Speedway: Public meeting will see Monarchs learn their fate

Published on 09/11/2012 12:00

Edinburgh MONARCHS’ loyal speedway fans will learn the club’s fate at a public meeting at Livingston Football Club on Monday night (7.30pm).

Monarchs directors held a specially-convened board meeting in midweek to discuss the way forward in the wake of big financial losses and falling crowds at Armadale this season. But they are giving nothing away.

All director Mike Hunter would say was: “The meeting went quite well.”

While it’s been suggested that Monarchs are ready to confirm they will be running in the Premier League in 2013, Hunter underlined that caution remains the watchword. He says: “We now have a clearer idea of where the club is going but there remains a number of things needing to be tied up.”

Since Monarchs’ dire plight became known last month, fans have rallied to help stave off closure and are believed to have raised a hefty five-figure sum in less than three weeks.

This has hardened the belief that the club won’t be allowed to die. Yet Hunter said: “I thought Monarchs were dead a fortnight ago, I couldn’t see any way out of our predicament, but now we have definite options because our supporters have been incredibly generous in pledging money without even being asked.

“But we will not take their money unless we are definitely running and we have also got to be careful that we don’t just have a short term future, we have to be able to give ourselves a chance of a longer future.”