Scunthorpe 2026

[allthegearbutnaeidea]

6 hours ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

But it won't be one big league at Championship level - not the 2026 standard anyway

It would need to be significantly watered down if it was to include 14 teams

That would mean the vast majority of teams (both current Prem and Champ) operating at a lower level than they would want

To maintain the standard at the 2026 level you would need to find 25-30 riders at or close to the standard of Harris,Lawson,King,Nicholls,Wright etc

The alternative is to only allow 9/10 teams in - how is that fairly decided?

If you are saying that this solution has to be the "best for British Speedway" then that choice can't automatically be the current 9 incumbents 

It has to be the clubs that give the sport the best chance to thrive and improve, the ones most likely to be able to increase fanbase and take the next steps in the rebuild process

If you don't follow that process then you are not doing what is "best for British Speedway" 

Tough choices

Why do we need 25-30 Championship number 1’s to maintain the standard of the Championship, for 5 more teams?

It would be the likes of Ben Cook, Lidsey, Chris Holder, NKI, Klindt,  any of them wanting to stay in  Britain, which plenty of them will with a decent fixture list, coupled with a few newcomers to the league on assessed 6/5/4 from around the world, and the next 5-10 NL riders to step up. It would certainly stretch the Championship out and racing wouldn’t be near as good due to the differing standard of riders, maybe you resort to 6 man teams instead, but you don’t need 25 number ones, you’d get them from the Premiership I think.

BV - Ben Cook/Blodorn/Lidsey

Sheff - Chris Holder 

Lynn- Klindt/NKI

Ippo - Brennan/Rew

Leicester - Douglas/Becker

Northampton/Pboro - Tungate/One of the above

[Pinny]

19 hours ago, StevePark said:

That'll be the same Ipswich that, after the Promotion/Relegation Play-off with Newcastle in 2010, decided to drop down to the second-tier? Same promoter who has now decided to sell as he is disillusioned with the Premiership in 2025/6?

Also the same Ipswich that spent the 2000's in the doldrums of the EL. Year in year out poor sides which led them to eventually drop. Some fans have short memories. 
 

For what its worth, the turn around since those days for Ipswich has been remarkable. But it wasnt long ago things were very different for them. 

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

1 hour ago, allthegearbutnaeidea said:

Why do we need 25-30 Championship number 1’s to maintain the standard of the Championship, for 5 more teams?

It would be the likes of Ben Cook, Lidsey, Chris Holder, NKI, Klindt,  any of them wanting to stay in  Britain, which plenty of them will with a decent fixture list, coupled with a few newcomers to the league on assessed 6/5/4 from around the world, and the next 5-10 NL riders to step up. It would certainly stretch the Championship out and racing wouldn’t be near as good due to the differing standard of riders, maybe you resort to 6 man teams instead, but you don’t need 25 number ones, you’d get them from the Premiership I think.

BV - Ben Cook/Blodorn/Lidsey

Sheff - Chris Holder 

Lynn- Klindt/NKI

Ippo - Brennan/Rew

Leicester - Douglas/Becker

Northampton/Pboro - Tungate/One of the above

They ride in Poland therefore will not ride in a UK league with no race night restrictions

The 25-30 don't all to be No1 standard but I think you knew that but choose to pretend to suit your point.....

[Hamster00]

12 minutes ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

They ride in Poland therefore will not ride in a UK league with no race night restrictions

The 25-30 don't all to be No1 standard but I think you knew that but choose to pretend to suit your point.....

I mean you did name 5 riders that are number 1 standard and said you’d need 25-30 riders at that standard?

So is that the standard you meant or isn’t it?

 

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

20 hours ago, StevePark said:

That'll be the same Ipswich that, after the Promotion/Relegation Play-off with Newcastle in 2010, decided to drop down to the second-tier? Same promoter who has now decided to sell as he is disillusioned with the Premiership in 2025/6?

 

17 minutes ago, Pinny said:

Also the same Ipswich that spent the 2000's in the doldrums of the EL. Year in year out poor sides which led them to eventually drop. Some fans have short memories. 
 

For what its worth, the turn around since those days for Ipswich has been remarkable. But it wasnt long ago things were very different for them. 

