Bees change manager

Coventry Bees: Change of manager

Coventry Bees owner Mick Horton has announced a change of management at the club with Blayne Scroggins replacing Colin Pratt as manager.

Horton has elected to remove the current joint-team manager arrangement, and long-serving co-promoter Pratt will now focus on the administration side of race-nights and general speedway business at Brandon.

His current Blayne Scroggins will take charge of the team, and Horton is also looking to bring an experienced ex-rider into the management team.

Horton said: "Having joint team managers is not working for me, and I want to try something different. Blayne will be solely in charge, and we will have a former rider on hand to assist on technical matters with the boys.

"Colin will continue as co-promoter and operate day-to-day matters at the club. His speedway expertise is something we value greatly and he still has a very important part to play here at Coventry.

"We had rather mixed feelings about Friday night. Yes, we won, but we can't keep giving points away, and that was another one dropped. I know we were missing riders but so were King's Lynn, so we can't keep making excuses."

Crowds

Horton has also revealed concerns over Friday's low attendance at Brandon, whilst accepting the mitigating circumstances of that fixture in particular.

Brandon somehow escaped the heavy downpours which affected several other parts of the region, to such an extent that the track needed watering before and during the meeting - and changes to the line-ups and the England v Sweden game in Euro 2012 didn't help either.

Horton said: "I want to emphasise to the fans of Coventry Speedway how much we need their support. The crowd on Friday was the lowest in ten years, and although I know the weather and the football played a part, it was still very disappointing.

"I'm not sure what else we can do as a promotion. We put together a team of riders over the winter that everyone wanted, and yet the crowds are down on last year.

"I just want supporters to know that for the club to keep its position in the Elite League, they need to show their support by being here. The next home meetings will be a yard-stick to see where the club is going.

"If Coventry wants Elite League action, it needs to get back to the kind of support it enjoyed in the past. When you look at the crowd we had against Poole, and then compare it to King's Lynn, it's a big worry."