IainB Posted 7 hours ago Author Report Share Posted 7 hours ago (edited) 1 hour ago, WookieboyDon said: Agreed. Support through thick and thin. Plus, 2026 is very much a consolidation year given how late they started. I'm not sure what some people expected?! They're doing better than I expected actually, with some close(ish) scores away without them ever really threatening to win a match. What hasn't helped them is the fragility of the league and a club's inability to cover adequately for injury, this has been shown over the last few years with the loss of Doyle x 2, Sayfutdinov, DJ Woffy etc. etc. the strength in depth of the league is just not there when one of the "big" points scorers gets injured. Edited 6 hours ago by IainB 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtf Posted 6 hours ago Report Share Posted 6 hours ago 2 hours ago, mikebv said: I thought so to, and also thought it would be a great idea... World No2, pretty much guaranteed to hit you 12 and over at home, so would "protect" races, thus keeping the score close at worst, and do it from the back if needed... A "new hero", for the kids in particular, to latch onto... I thought, given it was a "collective", who made it clear how important it was to launch a sixth team, that they would have sorted them out a very competitive team.. They seem to have settled on two number 3's, three second strings, and two reserves... To have a sixth team, yes, but the thought of it being better than any of the existing teams, I think they coughed at that one. 🤣 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamish McRaker Posted 6 hours ago Report Share Posted 6 hours ago Yes i thought that Kurtz was earmarked for "Northampton" but i suspect the longer that things dragged on over the winter, then Kurtz would have run out of patience and needed to get his 2026 calendar sorted out, so had to stick with BV. As for the current predicament, perhaps as Peter Oakes suggested recently, Northampton could be helped-out, by way of being granted "special dispensation". For instance, being allowed to try and sign a rider (of suffiently good standard) who is only required to ride in home matches. Whilst this wouldnt solve the problem of being vulnerable to heavy away defeats and a poor attraction, maybe a little flexibility with guest rider averages could be allowed with the proviso that those riders do not appear in heat 15? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adonis Posted 5 hours ago Report Share Posted 5 hours ago 7 hours ago, paulnolan said: I would absolutely disagree that success or failure on track is a moot point. No-one wants to support a losing team. And while I'm a speedway fan first and foremost and can get enjoyment from meetings even as a neutral, I'm not the 1,000 new fans they'll need to make this a success. At the very least, the league table at the end of the season should show 10 wins if you want this to be more than a one-season thing, and this isn't a team capable of 10 wins. As for who could come in, I'm sure there's riders out there who would welcome another 20 meetings, especially if they're already based in the UK like Jason Doyle, Tai Woffinden, or even Robert Lambert. And then there's Rohan Tungate, Keynan Rew, Luke Becker, or some promising young Danes? I don't know, I've not followed things closely for a few years so I might just be being unrealistic. the failures at Northampton began long before a wheel was turned ,, it was almost a secret except to speedway fans ,that Northampton were opening . lots of potential fans not even aware there was going to be speedway ,,it was a massive investment to get Northampton up and running , and IMHO some of that money would have been better placed elsewhere , bribing a current championship team to step up . and investing in Northampton to start in accordance with the bspa rules and run in the championship , A championship season would give newbies a good few new teams to watch ,not the same 5 over and over , and championship fans a new venue to see , seems like a winner to me , a successful first season ,building and retaining their own fanbase ,and revenue from away team supporters while a home fanbase built up ,,season 2 a step up a league allowing the bribed team to step back down 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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