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…

Pedal Power (and other things)

ITEM: I was going to use this space to write a review of the Coventry season. I did one last year, and it’s only fitting that this year’s disaster gets its fair kicking. But that can wait until next week because, for once, I’m giddy with some happy news about speedway!

Ricky Ashworth’s dad announced this afternoon that Ricky is officially out of his coma, three months after his horror crash at Scunthorpe. There’s still a long, long way to go until Ricky is back to full health but this is a hugely encouraging step towards that. It’s probably too soon to talk of what the future holds for Ricky but I hope, one day, to see him ride four laps in anger, and prove that some of these guys that ride these 500cc machines with no brakes really don’t know what a limit is until they’ve broken it.

ITEM: Cycle speedway and our version of the sport share more than just a name and a four-lap racing connection. The fortunes of the two sports - desperately unfashionable yet clinging on in outposts up and down the country - have always been similar, and in the motorised speedway's heyday of the 1950s and 1960s more than a few speedway riders had their first taste of shale action on a pushbike, before grasstrack took over as the primary feeder for speedway talent. The two disciplined used to be further entwined, with some tracks - such as Brandon - even playing host to their own cycle speedway sides alongside their bigger, methanol-powered brothers, but this has fallen away in recent years, to the benefit of neither.

One advantage cycle speedway will always have over regular speedway is its ability to penetrate the inner cities. A few longstanding tracks aside, our version of the sport has retreated to the suburbs and the provinces, but cycle speedway retains clubs in the major cities, including London (long-since dead for speedway, unlikely ever to grace the inside of the M25 again), Birmingham, Manchester, and Edinburgh, but also Norwich, Bristol, Southampton, Exeter, and Hull. There are also cycle speedway teams still operating in areas where speedway has lost its foothold, such as South Wales, West Yorkshire, and Oxford.

Another advantage that pedal-powered racing has is its inclusivity and relative cheapness. Kids as young as 6 or 7 can start riding, and sometimes competitively, without too much travel or financial outlay on the part of their parents. And with the sport running at an amateur level, the vast majority of its events are free to watch, and often get big crowds - the British Finals at Coventry this year attracted over 1000 fans for its August Bank Holiday climax!

Some speedway clubs have close links with their local cycle speedway sides - I've attended meetings at Birmingham and Coventry this season where the local cycle speedway clubs have publicised their events and joining opportunities - but there is so much more that could be done, both on an ad hoc local level, and on an organised team-up with the BSPA. The advantages to both sides are obvious. The cycle speedway teams would gain access to a new stream of fans and sponsors, and a link-up with their bigger brothers (perhaps accompanied by a re-branding, in some cases) would also open the door to increased media opportunities. The speedway clubs would also be able to tap into new fans, and provide a free alternative to lapsed fans who could then be tempted back to the sport they fell out of love with/could no longer afford to go to. It would also establish a "grass roots" element for those clubs who are lacking such a thing, with the accompanying funding and talent opportunities that may provide.

More importantly, the existence of cycle speedway teams in towns and cities that no longer have their own speedway tracks, and the relative ease and affordability of establishing further tracks in other towns, provides a testing ground, and access to local communities in a "safe" way, that may well lead to opportunities for new motor speedway tracks in those towns down the line. Far better to expand from cycle speedway, with its grassroots, community aspect into the noisy, smelly version of the sport than simply appear with the latter, no? And even if that's a pipe dream, simply having a cycle speedway presence (linked to, and with advertising for the nearest, if somewhat distant, speedway track) can do no harm in attracting new fans and sponsors to the senior discipline.

There is little to lose from pursuing a link, and everything to gain. How satisfying it would be to find a John Harrhy (Coventry speedway legend who learned his racing trade on a pushbike) again! How refreshing it would be to spend a Sunday afternoon watching the Swindon Robins Cycle Speedway team in-between gaps in fixtures at the Abbey Stadium! And imagine how different to a failed radio DJ droning on about nothing important it would be to watch some cycle speedway on the centre green in-between races at your local track! The opportunities are bountiful...

ITEM: It used to be a staple of British speedway that touring teams - the Swedish champions or a Soviet test side, perhaps - would open the British season with a series of challenge matches up and down the country. In a scene starved of exotic foreign action, except for the odd and strange meeting on Screensport, it was a chance for the British & National League teams to blow out the cobwebs against unfamiliar opposition, who would attract local fans eager for a slice of the unknown. The proper result - a plucky display by the visitors but a comfortable home win nonetheless - was usually adhered to, and everybody then went about their respective serious business, whether it be winning the National League (of old) or taking on Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Italy in a World Team Cup qualifying round.

There'll be a return, of sorts, to this kind of pre-season action in 2014 when Peterborough play host to Zielona Gora (a "Mickey Mouse club" due to their emblem, rather than one like Birmingham) and one other Polish EkstraLiga side, probably Czestochowa, in a mini-tournament. The Polish leagues are regarded as heads and shoulders above our own, a fact never more ably illustrated than by this week's "cost-cutting" announcement, whereby clubs will "only" be able to pay signing on fees of £40,000, and be restricted to a paltry £900 a point (although when and whether the riders get paid is another matter), and this will provide a good opportunity for us to measure, on track, how we match up. It will also be an opportunity for the speedway "hipster" to turn out, bedecked in their Indianerna or MSC Brokstedt scarves, and keen to tell everyone how cheap the beer (real ale, of course) was that time in Togliatti. We're a broad church, and we welcome everyone, and it might even tempt some of that elusive group - the British-based Polish speedway fans - out of their hideyholes, and into our stadiums.

One thing is certain - it's better for the fans to see this kind of challenge than a visit from another Elite League side, who may also end up coming twice in the league, and as such should be encouraged. I still remember looking at pictures of the Russians in the Speedway Mail and thinking how great and mysterious they looked. Yeah, I was a hipster, too.

ITEM: Now that we've reached the end of a season that seemed to go on far too long, it's time to reflect on a few winners and losers. I'm sure you could write a full list, with just about everybody involved in the sport in one camp or another, but I'll restrict it to just a handful of both, and let others go into more depth about just why the track raker at Wolverhampton had a bad season (tripping over his rake probably didn't help...)

Winners

Laura Morgan - Laura Morgan doesn't need me to tell you she's a winner. She's recovered from a huge blow which would probably have seen others give up on life, and ploughed the small slice of good fortune she received as a result into doing something she enjoys. After becoming paralysed in a car accident a few years ago, Morgan used some of the compensation she received to rescue an ailing Workington and ensure the sport continues in Cumbria for a good few years yet. Although the Comets missed out on the Premier League title, they did make the play-offs, and all at the club must have been pleased with the ongoing progress of young Brits Kyle Howarth and Ashley Morris, as well as the steps made by their number one Richard Lawson in the Elite League for Lakeside. Morgan also found some pennies to help Edinburgh out of a financial jam, and will ensure that the Comets can comply with the airfence regulation for 2014, although the club's fans are well on their way to helping the Cumbrian side pay for that outlay with some solid fundraising. Morgan, not rich by any stretch of the imagination but with some disposable income to be invested in speedway, is exactly the kind of club owner the sport needs, and to see her have some small success and, more importantly, enjoy what she's doing at Workington, is heartwarming and encouraging.

