Ipswich Witches 2026

[cowboy cookie returns?]

41 minutes ago, Steve Irving said:

Louis has seriously let down the people of Ipswich and the amount of people coming on here and defending him is bonkers!

Maybe that tells you that the people of Ipswich don’t feel let down, it’s the supporters of the other tracks that do.

[cowboy cookie returns?]

43 minutes ago, Steve Irving said:

Your point would carry far more weight if he wasn’t alone and others were doing the same. But they’re not are they? There’s four other clubs in that division, all four are not as well backed as Ipswich, and all four don’t get the numbers through the gate that Ipswich do either. And yet all four are prepared to battle on to save Speedway in the top flight while Louis has bailed

They all have other businesses outside of speedway so can afford to bank roll them. Also a loss making speedway club is quite good for tax reasons.

If the Speedway is your only income & you risk bankruptcy because of a failed business model you’d look at things differently.

[cowboy cookie returns?]

1 hour ago, old bob at herne bay said:

To all the critics of Christopher Louis.

If you were presented with proposals that you believe would make your business unprofitable in 2026 ... and you were dependent on that business for your living , would you decide to 

(a) carry on with your business, and make a loss 

(b) sell the business and take a change of career

It would be B all day long.

[TheTopDrawer]

1 hour ago, old bob at herne bay said:

To all the critics of Christopher Louis.

If you were presented with proposals that you believe would make your business unprofitable in 2026 ... and you were dependent on that business for your living , would you decide to 

(a) carry on with your business, and make a loss 

(b) sell the business and take a change of career

or (c) Threaten to sell the business, but actually p1ss off to Australia and leave your loyal customers high and dry, and wondering what is going on.

 

I'd have gone for option (b).    Chris Louis seems to have gone for option (c).      So what's your point?

[Ray Stadia]

23 minutes ago, TheTopDrawer said:

or (c) Threaten to sell the business, but actually p1ss off to Australia and leave your loyal customers high and dry, and wondering what is going on.

 

I'd have gone for option (b).    Chris Louis seems to have gone for option (c).      So what's your point?

There is an 'Ipswich' in Australia, maybe he is looking to open a track there?  😦

[siggysigalos]

We as loyal fans (1981 was my 1st visit) all have opinions on what's gone on or going on at Ipswich, i enter my 44th season, give or take a couple i took a break from, and i totally back @Aries in everything he has said.

We can all say about what if we were in a position on losing money, that situation i can't argue with, you would consider selling it, that's obvious, but the Radio Silence for all of us fans for me is simply poor, irrelevant at what he has done for the club as a rider and a promoter through the years, just be honest with the loyal supporters who has backed him and his family for years. His silence is painful for so many.

As a very loyal Ipswich fan, i now can see all the frustrations that Wolves,Peterborough,Swindon,Lakeside and many more, to many to name, supporters feel at all the uncertainty surrounding their clubs. Now it's our turn, and i hold my hand up it's painful.

There maybe 2 bidders on the table, there maybe more, but until Louis lowers his asking price, it's simply not going to sell.

Yes its controversial, and yes there are Witches fans rolling their eyes at my post, but I've spent many evenings travelling the country Home and Away supporting Ipswich for years, and in my own honest opinion, my loyalty towards Chris and the situation is wearing thin. Not saying loads agree with me, just giving an honest opinion.

Clubs already naming riders (That's the 4 teams that remain), but as we sit here this evening, there is NO guarantee Ipswich come to tapes, irrelevant of the Fine @PhilTheAce is talking about, that simply won't happen, as we all know rules and regulations in this sport are not worth the paper they are written on.

I would say we are closer to NOT running than people think, unless as i read on here earlier today Chris is calling people's bluff and he remains in charge, but for me if he does that, he will have a lot of rebuilding to do with the Supporters.

I hope i'm 100% wrong, and we race, but im nowhere near as confident as some.

Many Apologies for the long post.

Tomorrow is another day???

[Steve Irving]

32 minutes ago, TheTopDrawer said:

or (c) Threaten to sell the business, but actually p1ss off to Australia and leave your loyal customers high and dry, and wondering what is going on.

 

I'd have gone for option (b).    Chris Louis seems to have gone for option (c).      So what's your point?

I think it’s pretty evident that to a fair few Ipswich supporters, Chris Louis walks on water and can’t do a thing wrong. They’re going to back him no matter what.

Which of course is their prerogative. As a neutral, he’s rightly being criticised by others because he’s treated his own supporters appallingly here.

