Dear Ipswich fans,

I’m writing an open letter to you all given the hard winter that you have endured after the highs of the wonderful win in the Rowe Motor Oil Premiership last year. I have wanted to speak to you all, but confidentiality bound me from saying anything. There were some hold-ups on the transaction beyond the control of Chris Louis and I regarding the ultimate leaseholder of Foxhall. I had to take the unusual step of continuing the planning for the forthcoming season at our cost with no certainty of an outcome, but I am pleased we got there in the end.

I will always be frank, open and honest with you. This should be viewed, perhaps, as more of a rescue deal than an out-and-out acquisition. During this process, there wasn’t really a credible alternative other than Mayfield. Our main concerns were also not regarding Ipswich, but the league as a whole and the current situation with speedway in the UK.

As you know, our sister company operates the FIM Speedway World Championships. With this in mind, I will try to use our strength and expertise to help and influence Ipswich commercially, and we are already formulating those ideas now.

I believe wholeheartedly in the sport of speedway. I think it is a fantastic sport. It is exciting and has a short format, which is helpful in a world where even football is suffering with modern attention spans. It is 500cc bikes with no brakes, beers with your friends in the evening, family friendly and easy to understand. The issue in our sport is that it is not promoted in the right way. During my address to the FIM Conference of the Commissions in Lyon, I went off on a tangent about the sport of darts. Darts was huge in the 70s and 80s, but by the early 2000s, it was dying. Total revenue was £6.5 million in 2006. Today, it is £59 million. The sport of darts is overweight men stood at the oche throwing small arrows at a board the crowd cannot see without a big screen. The sport is promoted extremely well, it is fun, there’s a great atmosphere and the players’ stories are told – all their rivalries, history and drama. Our sport is so rich in this regard and yet woefully promoted. Allow me my blissful ignorance, but Ipswich needs to be a loud voice within the BSPL and the other teams, and we need to lead by example.

On the sporting side, it has been very difficult to assemble a riding squad, having brought the club to the tapes so late. Jason Doyle and Emil Sayfutdinov are irreplaceable, so we have had to look at a different way to assemble our one-to-seven. It is not easy when other clubs in the UK and foreign leagues could offer riders certainty. Our management team of Andrew Chisholm and Paul Hurry have done a great job in getting a balanced and talented squad in these uncertain times. It’s a squad that we believe can push for success in 2026, and we already have our eyes on 2027 as well.

I know this winter has been torrid for you as loyal supporters of the club, and it would be so easy to be disillusioned with the sport in the UK in general. As I said, this is a rescue deal in many ways, but we need you to help us make this work; we need you to show up at the turnstiles; we need you to purchase the season tickets, and we need you to tell your friends and family about this great sport and club. We have huge respect for the long, illustrious history of Ipswich Speedway and its people. Many think it is crazy to invest in British Speedway, but I need you to believe in me as I believe in you.

Thank you for the welcome you have given us so far. I cannot overstate how much we need your support, particularly in 2026. We have engaged a lot with the Ipswich Speedway Supporters Club and will continue to do so. We will always listen to our fans, and I look forward to meeting more of you very soon.

Sending you all my very best regards and here’s to the season ahead!

Richard Coleman