The Pyre

I gave you yesterday, you can keep it because today is mine!

[The Pyre @thepyre]

The more distance I have from the day to day side of British Ice Hockey, the clearer it's flaws become.

None of them are insurmountable, but they all require a willingness to change that is lacking amongst those with the control.

[The Pyre @thepyre]

@LastStandSec Yes. Yes they are. They didn't go bust and then years later someone revive the name. The ownership has passed from one entity to another. Same club.

Did that happen with the Storm? No. No it did not. They are not the same club that formed in 1995, despite what the logo says.

[The Pyre @thepyre]

And yeah, I'll say this:

Despite the stuff coming from the club, the Storm as they exist today are not the same club that started playing there 30 years ago.

If I need to "give up the past", so does the current club.

[The Pyre @thepyre]

@andreaowenss @DmcDT Possibly hedging their bets that the Storm doesn't work in the AO.

If it does, they can then look at moving them. Sensible business decision from the EIHL (not something I ever thought I'd be saying).

[The Pyre @thepyre]

I get the optimism. But I DK feel that some people (who should know better) are getting a bit carried away with things. Nothing in this world is guaranteed. Keep expectations realistic, and you are less likely to be disappointed.

[The Pyre @thepyre]

To be clear: I have no beef with the current owners of the Storm. My issues all lie with Planet Ice.

But, this love to the AO Arena is a massive gamble for them, and for the arena. And it's a gamble that will be an awful lot easier for the Arena to walk away from if it goes

[The Pyre @thepyre]

badly. The Storm may have burned too many bridges with two they have gone about this move in regards to Planet Ice.

Arena doesn't work? You've pissed off the company who owns the only local rink and will be running the new one at the Trafford Centre. That could be tricky.

[The Pyre @thepyre]

@HanClanSolo77 They still are. All the promo fluff for this move talks about the club returning to where they started 30 years ago....

[The Pyre @thepyre]

@KevSmyth78 @Keithclubline @tomsmith16_scfc @dailyeihl Cheap tickets sold at a loss to the Arena to build publicity and awareness of the venue. As soon as tickets moved to prices that didn't sell at a loss, attendances plummeted.

[The Pyre @thepyre]

And the way bridges have been burned with Planet Ice... Not much is a back up if/when it does go wrong.

But what do I know, eh? I'm "just" a bitter Phoenix fan...

[The Pyre @thepyre]

Good luck to the Storm at the AO Arena. You're going to need it. It's a big barn, expensive, and there are no guarantees that it will bring enough bodies in to make it work.

[The Pyre @thepyre]

And if the Storm ends up in the AO Arena, who will foot the significant 7 figure sum that will be required to make it usable for hockey again?

New ice plant, boards, plexi, scoreboards, jumbotron, locker rooms, zambonis,etc.

[The Pyre @thepyre]

@GBHockeyFuture Yep. Kicked Phoenix, set up Storm, realised it was only ever going to lose money, so sold them.

And now.... Deja vu....

[The Pyre @thepyre]

So, PI have kicked the Storm out you say?

I mean, I predicted this not long after the Storm started back up. I told people that PI would eventually get pissed off and kick them out.

I was right.

[The Pyre @thepyre]

Yeah, I'm still around.

[The Pyre @thepyre]

@starmanruss Game called off after 40 mins due to fucked ice. Mould in toilets, rust everywhere on the metalwork, broken toilets, problems with hot water, basically PI doing what PI does to a rink.

[The Pyre @thepyre]

Planet Ice are treating the Alty rink and the Manchester Storm exactly as I said they would when the Storm "reformed".

I was called a liar at the time.

Hmmmm.

[The Pyre @thepyre]

@IanLevine And, FYI, the YouTube copyright check isn't infallible. I've had videos pass and then draw copyright claims from 3rd parties.

[The Pyre @thepyre]

@IanLevine They have the law on their side. Time to give up and slip gracefully away into the night, Ian.

[The Pyre @thepyre]

@JohnHog94627424 @IanLevine He doesn't care about that... Unless someone is sharing "his" work (ie these abominations) without permission...

[The Pyre @thepyre]

@colinjohn13 @IanLevine One rule for him, one rule for everyone else. He clearly doesn't care about copyright, given he is still making those god-awful "A.I" recreations of lost episodes using material he clearly doesn't own.