Edinburgh Monarchs bring curtain down on league season with Tigers in town
There's sure to be a sense of frustration hovering over Armadale as the Edinburgh Monarchs' 2024 Championship campaign draws to a close this evening.
However, victory over arch-rivals the Glasgow Tigers would not least give the Blue and Gold the bragging rights heading into those dark winter nights.
Success would also ensure the Capital side avoid finishing with the wooden spoon, not to mention putting an end to defending league champions Glasgow's hopes of reaching the play-offs. A real Cinderella story some might say.
Monarchs do of course still have a slim chance of silverware before the final wheel is turned this season, but face a mammoth job in trying to overturn a nine-point deficit in the second leg of the BSN Series semi-finals at Scunthorpe.
Co-promoter John Campbell is naturally disappointed the club have come up short in their quest to challenge for the league crown.
"Overall we've struggled throughout the course of the season," Campbell told the Evening News. "We gambled on the basis that the riders from 2023 would get better. They had shown signs last year so, therefore, they'll have a wonderful run in 2024. But generally we haven't had the whole team together performing on the one night, and that's been the let down. The consistency just hasn't been there."
One key decision Campbell and co-promoter Alex Harkess believe they did get right in the off-season was their decision to appoint flambuoyant Italian Paco Castagna as team captain.
"Paco is a very effervescent character," he explained. "Making him captain has created a situation where he is prepared to talk to anybody at length and tends to be positive when, he himself could be down. I think that's one positive of the season, his general nature has helped create a team spirit. To be fair to Paco he has done really well this year because his average is up by a point and a half or near enough."
Ahead of team building for 2025, Campbell is fully aware tonight's meeting could be No.1 Josh Pickering's final league outing in Monarchs colours for the forseeable future with the 27-year-old having already agreed a bumper contract with Polish second tier outfit Unia Leszno. The Australian, who has been sensational for both the Blue and Gold and Premiership reigning champions Sheffield, is in the form of his life.
Campbell said: "We are of course governed by the points limit and while there have been discussions, there's been some disagreements between the clubs. It's very difficult to make any sort of decision until we know what that limit is going to be. We have our thoughts and if Josh makes it known that he's not going to come back next year then that's a major challenge. That would be the first thing we'd need to establish if he's not here then who is going to replace him? It's a jigsaw puzzle of course when we know the points limit.
"The aim every year is to win something so it's disappointing to have gone so long (nine years) without doing that. We'll perhaps have a different mindset next time around, but there are other things to consider like running speedway at Armadale which is a big challenge. When the crowds dip to an extent like they did against Scunthorpe a couple of weeks ago then it's a concern. So, we have to try and boost the crowd because it is a challenge at the moment."