A valid analogy in many ways although not completely correlated 

In many ways Ipswich were expelled - the top league didn't really want them at that time

Despite being that 'sick man' of the top league they were immediately one of the top dogs in tier 2 and the aim and drive was to rebuild and return

There isn't that desire in thd top clubs of the Championship now is there?

There is the criticism that Ipswich and Belle Vue just used Birmingham and Oxford as fodder but Is the situation different in the Championship?

You see very similar with Poole and Glasgow re Workington and Scunthorpe  - who has the big name No1s? Who signs the hot young talent? 

[Hamster00]

1 minute ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

You see very similar with Poole and Glasgow re Workington and Scunthorpe  - who has the big name No1s? Who signs the hot young talent? 

Poole and Glasgow don’t expect other teams to go to the wall to sustain what they want though do they? Which is what Ipswich and Belle Vue want, they want the big names despite the fact it’s clear it’s unsustainable in the current climate, which I’m pretty sure you even have agreed is true.

Yes Poole and Glasgow snap up young talent nobody is arguing that, they’ve also agreed a rule that each team can only have one “Big Hitter” with an average over 8 to start the season.

It’s clear you have a disdain for the Championship and clubs in that league, you’ve made that obvious.

All they’ve done is taken a stand to protect themselves from losing silly money and propping up a failing system, big changes are needed and no doubt they’ll all be a part of it.

I’m sure no matter what they do though they’ll always be wrong and Ipswich will always be a beacon of perfection in your eyes.

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

5 minutes ago, Hamster00 said:

I mean you did name 5 riders that are number 1 standard and said you’d need 25-30 riders at that standard?

So is that the standard you meant or isn’t it?

 

You're being deliberately obtuse and pedantic

Perhaps I should've mixed it up a bit but if you used more than a single brain cell, some logic and a little common sense yoy could work it out

For clarity it goes down further to include the likes of (but not exclusive to!) Howarth, Castagna, Edwards, Mulford, Zischke

All worlds ahead of the NDL/out of depth newcomers that would still be required to fill the gaps without them

It would limit these newcomers to the reserve berths rather than filling 4 spaces in each team...

 

[Hamster00]

1 minute ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

You're being deliberately obtuse and pedantic

Perhaps I should've mixed it up a bit but if you used more than a single brain cell, some logic and a little common sense yoy could work it out

For clarity it goes down further to include the likes of (but not exclusive to!) Howarth, Castagna, Edwards, Mulford, Zischke

All worlds ahead of the NDL/out of depth newcomers that would still be required to fill the gaps without them

It would limit these newcomers to the reserve berths rather than filling 4 spaces in each team...

 

I’m not I was literally using your own words, you’ve clarified/expanded your view but it was quite clear in your original post you didn’t mean Jake Mulford as I don’t think you can argue he’s the same standard as Chris Harris right now.

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

1 minute ago, Hamster00 said:

Poole and Glasgow don’t expect other teams to go to the wall to sustain what they want though do they? Which is what Ipswich and Belle Vue want, they want the big names despite the fact it’s clear it’s unsustainable in the current climate, which I’m pretty sure you even have agreed is true.

Yes Poole and Glasgow snap up young talent nobody is arguing that, they’ve also agreed a rule that each team can only have one “Big Hitter” with an average over 8 to start the season.

It’s clear you have a disdain for the Championship and clubs in that league, you’ve made that obvious.

All they’ve done is taken a stand to protect themselves from losing silly money and propping up a failing system, big changes are needed and no doubt they’ll all be a part of it.

I’m sure no matter what they do though they’ll always be wrong and Ipswich will always be a beacon of perfection in your eyes.

I have no disdain whatsoever for the Championship or any team within it and Ipswich is not perrfect (and was far from it in the past)

I agree big changes are needed - let's hope they are made and that they work

[PersonalResponsibility]

1 hour ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

 

A valid analogy in many ways although not completely correlated 

In many ways Ipswich were expelled - the top league didn't really want them at that time

Despite being that 'sick man' of the top league they were immediately one of the top dogs in tier 2 and the aim and drive was to rebuild and return

There isn't that desire in thd top clubs of the Championship now is there?

There is the criticism that Ipswich and Belle Vue just used Birmingham and Oxford as fodder but Is the situation different in the Championship?

You see very similar with Poole and Glasgow re Workington and Scunthorpe  - who has the big name No1s? Who signs the hot young talent? 