Somerset Rebels - After missing out in the play-off final last season, the Rebels went one better this year and won the Premier League title. They also added the Pairs' title and the Knockout Cup to their trophy cabinet, and staged a very successful televised meeting against the Edinburgh Monarchs in June. They have long been considered to be in possession of one of - if not the - best racetracks in the UK, and the club's off-track income stream, due to a prudently-constructed clubhouse, is a blueprint for the modern speedway club. Put simply, there is little the Highbridge club are doing that isn't an example of how to do things in speedway (although I'd be a little more comfortable with less Australians in their side!). The dream move would be for them to take a step up into whatever the top league looks like next season, with local derbies with Swindon and Poole to be savoured, and further investment in the infrastructure of the club and their stadium to make the Oak Tree Arena an FIM-standard venue, capable of hosting the biggest events on its fantastic racing surface. That's for the future, however. For now, Somerset are simply a good news story that goes on and on and on...

Tai Woffinden - You may have missed it, but Woffinden had a pretty good year. He finally won the British Final (despite having home track advantage for the last five seasons!) and won a small thing out in Torun. What's it called again? Oh, yeah, the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP. Aside from those very considerable achievements, Woffinden did two very important, and very different, things this year. Firstly, he raised a massive amount of money for Cancer Research, in honour of his much-missed father Rob, who died of cancer in 2010. And he also turned around public opinion of him from a spoiled brat Australian (who happened to be born in the UK) to a mature, serious, dedicated Brit, worthy of leading our challenge on the world stage. There's still a few people to be convinced, but after the year Woffinden has had, it won't be long - if he keeps this up - until he's truly on top of the world.

Kent Kings - Despite a less-than-ideal racenight and tapes-up time of Monday at 6.30, the return of league speedway to Kent was embraced by the people of Sittingbourne. Huge numbers turned out to their early meetings and, despite their lack of success on track in those first few faltering steps, crowds held up encouragingly throughout the season. A team of south-east lads (and one Yorkshire hairdresser) were taken to the hearts of the local fans, and Steve Boxall repaid their support by winning the National League Riders' Championship at Rye House in September. If that unwieldy start-time can be overcome, there's no reason Kent can't progress up the leagues, with a stadium and fanbase that would sustain a higher level of racing...

Losers

Kent Kings - The one thing that King's fans have been very vocal about is how great it has been to have a Kent team to watch again. Many of them hadn't attended speedway since the closure of Canterbury in 1987, or Crayford some years before, although some of them had been regulars at Iwade's forays into Conference League racing. However, recent signs point to the Kings becoming nothing more than a feeder team to the Rye House Rockets, with whom they share a co-promoter and team manager. This has led to the resignation of some vital volunteers from the Kings' organisation, and it must be said that the club is lesser for that. Quite where they go from here - and with the Rye House style of doing business very much a "shut down for the winter" approach, it's all gone quiet - is anyone's guess. Fingers crossed it all works out for the best.

Sheffield Tigers - Running a club to a tight budget is to be applauded but also seems a recipe for failure in modern speedway. Neil Machin, at the Tigers' helm for over two decades - has been unwilling to risk the future of the club by overspending, and has been rewarded by some risible league placings in the past few years. It doesn't help that they've largely got it wrong in their rider choices, even allowing for the budget, and have been hampered by some very unfortunate injuries. Enough is enough, and with only a woeful Glasgow preventing Sheffield from finishing bottom this season (they also finished in the same 12th place last year), and with the prospect of an outlay on an airfence that may also necessitate further expense to install, Machin has put the club up for sale. The Tigers were lost to the sport for three seasons before, and it would be unthinkable that it would happen again, especially with city-centre tracks in large cities becoming an endangered species in speedway. Nothing seems to be going right in South Yorkshire. Let's hope that changes pretty fast.

Stoke Potters - Another club with an illustrious past, the Potters celebrated 40 years of speedway at the Chesterton stadium this summer, but seldom can they have had a worse year. Rock bottom in the National League for the entire season, and unable to find success home or away in the league until the end of August, they were unable to complete their fixtures, with consequences for that still be decided. I visited Stoke for the first time in over 20 years for the National League Fours this summer, and it's fair to say that the stadium hasn't changed much, looking older than its 40 years, and very much in need of some TLC. However, with crowds dwindling and the current promoters doing everything they can just to keep speedway running in the Potteries, it's hard to see how this might happen. I'd settle for a stronger Potters' team, and a full set of completed fixtures, and damn the surroundings. I'm not sure there are many like me, however.

The Elite League - If the promoters put the EL out of its misery at the AGM later this month (and I always preferred British League, anyway) there will be few outside of Dorset who will complain. It's been a dreadful year for the UK's top competition, marked by absent riders, dreadful injuries, dodgy call-offs, and a moribund ending enjoyed by Pirates alone. A new start would at least wash some of the stink of the EL off the sport, and enable us to start afresh, but even if they don't decide to go down that route there simply needs to be something done to restore public confidence in the competition. The current EL has a lop-sided fixture list, just 14 home meetings in a 30-week season, and no supplementary competitions for the 90% of teams that miss out of the title. Change or die, either is desirable, but we simply cannot stay the same!

ITEM: There's not much news from this week's pre-AGM, even in the form of rumours, but something that did leak out - at least to my sensitive ears - is that they're playing a waiting game with Sky, perhaps to the detriment of sorting out the things that need fixing, whether we have TV or not. About 25% of what I hear turns out not to be true, so I dearly hope that this isn't the case, and that they've ploughed on assuming the worst, setting their stall out for a Sky-less 2014, and if the wreck and ruin of the modern era does decide to dirty its feet on our doormat it will be a bonus, to be invested wisely.

The negotiations with Sky are carried out by Swindon co-owner Terry Russell, acting apart from his media rights' firm GoSpeed (which used to hold the exclusive rights to British speedway on TV, to be sold onto the highest - or only - bidder), and just as the contract was about to expire he swanned off on holiday. Now he's back, and eager to talk, but the man he needs to speak to has - you guessed it - gone on holiday. All this has put the talks back when they really need to be sorted, one way or another. I'm led to believe there is a Plan B, but that this has been put on the back burner (not to the satisfaction of all parties) in favour of pursuing the dirty great whore that is Sky.

