The completion of Edinburgh's 2001 team appears to have been put on hold until the new year. However Monarchs Chairman Alex Harkess today assured supporters: "Things will come together early in the New Year."
Monarchs need to fill three vacant places in the team to join Peter Carr, Blair Scott, Christian Henry and Derek Sneddon. Two of those places already have names firmly pencilled. Robert Eriksson and Jan Andersen are expected to take the number 1 and number 4 positions.
Harkess rejected suggestions that Eriksson was having second thoughts about returning:
"There is no delay, and our talks with Robert are progressing nicely. Robert runs the GM engine franchise in Sweden and wants to sort out staffing arrangements to cover his absence when he’s racing for us in the Premier League. He has now got a copy of the fixture list and I expect him to contact us fairly soon to confirm his availability for 2001. Robert conducts his negotiations by fax and I suspect one morning a fax will arrive saying everything is fine. Certainly there is no hint that he has had second thoughts about coming back."
The delays with Jan Andersen concerns the possibility of him being due a testimonial as this will have an effect on negotiations:
"We are waiting to see whether Jan is entitled to a testimonial meeting next year," said Harkess. "He is our rider and it’s ten years since he first signed for the club. However, he missed a year. We believed he wasn’t due a testimonial until 2002. So we are awaiting clarification on this matter. But there is no problem and Jan will come into the team as our No.4."
Monarchs are having problems in finding a third heat leader to fill the remaining team berth. Since Monarchs hve in excess of seven points available that might open the was to sign an overseas rider. The Department of Employment are also meeting this week to decide what average foreign riders will come in at next season. There have been suggestions that new Australians will come in on seven points. Harkess commented:
"We have seven odd points to play with in our overall team average, and our choice is limited. We are talking to riders, but others who we have targeted are not available right now. If they plump for a seven-points plus figure, then the door will open for us in a different way. I am not saying we will sign a foreign rider. But if the door opens, we may as well have a look at who is available."
The full article from the Edinburgh Evening News is linked below: