The bombshell that hit Oxford Speedway yesterday, has just about sunk in, but am I surprised?

No, not really.

In recent times, the club I have followed and reported on for the last 27 years, have sadly gone down hill.

It's far from the heady days of the eighties where Cheetahs boasted probably their best team ever, and it was a delight to be associated with the Cowley outfit at the time.

Apart from Steve and Vanessa Purchase who led the team to their last title triumph in 2001, just six short years ago, the club have not moved forward.

Nigel Wagstaff didn't bring the good times back except for making the play-offs once and winning the Craven Shield.

And though, hard as Aaron Lanney worked in his first season as a promoter last year, and even more this year, the enevitable has happened - shut down.

Every promoter lost money, Purchase around £50,000 in his first season, Wagstaff's company went into liquidation and Lanney was forced to sell out to Colin Horton at the end of last season.

The boss of one of the country's leading freight companies, he promised a lot, but has delivered nothing for the Oxford fans.

Little things took away some of the family feeling such as the disappearance of staff who had been at the track for many years, thinking nothing of nipping up to an airport to pick up a rider.

A winning team always helped and that's something Cheetahs fans have not seen for a few years.

Speedway is not a hobby for promoters, but big business these days.

If it doesn't pay, you pack up, it's as simple as that.

Any promoter coming into Oxford in the future has to pay a sizeable rent to hire the Stadium.

He gets nothing from the catering and bars. The only income is through the turnstiles and programmes plus a club shop, so you need around 1,500 fans every week at Cowley to break even.

Will Cheetahs be back? Of course they will, just you wait and see.