Monarchs search for a replacement for injury victim Stewart McDonald goes on after a number of offers have failed to land a rider.
The fans' favourite Peter Scully was ruled out by Workington who may well be on the point of recalling him to replace Grant MacDonald who is likely to be out for the season. The deadline for this weekends' matches against Newcastle and Berwick appears to have passed, so Monarchs will operate rider replacement.
Monarchs have approached Robban Johansson who last rode for the Scottish Monarchs in 1996. Johansson impressed with some big scores away from home in particular with a debut of 15 plus 1 from seven rides at Long Eaton. He was not able to maintain this form at Shawfield in the very strong 1996 combined Premier League. Midway through the season, with the future of Monarchs in doubt due to mounting losses, Robban was released and replaced by Vesa Ylinen. This was largely a cost cutting measure since Vesa did not require weekly return flights to Sweden to compete in the Elite League. Robban moved to Long Eaton and averaged 5.90 points in 1996. This compares with 6.31 for Kenny McKinna and 5.11 for James Grieves. Robban returned to Britain in 1998 riding for Elite League Eastbourne and averged 2.32. This converts to a Premier League average of 4.64.
Unfortunately Robban was unwilling to to resume his UK career at this stage because of personal circumstances. John Campbell commented:
"Robban was reluctant to leave home because his girlfriend was pregnant. Unless someone volenteers to ride for us in the next few hours we'll have to rely on rider replacement."
The search will go on although not many options remain within the points available.
Other team changes may be on the cards since James Birkinshaw has been recalled by Sheffield and will ride for them against Glasgow on Thursday in place of Adam Allott. He appears to have been drafted into the Tigers' team as a replacement for Peter Boast. This could indicate that David McAllan is on the verge of a recall. McAllan successfully came through a run out with Linlithgow last weekend.
[This news item was added on August 12th 1999]