Dull, dull, dull....

Good title for a blog about the Sheffield Speedway forum over the past few weeks, other than a bit of a spat between myself and Sparky over the merits of finishing 5th in the league debate and conversation on the board seems to have died almost completely.  The subject was taken up on the British Speedway Forum by Spin King and Third Man where it was given a much more thorough airing.   I did get a "welcome to the forum" pm after a very brief contribution to this board, but I'm not that comfortable with posting too much on it, it's a bit like doing your dirty washing in public, at least on the Sheffield forum you used to be able to argue with contributors of a like mind.  A bit like a family argument against a pub brawl I suppose.

That in mind my recent suggestion that it would be for the good of the team if Ricky Ashworth and Paul Cooper move on in 2010 did at least draw some response - some of it even positive!  I'll admit that the Ricky Ashworth suggestion is a little tongue in cheek - I really do think he'd benefit but I'm not sure Sheffield Speedway would.  He really does appear to be in a comfort zone at the moment, big scores at home, good scores away from home but certainly not the scores of a star rider even by Premier League standards.  I doubt that any person goes to their local track to see him ride when Sheffield visit in the way that they did for the likes of Shawn & Kelly Moran, or Sean Wilson, in my mind he punches the same weight as such as James Grieves, Jason Bunyan or Josef Franc - good riders all, but not box office.  Sadly his average this year doesn't match up to any of those three, but he's not far off, it is always his away form that seems to let him down, as I said good at home not as good away.  Despite this I got taken to task by Leapy Lee on the Sheffield forum when it was pointed out to me that he scored 9 from 4 whilst guesting for the Workington Comets last saturday.  My reaction was "Whoop-di-doo, 5th highest scorer in a PL match!", Leapy went to some length to justify the fact that if we used the mathematical formula that works out the calculated match average (CMA) of a rider he was actually 3rd highest scorer!  Again, "Whoop-i-doo, 3rd highest average scorer in a PL match", I stopped arguing when Leapy did the forum equivalent of sticking out his bottom lip, folding his arms and looking away.  That's the level of debate on the board now.

Paul Cooper is a different kettle of fish altogether, the sooner Sheffield off-load this liability the better as far as I'm concerned.  This is a deeply unpopular opinion, probably one I've forged because I'm not a pre-pubescent teenager who thinks he's lovely and goes all gooey at the mention of his name and I'm not one of those fans who wants to be best mates with the riders and count them as buddies.  I want my speedway riders to score points for my team, to do the job they have been employed to do, if having done that they turn out to be very sociable likeable guys then that's great, but it shouldn't be a rider's main feature.  This season he has carried on where the last couple of seasons left off, meeting after meeting of frustration, low points returns, engine failures and calls from all and sundry to get him sponsorship.  If anything he has gone backwards, but then he will hit a purple patch where he rides like a world champion (well almost - he always manages to let us down in a at least one race in every meeting).  This can go on for 2 or 3 weeks then pop!  The wonder engine explodes and we're back to square one.  Discussions over the formulation of next years team all tend to mention what a steal he'd be on such a low average - all I can say is we said that last year and it didn't work out, there is no sign whatsoever that any consistency has been achieved and the instant a decent return started coming in he managed to get injured!

Anyway, not long left in the season now, yet again it looks like we aren't having a rider of the season vote on the forum seeing as how I can't be arsed to organise one - at least that'll save me the cost of a trophy!

The season fading means (unfortunately) that football begins to take over, I say unfortunately because my two teams are fighting with each other to see who can be the worst this season, at least Barnsley have had the good sense to get rid of Simon Davey, hopefully Mark Robins can salvage something from this season - it is only September after all.  The other bunch are perhaps worse, King's Lynn FC is a club in turmoil at the moment, relegated last season due to ground requirements, loss of a major backer, manager and the entire team means that Carl Heggs has taken over, signed a shitload of journeymen and mates and now looks intent on kicking every team in the NPL to bits.  The second half of last Saturday's match against Bury Town in the FA Cup 1st Qualifying Round will go down as one of the most dire 45 minutes football I have ever witnessed, contrast this with the England match at Wembley last Wednesday when Fabio's men took Croatia apart 5-1 and it's hard to believe both events had any common link at all (other than my presence).

That's it for now, Edinburgh at home on Thursday will be my first Sheffield meeting for 4 weeks, the really sad thing is I haven't missed it, next week is a busy one, down to the flat in London to see Elvis Perkins on Tuesday, Ed Byrne Wednesday, then back oop north for a board meeting before dashing home for Marcus Brigstocke in Norwich on Thursday.  Up early on Friday and off to Terenzano for the Italian Grand Prix - my first, and last, Grand Prix of this season!

Here's Elvis Perkins at Bonnaroo earlier this year, filmed by my good self!

Mayday