Press Statements are like buses...

You get none for weeks, and then two come along at once...

This post sees me mention the possible danger to the Bracknell Bees due to the finance issues in Basingstoke-the Taylors have obviously seen this mentioned on several forums and have moved quickly to soothe and reassure Bees fans with this statement. The key part of it for me is here...

The financially stability of the club is secure and rumours that suggest otherwise are unfounded. We wish to make it clear that the Bracknell Bees and Basingstoke Bison (apart from a brief period when the Bison were acquired), are being run entirely separately and again any talk to the contrary is inaccurate.

So there you go.

Problems settling? Not really...

In the midst of all the recent talk of events off the ice, it's perhaps a relief to some that the players who've already left the Bison finally played their first game with their new team this evening, and it appears they've had no great problems adjusting to their new circumstances-Peter Campbell had a dream debut against his former club and instantly endeared himself to the Bison faithful, being involved in four of the Giants' five goals (2 goals, two assists) while Stevie Lyle stopped 26 of 29 shots at the other end to earn the home side a five-three victory. The Bison certainly showed that, on the ice at least, they're determined to continue fighting, with Dan Green stopping 27 shots and Danny Stewart, Brad Cruikshank and player coach Ryan Aldridge replying for the Bison.

Now on to the weekend-with the return leg at the Silverdome this Saturday, the Bison will now be even more determined to get revenge in what is sure to be an emotion-charged event in Hampshire...

Bison Problems: The Taylors Hit Back

Well, it appears that something has finally stirred down south, and the Bison fans' constant calls for answers from the management have borne fruit. The Taylors have released a long statement through the forums which can be found in full here. However, if I were a Bison fan there would be several quotes in that statement which I'd be questioning...The Taylors' statement is quoted in italics from now on...

At this moment we are sitting 1 point off the bottom of the Elite league, if we lose to Belfast tonight we will be bottom, we have put together a high profile team with one of the highest wage bills in the league, we were the only Elite team to reveal our wage bill to the board at the July meeting, hence the comments from some of the teams via their websites and local press.

Fair enough. So far, so standard "put the blame on the players for not performing"

It goes on to what will be the meat of the statement for many Bison fans-the financial questions...

The position with regard to the long term viability of the club is as follows, we believe that professional Ice Hockey is viable from the Basingstoke Arena, we gave our assurances to the board last week and stand by those assurances, Sharon and I have been financially supporting the club to the tune of £6,000 per week together with a pre season investment of £10,000, the reason for the wage cut of £1,500 per week was to firstly secure the long term financial viability of the club and to bring down the costs to a manageable level for us as owners, which at the same time allow us to develop the product,

So on the one hand, "developing the product" meant signing an expensive, highly-skilled team, but on the other hand the wages now need to be cut in order that this "developing the product" didn't cost the owners more than they can afford? Notice also that there's no mention of them putting money into the Bees-are we talking about the Bison as a team here or are we talking about putting money into the company? The obvious question here is, how exactly is making the product poorer by losing two of its top players developing it?

we are currently working with 2 corporate agencies specialising in sports sponsorship with the outcome being realised during this season,

Fair enough. But why, if this is going on, was nothing said about it earlier when fans were questioning the lack of marketing? All you have to do is say "the Bison are working with XYZ plc in order to explore new avenues of sponsorship", and people go "fair enough". I freely admit that you can't release details of actual sponsors until the deal is done, but why not at least say something to this effect earlier, rather than waiting until matters well and truly come to a head and it can easily be read as "telling the people what they want to hear?" I know if it were my team in the same position, I'd be asking a question or two about just why the owners saw the need to pay two consultancy agencies in order to find sponsorship rather than simply having employees of the club go out and do it themselves-or indeed simply by inviting companies along to a game or two and saying "look, here's a market"

the second reason was due to the performance of the team in recent games, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that changes have to be made to the team to return us to winning ways and to do justice to the Basingstoke Bison name, the new wage level is just below the wage cap and will allow Ryan (Aldridge, the Bison coach) to get the team back on track.

Read the bit I've highlighted again. Is this the owners effectively admitting they've broken the wage cap and thus league rules? Not the smartest thing to do in a press release.

The article from Ryan was based upon his request that if he can raise x amount per week from various fund raising concepts can he be allowed to spend that directly on strengthening the squad, my answer was yes he can, hence his comments about the money going to him.

So, effectively they're now making it sound like the fans are being asked to pay even more for a better team and to replace the two imports, by the coach, because the owners are putting in all the money they can. It seems a strange way to run a hockey club (I am aware that the Blaze have done it before by getting a small group of fans to subsidise the wages of certain players, but never thought it would be done in public...