8 years in the 2nd tier with one single PO final appearance does not scream "top dogs" nor an obvious "drive to rebuild".

Curiously, both Leicester and Somerset dropped down to the 2nd tier for 2019, leaving only 5 teams in the 1st tier, and it was only then that Ipswich chose to go back up. 

[allthegearbutnaeidea]

1 hour ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

They ride in Poland therefore will not ride in a UK league with no race night restrictions

The 25-30 don't all to be No1 standard but I think you knew that but choose to pretend to suit your point.....

To quote you - “To maintain the standard at the 2026 level you would need to find 25-30 riders at or close to the standard of Harris,Lawson,King,Nicholls,Wright etc “

 

You choosing to use 5 of the top 10 averaged riders in the Championship is just trying to sensationalise your argument.

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

24 minutes ago, allthegearbutnaeidea said:

To quote you - “To maintain the standard at the 2026 level you would need to find 25-30 riders at or close to the standard of Harris,Lawson,King,Nicholls,Wright etc “

 

You choosing to use 5 of the top 10 averaged riders in the Championship is just trying to sensationalise your argument.

Please see my clarification post 

My apologies that you couldn't envisage the full meaning and the intended impact

[Fromafar]

2 hours ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

 

A valid analogy in many ways although not completely correlated 

In many ways Ipswich were expelled - the top league didn't really want them at that time

Despite being that 'sick man' of the top league they were immediately one of the top dogs in tier 2 and the aim and drive was to rebuild and return

There isn't that desire in thd top clubs of the Championship now is there?

There is the criticism that Ipswich and Belle Vue just used Birmingham and Oxford as fodder but Is the situation different in the Championship?

You see very similar with Poole and Glasgow re Workington and Scunthorpe  - who has the big name No1s? Who signs the hot young talent? 

The desire is certainly financially restricted by the fixed racenights that were brought in to suit Poland fixtures.

[TigerIain]

10 hours ago, PersonalResponsibility said:

8 years in the 2nd tier with one single PO final appearance does not scream "top dogs" nor an obvious "drive to rebuild".

Curiously, both Leicester and Somerset dropped down to the 2nd tier for 2019, leaving only 5 teams in the 1st tier, and it was only then that Ipswich chose to go back up. 

Was that not the winter where KL promoter Buster Chapman was buying the Witches, and it was Buster not Chris Louis moving them to the Premiership (or whatever it was called that year)? 

The sale didn't happen and Louis remained promoter but did change leagues, purely because it was too late to pull out. Yes Chris Louis then put a lot of work in to stay in his local league. 

But without Buster Chapman forcing Ipswich to change leagues then it might never have happened, and almost certainly wouldn't have happened in the year that it did. 

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

9 minutes ago, TigerIain said:

Was that not the winter where KL promoter Buster Chapman was buying the Witches, and it was Buster not Chris Louis moving them to the Premiership (or whatever it was called that year)? 

The sale didn't happen and Louis remained promoter but did change leagues, purely because it was too late to pull out. Yes Chris Louis then put a lot of work in to stay in his local league. 

But without Buster Chapman forcing Ipswich to change leagues then it might never have happened, and almost certainly wouldn't have happened in the year that it did. 

It might yet be Buster after all.......in the end

[Aries]

18 minutes ago, dontforgetthefueltapsbruv said:

It might yet be Buster after all.......in the end

Buster and co, with a “buy back” Clause is the latest doing the rounds. 
 

Wonderful. 

[Aries]

11 hours ago, PersonalResponsibility said:

8 years in the 2nd tier with one single PO final appearance does not scream "top dogs" nor an obvious "drive to rebuild".

Curiously, both Leicester and Somerset dropped down to the 2nd tier for 2019, leaving only 5 teams in the 1st tier, and it was only then that Ipswich chose to go back up. 

Incorrect. Try conned!

[RS50]

Anyone like to start talking about Scunthorpe again, on this thread? 😅

[Fromafar]

6 minutes ago, RS50 said:

Anyone like to start talking about Scunthorpe again, on this thread? 😅

Who put the c#nt in it for starters.🤔😂

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

1 hour ago, RS50 said:

Anyone like to start talking about Scunthorpe again, on this thread? 😅

Thread at 298 posts - if every Scunthorpe fan makes one themselves that could double by the start of the season