Coventry Season In Review (and other things)

ITEM: When trying to review Coventry speedway's 2013 season it's almost necessary to split the review into three. As a whole, the club took some tentative steps forward, helped by a prudent financial plan, better PR, a more assertive attitude with rival clubs, and a successful return to third division racing. It can’t be ignored, however, that the Bees had a rotten season - the worst in almost a decade - and that's where the headlines are written large. I would counsel, though, that things aren't as bad under Mick Horton as some would, rather simplistically, try to make out.

So, the Bees, then. What a horrible, horrible season. From almost the second the tapes went up on the home opener against Birmingham, it looked destined to be a bad one. Some of the damage was done before that, however, with a curiously backward team building process - three of the 2013 bottom four being announced at the 2012 Dinner & Dance - and a protracted "will he, wont he" tug of war with the Brummies over the services of Ben Barker. Horton is adamant that Barker verbally agreed terms for 2013 - having already signed for Ipswich, he would be unable to return to Perry Barr on their shared Thursday racenight - but that the Cornishman did a volte face as the Brummies decided to move their Thursday to Wednesday (and didn't that work out for them financially!) That Barker did the dirty on Horton seems obvious, although they seem to have patched things up and he may well be in the plans for 2014, and it only illustrated the pitfalls of suddenly finding yourself without a third heat leader.

Barker's replacement, Grzegorz Zengota, would - at Brandon, at least - prove to be one of the few bright spots of the season. Coming back from a serious injury, he was always going to be a gamble, but I'd wager that it paid off. With the rest of the team being, at best, indifferent, it would be harsh to lay any of the blame for the poor season at the young Pole's door, but his inability to master tracks on his travels would preclude him from my 2014 thinking, were some ludicrous and terrible accident to happen and I would actually be in that position.

Zengota's inclusion gave the Bees a very Polish look, with Michael Szczepaniak retained from 2012, and joined by his younger brother, Mateusz, and 2010 hero Krzysztof Kasprzak. The elder Panic brother was never intended to be a trump card - at 29 years old he is very much the finished article - but still upped his average (the only rider aside from Zengota to do that). His brother was a victim of circumstance, and was never allowed to find his feet wearing the Fighting Bee. Pushed into the main body of the side by Adam Roynon's injury - or more importantly, the woeful replacement secured by our rookie team manager - he struggled for points and was soon jettisoned to make way for the first of a couple of "returning heroes". I still maintain that he could have - and would have - improved his average, especially with a good start at reserve, but it wasn't meant to be.

Roynon's injury was horrific for all the witnessed it, and catastrophic for the Bees' season. It wasn't so much that the loss of Roynon was a disaster - although the lad, when fit, has the potential to match, and possibly eclipse, Barker, Bridger, Worrall, and the like - but that every step taken afterward seemed to be poorly considered. The Bees could have recovered from his loss, but that they didn't told its own story. Few of us who saw Roynon hit by an unfortunate Josh Auty thought we'd ever see him ride again, but he did return to the Bees' team later in the season, only to be injured once more. I like Adam. He bleeds speedway and seems to have a genuine affection for Coventry that our team manager could learn from (and more of that later) and I would have no qualms about seeing him line-up for 2014. I just wish he'd have some better luck, is all.

The first of Roynon's replacements, Joe Screen, was altogether the wrong man at the wrong time. As was seen by his eventual retirement later in the season, Screen was very much on the decline, a situation obscured by his almost total mastery of Glasgow's Ashfield track. This kept his overall average up when it was clear to most - although, curiously, not his best friend in the Bees team manager role - that his chances of competing anywhere other than Ashfield had dwindled to almost nothing. That we wore tassels on his kevlars brought a nostalgic smile, but that was the only joy he brought to Coventry fans last season. I'm sure he'll be missed by many, but Bees fans are unlikely to count themselves in that number.

After it became clear that Screen just wasn’t working out, and in a double-whammy with Mateusz Szczepaniak also going, club assets Olly Allen and Stuart Robson were recalled, as doubling-up riders, and with the club no doubt hoping that they'd bring some goodwill from the fans with them to Brandon, as well as scoring a few points and earning some much-needed home victories. Truth told, they stopped the rot (although we were no better on our travels), but it seemed a very odd Coventry team that was taking to the track at times. With four of the side reflecting past glories, and only Zengota as anything resembling a star of the future, this backward-looking approach seemed to reflect the demographics found at most speedway tracks. It did little to whet the appetite and, while I can understand the reasons behind almost all the decisions taken in 2013, you would hope that lessons have been learned.

No-one illustrated that nostalgic feeling better than Scott Nicholls, the Bees most successful captain of all-time, but one who hasn't won anything in Coventry colours for almost a decade. The problem with Nicholls is that he's super nice, super professional, and has the look of a man pained when things just aren't going right. It became a standing joke that he was trying hard, even if big points were beyond him, and that just isn't good enough in a struggling side. There's also a question over whether his motivational skills have declined, because there seemed precious little team spirit at times, although perhaps that is because a fish rots from the head down, and the Bees were a very rotten fish by the time September rolled around.

