GTSSC AGM and Promotion Q&A
10/01/05

Glasgow Tigers Speedway Supporters Club held their AGM at Firhill tonight combined with an opportunity to question the promotion. My recollection of what was said, and of matters raised is as follows; -

A decent turn out heard exactly how much the supporters club had raised for the Tigers in the past season through various social events, the 50/50 draw and the fuel fund. A new Committee was elected although office bearers remain the same and no doubt the supporters club will issue their own confirmation of the full details in due course. The only real significant change is in membership fees with the meeting agreeing to the Treasurers suggestion that for the coming year the membership should be; - Adult £4, Concession £2 and youngsters £1.

After a short interval the promotion were then put in the firing line for a question and answer section which was carried out in good humour. The following is merely my interpretation and recollection of points that were raised.

• Premier League Pairs. This is the first such event to come North in 15 years and the promotion are confident that it will be a success. The meeting will be on the 26th June at 3pm. Admission, in lines with all such events, will probably be more expensive with admission possibly around the £13 mark (concessions £7, juniors £4). It does not seem likely that it will get National coverage but they are trying to get coverage on STV and BBC Scotland. Those who hold car park season tickets will be asked to park elsewhere for this event as the extra space will be needed at the stadium. They will be calling for volunteers before the event to spruce the stadium up.
  
• Ashfield Stand. There is a meeting later in the week on this and they expect to have the seating deck in shortly. The speedway need the stand to be operative and it will be.
  
• First Meeting. This is provisionally expected to be Edinburgh in the Spring Trophy on 13th March.
  
• Concession Prices. Glasgow will definitely NOT be following Newcastle's example of withdrawing concession entrance prices and have no intention of doing so in the future either.
  
• Sponsorship. Nothing has been completed with regards to team sponsorship as yet although they are hopeful that it will once again be the Travel Inn Tigers next season. A couple of additional sponsorship avenues are also being actively investigated. A deal has been struck with the Travel Inn over room deals for the team for next season.
  
• Team Manager. Stewart Dickson will continue as Team Manager for the Premier Trophy matches. This will be reviewed and if it is felt not to be successful they will then look at possibly offering it to an ex-rider. People like Eric Boocock are out of Glasgow's range price wise (although Stewart did offer to entice people with a bus pass for his busses!)
  
• Assets. David McAllan is still to secure a place for next season, realistically the only Glasgow asset still actively looking for a spot. The promotion would still like to add James Cockle to the asset base during the course of the next season.
  
• Cockle Ban. No decision has been made but it seems likely that Gary Beaton will be given an opportunity to ride at reserve in the two Spring Trophy meetings and two Premier Trophy meetings that James Cockle will miss.
  
• New Signings. The promotion accepted that James Birkinshaw is a bit of a gamble but feel the change of track may suit him and expect him to do well round Ashfield although he may struggle initially away. Matthew Wethers was, like Birkinshaw, strong at home last season and scored many points from reserve but again has potential. He made it clear when he knew there was no place for him at Edinburgh that he wanted to ride at Glasgow. Being a Sunday track definitely hampered Glasgow in some of their signing attempts.
  
• Riding Order. Nothing has been decided but Stewart is thinking along the lines of Matthew at number 2 with George with Birkinshaw at 3 and Bentley at 4 to try and negate teams bringing in late tactical's at Ashfield.
  
• George's Engines! A deal has been struck whereby Graham Jones is looking after Georges engines and the emphasis will be more on regular servicing this year rather than waiting for them to blow and then fixing them. George will be running Jawas and GM's this year although possibly more on the GM's.
  
• Ross Brady. Selling was always an option but they also considered that he is relatively young and if he were to continue to ride for the next 10-12 years Glasgow will benefit from loan fees in excess of £1000 each season he is out on loan. Returning to Glasgow at some future date has not been ruled out but reading between the lines looks unlikely.
  
• BSPA Conference. Stewart attended and at the pre-conference meeting there was a 10-4 split in favour of scrapping the ludicrous tactical ride rule. However at the Conference only Glasgow and one other team voted against it for whatever reason therefore it was carried. Helmet colours are also to be more fluorescent this year.
  
• Sky Deal. This is the last year of the Sky deal but as speedway provides the third highest sport viewing figures on the channel the BSPA are confident the deal will be renewed. It is still unlikely however that the Premier League will be featured. Premier League clubs do get a small slice of the Sky money - around £2200 compared to £52000 for the Elite league clubs. Every time they are on Sky, home teams can expect to rake in £10000 and away teams £7500.
  
• Ian Steel. All promoters felt the time was right for change and although the Berwick result acted as a catalyst it had been getting discussed for some time. There had been no resistance from Ian on the decision. Stewart accepted that it could have been handled better on the day but when it was suggested that press reports he had been sacked should have been refuted and a statement issued that Ian had resigned, the message was that the promotion felt the truth preferable to telling a lie. Throughout the discussion ALL members of the promotion emphasised that the tremendous amount Ian has done for the club over the years should never be belittled and he deserved great credit for that.
  
• Stuart Robson/Rye House. There is a promoters meeting scheduled for the 2nd February and the Rye House team will probably be on the Agenda. they are keeping a close eye on the situation and as far as they are aware the team has not as yet been approved.
  
• Track. Work will start on the track either the last week in January or first week in February.
  
• Grand Prix Weekend. Fixtures have not been finalised yet but hopefully Glasgow will be at Sheffield the Thursday prior to the Grand Prix and Newport on the Friday.
  
  Apologies for the length of this piece I have merely tried to put down everything I remember.