Peterborough Standard from Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England • 61

SPORTS Standard SAV YOU SAW IT IN THF STANDARD Thursday May 15tM986 1 FOCUS ON POSH DROP SIX PLAYERS IN CLEAR OUT THE love-hate relationship between Erring-ton Kelly and Peterborough United officially ended this week when the exciting but controversial striker was one of half a dozen players to receive free transfers Kelly is released along is WHO PLAYED FOR POSH A TOTAL of 30 players pulled on the royal blue Posh shirt this season with two players Alan Paris and Martin Pike appearing in every match league and cup They were the only two ever-presents although Lil Fuccillo missed just one league match and Jackie -by RUSSELL PLUMMER Out Krrington Kelly In Jackie Gallagher Can go John Turner A LIFELINE with Andy Kowalski John Turner David Johnson Francis Cassidy and Patrick although manager John Wile is prepared to keep midfield man Kowalski and injured goalkeeper Turner at London Road on a non-contract basis Kelly was an immediate hit with Posh fans when he arrived on loan from Coventry City at the end of the 1983-84 season and after hitting seven goals in 11 outings his stay became permanent Subsequently it became apparent that the St Vincent-born forward did not always hit it off with Wile and in the campaign just finished he was in disciplinary hot water on more than one occasion including an internal suspension following his withdrawal during the interval of the Fourth Division game at Exeter on March 19 Although Kelly did return to action his last Posh appearance was brief when he was sent off just a couple of minutes after going on as substitute in the midweek home meeting with Stockport early last month Significantly Kelly who played in 14 league and four FA Cup games scoring five times was not among players paraded before fans at last meetings to launch the Posh Lifeline scheme Kowalski Posh skipper for much of the season after revor Quow was injured and Turner who broke his leg during the January FA Cup clash with Leeds United both have the opportunity of staking claims for recogni- tion when training resumes in July and John are special cases and had to be given free transfers as 1 was unable to keep them here on the same basis as at present but I am sure they will respond to the opportunity being given to explained Wile recovery is fairly slow and it could be that he will not be ready for first-team football until the end of the year Kowalski took on a lot of extra responsibility and then had to play before he was fully recovered from injury Next season I hope there will be players around him who will not need so much help and that this will give Andy a chance to get really fit and concentrate on his own Posh retain 10 players: Alan Paris Trevor Slack Lil Fuccillo Jackie Gallagher Garry Worrall Trevor Quow Greig Shepherd Wakeley Gage Steve Collins and Martin Pike Non-contract player Phil Cavaner who played in the closing weeks of the season has not had his arrangement renewed but may be one of a number of players aiming to impress during the pre-season build-up am already being approached by players who are looking for clubs and want to come here and show what they can do and the present financial state means this is the trend for the future Warren Brown appeared as substitute (not used) Matches counted include FA Cup Milk Cup and Freight Rover Trophy but not friendlies Substitutes not counted as an appearance unless used a private scheme designed to rescue Peterborough United from Fourth Division oblivion by raising major sums to finance team building has received an enthusiastic response from fans with over 300 already enrolled and further applications arriving at London Road daily Thousands of pounds in prizes including cash shopping vouchers holidays and cars are on offer in the £2 a week competition which could raise £140000 annually if the 2500 membership target is reached Around 1000 supporters attended two special meetings last Thursday and during a slick and highly professional presentation they heard a promise from the Posh board that ail Lifeline profits will be channelled to manager John Wile to buy new players will be exclusively available for John Wile to obtain the players we need to achieve director David Ringham told the gatherings at the Sovereign Hall He added: stone will be left unturned in our efforts to provide a winning team and ultimately our aim is to establish a First Division club in Mr Ringham said that bold and positive action had to be taken at a time when Posh were losing £2000 a week and faced a further annual loss of revenue amounting to £50000 follow-ng recent changes in the financial structure of the Football League just do not earn enough through the turnstiles to put the show on the road and the manager has had to be refused money to bring in new players and operate on one-year contracts using free transfers obviously such a situation cannot continue and while many clubs are in a similar situation we are acting before some of the others even realize they have a problem wants success more thas the directors who have pumped in £182000 of their own money in the form of loans and Posh Lifeline is part of a five-year business plan in which we are adopting a high-profile marketing said Mr Ringham Manager Wile who introduced his playing staff on the platform at each meeting condemned the lack of achievement in recent times expressing a view that in