Simon Stead steps down

[WookieboyDon]

Simon Stead has stepped down as joint Team GB boss. Olly Allen will continue in his role.

[IainB]

Team GB boss is barely a job these days... what will it be? 1 meeting? Possibly 2?

[mikebv]

3 hours ago, IainB said:

Team GB boss is barely a job these days... what will it be? 1 meeting? Possibly 2?

Mmmmmmm. Who will I pick?

Decisions, decisions.....

I may need to sleep on it, and decide tomorrow...

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

5 hours ago, WookieboyDon said:

Simon Stead has stepped down as joint Team GB boss. Olly Allen will continue in his role.

Unfortunately I’m not available to be his replacement at this moment, I’ve got too much on 

[dontforgetthefueltapsbruv]

Where do we sign up for the candlelit vigil?

[Tapewrecker]

5 hours ago, IainB said:

Team GB boss is barely a job these days... what will it be? 1 meeting? Possibly 2?

We are better than we was.

[IainB]

26 minutes ago, Tapewrecker said:

We are better than we was.

Credit where it's due, he did help bring home the big one... but it was hardly a job that was eating into his time. 

[Teromaafan]

28 minutes ago, IainB said:

Credit where it's due, he did help bring home the big one... but it was hardly a job that was eating into his time. 

But what about all the time he spent dwindling down the squad of riders to the final three. Then the numerous phone calls to all those riders that just missed out on the final team selection. (More like, can I scrape together three riders up to the job).

[IainB]

3 minutes ago, Teromaafan said:

But what about all the time he spent dwindling down the squad of riders to the final three. Then the numerous phone calls to all those riders that just missed out on the final team selection. (More like, can I scrape together three riders up to the job).

They didn't even have to be up to the job... just British (ish) and willing 😂

Edited Wednesday at 07:19 PM by IainB

[Fromafar]

2 hours ago, Teromaafan said:

But what about all the time he spent dwindling down the squad of riders to the final three. Then the numerous phone calls to all those riders that just missed out on the final team selection. (More like, can I scrape together three riders up to the job).

Couple of nice we “jollies” in there for picking a couple riders. Expenses paid no doubt.

[Tapewrecker]

6 hours ago, mikebv said:

Mmmmmmm. Who will I pick?

Decisions, decisions.....

I may need to sleep on it, and decide tomorrow...

One man job anyway.

[Buttons]

Never understood why it took two team managers!

[mikebv]

1 hour ago, Buttons said:

Never understood why it took two team managers!

One to tell the riders to make great starts and then ride as fast as they could..?

And the other to tell them to turn left when they got to end of every straight..?

[Wee Eck]

I don’t understand all the cynicism here. GB was a joke of a team year after year but Painter, Blackwell, Allen, Stead, Vatcher plus the professional team around them involving fitness, psychology, physiotherapy and media profile have produced some world beating performances. No more pizzas and beer but pride in the job instead. And top class sponsors.
It’s not been just a one day job either with qualifiers and finals in the same week resulting in the squad being together for 4 or 5 days. 
GB has team spirit, team uniforms and, allowing for 2025 being a hiccup, great results since it changed to the current management team.

Olly and Simon have worked well together but they will acknowledge they are only one part of the whole set up. 
When domestic speedway in UK, especially the way the top league is going, is a clown show, and is working its way down and down, the national team has shown that we still have good people with great skills in this country. And Simon has been one of the key players. 
We should be thanking him and not making smart ass comments about his wish to devote more time to his family, his job and Sheffield speedway. 

[Tapewrecker]

On 2/28/2026 at 1:14 PM, Buttons said:

Never understood why it took two team managers!

So one can blame the other when it all goes wrong

[PersonalResponsibility]

3 hours ago, Wee Eck said:

I don’t understand all the cynicism here. GB was a joke of a team year after year but Painter, Blackwell, Allen, Stead, Vatcher plus the professional team around them involving fitness, psychology, physiotherapy and media profile have produced some world beating performances. No more pizzas and beer but pride in the job instead. And top class sponsors.
It’s not been just a one day job either with qualifiers and finals in the same week resulting in the squad being together for 4 or 5 days. 
GB has team spirit, team uniforms and, allowing for 2025 being a hiccup, great results since it changed to the current management team.

Olly and Simon have worked well together but they will acknowledge they are only one part of the whole set up. 
When domestic speedway in UK, especially the way the top league is going, is a clown show, and is working its way down and down, the national team has shown that we still have good people with great skills in this country. And Simon has been one of the key players. 
We should be thanking him and not making smart ass comments about his wish to devote more time to his family, his job and Sheffield speedway. 

While I agree with your general point, I'd be interested to know what has made the biggest difference. Is it all of the additional fitness, psychology, etc., etc. or is it just the fact we now have 2 genuinely world class riders in an era where the top competition is a pairs one?

Maybe the 2 go hand in hand, and Lambert and Bewley are where they are because of all the extras, but I think they'd probably be there regardless. 

We've won 2 SoN titles since its inception (one which was a bit fortuitous). It's an improvement on the past but it's about what you'd expect with the riders we have.

[Wee Eck]

On 3/2/2026 at 12:21 PM, PersonalResponsibility said:

While I agree with your general point, I'd be interested to know what has made the biggest difference. Is it all of the additional fitness, psychology, etc., etc. or is it just the fact we now have 2 genuinely world class riders in an era where the top competition is a pairs one?

Maybe the 2 go hand in hand, and Lambert and Bewley are where they are because of all the extras, but I think they'd probably be there regardless. 

We've won 2 SoN titles since its inception (one which was a bit fortuitous). It's an improvement on the past but it's about what you'd expect with the riders we have.

All valid points. We had a long dry spell with no one, other than Tai, coming through to challenge Bomber and Scott Nicholls for a place in the GB Team. And even with only three decent riders, we had boycotts and fall outs over pay as well as a lack of professionalism in preparation. 
But, over the last 10-15 years, we’ve had several initiatives to help bring the next generation through. Neil Vatcher with the British Youth Championship deserves much of the credit for this but Phil Morris and the late Graham Reeve were also heavily involved. Bev and Marcus Williams in Australia set up the scholarship - some called it boot camp - in their house and Ian Sinderson of ATPI and Richard Cotton of Rentruck got the No Limits training programme going. When the efforts of Vicky Blackwell and Rob Painter are added to this, you can see how individuals are the ones that have created a set of circumstances that have moved us out of the doldrums when it came to developing riders. From a very lowly position, as well as the GP stars, we’ve now got several decent riders chasing for success. Like Tom Brennan, Dan Thompson, Drew Kemp, Joe Thompson, Dan Gilkes, Leon Flint and several more. Each and every person who has helped to create this, and, of course, Simon Stead is part of this, deserves recognition and thanks. 
BSPL and many individual promoters are the villains in this - taking but giving little in return. Turning the Development League from amateur to professional was a huge mistake, driven by vested interest. The bottom league should have been a ride for expenses league, but who remembers the year Adam Ellis - and no slight on Adam intended - turned down a championship role because the NDL was paying him too much? For him, it was the right thing to do but it should have been a wake up call for the promoters. 
Coming back to the original point, the GB Team has been more than the individuals involved, whether that’s those that operate in plain sight or those in the background. But its strength has been because it has operated as a team and Simon was part of the team. Of course GB will regroup without him, but that doesn’t mean his departure shouldn’t be regretted.