where there are two from the same season - someone must have asked that question. This indicates that if there is a valid Established MA from a previous season, it should be used - and the 2025 Regs said that Established MAs could be used from 23 and 24, which implies that for the 2026 season, they can count Established MAs from 24 & 25. Therefore ... it can be argued that Nicholls' most recent Established MA for the Prem is from 2024.

It demonstrates how poor the wording is in the Regs.  The new Regs could be different and, of course, could introduce even more debatably-worded gumph.

I don't think it is.  The most recent MA is used, that's clear.  His most recent MA is from the Championship in 2025.  If the most recent MA is one from both leagues, so for example with Chris Harris for this year, his championship average applies in the championship and his premiership average applies in the premiership.  To me that's really clear.

[mikebv]

4 minutes ago, IainB said:

Fortunately there is absolutely nobody looking, outside of the Speedway bubble

Agreed...

But those still within it will also be losing what is left of their much stretched, and taken for granted, patience...

[Teromaafan]

1 hour ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

You do have to wonder what the hell is going on, the silence is worrying, have both deals fell through and they don’t have a league ? Mayfield for me are doing themselves no favours if they are taking over Ipswich and in the GPs and the silence from the bspl is staggering,this can’t drag on any longer it needs sorting now, despite all the issues involved in getting it to work they should of gone one big league this year 

Totally agree. But some posters on here just think we are impatient and negative.

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

30 minutes ago, IainB said:

Fortunately there is absolutely nobody looking, outside of the Speedway bubble

I said this on the speedway 360 podcast back in December, if we were a mainstream sport we be crucified in the media over this, luckily we are not so nobody is seeing it in all it’s catastrophic glory 

[Haza]

An absolute farce it’s March two days time - move on and sort the league out for 2027 I’m done with this season 

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

If Ipswich is a cert then there is no reason a fixture list can’t be put out with TBA for potential Northampton meetings, if then Northampton doesn’t happen supporters will understand, for season tickets just add a play off or some other meeting or 2 into the season somewhere 

Edited 2 hours ago by THE DEAN MACHINE

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

28 minutes ago, Teromaafan said:

Totally agree. But some posters on here just think we are impatient and negative.

I think that run out on January 6th 

[Roger Jacobs]

11 minutes ago, TTT said:

Defended him but Chris Louis has to take the brunt of the blame now imo.

Basically a spur of the moment Club sale that's caused this clown show to drag on and on to a point where it's had an impact on the entire League.

<snip>

I still think that CL had been preparing the way for him to make his proposal at the AGM, simply because he was fed up with devoting his life to something that was going nowhere. So, they were in full knowledge that he would sell up if there was no positive reaction,

OK ... maybe he shouldn't have put the BSPL under so much pressure, yet the general consensus amongst fans is that the sport in GB needs to change for it to make any progress, and that pressure is therefore very justifiable, especially when it's from someone such as CL.

Other promoters who have had new ideas and/or tried something different have simply walked away.  Thousands of fans have simply walked away.

The new buyers would rightly want to carry out due diligence (and have it carried out on them) - I have no idea what specifically is involved, but I can imagine that for British speedway it could be rather difficult.

The poor condition of British speedway is to blame ...

[ouch]

A five team league was known at the time Louis was planning his defence of the premiership. Emil leaving may have been a jolt as the chance of finding another top liner “left in the wilderness because of the war in” wherever looked unlikely. The most plausible cause for his tantrum would be he asked again for some kind of dispensation but got a no this time and followed through in his (continued) threat to sell. He may have had his knuckles wrapped about poaching top riders from new clubs enlisted to bolster the premiership. Even when we most need them, clubs would be very cautious about moving up considering the predatory actions of some promoters. One thing for certain, if we are touting this bloke as one of the best then it’s obvious why we find ourselves in the mess we are currently in. 
 

[mikebv]

14 minutes ago, Roger Jacobs said:

I still think that CL had been preparing the way for him to make his proposal at the AGM, simply because he was fed up with devoting his life to something that was going nowhere. So, they were in full knowledge that he would sell up if there was no positive reaction,

OK ... maybe he shouldn't have put the BSPL under so much pressure, yet the general consensus amongst fans is that the sport in GB needs to change for it to make any progress, and that pressure is therefore very justifiable, especially when it's from someone such as CL.

Other promoters who have had new ideas and/or tried something different have simply walked away.  Thousands of fans have simply walked away.

The new buyers would rightly want to carry out due diligence (and have it carried out on them) - I have no idea what specifically is involved, but I can imagine that for British speedway it could be rather difficult.

The poor condition of British speedway is to blame ...

CL didn't worry too much about change when he put together, clearly, the best septet by far last year did he?

Nor did he worry too much about Birmingham when he made them weaker by signing Tom Brennan as a third heat leader did he?...

The time for change was a long, long time ago...

CL, and others, have had plenty of time to make those changes...

However, they chose, season after season, to not make any...

[Roger Jacobs]

3 minutes ago, mikebv said:

CL didn't worry too much about change when he put together, clearly, the best septet by far last year did he?

Nor did he worry too much about Birmingham when he made them weaker by signing Tom Brennan as a third heat leader did he?...

The time for change was a long, long time ago...

CL, and others, have had plenty of time to make those changes...

However, they chose, season after season, to not make any...

As I said: The poor condition of British speedway is to blame ... those who rejected whatever CL was proposing, in favour of ploughing on with the Prem in its current parlous condition are just as much to blame as he is.