GLASGOW owner Gerry Facenna admits the club is entering an “exciting era” with a new academy and training track.
The Allied Vehicles Tigers will get a fresh facility for youngsters as the football club moves out of the Peugeot Ashfield Stadium.
The North Glasgow club have gained promotion to Division 1 of the West of Scotland League.
Ashfield have continued playing at the Stadium since Allied took over ownership in 2015, but they need a bigger pitch to facilitate a move up the leagues.
That allows the speedway club to build and utilise the pitch on the inside of the current track for a training circuit to encourage local youngsters to take up the sport.
Allied Vehicles Chairman and owner, Gerry Facenna said: “From the moment we bought the club in late 2014 it has always been our intention to have a training circuit at Ashfield.
“Our first priority was to get the stadium and track up to the highest standard and that has taken a huge amount of time and investment.
“But with the football club needing to move in order to reach a new level, this is obviously the ideal opportunity to push forward with the training facilities.
“It’s an exciting new era. We have immediate plans for a multi-purpose circuit on the inside of the current track. This will allow for all bike sizes, so youngsters of all ages can begin their speedway journey at Ashfield.
“It will take time to formulate the structure. This will very much depend on the amount of dedicated volunteers we can rely on.
“But it’s our intention to have a fully functioning academy up and running in 2024.”
Facenna is enthused by seeing a new generation of young speedway riders come through the ranks.
He added: “We have seen Connor Bailey become British Under-21 Champion recently while he is doing a Ford apprenticeship at Allied Vehicles.
“It’s also been brilliant to see a young Scot Ace Pijper come into the Tigers team. We signed Tom Brennan midway through 2021 and he’s won a gold and silver for Great Britain on the world stage.
“We are very keen to give local kids a chance to make a career out of speedway.
“Our company Allied Vehicles has a long history in the local area for investing in people and youth and that extends to Glasgow Speedway.
“The training track and academy will be another huge investment in the future for the area and the Tigers.”