Glasgow chief is worried
Glasgow gaffer Alan Dick has warned his fellow
Premier League bosses: Change now or we'll go bust!
Tigers were on the brink of closure five
years ago when Dick and partner Stewart Dickson saved them and they
have since been joined by Isle of Man-based accountant Gordon Pairman.
But the trio have spent the last month locked in talks, trying to
decide whether to carry on next year after a £30,000 loss
this season.
Dick revealed: "Our losses this summer
equate to £1,000 a meeting and we either need to make another
£1,000 every meeting or we need to trim £30,000 from
our running costs. We are not on our own and I really fear for the
future of the Premier League. There are six of us on the breadline
and if we can't get overheads down we are looking at an Elite League
and a virtual amateur Conference in 2007 and not a lot between."
"The stronger clubs will go into the
Elite League and the rest in the Conference League and we will have
lost one of our two professional leagues. That would worry me because
the Premier League is the bread and butter. It's a pretty decent
standard where people can enjoy watching some very talented riders
while the Conference League should be a breeding ground for youngsters."
"I think promoters will give it one
more go, a last throw of the dice for six or eight of us. But if
costs can't be reduced and overheads brought down then doors will
shut. The Premier League has to bring in more British riders than
they are doing and they have to be the riders from the Conference
League."
"We know there are plenty out there
and that's got to be the way forward otherwise I fear for the sport
after 2006. Unless something drastic is done we know we cannot survive."
Tigers don't want a complete ban on foreign riders but they will
be pushing for a limit by insisting clubs use a minimum quota of
home-grown youngsters in their 2006 line-ups.
