Edinburgh Monarchs dropped by sponsors ahead of new season

Edinburgh Monarchs have been rocked ahead of the new season by the news that Parsons Peebles have dropped their team sponsorship of the club after just one year.

Monarchs' secured a significant deal with Parson Peebles last year

Last year, Monarchs agreed what was believed to be one of the biggest sponsorship deals in the history of the Capital speedway outfit. However, they have been left reeling by the Rosyth-based engineering company’s decision to sever ties with the club with the new season set to begin on March 23.

A stunned Monarchs chairman Alex Harkess said: “We were assured throughout the winter that a decision on 2018 was imminent and we also had the impression that everything was very positive.

“So this has come like a bolt from the blue to get a negative answer like this. It has taken the wind out of me, to be honest. We have based much of our planning for this season that the sponsorship would be available, including our negotiations with our seventh rider so we’ll have to look very carefully at our budget now.”

Harkess continued: “Of course, most of our plans for 2018 are already in place so we will be looking at ways of making up the shortfall, not least at this very late stage, in setting out to find a new sponsor.”

Harkess concluded: “I’d like to thank Len Jones of Parsons Peebles for working so hard in securing one of the biggest sponsorships ever last year and I’m only sorry that we didn’t know earlier that it wouldn’t be continuing.”