Television exposure is desirable but not essential. It can often work as much against you as in your favour, and with the present set-up with Sky bringing little in terms of cross-promotion, even on their 24-hour sports news channel, there seems to be little to gain in terms of exposure. A far better strategy would be to embrace social media, especially YouTube, and give up the (not inconsiderable) TV fees in favour of gaining new and lasting fans attracted by seeing top action on their mobiles, iPads, laptops, and home PCs. The current deal signed by the likes of Re-Run and CleanCut, who film all the action at our local tracks, specifically prohibits this, which would be funny if it wasn't so retarded.

We live in an era of increasing choice. It gets harder every day to get noticed above the white noise of so much entertainment, and you have to be smart and find new ways of doing it. Placing everything you have on one anachronistic model is short-sighted and dangerous, and will result in speedway getting lost in an ever-growing shuffle. There are people attending tracks up and down the country every week who work in new media, and have ideas that could benefit the sport far more than holding out for Mr Murdoch's largesse ever could. The question is not how can we afford to go without Sky, it's how can we afford to ignore what's in front of our faces?

ITEM: So they announced the Grand Prix Series wild cards and I couldn't have been more wrong about the fourth recipient. Not that I didn't name all four names in my rundown two weeks ago of just who might get one, but that I never dreamed in a million years that they'd go for two Swedes, despite there being two Swedish grands prix on the calendar. To gift places to both Andreas Jonsson and Fredrik Lindgren is understandable only in that there's so little to choose between them. To include both at the expense of another, more interesting and less-familiar face seems silly. Still, it's BSI's money that keeps the Big Top up and it's they who choose the clowns that perform, only this time they've chosen some really boring clowns.

Far more interesting is the decision to take the Latvian GP to Riga rather than Daugavpils. The track at Riga, if you can call it that, is rudimentary but, of course, they build tracks from scratch several times a year on the GP circuit. Riga has the advantage of being the capital city, with visitors to Latvia flying into the city's airport regardless of their destination, and with sufficient infrastructure to host the thousands of fans that they're no doubt hoping will visit. What Riga doesn't have is a speedway pedigree, and this is a further slap in the face for a Latvian speedway scene already slapped by being forced to qualify for the 2014 SWC, despite finishing above Sweden and TeamGB in the standings. "It's not how you do, it's who you are" seems to be  the overarching message coming from BSI and the FIM these days...

ITEM: Politically, for me at least, profit is a dirty word. But I'm not so naive as to expect everybody to do what they do for the good of mankind (or at least to keep the wolf from the door), and we live in a capitalist society that rewards the entrepreneur. That is unless you invest your money in speedway, in which case profit is not a dirty word, it's an almost impossible word! Not for nothing is the old joke, "How do you become a millionaire in speedway? Start with two million!", rolled out every time a club changes hands, another prospective promoter with burnt fingers and crushed dreams.

But should it be this way? Shouldn't it be possible to make a profit from running what is, essentially, an entertainment venue? Of course it should, and the sport hasn't helped itself over the years by chasing after ever more elusive "stars" and allowing a few rich promoters to create an arms race, the like of which has destroyed top-level football and is unsustainable in British speedway. There is a fear for most promoters of missing out on the end-of-season play-offs, despite the prize becoming more worthless every year precisely because of the tactics - legal and not so much - used to get there.

It's widely accepted that Coventry ran to a budget this season. As far as I'm aware, they owe no other clubs any money, and are instead owed money themselves. This had a knock-on effect on the track - how Mick Horton would have loved to have signed Thomas H Jonasson, Greg Hancock, and Przemyslaw Pawlicki (the latter costing £10,000 for only a handful of meetings before he was discarded) to save his flagging season! - but the club are in good financial shape as a result. Matt Ford may have complained last season that Poole lost money for the first time in years (although I would like to examine his books, particularly the dividends paid to promoters), but he could well have made a healthy profit this season if he'd accepted that, sometimes, it's not your year. In spending big - whether you can afford it or not - you make everyone else spend big, and the cycle continues.

The authorities need to rule this with an iron hand. There needs to be a budget accepted by all clubs, and rigorously adhered to, with points penalties if broken. Only then can existing clubs finish the season in something approaching rude health and - far more importantly - can we attract new promoters, with new cash and fresh ideas, into the sport. Why should I take my million pounds and enter a sport I have no chance of succeeding in because no-one can stick to their budget? Exactly. Teams need to accept that they are in a league of ten - or thirteen, or eight - and that without the other teams providing competition (and healthy competition, ideally) they have nothing to entertain their fans with, no matter how much money they spend.

Was It Worth It? (and other things)

ITEM: So Poole Pirates are the 2013 Elite League champions. Well done them. From the moment they reached the play-offs they were obviously the best team in it, and from that point on deserved to win the title, and I'll congratulate them on their application and professionalism. The story of how they got to those play-offs has been told so many times that if you haven't picked a side (plucky underdogs or cheating scum) yet, you're probably not likely to. So, yeah, they won the league. But just what did they win? The Elite League has just finished its seventeenth season. In that time it's had its fair share of ups and downs but never has it looked in worse shape than it does right now. For Poole to triumph in the last days of a dying competition has no real worth, like bald men fighting over a comb. That is covered in dead, flaky skin.

And what of the teams who don't even get to pretend they've won something worth winning? Birmingham, as has been detailed in this blog on a number of occasions, have experienced massive financial problems this season, choosing to ignore payment demands from other teams rather than cut costs, and all in pursuit of a title they didn't win. As it is, the 2013 season for Birmingham looks exactly the same as it does for eight other teams - trophyless. And, unless something miraculous happens, 2013 also sees the end of Alan Phillips and Chris Luty's time at the club, with the promotional rights reportedly reverting back to Tony Mole. Although Mole would never see the Brummies close, if it was within his power to ensure otherwise, he's not a fan of EL speedway, and certainly never was for Birmingham, and so it's unlikely that they will take their place in the top league in 2014 unless new blood - with fresh money to be bled by carny promoters - is found to take over. Was it worth it, Brummies?

The league's most northern club, Belle Vue, also had a season-to-forget, publicly shamed by being caught with their trousers down trying to postpone a fixture against Poole for all the wrong reasons. As a result, they were fined heavily, and lost the ability to call off their own meetings without SCB approval. This had a massive knock-on at the televised meeting with Poole later in the season, when the Aces were forced to stand by, looking like spare parts, as the TV people, the SCB, and the Pirates carved up a contrived result. The repercussions of that night will echo down the years, and it will be Belle Vue, as the staging club, that may feel them more heavily than others. The Aces finished ninth, only three points above a woeful Coventry, and were rumoured to be paying their number one a guaranteed £3-4000 a meeting. With crowds not the best, a good chunk of that money (and some overdue bills) was probably paid by wealthy backer George Carswell, but you can't help but think it might have better used for when they eventually move into the fantastic new stadium down the road. Farcical waterloggings, paying over the odds... was it worth it, Aces?