That the Bees needed an out and out number one was never up for debate. That Kasprzak, despite his issues with Birmingham and remembering how inspirational he was in 2010, could be that number one seemed logical enough. After all, he'd just averaged over 9 points a meeting for Poole in the second half of 2012, and why wouldn't he carry that form on, especially in his testimonial year? Two points dropped off his average later, and after a string of lacklustre performances when any points he did score seemed to come after the result was in no doubt (never in the Bees' favour, mind), and he was released with one meeting to go, replaced by Linus Sundstrom - although I'd have accepted Linus from Peanuts by that time. Kasprzak is the ultimate enigma. So good when brought in as cover, and with the sniff of a title in his nostrils, but so disinterested at all other times. The biggest mystery is why clubs continue to employ him, but never underestimate the seductive qualities of someone who can qualify for the Grand Prix series two years in a row (even if he scores just 3 points for his club the night before...). Sunstrom's tenure at the Bees lasted just 2 rides, only finishing one. He was still better than Kasprzak.

The appointment of Gary Havelock as team manager seemed, on the face of it, a decent move. Although he was sometimes incomprehensible in his television appearances, he seems a genial fellow, and has a wealth of experience in the sport. However, his tactical naivety and seeming inability to motivate his team told their own story, and the Bees suffered as a result. There's an old maxim in football that goes, "once they step across the white line, the manager's job is done". It could easily be applied to speedway, with "helmets on" replacing the not-terribly-applicable white lines bit. However, with speedway 1-7s pretty much picking themselves (or at least largely being picked by who a promoter signs at the beginning of the season), you have to wonder how a manager should be judged. If not on their ability to influence proceedings between heats 1 and 15, then how? Also, there's also an old maxim that goes, "good riders don't become bad ones overnight". So, yeah. Havelock compounded his poor performance as manager with some ill-considered comments about Poole, ignorant (wilfully or otherwise) of the history between the two sides. Fans are often willing to give a chance to succeed to people they like – it’s fair to say that no-one really likes Havelock on the terraces at Brandon, and so his every move will be met with a shrug of indifference or howls of anger from this point on.

The 2013 Elite League season will go down in history as a nadir in the sport. That Coventry overplayed their role and stunk up the league seems somehow fitting - you could argue that, despite what claims Poole may make to be the top club in the land, the fortunes of Coventry speedway are a bellweather for the sport as a whole. The story of 2013 was a simple tale of getting it slightly wrong, putting it enough right to engender some hope, and then misstep after misstep, to its inevitable conclusion. The one thing that can be said for the Bees is that they didn’t bankrupt the promotion, although the team was by no means a cheap one. Rather Mick Horton was unwilling/unable to dip into the overdraft to try and turn things around once they started to go awry. For some that is unforgiveable. I'd much rather have speedway guaranteed than risk the future of the club and end up winning nothing, like our neighbours up the road. Coventry, as always, paid their bills, and that is something that shouldn't be a badge of honour but weirdly is in 21st century speedway.

Off the track, the club made some good advances in public relations, partly down to letting cooler heads rule the communication channels between club and fans. Mick Horton is a passionate man, and at times has let this passion rule his head. Neil Watson seems more considered and it is to their credit that they have worked out this new path. There have been mistakes made, too, and some fans grumbled that they didn’t receive their promised 16 meetings for their season ticket money, although the weather did not help on that front. Unfortunately, promoters are not born fully-formed. Even the most seasoned make mistakes and, unless there is any wilful negligence or a deliberate attempt to cheat or mislead their customers, I think we have to err on the side of their mortality.

There are still those, and their number is not inconsiderable, who would swap our current promotion team for another in a heartbeat. We were spoiled under Sandhu and the C.O., and our present position is not befitting of a club of our stature. However, we should be careful what we wish for. In its current state there are few benevolent millionaires queuing up to run a speedway club, when success depends on ploughing any profits – and much more – back into the money pit created by wealthier promoters. Horton and company have not destroyed our club, far from it. Their actions over the next few months, though, will decide their fate in the minds of the fans. I wish them every success.

Let’s finish on a positive! Against the warning words of the naysayers, the return of third division racing to Brandon was a cautious success. The brief given to Blayne Scroggins and Laurence Rogers was to bring through some new assets and ensure that National League speedway was self-financing. On this score they succeeded, with Luke Crang becoming a club asset (alongside Ryan Terry-Daley, a cult hero in the making), and showing every sign that he can progress in the sport. Crowds were not fantastic, but sustaining, and generous-enough sponsors were found to back the project.

More importantly, they brought fun back to a sport which has missed that important quotient for so long. I’d watched a bit of National League speedway in the past, but not having a horse in the race, so to speak, kept me at a cool distance. Having a Coventry team to watch – win or lose – heightened the enjoyment, and the trips I made to Buxton and the Isle of Wight were the highlight of my season. Even better, for much of the season I was able to convince myself that I shouldn’t take it too seriously, and even when we lost we were still witnessing the progression of young British riders, for both teams. This is an attitude held by most NL fans (even if Dudley and Mildenhall do take it a bit seriously), and it does the league credit.

