STEWART Dickson has revealed a “burning ambition” to win the one trophy that’s eluded Glasgow their entire history.
The Tigers team manager wants to put his team’s name on the Championship Fours trophy for the first time ever when it moves to Redcar later this year.
Glasgow have taken home every honour – league titles, KO Cups, Pairs and even a league riders’ championship – in their 72 years of racing.
But they’ve never done enough to win a four-team tournament, either in its earlier format of regional qualifying or the modern one-off meeting.
In recent seasons, when the meeting has been held at Peterborough, the Tigers have struggled to make their mark – despite starting among the pre-meeting favourites.
Now, on the eve of the new season, Dickson has revealed how having the Fours trophy spend 12 months in the Ashfield trophy cabinet is high on his list of 2018 ambitions.
“Our immediate target is to get through the qualifying section for the Championship Shield – the first competition we’ll take part in – and then qualify for the league play-offs,” said Dickson.
“The league is only one home and one away fixture this year, so it isn’t quite the marathon of last year – but the target is definitely top four.
“However I’ve also got a burning ambition to win the Fours. No offence to Peterborough, but I’m ever so glad it’s been moved from there, because Glasgow just never did well there!
“Seriously though, it being at Redcar is good for us – we’ve always gone well there – and hopefully the change of venue works. The Fours is a trophy Glasgow have never won or done well in, and it would be nice to change that this season.”
Everybody wants the holy grail
Top of Dickson’s list, however, remains the “holy grail” Championship title – though he knows that could be a particularly tough nut to crack.
“The last time we won it was 2011. That was before the Facenna era. We’ve put together some really decent sides in the last three seasons and we’re always tagged as among the favourites, but for whatever reason we haven’t won it,” he said.
“We’re not going to kid ourselves – we’ve put together a team that we want to win the Championship – but we’ve got to be respectful to other teams. We know how tough it is to win it. Look at Ipswich – they’ve won very little since they dropped down five years ago – and they’re a big club as well. They’ll tell you how difficult it is.
“There are a lot of big teams in our league. Edinburgh were winning the Championship for fun but haven’t in the last couple of years. Sheffield have appeared with a new, young, ambitious promotion and team manager – along with guys like Richie Hawkins, a young team manager at Ipswich.
“There are new people on the scene and they’ve all got ideas – and everybody is competitive. You look at Scunthorpe – they’ve got a really good side I think – and Edinburgh will always be decent once the riders get dialled into Armadale. Lakeside are another team – a lot of riders haven’t raced there for a while and they’ve got a big home track advantage too.
“But we’re not going to kid ourselves. We want to try and win the league, that’s the big thing for everybody. Silverware is nice no matter what trophy it is, but everybody wants the holy grail. However, there are us and another 10 clubs going for it and just ask some of the other teams how difficult it is to win it.”
Glasgow’s season starts on Friday (March 23) at 7.30pm as they face Edinburgh in the Scottish Cup. Tickets are available here.