Bob Dugard revealed last week that Eastbourne's average crowd was a worrying 770 people (even under Poole's season low of 784 against Lakeside), and that he'd lost £5000 per meeting this season. Dugard has a similar story every winter, which makes you wonder why he continues to promote EL speedway at Arlington. I'm sure his love for the sport is as strong as it ever was, and perhaps he dreams of seeing another generation of Dugards (Connor & Kelsey are almost ready for senior speedway) pull on an Eagles' race-jacket, but with an average take per punter at EL tracks being around £13 he's missed his break-even attendance by 400 people per meeting, a ludicrous/super-optimistic budget error. This can only have been compounded by an all-foreign EL-only line-up, flying in riders from Sweden, the Czech Republic, Finland, and Russia rather than paying petrol money for a drive from the Midlands. Even faced with an opportunity to lower costs when Lukas Dryml got injured (again), the Eagles chose to fly over a young Dane rather than use a young Englishman. They finished eighth, and will continue into 2014 only through Bob Dugard's continued charity. Was it worth it, Eagles?

Like Dugard and the Eagles, Peterborough's continued existence (at least at the level of spending they currently "enjoy") is down to one man - Rick Frost. Frost's cash was used to assemble a side to win the EL at last, gambling heavily on a septet of riders focussed solely (in the UK, at least) on racing in the EL for the Panthers. A mid-season reshuffle, which claimed the scalp of Jan Staechmann - undoubedly a nice man but with one of the worst records of any team manager in speedway - and several riders, tells you all you need to know about how [i]that[/i] turned out, but a subsequent increase in form almost saw them sneak into the play-offs. Until, that is, an SCB appeal committee and an SCB-backed farce at Belle Vue combined to wreck their hopes on the very same day. As it is, Peterborough finished in seventh place, and Frost must be wondering why he keeps throwing his money at a sport which seems determined to keep him off the honours list. More money spent, no real results - was it worth it, Panthers?

I could go on - fans and promoters of just about every club has to be asking themselves the same question, whether publicly or privately, and just about everyone bar a handful of Pirates fans agrees that there has be big changes made this winter. For once speedway has to look to the long-term, and ensure that all the leagues are fit for purpose well into the 2020s. We can't go on with a league structure that allows wealthy men to prop up unprofitable clubs, even if they're happy to do so, and we can't allow clubs to leech off others in pursuit of success. Contracts have to be transparent at the point of registration - and rejected if they do not make financial sense - and regulations have to be transparent to all. Unlike many other professional sports, speedway is almost entirely dependent on its fans' generosity, and those fans have to be included rather than excluded as far as possible.

The Elite League - and I'd start by scrapping that name and re-branding afresh, for one - has to be worthy of its position as one of the top leagues in the world. It has to have strong competition, strong governance, and a strong selling point. Get all three right and whoever wins the title in 2014 - even if it is Poole - can genuinely call themselves champions of something worth winning.

ITEM: It's usually around this time that they announce the wild cards for next season's Grand Prix series. Last year they took an unprecedented amount of time - ironically, I'm told, because there was some discussion over whether the Britain should receive a wild card, and if they did whether Tai Woffinden was the right man for it - but there's nothing to suggest that this year won't be a mostly straightforward decision.

Chris Holder, injured partway through the series as reigning champion, is one hundred percent, nailed-on to receive one, and if you can find a bookmaker willing to give you any sort of odds on him [i]not]/i] getting one, bite their hands off. Similarly, Tomasz Gollob has competed in sixteen straight SGP series, was world champion only three years ago, and finished in ninth place, just one outside the top eight seeds. Although age counts against him, he is not the oldest man in the field, and as long as he retains his enthusiasm (and popularity in the important Polish market), he'll be welcome in BSI's house.

The third choice has to be a Swede, although none made the top eight in 2013. Sweden will once again have two Grands Prix in 2014 and it's unthinkable to consider there won't be a permanent wild card wearing the blue & yellow flag next year. Just who will be gifted that place is less certain. Freddie Lindgren finished eleventh in the series standings, two places and nineteen points ahead of Andreas Jonsson. However, Jonsson missed two rounds due to injury, and it's thought that this might give him the upper hand on his compatriot. Antonio Lindback, marketable but frustratingly erratic, came last of the series' fifteen regular riders, and faces a season in limbo, since he didn't qualify for qualifying (if you know what I mean!) in 2014. The other outside chance, perennial event wild card Thomas H Jonasson, is injury-prone and unproven at this level. Interestingly, Jonsson has aleady been announced as a series wild card for the 2014 European Championships - as have SGP regulars Nicki Pedersen and Emil Sayfutdinov - and whether the bubbling tensions between BSI and SEC break out full-scale war may have a bearing on BSI's decision.

Also nominated as a wild card for the European Championships is the man widely tipped to be in the driving seat for the final wild card nomination - Grigorij Laguta. Laguta is arguably one of the top riders outside of the current SGP series, with consistently good performances in the Swedish and Polish leagues not going unnoticed by the organisers. Laguta is also popular in Latvia, who again will stage a GP in 2014, and was once reported to have been seeking citizenship (it is thought he would not pass their stringent language tests). However, the Lagutas have had all kinds of issues with visas to ride in western European nations (brother Artem, a GP rider in 2011, missed the British and Italian rounds through visa problems, and both men have missed several other FIM commitments due to this issue), and the Russians have firmly thrown themselves behind SEC. These aside, it should be hard to ignore Laguta's claim.

Other long-odds contenders include Michael Jepsen Jensen (disappointing year by his early standards, and with two Danes already in), Patryk Dudek (World Under-21 Champion, but would be a fourth Polish rider), and Martin Vaculik (who never really got going in 2013, and has expressed a desire for a year out). Beyond that, a second British rider seems implausible, and there is no-one at the required level from any nation outside the top two who wouldn't look out of place in that company. You might, as an extremely outside bet, look to Finland's Joonas Kylmakorpi, who has won several world titles in the Longrack discipline, is a capable speedway rider in good competition, and would help sell the inaugural Finnish GP to a new market. Worth a quid, at least.

Whoever gets the nod, it's another SGP series with far too many rounds to sustain serious interest but should be competitive, at least at the top end. Although it has received minor tweaks over its eighteen season history, and has doubled the amount of rounds in a bid to expand its appeal, you have to wonder whether it's not time for something a little bit different. Still, a lot of fans seem happy with what they're being served up, so I will err on the side of their happiness, for once. For me, though (and others like me), the politics behind the series will always be far more interesting than what takes place on the track.