The Storm will be back in 2014, should there be a National League for them to compete in, and I’d urge Bees’ fans to get along and support them. It’s a cheap night out, with some surprisingly decent racing, and you’re only cheating yourself if you stay away out of some notion of Elite League superiority…

So, yes. Very much a two steps forward, one step back season for Coventry speedway, even if that backwards step was a painful and avoidable one. I’d like very much to be able to lock the 2013 season, as a whole, away in a cupboard and never speak of it again. There are some, however, who will bring it out to beat the current promotion no matter how 2014 goes. Next season really is a new opportunity, for British speedway and the Coventry Bees/Storm. We should grasp it with both hands and approach every meeting, every decision made by the BSPA and the Coventry promotion, with one simple truth: we are the greatest club in speedway and everyone else can eat our dirt.

ITEM: It’s war! I warned long ago that the European Championships (SEC), backed by Polish marketing firm OneSport, and the BSI-promoted Grand Prix series (SGP) were on a collision course, and this week the FIM finally engineered that crash.

The FIM, acting unilaterally (as if anyone would believe that), have banned any rider “accepting an invitation” to take part in the SGP from also competing in the SEC. They claim that no other sport allows such a duality, ignoring all those sports that do and trying to justify their intrusion on a commercial market by treating speedway as if it were any other motorsport.

FIM-Europe, who oversee the SEC, have maintained a silence, outflanked by their senior counterparts in Geneva, and it has been left to series’ sponsors NICE to take point in the charge. NICE, of course, claim that this is a commercial decision taken to protect BSI’s interests, without actually suggesting it was at their behest, and that there are several options open which will allow the SEC to proceed as planned next season.

These may include launching legal proceedings, with EU competition law very much on their side, and tying the decision up in the courts – allowing both sides to carry on promoting their respective competitions until a decision is made either way. They may also decide to drop any pretence of a legitimate title, effectively running four open meetings – four Zlata Prilba, if you will – televised by Eurosport and with a field selected from the best in the world. If the FIM were to outlaw this, they would also have to outlaw every open meeting held across Europe, and beyond, and so their power to forbid this option seems limited at best.

There are also steps that could be taken by the SEC’s chief allies, the Polish motorsport federation, the PZM. They have previously limited the number of SGP riders in their top league, and could decide to ban them altogether to force the riders to make a decision between the SGP and the SEC, or they could move their league programme to Saturdays, directly clashing with the SGP (the SEC would, of course, switch to Sunday), and again forcing the riders to choose between the exposure of the SGP and the money on offer in the Polish league.

This latter sanction has some support in Poland, with 97% of fans polled by Sportowefakty in support of taking a stand against the FIM, and with clubs increasingly annoyed by riders turning up for their Polish clubs tired or injured from their SGP exertions the night before. With two or three Polish meetings paying more than an entire season of SGP racing, it is not unthinkable that riders may choose the EkstraLiga over the Grands Prix, which must be a worry for BSI and the FIM. The PZM meets on November 17^th to make its decision.

However it concludes – and it may rumble on for some time - this isn’t going to end well…

ITEM: In a previous life, as you may as guessed from some of my more bizarre ideas and comparisons, I was involved in professional wrestling. For most of that time, I spent more time on the microphone than in the squared circle (although I was very big in Wiltshire for a while…), and as part of that I appeared on various television and radio programmes, spreading the gospel of British wrestling. One of my favourite gigs was as an occasional guest on The Tommy Boyd Show on TalkSport, and I’d eagerly jump on a train to London to take part in a 2-hour ‘phone-in, where I’d get to have a pre-show chat about football with Lawrie McMenemy and then wind-up the teenage wrestling fans of Great Britain with my controversial opinions on Rob van Dam.

I’d been thinking about this show a lot recently, and how useful it might be to get a similar slot on TalkSport for British speedway, and then Tai Woffinden made his well-received appearance on Colin Murray’s Sports Brief and it all fell into place…

Speedway already has an “in” at TalkSport. Nigel Pearson and Dave Rowe, quite aside from their speedway jobs, are match reporters for the station, with Pearson also making guest appearances on The Sports Breakfast on occasion, and so it would take be a leap of the imagination for them to host a show. In my experience, and I accept it’s a decade past, programming can be very presenter-driven, with the wrestling show growing out of Boyd’s teenage sons’ interest in the sport, and a nudge in that direction from Pearson, perhaps with the backing of interested observers like Murray (who really seemed to take to Woffinden and the sport), would go a long way.

It’s also true that TalkSport is very football-focussed, and so short on discussion-fodder in the summer months (not that it holds them back any), and with speedway more like football than cricket or any other summer sport, it would fill a small hole in the schedules, and attract a new demographic to the station.

If it wasn’t so true, I’d be sick of saying “2014 is a big year for the sport” and we should aim high in our ambitions to take advantage of the possible restructure of the sport and our first world champion in thirteen years. A weekly radio show on a national station may seem unthinkable or unattainable but I’ve lived that experience with another minority sport and I can tell you it’s not. Over to you, Nigel and Dave…