Q & A Session
02/12/05

The GTSSC Question and Answer session at Ashfield was well attended tonight as many took the opportunity to ask Alan Dick and Stewart Dickson about issues for the forthcoming season.

Some issues were merely repeats of what was discussed last week at the STARS event but there were additional matters raised, extra information given and updates on last weeks comments.

Again, I have only listed what are my recollections of the evenings comments:-

Track

• the obvious first question was would the Tigers definitely be racing in 2006 to which Alan Dick answered yes although he went on to clarify there were still one or two environmental issues to be ironed out
• there is always a possibility that Ashfield will be an option until the end of 2007 or even beyond if the football club cannot find a buyer. Ashfield Juniors are keen however to move to St Augustine's playing fields in Milton.
• Start times are all going to be parade 3.45, first race 4.00 so that people have the choice of whether or not they go for the parade. the only exceptions may be if Glasgow are running in opposition to a shared event where they may be required to move start time or in the play offs next October should the light not hold out late enough for the 4pm start.
• a balance needs to be found between dust and heavy track. The riders do not like the track continually watered as it makes it greasy on top but we have to keep dust down. At present the crop sprayer isn't quite doing what it should and this is one area they are looking at.
• if Glasgow get to the play off finals they will have to hire in floodlights for the Monday night televised meeting and figure out a way to accommodate the cameras!
• they are still looking at other alternatives for a venue for future seasons racing and have not completely ruled out the alternative venue that recently turned them down
  
  60th Anniversary
  
• it is hoped that a celebration meeting will be held around early May, certainly not March or April
• the event will be lavish with past riders and one or two guests present
• it hasn't been decided if it will be an individual event or a team event
• they hope to run a 60th anniversary dinner/dance possibly on the same night
  
  Team
  
• David McAllan signed yesterday and will probably go into the main body of the team. James Cockle signed this afternoon as a B grade reserve although will still be travelling from Cambridge as he has secured employment there.
• Glasgow would like a strong reserve to go with James Cockle. Tendency has been recently to go top heavy, partly due to rider availability, but this clearly hadn't worked and they would prefer if possible to go for a balanced team
• George Stancl was offered a decent package but he rejected it outright as opposed to previous years when he would come back with requests. He stated he wanted to move on and requested to talk to other clubs. Newcastle were able to provide him with a better offer and are on his doorstep. It was confirmed this is a 1 year loan deal and George remains a Glasgow asset.
• there seemed to be some dubiety as to whether or not George would be due a testimonial next season as Chris Van Straaten advised he had submitted a written transfer request in his time at Wolves which would mean he wasn't eligible.
• Alan has spoken to Ross Brady and Ross will be considering his options over the next few days. He is understood to have other offers.
• Glasgow have considered Mariusz Frankow, the Polish rider who impressed in his one meeting at Glasgow last season. He is thought to be prepared to move to the UK full time and ride on an ACU licence to ride in the Premier League.
• Peter Oakes of Coventry have spoken to Glasgow as he is keen for Adam to return to Glasgow next season to continue his development. However as a result of last seasons accident he has a plate in his arm that the surgeons and Roynon family have still to decide whether or not it is removed prior to the start of the 2006 season. If it is removed, there may be doubts about Adam being string enough to ride before mid season. Glasgow do intend to speak with Adam this weekend however.
• it is hoped the majority of next seasons riders will be relatively locally based to bring down the weekly travel expenses bill from around £600. Last season it cost around £4000 for Stefan's flights alone.
  