ITEM: Australians don't arrive on these shores as novice riders, never having ridden a speedway bike, and find themselves handily in possession of the necessary talent to fill half the team slots available in British speedway. There is a thriving youth speedway scene down under, and it is this - and a parallel flat track scene - that provides these future world champions with the skills they put to such good use in the northern hemisphere. Similarly, the Danes, Swedes, and Poles - all of whom have dominated world speedway at various points over the last two decades - have their own junior speedway competitions, with pre-teen youngsters riding scaled-down bikes in Europe-wide championships, gaining a solid grounding to become the stars - and second-strings - of the future.

Britain has been slow to put any kind of structure in place that would ape the success of its rivals, previously relying on the generosity of parents, individual clubs, and the grasstrack scene (which [i]has[/i] looked to youth for some time) for its new blood. For the large part, promoters - and fans - have expected the finished article to appear at the pits gate at 16, ready to race and eager to please, without thinking where this production line actually started. When it began to dry up - and, it must be remembered, even our first world champion for thirteen years is largely a product of the Australian youth system - they scratched their heads and looked to ever more average Europeans and Antipodeans to fill the gap. The result? Less and less British riders in team slots, and less and less able to compete on the world stage. Oh, and Lubos Tomicek.

I'm not here to bury youth speedway in this country, however, but to praise it. In recent years, steps have been taken - and fully supported by the BSPA and the majority of its member clubs - to arrest this chain of events, and youth speedway is firmly back on the agenda in the UK. The British Youth Championships encompasses half a dozen rounds, and is staged on Elite, Premier, National, and non-league tracks, and graduates from that system have begun to filter into 1-7s, alongside their more traditionally-recruited compatriots. With EL team managers Phil Morris and Neil Vatcher overseeing things, there is a clear path for youngsters to follow (or there will be once the PL gets its house in order, [i]vis a vis[/i] British riders), and if we aren't competing on the biggest stages in years to come it won't be for lack of effort on their part.

Clubs that aren't directly party to supporting the Youth Championships have also played their part, by including youngsters as "souped-up mascots", familiarising fans who are perhaps unwilling to give a chance to lads starting out with the names they'll be watching in future years, but I'd like to see it formalised a little more, if it is in any way possible. At Leicester for the Midland Development League Riders' Championship the other week, in between blocks of four races, we were treated to four races featuring under-16s, on 125cc bikes. The lads took to the track with increasing confidence, and the times got faster, and it helped break up the boredom between those "two rides on the trot" breaks in individual meetings. In the German second division they go a step further, and include the scores of 125cc races (with one rider per club in a four-team format) in the final meeting result. Something similar was tried at last weekend's free meeting at Redcar, and if it all possible it should be encouraged here.

More and better British speedway riders benefits every one of us, down the line. They will make British speedway cheaper to run, enable more clubs to thrive and survive, and give our kids local heroes to idolise. It's up to all of us to support it, wherever we can, because if nothing else I'm sick of these Australians doing it right when we're not. That's just not cricket!

ITEM: Redcar face Somerset tonight in the final Premier League play-off semi-final meeting, the semi-finals in the second division being run in a mini-league format. Any one of the three teams in the mini-league - Newcastle are the other one - could progress to the final, but it's going to take a freak result for it to be anyone other than the Rebels*. Allowing for the quite reasonable assumption that either Somerset or - their opponents in the final - Edinburgh will be unable to stage a meeting tomorrow night, that leaves just 13 days to fit in - and promote! - a two-legged final, where both participants race on a Friday. Obviously one of them is going to have switch race-days - easier for the Rebels than the Monarchs, who share their stadium with some flea-bitten mutts - but even so, and allowing for the weather at this time of year, it's going to be quite a squeeze.

This situation has been brought about by the unwieldy format, as much as by some inclement weather, and it's obvious that it's not a workable solution to include six teams in the end-of-season play-offs. It doubles the amount of fixtures required to find a winner, and allows the prospect of the sixth-placed team winning the title when fourth place is stretches credibility to its limit. It also requires an earlier cut-off date, plunging the rest of the league into staging fixture fillers or shutting down early, with most teams having shut up shop before the leaves start to turn orange on the trees.

In the Elite League, the demands of Sky TV have seen the play-offs stretched out over a four-week period, with clubs forced to run on Monday nights to suit the broadcaster. There's no doubt that play-offs are good for the sport - they provide an end-of-season bang when, in most years, the season might just whimper out, but allowing clubs to stage their home legs on their regular race nights would not only help them maximise revenues, it would also squeeze the play-off meetings closer together, and allow for a later cut-off date in the EL, too. Hopefully, if Sky finally deign to tell us whether they're going to be showing the EL in 2014 or not, this can be taken into consideration, and the season can truly end in a suitable fashion.

There's no simple answer to scheduling meetings in a sport so vulnerable to the extremes of British weather, but we're not helping it at all. A little more thought, and a little more care taken over the placing of cut-off dates and play-off reserved dates, and we might just get there. Another thing to sort out - I'll add it ot the list!

[* Redcar win by 36 points or more - Redcar progress. Redcar win by 21-35 points - Newcastle progress. Redcar win by less than 20, or any other result - Somerset progress]

Tai Woffinden, World Champion (and other things)

ITEM: Tai Woffinden is the World Speedway Champion. If you'd told me I'd be typing that seven months ago I'd have laughed at you and tried to sell you some invisible clothes. However, far from floundering down around the Drymls and Lindbacks, Woffinden has plugged away, consistently, and through a couple of (what were once thought of as, before he made a mockery of them) serious injuries to claim the world title. Would Sayfutdinov have pipped him to the post if he'd not been horribly injured by a dangerous Adrian Miedzinski? Perhaps. Would Darcy Ward have taken the title if he'd raced a full season? Maybe. And would Chris Holder have had more of a say in retaining his title if he hadn't ridden so hard (to be fair, the only way he knows to or wants to) at Brandon in the summer? Possibly. The truth is that history isn't written by ifs, buts, and maybes, it's a tale of certainties, and one thing is certain - Tai Woffinden rode well enough season-long to win the title. That's all the history books will say and anything else demeans his achievement.

It does make you wonder, with Tai only actually winning one Grand Prix on his way to the title, whether he'd have achieved this honour in under the old system, with a one-off world final at the end of a series of qualifying rounds. The simple answer is we can never know, but it does raise a question of just how valuable it is to win one of these damn things! Mathematically, you could win every round and still not be guaranteed to win the world title, although it's difficult to imagine that ever coming to pass. The GP series rewards the most consistent rider over a six-month period and, while it occasionally serves up some dull champions, there's certainly an argument to be had for that, even if it does lose a little something of the excitement of the olden days.