As the owners we have expressed our concerns to and have been met with agreement from Ryan that 3 wins from 11 games is unacceptable, Ryan and I met Monday evening to decide the best way forward, the first instance was to look at our current squad to identify where the problems was, the decision was taken to release Peter Campbell and allow him to accept the offer he received from Belfast last week (whilst under contract to Basingstoke) and look immediately to replace him with a new playing partner to Steve Thornton, the players met on Monday evening again to confirm their commitment to the club, Tuesday morning Ryan woke to Stevie Lyle packing his suitcase (they share a flat together to keep the costs down) Stevie requested his release so he too can accept the offer and contract again put onto the table to him by Belfast last week.

This smacks of something of a smear campaign against both Peter Campbell and Stevie Lyle, particularly the "coach waking to find his starting goalie packing a suitcase" line. If the players wanted to leave then fair enough, but there is no need to make them out to be some sort of villains of the piece. Presumably, also, it is a coincidence that the two players who decided to leave were two of the highest-paid, and that Belfast only made approaches to them AFTER the rumours of financial trouble in the Silverdome came out, even according to the article, which quotes "last week" as when the offers were made.

The statement then makes reference to "vicious and uncalled-for personal attacks" which has made the Taylors decide not to appear at any public event for fear of it being turned into a witch-hunt. This is a fair decision-although their attempt to take the moral high-ground is somewhat harmed by this next section, referring to the Bison fans discussions of the issue on forums...

much of it is complete rubbish mixed in with some extremely un pleasant personal attacks on me by a large number of supposed supporters of the team, because of the vicious nature of this comments we will not be entering into any off ice event which runs the risk of being turned into a witch hunt against Sharon and I.What is required now is for all the persons who clearly seem intent on driving us from the club to shut up, get off our backs and get behind the team, we are in much better position financially now than we were at the start of the season and fully intend to build upon our current league position.

So, you're basically telling the people you need to get on your side to "shut up, stop behaving like idiots and sit down, children"-the language used is guaranteed to inflame the situation rather than calm it. No-one in any of the forums that I've read (THF and the Elite Forum) has openly made threats against the owners-a few have strongly expressed their dis-satisfaction but there is certainly no movement to "drive the Taylors from the club"

Finally...

Ryan was informed once our Accountants were able to confirm our exact income and outgoings we informed Ryan of the trading position, who in turn appraised the players hence the calls from some players to other clubs to possibly line up other options, with hindsight this may not have been the best course to take.I have raised the fact that 3 clubs have made offers to a couple of our players whilst they remain under contract to Basingstoke with the Elite League Board, we do not hold the players responsible for that but we are very disappointed with the clubs for not only negotiating with the players involved but also making offers to them, at the end of the day the players must do what they feel is best for them and their families.

Paraphrased as "we told the players what was going on, they did what they thought best, but our Elite League rivals behaved unfairly". How on the one hand can you not hold the players responsible for telling other clubs they could be available, but then criticise them for making offers? Either you criticise both or neither...

I have a feeling that this debate has some way to run yet, somehow-it will be interesting to see what effect this statement (even if it is somewhat contradictory and can be reads as covering of backs/blame-shifting in parts) will have on the situation. I shall keep monitoring things from up here in Coventry...

Keep keeping your eye on the puck...

Round the Rinks 18th October: Weekend Preview

So, we're back for another weekend of EIHL hockey, which starts early as Bison face Giants at the Odyssey this evening. Let's get straight on with the team-by-team weekend preview...

Basingstoke commence a weekend of three games in four days as they face Belfast at the Odyssey tonight (Thursday), before playing the return leg at the Silverdome on Saturday and Sheffield away on Sunday. The Bison will have been rocked by the loss of their number-one centre and starting goalie, but will no doubt put up a rare old fight, particularly with Ryan Aldridge due to resume playing duties in his usual combative style on the third line.



Belfast, meanwhile, will have new signings Peter Campbell and Stevie Lyle in their line-up against their former team, joined by the returning Shane Johnson. It remains to be seen how Campbell will slot in, although it is likely he will move straight into the number one centre slot with Scott Cameron the latest Giant to be injured, a broken foot ruling him out for four to six weeks. Lyle replaces Phillippe deRouville as mentioned in the "Locker-Room Chatter" threads, although the carousel hasn't stopped moving at the Odyssey with Ryan Smith leaving in order to play in Germany this week, which means the Giants effectively have lost no import slots despite signing two this week (Shane Johnson being the other). With Roman Gavalier and Trevor Johnson also on the sidelines, the Giants look light on d despite S. Johnson's reinforcing of the blue-line corps, but strong on firepower with their seven import forwards (Campbell, Dutiaume, Awada, Courtenay, Cameron, Lewis, Sutter). However, with only one ITC card available from now until the end of the season, the Odyssey crowd will have to pray that this is their injury crisis for the year...



