Vipers to give fans final say

Apr 8 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

THE Vipers have declared themselves happy with plans for next season’s Elite League but will wait to see what fans make of their own proposals before signing up to it.

The club issued a statement yesterday expressing its satisfaction at the outcome of a meeting which controversially took place without them. But they have stopped short of confirming their participation before speaking to supporters.

The issue from their perspective is the home games for next season. As usual, their fixtures look set to be split between Newcastle Arena and Whitley Bay, but the balance will be weighted much more in favour of the latter because of higher rents and more limited availability in the city centre.

The matter has held up the launch of season tickets, which the club do not want to put on sale until fans know what they will be paying for. However, they are hoping it can be resolved next week and presented to an open meeting the week after. Club officials feel they must sell around 500 season tickets for another campaign to be viable. Co-owners Paul Ferone and Rob Wilson will attend the meeting after returning to the country. Ferone’s business commitments have kept him in Vancouver, while Wilson will be Great Britain’s assistant coach at next week’s World Championships in Poland.

The six richest Elite League clubs met last week to discuss next season’s competition. The Vipers and others were excluded because they are yet to confirm their participation.

The circumstances of the meeting caused outrage among fans of the Vipers, Manchester Phoenix and Edinburgh Capitals but the Newcastle-based club were content with the outcome, which included a commitment to 10 import players per game. "The Vipers met with the other eight clubs and league officials and were happy with the approach of all the clubs who came to the table and discussed the issues concerning the league in a positive manner," said the statement issued yesterday.

"The Vipers are still working hard to resolve the issue of the home venue for 2009-10, which is taking positive strides and we hope this will be resolved within the next week. We intend to launch 2009- 10 season tickets at the open fans meeting in the week commencing April 20 and the level of support will determine whether or not the club start the 2009-10 season."