So what happens now? Well, it has to be said that Woffinden's victory couldn't have come at a worse time for British speedway. Our first champion in thirteen years represents a sport that is, organisationally, on its knees. At a time when we should be shouting from the roof tops about our great sport, and how people can get in on the ground floor and support their local team, a lot of them have already closed up for the winter, and there's no clear picture of how next season will look. How wonderful it would have been to have been able to say, "If you want to try this speedway thing, get down to [insert local track here] on [next possible date here] to see [name of celebration event here]!" As it is, we can't even say when the 2014 season will start, what teams will be in what leagues (or even if those teams will be here at all!), and who will be on show to thrill these potential new fans! It used to be that the new World Champion was crowned in the last week of August/first week of September, allowing everyone - Europe-wide, but especially this country - to capitalise on the buzz. Now only a handful are in a position to make hay, and with Woffinden not in the best of shape those opportunities are diluted even further.

So where does the new World Champion fit for next season? I've written before, and Matt Ford has expressed similar concerns to his local Pravda, that to survive (in order to eventually thrive once more) speedway needs to cut costs dramatically in 2014. The simplest way to do that is to cut the top off the league, with the Grand Prix riders - and others of their ability and price range - being overlooked in favour of UK-based middle-order men. This would either mean that the World Champion does not ride in his home league next year or, if a special case is made, that he's head and shoulders above his competition for race wins. Sure, this latter scenario could make him the one everyone wants to beat, and that in itself is a good selling point for away promoters, but it would do little for Wolverhampton's home entertainment levels and bank balance! Do the promoters back-pedal on what's already been privately discussed, and more or less agreed to be necessary, because we lucked into having the World Champion? Or do they sail a straight course and try to make the best of an unfortunate situation? They could do what they usually do, of course, and just let things happen, with little or no planning, but that's how we've ended up here in the first place...

I would suggest a third option, however - one borrowed from the world of wrestling. Hey, don't stop reading - it's perfectly applicable to speedway, too! Back in the day, over in the US, there was no national wrestling company, unlike today's WWE. Instead there were dozens of smaller "territories", each running their own book, and with their own pool of wrestlers. Occasionally, wrestlers would be sent from territory to territory to freshen things up, but mostly home favourites stayed where they were, and where the style of that territory suited them best. Most of these regional territories belonged to an umbrella organisation, the National Wrestling Organisation (NWA). The NWA had its own title belts, competed for by nominated wrestlers from the territories, chief amongst which was the NWA World Heavyweight title. The holder of that belt would no longer work in his home territory (or at least not exclusively) but rather be sent around the US (and to Japan, on occasion), facing challengers on the circuit. In that way, no matter who "owned" the champion, every promoter got to share in a piece of the pie. I would argue that, if we are to see the back (a least temporarily) of riders of Woffinden's class in the British leagues, that this set-up is ideal for maximising interest in the sport. Imagine that, rather than compete in 28 league meetings for one club (14 at just one track), the opportunity was found for the World Champion to appear in meaningful fixtures at all 29 tracks currently promoting speedway! In that way, Woffinden gets to ride in his home country, the fans (old and new) get to see the champ ride, no matter where they live, and the league can restructure without the imbalance his presence might introduce.

I aleady know what you're saying - some of you said as much when I teased it on Twitter - but it's a creative solution to a thorny problem. As it is, I have little idea, and there's also very little blowing in the wind, about how the leagues will look next season, or whether Woffinden - and Ward, Holder, Iversen, or Zagar - will be welcome on these shores. I can't stress enough, though, how important it is that the right decisons are made for the whole of the sport, regardless of whether they hamper any one club's ambitions, and I hope we can trust in the custodians of our sport to do the right thing. Interesting times!

ITEM: Given that I've just supported not renewing the contract of a rider who's given good service to his club for the past half-dozen years (including riding in Coventry on a Friday night before taking a red-eye to Moscow, and onto Togliatti, for a Saturday evening European Championship meeting), it might seem a little disingenuous of me to broach the subject of loyalty. However, no-one ever accused me of being genuous, so broach it I will...

What price loyalty? What do we expect of the people who represent our clubs, and what should they expect of us? "Fickle" is a horrible word. It is used as badly and as often as such other wordcrimes as "banter", "random," and "sick". It's usually thrown at those who change their position on something because of actual events rather than the proper definition of the word, which requires a frequent change, and implies little concrete cause for such changes. It's entirely reasonable for someone to like something or someone until events make them their change their mind, often doing a 360 on their original position. That doesn't mean you are fickle, it means you are honest. As a good example, my own position on Coventry promoter Mick Horton has changed several times since he took over the club, and probably still isn't anywhere near a fixed constant. This is natural and a world away from the default position most sports' fans seem to take - that of blind loyalty. As long as I perceive him to be doing an honest job under difficult circumstances, he'll have my backing. Do something utterly at odds with the ethos of Coventry speedway, fail to take notice of the fans' concerns, or explicitly go against the wishes of the majority, and he won't.

There are certain things we expect of our clubs' representatives, and if they tick those boxes they can enjoy our full support. Chief amongst them should be an appreciation of who they are representing, and what those people care about. Riders, promoters, and team managers should understand that they are fortunate to occupy the positions they hold, and they do so at the good graces of the supporters. Unlike football which, at the top level at least, has marginalised the views of its fans in accordance with how much their ticket money keeps a club afloat, speedway cannot afford to so blindly trample on its supporters' affections. Without that backing, a club fails. So when a club employee goes so blatantly against the grain, and then repeats his misdemeanour a week later despite having been warned about it, what's to be done?

Gary Havelock spent five seasons at Poole. He didn't win anything while he was there, but still holds Wimborne Road in such high regard that you can only assume he was extremely well-paid. He's having a Farewell Meeting there next year, which seems odd considering he spent seven years at Redcar. And that Redcar was where he finished his career. And that his dad owns the place. But still. That Havelock loves Poole is obvious by looking through his Twitter feed, his public mouthpiece to the world. He also waxed lyrical about their wonderful team in interviews earlier this season, even going so far as to admit that the Bees - who he is paid to manage, remember - would struggle to beat them at home. In the Bees' programme. All that is fair enough - you can't help who you fall in love with, even if it's the dirtiest girl on the estate. Fair enough except for one thing - it's Poole, and he's employed by Coventry.