  Finance
  
• in response to a question from the floor, there are no plans for a share issue to supporters. It is felt that they do not have anything to offer people in exchange and such a scheme would not give value for money
• Alan confirmed that all monies from the previous share issue by Brian Sands in 1997 went to the previous promotion and not to the current one. When Stewart and Alan took over they floated the club under a new company on the advice of their lawyers although the previous company also still exists
• the new STARS group are totally independent of the promotion. they had asked Derek Smith to set up a committee to run fundraiser's out with the GTSSC events.
• at the start of the season Glasgow brought what printers term a 'shell' to save on programme costs. Unfortunately this meant we had an out of date team picture on the front for most of the season but it was felt the content was excellent and would challenge again for the PL programme of the year award.
• the Henning Bager deal with Arena is a loan deal as this makes good business sense for Glasgow, Henning attracts good loan fees. A tentative approach to buy him was turned down at this time.
• each PL club will once again only get £3000 from the Sky deal with Elite league clubs getting in the region of £75000 each plus £3-4000 each time they are on live. PL teams making the televised play off final will get an additional £5000
• there is no sponsorship as yet but Stewart has had a preliminary meeting with a view to using a marketing company next season and obtaining a sponsor will be high on their list of priorities.
• last years sponsorship deal with Travel Inn solely provided riders with accommodation the night before home meetings. The club itself got no benefit.
  
  Fixtures
  
• it was re-iterated that the fixtures would be later this year. Glasgow are trying to get more 'grouped' away meetings for the sake of the fans and also hope to get more benefit of being part of opposition clubs Northern Tours as they missed out on a lot of these last season.
• the Newport fixture the night before the Grand Prix makes sense for Glasgow as Newport are also a Sunday track and hold precedence over the Tigers. Sunday premier league tracks precedence goes Newport, Glasgow, Newcastle, Mildenhall.
  
  AGM/Rules
  
• the pre-AGM meeting did not mention anything about reserves remaining there for two years, this was an amendment made at the AGM. The understanding is however that if a rider attains a real average of over 5 he will not qualify as a graded reserve the following season
• Australians Robert Ksiezak, Joel Parsons and Karlis Ezergailis have been given special dispensation to be graded as reserves this year as they rode last year at reserve.
• clubs have an initial draft of the reserve grading's although they are still to be finalised. They are expected to be published in the Speedway Star as soon as they are. Adam is graded B due to age and experience.
• the initial draft had 16 A grades, 42 B grades and 16 C grades
• in the event of injury, only an 'A' grade reserve can be replaced by a reserve riding for another club. B or C grade riders must be replaced from the 'pool' of similar graded riders.
• no discussion was entered into with regards to the official number 8 position.
• it was confirmed again that a rider has to beat an opponent to score double points when riding as a TR
• although fans are against the TR's, the majority of promoters want it although Glasgow have made no secret of the fact they dislike it
• Glasgow were happy with the outcome of the conference as they got most of what they hoped for although not the pay policy they had hoped for.
• the BSPA were unanimous in their decision Glasgow should host the pairs again
• Glasgow strongly disagree with the idea of play offs as there are already 2 cup competitions but accept it gives clubs something to aim for.
• Mildenhall are certainties to run PL next season and they are hopeful that Birmingham and Redcar will join them. Birmingham have the required planning permission but as the Perry Barr stadium also hosts greyhounds three nights a week their difficulty is in getting the work done on the track in time
• the Premier chase has been dropped as it was not very popular amongst either fans or riders. Crowds were low and riders did not like the thought of travelling so far for possibly only one or two rides. There was very little pay out from the event due to the low crowds.
  
  Miscellaneous
  
• attention was drawn to the problems caused by people parking both sides of the road at the junctions coming out of the local housing schemes making it difficult for residents when exiting. Although the cars are legally parked, Alan is going to liaise with the police to see if a solution can be found to this
• local residents will be invited round at the start of the season although Stewart advised that he, James McBain and James' mum had put 4 complimentary tickets through the door of the residents in the new estate every week last season.
  
  Future GTSSC Events
  
• the GTSSC AGM will be on 9th January at Firhill, start time 7.30pm
• a race night has been organised and will take place on the 3rd February at the Burnside Hotel in Rutherglen, again start time is 7.30pm