some respects the club hardly moved forward at all during the dozen-year period he was away at West Bromwich Albion before returning to take charge are not a million miles away from having a successful team and with commitment from the fans and everyone else Lifeline can give Posh a push and the sort of money it has never had he commented Over 200 supporters joined Lifeline following the meetings and a further 100 have enrolled since with Mr Ringham optimistically predicting that the initial target of 500 members for the first competition starting on June 15 will be reached and that the full 2500 can be achieved within a year POSH ATTENDANCE UP PETERBOROUGH average attendance increased slightly this year despite the poor season Average home attendance was 3437 for the 30 league and cup games played compared to 3152 for 1984-85 The figures were boosted during the FA Cup run with Leeds Carlisle and Brighton attracting good crowds Highest attendance was 15812 for Brighton and lowest 1512 for the home league match against Tranmere Average away attendance was 2973 again helped by the cup run The biggest crowd was at Brighton for the fifth round replay (19010) and the poorest for the league match at Halifax (1007) A total of 183390 people watched Peterborough United during the season SPEEDWAY REVIEW Sports Aid draws support LOCAL people are getting behind Bob Geldof Sports Aid scheme Since it was recently revealed in the Standard the city was going to support this giant sports spectacular to raise money for famine victims offers of help have been flooding into the town hall are very pleased with the response to date and are hopeful of getting many more projects going We have not set any target for how much we want to raise as all the money is needed so we want to get as much as said city recreation officer Mr Don Chiswell Everyone at John Mansfield School is taking part in a fund raising run Pupils teachers secretaries and cooks are all paying lOp to run round the sports fields The John Rudd Lawn Tennis Association is holding a sponsored 1 3 hour tennis tournament at the Court Centre While Peterborough District Angling Association will fishing to help the starving in the Third World City mayor Bob Burke will be challenging his successor Coun Joe Hall to a fund raising snooker match plus sportsmen from the Posh Panthers and Jets teams will be fighting it out in a triangular contest to find the city's top team The Sports Aid week officially lasts from Saturday until May 24 but Mr Chiswell says the city hopes to extend the event over the summer to take in any other fund raising schemes As well as various sports clubs five schools three playgroups and tour community associations are already raising money Anyone else is welcome to join in Ijilojrmaiion is available atjhe town hall won the Anglia Junior League last year and have handed early opportunities to two members of that title-winning team Teenager Mark Ford-ham appeared in their first few senior matches and his place has now been taken by Jay Pleece TEAM Peterborough: 1 Kevin Hawkins 2 Dave Allen 3 Nigel Flatman 4 Ian Barney 5 Carl Baldwin 6 Adrian Hume 7 Jamie Habbin Kevin Tatum Last summer with Canterbury Tatum jnr scored an impressive paid 12 at the Show-ground Carl Baldwin who joined Peterborough from Mildenhall during the winter finds himself in direct opposition to his elder brother Mark recruited by Wimbledon last season Wimbledon will be using rider replacement for Kevin Teager who crashed at Boston recently and has not ridden since A 10-day break has enabled Panthers skipper Kevin Hawkins extra time to have his bruises and injury pains completely cured and fans will be hoping he will be back at his best tomorrow (Friday) night Hawkins suffered knee injuries and cuts to his leg in a crash at Poole three weeks ago and he was well below his best at Milton Keynes a week later He signalled his recovery with 1 1 points against Hackney but crashed in the return match on May Day Last season Hawkins was an ever-present for Panthers and will be hoping his luck has changed for the better leadership has been a key factor in our successes so far this said promoter Martin Rogers Wimbledon visitors have been running a speedway team since 1928 and made a big impression last year in their first season of National League racing Despite losing Mike Ferreira (retired) that have a lively side and newest recruit is Neville Tatum younger brother ot Coventry and England rider WEATHER JINX weather jinx continued on Friday night when their National League match against Milton Keynes was rained off From their first eight home matches three have been lost two salvaged through some frantic efforts to prepare the track and one one raced in reasonable weather Various postponements and lack of income is causing some problems for Martin Rogers who reckons he is about £10000 down on projected income so far is difficult to say how much of that we will lose obviously people will come to watch the rearranged matches but there are certain fixed costs which have to be paid even if a match go he said from anything else we are trying to encourage people to get in the habit of watching speedway each week and this is disrupting On a brighter note average attendances for home matches are showing a useful improvement over last season One match has been rearranged Panthers will race Milton Keynes on October 3 enforced lay-off means he Panthers ski should he TufT fit'.