With the Planning Application for Ashfield Stadium due to be considered by Glasgow City Council on Monday, Neil MacFarlane has made a sensational bid to take control of the troubled Glasgow Tigers. Neil MacFarlane was manager of the Tigers when they won back-to-back Second Division doubles in the early 1990s until sacked by promoter Dougie Hopes. He then resumed control when Tigers came back in 1997 under the patronage of Shawfield owner Billy King.
MacFarlane was snubbed by Brian Sands who rescued Tigers in 1998 after Billy King pulled the plug. With Billy King now threatening to kick Tigers out of Shawfield so they could be homeless in the Ashfield project fails to win planning consent.
MacFarlane has teamed up with Alex McDonald, father of Monarchs' Stewart, in a bid to bring Tigers back to Shawfield. McDonald stated:
"Billy King has kept in touch with Neil ever since he was sacked by previous owner Dougie Hopes. And he is the only man he would allow to run speedway at Shawfield this season.. I won't be financially involved but I've agreed to be co-promoter to take charge of all home meetings. Neil, who now lives in South Wales, would look after the away fixtures".
The story in the Edinburgh Evening News 'Pink' then took an even more bizarre twist when McDonald was quoted as saying that they would commence team building over again and that Kenny McKinna was targeted to come out of retirement and lead the team.
"Not all the riders that Sands has signed already would want to join us. Simply because we wouldn't be paying £35 a point. We'd stick to the pay code laid down by the BSPA. And I think that Kenny could be persuaded to make a swift comeback, and what a fantastic crowd puller he would be be if he agreed to ride".
When this was announced by Mike Hunter at the Monarchs Video night, Kenny indicated that it was all news to him. Kenny had an acrimonious split with Tigers prior to joining Monarchs and has stated publicly that he would never ride for the Tigers' promotion again.
McDonald added:
"If Glasgow do move to Ashfield, I think
the team would lose a lot of support because the stadium is at the other
side of the city from Shawfield. Neil and I actually discussed running
a team even if Ashfield was operating, but there were too many snags. We
wouldn't have been able to call the team Glasgow Tigers. This would have
split the supporters and neither of the teams would have survived".