STEAD AND ALLEN TO LEAD LIONS

Former Great Britain riders Simon Stead and Oliver Allen are the new joint team managers of the Lions.

The pair step into the role recently vacated by Alun Rossiter and will lead their country into the 2020 Monster Energy FIM Speedway of Nations.

Stead has showed huge early promise in his managerial career, leading Sheffield to the 2017 SGB Championship title, as well as taking charge of Leicester Lions for a spell in the top flight.

Meanwhile, Allen has headed up Poultec’s speedway training scheme and also played a key role in coaching the stars of the future at SGP Academies.

GB managing director Rob Painter hopes two of British speedway’s most promising coaches will help take the Lions to new heights.

He said: “We are incredibly excited to welcome Olly and Simon on board and it’s a move that we really feel is going to help us to reach the next level in what we want to achieve.

“Both of them are incredibly passionate about Great Britain and achieving success, but the thing that really struck us was their total commitment to all aspects of what we’re trying to do with the national team.

“They are both really keen to play a key role in the development of our young riders, and that’s something they’re both really excited about too.

“We believe we’ve got a really promising crop of youngsters coming through and Olly and Simon will be working really closely with the current youth setup to provide a clear pathway from the junior teams to the senior team.”

Allen hopes his experience working with the nation’s young guns will help him get them firing at senior level one day.

He said: “I am over the moon really. It’s an amazing opportunity and I can’t wait to get stuck in.

“I’ve worked with the senior team for a couple of years now and with my role at the Poultec Speedway Academy, I feel like I know a lot of the young riders really well too.

“The ultimate goal, of course, is to win the Speedway of Nations but I also want to make sure that we can develop the next generation of Great Britain riders – that’s the exciting challenge.”

Stead also can’t wait for the challenge and is delighted to be joining forces with Allen. He said: “When it was first mentioned to me that there may be an opportunity to work with Great Britain, I was instantly excited.

“I’ve been a manager for a few years now and I feel like this is the right challenge at the right time. We have some fantastic riders and I want to help them as much as I can so we can be successful as a nation.

“Olly and I are great friends and we will work really well together. We have very similar ideas of what we want to achieve and how we want to do it.

“It’s a really proud feeling being appointed as manager of your country so I will give my all.”