Edinburgh Monarchs have dispensed with the services of Estonian rider René Aas after just five matches for the club. The Monarchs lost at home to Hull in their final Premier Trophy match of this campaign and Aas was particularly disappointing. Said Co-Promoter John Campbell, "René has simply not produced the goods for us. We were hopeful that he would score five or six points a match for us. Unfortunately he managed just eleven points in five matches and at no time did he look convincing. Perhaps we let two good matches at Armadale last season by Ren´ deflect us from our true views on his ability. We made a mistake but thankfully, for all parties concerned, it is now at an end."
Monarchs expect to announce the signing of a new rider at the beginning of the week.
No doubt the supporters will be pleased to see the back of Aas. There will now be speculation about who will come in to take the apparently jinxed number four race jacket.
Monarchs are currently over the 45.00 point limit so only a straight swop is likely. One name mentioned frequently on the terraces was that of Lee Dicken. This is not really an option as Monarchs have only 6.38 points to play with as Dicken has pushed his average up to around 7.50. Any move to introduce Dicken would entail Monarchs losing another middle order rider for a three-pointer.
One rider who will fit the bill is Grant MacDonald, recently released by Peterborough. Another possibility is former Monarch Marcus Andersson who is on his way out of Eastbourne as part of the reshuffle to replace the injured Joe Screen. Stefan Andersson and Kelvin Tatum are coming in with Marcus the one to miss out. This is particularly unlucky as he has pushed his Elite League Average up to nearly six points. He would be available on his old Premier League average of 5.75 dating back to his spell with Monarchs in 1998. He has been linked with Coventry.
There are a few other riders available but their averages are on the low side including Will Beveridge released by Berwick, Dean Felton, released by Stoke and of course our own Ben Shields.
Their is little wrong with the Monarchs' team that a fully fit Robert Eriksson and a productive number four cannot correct. All of the other riders have pushed their averages up. Clearly with the First Round of the Cup starting next Friday and the Premier League commencing one week later, so the promotion need to get it right this time.