Cardiff face a tough pair of games, facing Sheffield away on the Saturday and Newcastle at home on the Sunday. The Devils will be looking to continue their recent good form against two of the high-flying teams in the league, and will see this weekend as a way to send a message to the rest of the EIHL that they intend to be back challenging for honours very shortly. Beating the second- and third-placed teams in the table consecutively over the weekend will go a long way to showing that...



Coventry come back from Continental Cup action this weekend with two tough games, away against Edinburgh, who are always tricky at Murrayfield, followed by Nottingham at home on the Sunday. With Trevor Koenig having rested after apparently carrying a slight groin injury all season, and Blaze on a high after their exploits against Salzburg, they will be hoping to continue their EIHL winning streak which has seen them only lose a couple of games so far this season. But will the dreaded Conti Cup Curse strike again? Having been victims of it twice in the past three seasons, Nottingham will certainly be hoping so...



Edinburgh, on the other hand, have the opposite problem. After losing the last eight games on the bounce, the Capitals are anchored to the bottom of the league, despite high hopes for the team this season. They only have one game this weekend, against the Blaze, before facing the Vipers away from home on Wednesday. Having run the Blaze close last season and again at the Skydome in this one, they'll certainly be a threat on their own ice this Saturday.



Hull, like Basingstoke and Cardiff, only face the one opponent this weekend in a double-header, but it's tough one in the Manchester Phoenix, with the two teams meeting in Humberside on Saturday and in Altrincham on the Sunday. After their nightmare weekend last weekend, and with new Austrian signing Gerhard Gottfried in the line-up and looking to impress on a four-week contract, the Stingrays will be hoping to rebound from their nightmare last weekend, but the Phoenix, particularly in their current state of full-strength and flying high, will not make it easy. One further question mark on the horizon is the fitness of talismanic goalie Ladislav Kudrna, injured against Belfast last week-every single hockey fan on Humberside will be hoping he's back and ready to go for this tough weekend.



Manchester, meanwhile, have no such injury worries as they prepare for the visit of the Stingrays. With Brian Passmore and evergreen Phoenix player-coach Tony Hand laying chances on a plate almost at will, and Sean Starke and Joe Tallari on the other end putting them away for fun, these are fun times if you're a fan of the Angry Budgies. Their defence will be looking to perform in their usual stingy fashion (restricting Sheffield's high-powered attack to 17 shots in 60 minutes, as they did last weekend, is no mean feat), and will relish the physical battle with Hull's abrasive forwards, Jake Riddle and Brad Patterson chief among them.

Newcastle, as mentioned above, face the Devils at the MRA on the Sunday, but will not be looking forward to it after what will be a testing game away at Nottingham on the Saturday. This will truly be a meeting of two opposing styles as the Vipers' physical and gritty approach meets the free-flowing and speedy game preferred by the Panthers-with the Geordies hoping that their style will throw the Panthers fast-skating and skilful forwards off their game long enough to perfect a smash-and-grab raid on the NIC. Sunday will be more of a clash of equals, as both Cardiff and Newcastle will look to win the physical battles and wear the other side down. It'll certainly be interesting for the Vipers fans to watch on both nights as Newcastle look to consolidate second place...

Nottingham are something of an enigma. Firepower to burn hasn't really been matched by defensive efforts this season, as once again the Panthers have underachieved up until now. This weekend will really test their mettle as they face the first and second-placed teams in the league in the same weekend, with a hard physical battle (as mentioned above) in prospect against the Vipers on the Saturday followed by the EIHL's game of the weekend on the Sunday, as they meet Coventry at the Skydome in a game I've been looking forward to for weeks. There is no question that there will be goals in this game with the offensive talent on show, and the "purists" among us will be salivating at the prospect of a fast-moving, open hockey game dominated by skill and fast passing. The question is, which offence will come out on top in the battle of the Elite League sharpshooters?

