This is rather ironic after all the song and dance they made after taking over from BSI. Stating at the time about all the debt they inherited. They then turn around 18 months later and do the same thing.
Bring back Pat Bliss. We NEVER had money troubles in those days and we also had a team to support.
I'm in sunny Cyprus at the moment as this story has broken but going back to the begining of March I bumped into the promoter of Newport at Heathrow. He was in the process of picking the young aussie lad Rutherford up. Anyway we got talking as you do and he said to me then that there was a lot of money outstanding that the Reading management owed. I said do you mean BSI and he said no. I never thought anymore of it. Looks like there is something then with this story breaking back in the UK ? ----------------------------------------
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Reading Racers as it always should have been.
If the name was NOT important the new Owners would NOT have changed it back. ----------------------------------
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If rumours are true then they should hang their heads in shame! From what I am hearing some good honest people who put a lot of time and effort into reading speedway have been well stitched up.
Always rememer holloways slaughtering of bsi at the first forum, he hasn't said much for himself recently!
Speedway staff claim they are owed money By David Wright May 22, 2009
Club officials, track employees and track-shop suppliers claimed this week they are still owed money by Reading speedway club.
The total amount runs into thousands of pounds.
Swindon businessman Mark Legg ran the club with ex-rider Malcolm Holloway as his co-promoter.
They took over Reading, then in the Elite League, two years ago, but suffered substantial losses.
Racers dropped down to the British League in 2008 in a bid to reduce their costs. But the losses continued and Legg once confided they were losing around £4,000 a week.
Though the promotion team had splashed out quite considerably to build the team, results on the track were largely disappointing and crowds for the Monday night meetings failed to pick up.
The last meeting was in October, after which the stadium gates were shut for good.
But this week an insider revealed: “It is now seven months since the end of the speedway season, when invoices were due to be paid.
“Among those owed are some of the most hardworking people the club have ever had. A lot are disgusted they have not been paid.”
Yesterday, Legg was unavailable for comment.
There has also been a wall of silence from Stadia UK and Reading Borough Council over the proposed new greyhound and speedway track.
Which leads me back to the fact all them months ago to the reason why did we sell so many assetts off and basically run with a team of loanees.... Equally we all knew all them months ago Smallmead was coming to an end but to me it seemed there was no real pressure issued by the Reading management to fact find what was going on....ok...before the reply comes back that Legg and Holloway cant do nothing about it...i.e Reading council and the casino people,ok fine,but but to me more pressure or drumming up support could have been more forthcoming......very early on...???..but no. I admit to i admired Pat Bliss and she always cut her cloth accordingly....not always the strongest of teams and took us out of top flight speedway...but we had speedway................!!!! As regards BSI-who were at the time based in Richmond,Surrey just down the road from me,i hated some of the things they done....i.e Bulldogs.....awful.... but my belief in posslewaithes sudden pull out,regardless of monies owed,was the sheer fact he suddenly realised there was no new stadium forthcoming ! Thats one of the reasons why i think he decided to run...he wouldn't have taken over Reading speedway long term knowing that there was no new stadium forthcoming....his aim was to see the racers,bulldogs in a new stadium.... Truth of the matter is,like many of us have known for some whille is that Reading won't be returning to Speedway any time soon...Sadly...
I hear pennies finally dropping all over Berkshire! Some forum members, me included, have been slaughtered on here for daring to suggest that the great ones were not so great and that maybe they were looking to make a swift buck before dissapearing into the sun ( if there is any in Swindon)! I am not going to go back and find all the posts but they are there and i am not looking to say i told you so but just ask that those who mock may think about it before typing!
Sadly the last image i have in my head of Smallmead was seeing Mr Legg come into the front entrance, grab piles of cash from each till and hastily shovel it all into his pocket. Ironic really.......................... old enough to do it properly, young enough to still do it!
What equally worries me is the fact that Andy.p was given the chance to continue to keep this Reading website going....i hope he is being paid to continue doing so.. as i said before the real heroes of Reading Racers are people like Andy Povey,Big H etc etc and us the hardcore fans-who despite our some time's dissagreements or ramblings continue to bang the drum for Reading Speedway..... Even though at times on a monday after work,and no matter how tired i was my drive from south-west london was always made easier as i pulled into Smallmead ready for a meet...and then only 40 minutes back to Putney afterwards.... I know ii said i would follow and go to Eastbourne this year,but to be honest my heart hasn't been in it...
Not for me or anyone else to speculate as to who is owed what, but if Andy is keeping the site up and running for the love of it fair play to him...and keep up the good work.
I second that. Incidently where are all the "serious" posters, those that want real issues to talk about, doesnt get any more real than this old enough to do it properly, young enough to still do it!
what worries me is why were they paid in the first place when the same job could have been done for free by voulunteers.
Which jobs are you talking about Andy? Do you know something that the rest of us don't?
Certainly Andy P would rightly expect as an official site to at least have the hosting paid for at the very least, anything else of top of that I would hope that he has been paid for, just because you are a fan, it doesn't mean that you should expect to do it for free!
The problem with volunteers doing all the work is this, they are less likely to be in a position to disagree with something, because the answer will always be 'oh, we can find someone else'!
Also why should people work for free, especially when they have already worked all day, I'd love to know what you think should have been done for free at Smallmead
Ok so andy would not do the website for free i can accept that- but what i cannot get my head round is that people are owed thousands,how many people were on the payroll at Smallmead and what jobs did they do.
Contrary to popular belief, i dont think BIG H is cheap !
As far as i am aware the only people who werent on the payroll were the Rakers, StartLine and Pit Gate / Security staff in fact anybody that had to wear overalls, but that may be wrong.
[ Edited Mon May 25 2009, 10:20AM ] old enough to do it properly, young enough to still do it!
Ok so andy would not do the website for free i can accept that- but what i cannot get my head round is that people are owed thousands,how many people were on the payroll at Smallmead and what jobs did they do.
I assume you work for free in your day job as a postman.
I would imagine as communications manager and commercial administrator Andy P and Big H would have been salaried employees, along with Tim Sugar...if these three are owed money its disgraceful...in fact if anyone is owed money its not good. Anyone popping into Malcolms pub anytime soon? perhaps the drinks will be on him
