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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2009 21:21:47 GMT
Thank fuck for that ..boro were doing well before the knobhead came along .....host of offers ? my arse the bloke can't even run a bath . I hear by all accounts frost told him to pack his bags ..great news for boro . watch this space:  BIRMINGHAM Speedway owner Tony Mole is to stand down after this Wednesday's M6 Trophy clash with Stoke at Perry Barr. And the veteran promoter has already struck a deal with Swindon's Gary Patchett, who lives in Halesowen, to lease the club for the 2010 campaign. Patchett will be the new club owner with a view to buying out Mole next year subject to permanent planning permission for the sport to continue at Perry Barr.
He'll be joined by Peterborough's Mick Bratley - and current Brummies boss Graham Drury is also part of the plans subject to agreeing terms. Said Mole: "The time has come for me to take a back seat and I wish Gary all the very best. It's a sad time for me in many ways but I could never continue forever. "I will pursue the planning long term to create a future for the club in order for Gary to take up the option and purchase from me next year. I expect planning to be applied for next August and I will again lobby the British Speedway Promoters' Association at their AGM to allow the introduction of Prodrive silencers next season. Without them I fear we will not get planning. "I will address our supporters after Heat 14 on Wednesday night and then again at our end of season awards night at Aston Villa FC next Saturday." www.birminghamspeedway.co.uk/home.phpThat's Cloakey's arse blown out he'll need a bath! |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2009 8:09:37 GMT
could be more today  |
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Post by zonkers on Oct 24, 2009 8:37:08 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2009 8:46:18 GMT
That's what I thought zonks  Just about to take the dog out for some fresh air before the first negative post arrives - I'll get back to any after suffering the Posh this afternoon  |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2009 14:39:26 GMT
Birmingham to EL  |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2009 16:49:33 GMT
Birmingham to EL That did cross my mind too, but my guess is that Gary Patchett will continue in the Premier League until permanent planning permission has been obtained......I hope I'm wrong though, Birmingham would be a welcome addition to the Elite League! |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2009 9:57:45 GMT
Former Panthers promoter Mick Bratley has been confirmed as a promoter of Premier League club Birmingham.
Bratley has been enlisted by new Birmingham owner Gary Patchett, who is also a co-owner of Swindon and has leased the club for 2010 from Tony Mole.
There is strong speculation that the second city club are considering moving into the Elite League. (or that's as much as Bratters would let Plummer print )
Source: Peterborough ET
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2009 23:08:11 GMT
There is strong speculation that the second city club are considering moving into the Elite League. Don't tell me..........with Hans Andersen as their number one?  |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2009 23:18:37 GMT
There is strong speculation that the second city club are considering moving into the Elite League. Don't tell me..........with Hans Andersen as their number one? Phew!!! ;D |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2009 7:46:35 GMT
There is strong speculation that the second city club are considering moving into the Elite League. Don't tell me..........with Hans Andersen as their number one? That would be interesting wouldn't it. I would have thought that if those concerned had learnt anything over the last three seasons then neither is the best of ideas? |
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Post by zonkers on Nov 12, 2009 10:00:29 GMT
Bratters' final Panthers blog on "Lovespeedway24" Panthers, Witches, Eagles . . . too much in common
And so….the final curtain….
The revelation by current Peterborough owner, Rick Frost, that the club lost money during the 2009 season, does not come as any surprise to me. Losses, helped by shrinking attendances and spiralling costs, year on year, had brought me personally to the crossroads where I felt that I no longer wished to bang my head against this particular brick wall and led me contemplating a fresh challenge or simply just walking away from a sport that I have always had a great deal of passion for. It was not a decision I took lightly, but in truth, was a decision I was contemplating from June of this year onwards.
In a slightly perverse way, I have felt a degree of responsibility watching successive owners “burn” their money and sometimes, well mostly actually, when I looked at the attendances for the majority of our home meetings, it was a source of personal embarrassment and you begin to ask the question, do the Peterborough public want this anymore? I certainly hope for the owner’s sake, that the people of Peterborough do, and that they show much better support for him and the club in 2010 and beyond.