Sheffield: Last but not least, the Steelers, who face Cardiff in South Wales on Saturday before playing Basingstoke at home on Sunday. The Steelers will no doubt be hoping to take advantage of a tiring Bison side for two points on Sunday, but will be a little nervous at the prospect of an improving Devils side in their own rink on the Saturday, in a game which could bring their winning run to a screeching halt. With confidence high in the Sheffield camp and the team at full strength for only the second weekend since the beginning of the season, coupled with confidence from the hard-fought derby win at Nottingham last weekend, however, it would take a Herculean effort from the Devils to stop the winning run continuing...

So, the fixtures, then (Elite League fixtures unless stated)

Thursday
Belfast v Basingstoke

Saturday

Nottingham v Newcastle

Hull v Manchester

Edinburgh v Coventry

Basingstoke v Belfast

Cardiff v Sheffield

Sunday

Manchester v Hull (Challenge Cup)

Newcastle v Cardiff

Sheffield v Basingstoke

Coventry v Nottingham

Let's play hockey...:D

And remember, don't forget to read about more Bison news below, and keep your eye on the puck....

More Bison news, player rumours and a great idea.

Well, things are moving fast in Basingstoke-and not just for the Bison-I've received several messages from email and on the forums telling me that there could be more than one club affected by this-details below...

The Bison cat is now right out of the bag, with coach Ryan Aldridge officially appealing to the Bison fans to help fundraise via the official website, on this page. This has given rise to almost an atmosphere of relief around the forums, with Bison fans beginning to band together and fans from around the league offering to help out through bucket collections etc, starting at the Odyssey tonight when the Bison play Belfast Giants.

Worryingly for British hockey as a whole, the company that runs the Bison is inextricably tied to the EPL's Bracknell Bees also, as the company nominally running both clubs (Berkshire Sports Management) is that set up by the Taylors in order to run the two teams as separate entities but under the same company umbrella and owners, if that makes sense-thus leading to the one simple point, known to any economics student, that should the company over-commit itself financially in one area, it will inevitably affect the other. In simple terms, if the unthinkable happens and the Bison go down because of the company being insolvent, then the Bees could go with them through no fault of their own. I should stress that there are no rumours of the Bees being in any trouble whatsoever around at the moment, and that this is, at the moment, nothing more than theoretical. However, anyone who is thinking "Bison aren't in my league-I support an EPL team, so this doesn't affect me directly" is wrong. Obviously, as shown by the numerous offers of support by fans of teams in all leagues across the country which have come flooding in on the forums, this is not a widely-held view-however, it's worth considering.

Meanwhile, in player movement, it appears, hearing from locals through email, that the Bison are looking to sign an import nettie in order to replace Stevie Lyle (possibly even Phillipe deRouville), with a British forward stepping up to fill Peter Campbell's spot, possibly from the Bees. Favourites for this role locally are Tom Carlon (EIHL experience with Coventry), Shaun Thompson (ex-Bison) and Ryan Watt (who I believe was a Basingstoke junior, and is travelling with the team to Belfast). As you can imagine, this will likely not make the Bees fans happy, particularly if they are used as nothing more than a farm team for the Taylors' EIHL franchise.

Now onto the good news: things are already happening in order to help the Bison out, as well as promote ice hockey in this country. Earlier today, Rick Strang, who was instrumental in the London Racers organisation before they folded and is well known around the forums and rinks of the UK, posted this on The Hockey Forum:

I think we all need a bit of a lift so, inspired by Simmsy (Dave Simms, Sheffield's PR manager), how's this for an idea ...I'll walk in full hockey kit from centre ice at the House of Steel after
the Sheffield Edinburgh game (24/11) all the way to Basingstoke's centre ice for the game against Sheffield (9/12).I make that about 200 miles in two weeks.Along the way I'll tell every single person I bump into to go to their local rink and go to a hockey game. I'll advertise the sport at every step. I'll do a blog and contact media outlets en route.If 100 people post on this thread pledging their support and sponsorship for this walk then I'll do it.I should stand out in full hockey gear and hopefully with all of our media connections on here we'll get some attention.If anyone can think of a good strap line (walking for hockey?) that'd be cool.Just an idea but I bet I could raise the profile of the sport and
raise a few bob for the Bison on the way. Anyone willing to help would be welcome. I may need some floors to sleep on en route to keep the hotel bills
down!Of course - 100 of you need to show your support first so I may yet get myself off the hook.Hockey community? Hmmm ... let's see.

A truly insane thing to do-but it just might work...as well as being an EXCELLENT way to get some much-needed media coverage...At the moment this looks like happening, but just to make sure-if you haven't already done so get on either the Hockey Forum or your local teams' forum in order to rally support for this-and show how big the hockey community in the UK really is...