[pubichair]

Lynns league to lose 

[arnieg]

47 minutes ago, Ray Stadia said:

There is an 'Ipswich' in Australia, maybe he is looking to open a track there?  😦

There's already a track (not sure if it is still in use though).

When I went Jaimon Lidsey was riding (in the Australian Youth Championships).

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

24 minutes ago, pubichair said:

Lynns league to lose 

They will manage to 

[TTT]

1 hour ago, pubichair said:

Lynns league to lose 

League standard must be terrible if King's Lynn are favourites imo.

[Sir Sidney]

3 hours ago, cowboy cookie returns? said:

They all have other businesses outside of speedway so can afford to bank roll them. Also a loss making speedway club is quite good for tax reasons.

If the Speedway is your only income & you risk bankruptcy because of a failed business model you’d look at things differently.

Can you explain to me how having a loss making speedway club is good for tax purposes? Surely you would still make less net profit than if you didn't have the loss making speedway club? 

[norbold]

One thing I am not clear about here. There seems to be a feeling that CL has received two offers but neither are as much as he wanted. Ok, fine, so he doesn't undersell. What then? Instead of making some money out of a sale, he makes nothing at all. Is that where we are at the moment, or am I missing something?

[BluPanther]

1 hour ago, norbold said:

One thing I am not clear about here. There seems to be a feeling that CL has received two offers but neither are as much as he wanted. Ok, fine, so he doesn't undersell. What then? Instead of making some money out of a sale, he makes nothing at all. Is that where we are at the moment, or am I missing something?

There were two offers, but it's not been announced if one of them has been accepted or both have been rejected. CL flies back from Oz on Jan 7, the day after the AGM starts, so it's fair to say he won't be attending that. It's unclear if an announcement will be made before the AGM or just after. Anything else is just guesswork, as even those close to him are being kept in the dark,,,

[cowboy cookie returns?]

8 hours ago, Sir Sidney said:

Can you explain to me how having a loss making speedway club is good for tax purposes? Surely you would still make less net profit than if you didn't have the loss making speedway club? 

In short if you own company A that is making a profit & company B your loss making speedway team you can transfer losses from the speedway team to your profit making company reducing the profit that company makes & also the amount of tax that you pay.

 

 

[YeOldPitGate]

11 hours ago, pubichair said:

Lynns league to lose 

Forget the league if its four teams lets head straight for the play off's

[YeOldPitGate]

18 minutes ago, cowboy cookie returns? said:

In short if you own company A that is making a profit & company B your loss making speedway team you can transfer losses from the speedway team to your profit making company reducing the profit that company makes & also the amount of tax that you pay.

 

 

As Cookie say above ,a friend of mine owns two business's one is an absolute cash cow, the other is a pub which turns over a mil a year but still is loss making. As my friend is an old softie he doesn't want to sell the pub as the girl who runs it for him lives there and he doesn't want to make her homeless.

Part of the profits from the successful business is offset against the pub losses to reduce the overall profit figure, as you say if you only had one business you would be making more money but if you want the cudos of owning the local speedway club having a successful outside business is one way of partly subsiding the failing business.

As another example Tolley has his badge business which I'm guessing must make a fortune so as a result he can write off six figures of losses a year at speedway without blinking.

[Racin Jason 72]

9 hours ago, norbold said:

One thing I am not clear about here. There seems to be a feeling that CL has received two offers but neither are as much as he wanted. Ok, fine, so he doesn't undersell. What then? Instead of making some money out of a sale, he makes nothing at all. Is that where we are at the moment, or am I missing something?

I believe both of those offers were conditional on Chris staying on and running the club on behalf of someone else. Which after last time he didn’t want to do. 

[norbold]

8 hours ago, BluPanther said:

There were two offers, but it's not been announced if one of them has been accepted or both have been rejected. CL flies back from Oz on Jan 7, the day after the AGM starts, so it's fair to say he won't be attending that. It's unclear if an announcement will be made before the AGM or just after. Anything else is just guesswork, as even those close to him are being kept in the dark,,,

Thanks, Bluey.

However, are you sure it's not all just some sort of deep state conspiracy?

[Sir Sidney]

1 hour ago, cowboy cookie returns? said:

In short if you own company A that is making a profit & company B your loss making speedway team you can transfer losses from the speedway team to your profit making company reducing the profit that company makes & also the amount of tax that you pay.

 

 

I follow that, but, isn't the net position worse than if you didn't own the loss making company?

My understanding is as per that set out by YeOldPitGate above. 

Edited Monday at 09:08 AM by Sir Sidney