Now I'm not sure if you're aware, but there's a bit of history between the two clubs. It covers quite a few years, and quite a few incidents, but takes in accusations of cheating and threats hurled across crowded pits, through firework-hiding, champagne-stashing, and disappearing hot-water, and ending up with AGM kerfuffles, rider-poaching, and all manner of troubles at ACU House. It's safe to say that there's bad blood. Poole love to hate Coventry, and Coventry want Poole to die. Painfully. Of course, you all know this. Everyone knows this. And despite a change of promotion at Brandon, the same fans are still there, and the Ford-assisted fall from grace of the 2010 Elite League champions still rankles with the majority of those who pay their money on a Friday night. So if you were the Bees' team manager, and the one who had just guided the club to their lowest league placing for 10 seasons, you'd keep your trap shut about your love for the one thing Coventry fans are united about, wouldn't you?

I'm not sure what happens next. No-one wants to see Havelock in the Coventry pits on Sunday when we take on Leicester. To be fair, his welcome had worn out long before the past two weeks' Twitter guff, but this has added fuel to the fire. If the club have any sense, and want a good piece of PR going into the dying embers of the season, they'll get rid, just as they did with Kasprzak (who returns, like a bad smell, one Sunday, too). The least they should do is remind Havelock of his responsibilities, and give him a crash course in the history of Coventry speedway. All riders, managers, promoters, and other club representatives should understand the culture of the clubs they represent. To fail to do so is not just foolish, it's suicide.

ITEM: To cap a good year for the West Midlands - with Tai Woffinden winning the world title and the Birmingham Brummies doing their best impression of Wimpy from Popeye to get into the Elite League Play-Off Final - the Dudley Heathens finally won the National League! I say "finally" because, although it is only their fourth tilt at the title, the Heathens have been massive favourites for every one of those years, able to call upon huge support and solid home advantage, but have always fell short until now. Last night, in front of their partisan travelling support, they finished the job at King's Lynn, and lifted the trophy that their fans have slavishly desired for so long.

Last year they were seemingly robbed of the title in the last heat of the play-off final away to Mildenhall (although actually, ironically, at King's Lynn's Saddlebow Road), when the referee appeared to change a decision upon "advice" from Fen Tigers' promoter Chris Louis. The Heathens withdrew their complaint to the SCB and drew a line under the matter, although the usual handwringing dithering from NL co-ordinator Peter Morrish wasn't encouraging in terms of a decent outcome. Instead, they refocussed their efforts on this season, and it paid dividends with the Black Country side completing a clean sweep of team trophies, as Mildenhall did in 2012.

There's plenty to like about the Heathens, with their fan-oriented set-up ensuring that club and riders benefit from the largesse of some very generous individuals as well as generating a genuine feeling of belonging at the club for all involved, and also to dislike. The passion of their fans is impressive but a small minority allow it to spill over into intimidation and threats. Thankfully, the large majority - although they take it very seriously for what is cheekingly referred to as a junior league by their local rivals - are good-natured, and with a little self-policing these 1970s hangovers (and I'm not talking about the haircuts!) should be shown the door.

Where now, though, for the former Cradley side? There was talk last year of a move up into the Premier League, and a fan poll revealed 90% were in favour, despite the increased costs. Not taking that step this time around may rankle with fans who were placated with a "one last season at this level" impression, even if it was not directly stated as club policy. There's still the thorny issue of them sharing at Wolverhampton which, despite what one of the Heathens' fans at Coventry felt this season, is a big issue. Is there a future for a "squatting" club? And how long should that occupation continue? Do the Heathens continue to bank profits in anticipation of a move (and, let's not beat around the bush, running with crowds every bit as big as EL Wolves in the NL is very profitable) or do they take a step up and reduce their war-chest for a stadium of their own? And even if a suitable site was found tomorrow, it's clearly not going to be ready for 2014, so what decision do you take while it's being built? It's a difficult issue, and one I'm glad I don't have to make. One thing is certain, however - if the Heathens do step up, the rest of the NL will miss their travelling support!

Although it was less fun watching the progress of Dudley this season than in previous years, mainly because they were racing against (and beating, four times!) a Coventry team, I still want them desperately to succeed in getting home and making it work. When I look back at the British League of 1988, my first season watching speedway, only Coventry, Wolves, Swindon, Kings Lynn, and Belle Vue remain of the top flight clubs (and the Robins and the Stars have been down and come back up again). Ipswich and Sheffield are in the second division and there's no Bradford, no Oxford, no Reading or no Cradley Heath. I want them all back, and Dudley in Dudley would be a small step towards achieving that.

ITEM:I've written before about the lack of third-tier opportunities in the north, and nothing seems to have changed very much regarding that. Berwick did stage a National League level challenge match, and Scunthorpe (which is nominally in the north, but very much in the Midlands if you are looking down from Scotland) have run several, with mixed results, but there doesn't seem to be much appetite for risking an NL enterprise in a region where the Premier League clubs often face a parlous existence. Which is a crying shame because so much is being done at Development level and below, without a clear progression for those who graduate (unless they are prepared to travel hundreds of miles for almost no money).

Although it runs with three-man teams rather than the (in theory, at least) four-man teams of the Midland Development League, the Northern Junior League is still the main outlet for young (and not so young) riders based north of Sheffield. This year it expanded from four teams to five, with Glasgow and Edinburgh also staging rounds of the Northern Open Championship. After beginning the season in the NJL, Liam Carr, Luke Crang, Tommy Fenwick, and Danny Phillips all went on to secure NL team places in 2013, and Ryan MacDonald and James McBain have made the odd appearance as last-minute guests at PL level, usually for short-handed visitors to Scottish tracks.

It's a scene that grealy needs encouraging by the rest of the speedway nation, who should be mindful that the future of British speedway is at least partly in the hands of riders from the north, with Craig Cook, Richard Lawson (both Cumbria), Richie Worrall (Lancashire), and Kyle Howarth (Manchester) all representing the region. If you're of a mind to show these lads some support, and have a good time yourselves while you're at it, you could do worse than get yourself down to Redcar's South Tees Motor Park this Saturday, where you can watch the Northern Junior League Four Team Tournament - for FREE! It starts at midday, and you're promised 50 (fifty!) heats of speedway for your (lack of) money, with teams representing Redcar, Workington, Berwick, Newcastle, Northside, Castleford, Linlithgow, and the return of Barrow! If you live anywhere near Redcar you'd be a fool to miss it.

Wobblers (and other things)

ITEM: This is where, if I were any kind of decent human being, I'd write about the play-off semi-finals, and the upcoming final. However, there'll be plenty of stuff written about that, all of it congratulatory and masturbatory, so for once I'll err on the side of the redundancy. Suffice to say, this year's final is the nadir of the Elite League's 16-season history, and a fitting death rattle as we go into the most important winter the sport has seen for almost fifty years. Will that do?

ITEM: What entitles you to a say in how your club should be run? Note that I say "should be", because we know - from bitter experience - that speedway fans have almost zero input into the structure, wellbeing, and future of our sport, perhaps less than any other fan-supported sport. That accepted, what actually makes your opinion worthwhile, over the cacophony of rubbish spouted by people who can barely spell their own name?

