Kevin Little has agreed a deal to return to Armadale and Captain Edinburgh Monarchs into the new millenium.
While it was feared that Little would be frozen out beacsue of failure to settle a wage deal, a last minute intervention by Alex harkess broke the logjam. With John Campbell away in Tenerife, Alex Harkess met Little over the weekend and sorted out a deal to the satisfaction of all parties. As was the case with Robert Eriksson, a sponsor has come forward to bridge the gap between what the rider was looking for and what the club were able to pay.
Alex Harkess commented in the Edinburgh Evening News:
"Kevin has agreed new terms and will ride for us next year which I'm delighted about. We as a club have not compromised. Our aim is to survive and you cannot do that if you throw money away. Kevin has made up the difference in money by finding his own sponsorship and that is the way forward."
There were suggestions that Monarchs were aiming to replace Little by the Swedish rider Patrik Drybeck. As a foreign rider would come in on nine points as opposed to the 7.70 points, suc a move would mean that there wouldn't be enough points left to fit in Blair Scott. This was dismissed out of hand by Harkess who claimed:
"I haven't a clue who this guy is. It's complete rubbish to suggest he has been linked to us."
Kevin Little denied that he and the club had been far apart on cash:
"I was speaking to other people. However after meeting with Alex I've agreed to ride again next season. There was a slight gap in what I was looking for and what Edinburgh were willig to pay. But we managed to find common ground and everything has been settled. The gap was nothing dramatic. It's the same every year, but for some reason the story has ended up in the press this time."
Kevin is not letting on who the mystery sponsor is but: "When the time is right I disclose who it is."
The top end of the Monarchs team is now taking shape. Robert Eriksson and Kevin Little are in place and Peter Carr and Ross Brady look close to signing. Alex harkess added:
"Peter Carr has to sign but there is absolutely no problem with him. Ross Brady will be our fourth rider but we can't do anything yet about buying his contract from Peterborough because they won't talk to us at the moment."
"It's nothing serious, they are simply trying to figure out what they want to do with our asset Jan Andersen."
All this should clear the way to complete the bottom end of the team. Blair Scott and Stewart McDonald are bth possibles for the remaining second string place, although Scott as a Monarchs' asset would appear to be the favourite.
The identity of Monarchs new reserve should be revealed this week. However doubts have surfaced about David McAllan's position in the team. McAllan is currently in hospital for an operation on the injured knee that kept him out of the team for much of the 1999 season. This operation was originally to have been carried out some weeks ago. It is not certain if he will be fit enough for the start of the next season.
"It's a bit early to commit ourselves to using David. A lot will depend on his fitness. He is our asset but has an injury problem."
An obvious replacement for McAllan would be Brian Turner who was signed as a replacement for the injured McAllan last time out but who suffered injuries himself. Brain only had one full meeting for Monarchs scoring eleven points plus one bonus point from seven rides against Arena Essex. This will all depend on whether Glasgow intend to use Brian next year. There may also be competition from other Northern tracks.