During my time at Peterborough, I have done everything humanly possible to attract newcomers to our sport and all I might add on little or no budget. I have presented to over 2500 kids in various schools road show initiatives, I have invited and hosted whole organisations along for free and whole streets along for free. I have put up banners and posters, I have given away 1000’s of (sponsored) car stickers and more kids goodie bags than you can shake a stick at. I have offered free admission to members of the thriving local Polish club (one person came – once), 2 for 1 offers, Kids for a quid and Kids for free. We have on occasions been overrun by hundreds of Scout groups and I have undertaken umpteen radio interviews and quite a few local TV vox pops. I have put leaflets in newspapers, I have put leaflets through letterboxes, I have handed leaflets out in shopping malls and I have put 1000’s of leaflets on cars (with apologies to the owner of the Blue Vauxhall Astra in the Peterborough Railway Station Car Park in September 2007, honestly, it really did come off in my hand, so it must have already been broken). You name it and I’ve pretty much done it and all the time, our attendances have remained constant. Constantly poor. A successful team will bring you big crowds, but this is only a short term fix and as all Speedway aficionados’ know, and only to well, success in Speedway will never happen, year on year, it can’t, for the sport would simply die.
People 'in the know' within the entertainment industry suggest that all Speedway clubs will lose 8% of their core support every year, through a variety of differing reasons. That in itself is quite alarming. And, I do believe this stacks up, in so much as, whilst I may have contributed to overall increasing our attendance by 5% or more each year, I was actually seeing shrinkage of 3%. Two things however, will always stick in my mind about whether Peterborough as a city will support Speedway in the 21st Century. 1) It has always concerned me that an inordinately high percentage of season ticket holders never had a Peterborough post code, this frankly, is shocking. 2) I will never forget that the 2006 Grand Final, arguably the greatest modern day meeting ever, watched live by over 6000 people and by thousands more at home, was followed by a Craven Shield fixture attended by less than 700 people. If that Grand Final won’t pull people in, then what will?!?!
In all fairness, it has been a pretty turbulent time at Alwalton since the departure of the Lynch, Jarvis and Wing promotion in 2002. There have been many, far too many, dark days and I think those guys made their wisest ever decision to quit, after a phenomenally successful period and at a point in time where costs spiralled in the sport, whilst income remained pretty constant. It also comes as no surprise to me that the clubs who continue to bemoan their particular struggle in the EL along with Peterborough, are Eastbourne and Ipswich. These three clubs geographically are similarly insular. By that, I mean they are pretty much on their own, not massively populated and with no connecting cities or populous to attract, close by. Coventry, for example, can call on a much wider populous to support them, with not only the large Coventry population, but also nearby Rugby, Nuneaton and Leicester. Wolverhampton, Poole and to a lesser extent, Lakeside find themselves in a similar position. Swindon, however, do buck this trend, but the reasons I feel they do is down to some pretty aggressive and successful marketing and additionally they have been able to tap in to the misfortunes of their close rivals Reading and Oxford, who are of course, sadly, no longer with us.
I think EL Speedway can these days only survive in geographical areas where large conurbations can be easily and readily tapped into. Obviously Birmingham, my new club, meet this criteria and I certainly hope that the BSPA can see sense at their forthcoming AGM and realise the potential that Birmingham has to offer the EL rather than what the EL has to offer Birmingham, which is, to be honest, a subject for debate.
It has been good fun writing this blog for my old mate, Mike (Chris P) Bacon. I hope you have enjoyed reading this and my other inane ramblings and I give thanks to those of you who took the time to write to me about them. Actually, none of you did that, but it kind of sounds impressive.
Whatever team you support, I wish you well for 2010, but more than that I wish for Speedway to survive and thrive through the next decade, so that the next generations can witness what a great sport and product this is; that we all have been so fortunate to have found.(From www.greenun24.co.uk/content/greenun/blogs/the_panthers_brat_pack.aspx?PostURL=http%3A//www.greenun24.co.uk/cs_greenun/cs/blogs/the_panthers_brat_pack/archive/2009/11/09/1895358.aspx) |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2009 10:14:45 GMT
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Post by zonkers on Nov 12, 2009 10:53:42 GMT
Oh so it was derr !!!  (sorry Badge!) Must have missed that ! Contrary to popular belief, I do have a life, you know. It may appear that I spend all my life on speedway sites and forums, but I do find it a struggle sometimes to find time to keep up with all the news !  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2009 11:44:07 GMT
You spread yourself too wide, you need to focus |
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Post by zonkers on Nov 12, 2009 11:58:12 GMT
You spread yourself too wide Would you like to rephrase that.....!!!  ;D |
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(sorry Badge!)