Do you have to be a fan-sponsor? Putting money into clubs' and riders' pockets so that there's a little more money to waste on frivolities than there would be without you? How about a season-ticket holder, stumping up cash in advance, with no guarantee of anything other than a minimum number of meetings for your buck, yet ever filled with hope that this will be the year? Or a regular attendee, paying your £10-17 a meeting on the gate, and able to duck out of going if something better (or less worse) comes up? Maybe you're even one of those fans, who don't go any more (or just a few times a season) yet still think that they should be heard on just where their club (who they no longer support, remember) is going wrong, without offering anything positive to change it, or provide finance for those changes to happen?

The truth, as always, is a huge mass of grey, and - of course - everyone who cares enough about their club to be hurt by a defeat or lifted by a victory deserves to have their voice heard, at least a little. However, I'd argue that by going to meetings and actively supporting your team you become a stakeholder, which is one of those horrible modern words that politicians like to use for people who are affected by something without having much of a say in how that thing is run.

Worse still are those who no longer go to meetings all that much but still spend "speedway money" on overseas trips to grands prix. I've argued before about how much money is "lost" to British speedway every time the British GP is staged in Cardiff - millions of pounds, if you remember - and, while the total isn't so great, to avoid league speedway in favour of GPs abroad is worse still. It shows an utter lack of awareness for the bigger picture, and a contempt for the sport bordering on insulting. Still, better Stockholm and Prague than Swindon and Redcar, eh?

All of that, which is an unfortunate and growing phenomenon, is made worse by those people expecting a say, even at social media level where the words and ideas expressed are unusual and unrealistic and mostly illuminating for all that, in how domestic speedway is run. It's like leaving your wife for a trashier model (although ugly as sin under all that make-up) and still expecting to tell her what to do, who to see, and how she should perform in the bedroom. In that situation you'd expect to be told to "do one", although perhaps not quite in those terms, and also maybe the subject of a police enquiry into your behaviour.While no-one is calling for the police to investigate the GP whores just yet, I think the sentiment should remain the same: if you want to tell the DJ what songs he should play, you have to dance with the one what brung ya!

You'd have to be an eternal optimist to believe that, one day, we might get a say in how the sport is run. Maybe a handful of us might come into some money and buy a place at the table as club owner or promoter - currently the only way to have your voice heard - but in the event that the unthinkable happens we have to be in a position to take advantage. That means all of us with an interest in the future of the sport staying loyal to our national leagues, and playing an active role as - shudder - stakeholders.

The administration of speedway in this country is in poor shape but the product is largely right. Carry on going to meetings, keep on suggesting changes and point out the potholes that the BSPA often seem so intent on driving into, and we may get through this. Together. As it should be.

ITEM: Whatever the outcome of the 2013 World Championship, after Saturday night's final SGP at Torun, we're going to have witnessed an incredible effort of one kind or another. Either Tai Woffinden recovers enough from a re-broken collarbone to score enough points to secure his first title, or Jarek Hampel rides exceptionally well to overhaul Woffinden and win his first championship.

It's been a stop-start season, GP-wise, which is perhaps a side effect of a too-long series where each individual event means less the more they add, and the timespan between the first and last almost six and a half months, a full nine weeks longer than the inaugural series. Injuries have also played their part in the continuity of the series, with Sayfutdinov, Ward, and Holder all potential winners affected, to different degrees, by serious injury.

This has all contributed to no clear narrative, so important in telling the story of a season, and if Woffinden wins the title with anything but a blockbuster performance in Torun it will be well-deserved but anti-climactic. If Hampel triumphs, it will be a great on-the-night story, but his win will always have a "but" attached to it.

Regardless of the result, the Torun GP has become an end-of-season party for fans, and I know more than a few of you are making the trip out there (after spending lots of money on domestic speedway all season!). Enjoy the trip and don't worry too much about "narratives", "ifs, buts, and maybes", and whether we get a British world champion for the first time in thirteen years or not. There should be nights when it's about four blokes racing around a track. Make it one of those, yeah?

ITEM: In a couple of ways, I witnessed a possible future for British speedway this past Saturday. In the Midland Development League - whose Riders' Championship I attended at Leicester - we have a grass-roots organisation providing opportunity and track time for future stars and those who can turn a bike enough to race but will, in all kindness, never progress beyond this level. Also at Leicester was a demonstration of Pete Seaton's Formula2 Speedway bikes, ridden by Les & Aidan Collins, and intended to be a cheap entry into the sport for less-affluent aspirants and hobbyists alike.

If you look at the history of British speedway - and why wouldn't you? - it's, for the majority of its existence, a story of a handful of professional racers backed up by thousands of local heroes working a nine-to-five before setting off for the track. They didn't expect to earn enough from their speedway endeavours to make a living, unless they hit the very, very top - in which case their billing on a racecard probably bringing in enough extra fans to make them worth every penny. For the rest speedway was a hobby, one that earned them a bit of pocket money and the attentions of some female fans but a hobby still. John Berry wrote a few years back that, of his all-conquering Ipswich team of the mid-1970s, only two or three were full-time speedway riders, and the rest had regular jobs. That was a title-winning side in one of the sport's heydays.

For some reason, and I'm not quite sure where it changed but it probably had something to do with the wholesale introduction of foreign makeweights into the British leagues, clubs are expected to find enough cash to allow their whole team to go full-time, even in the second division, despite incomes falling across the board. I'm not arguing that the riders don't deserve it - if it were up to me we'd all be swimming in cash, and none more so than those who do a risky job - but that we need a sea change in how we view the sport in this country.

For some people even National League speedway is a joke. For wobblers, has-beens, and never-weres. Quite what those people would make of the MDL or NJL (if they bothered to stay after meetings and watch them, that is) is another thing altogether, and that's before we even get to amateur events. There is a lack of respect shown to the lower ends of speedway that just doesn't exist in other sports, and that filters upwards into the higher leagues when graduates from the grass-roots levels progress. In the last week we've seen Lewis Kerr score points in the Elite League play-offs, yet as recent as a few weeks ago he was derided by some as "just" a National League rider, ignorant of the progress he has made in the last twelve months.

I write a lot about the future of speedway in this blog because I care a great deal about it, beyond what happens to my favourite riders or how well my own club are performing. That's because my favourite riders cannot race against themselves, and my club cannot win a league of one. Every level of the sport in this country has to be cherished and encouraged and supported, because without the grass-roots we have no foundations, and a house with no foundations is likely to collapse.

So, if you're one those people with no time for lower level speedway, think about that next time you sneer at the wobblers or hobbyists, and try and imagine what kind of speedway you'll be watching in twenty years. I wouldn't mind betting it's nearer my vision of the sport than yours.